Rural India

Recently, Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh said that he still remembers his old days in rural. There were no proper roads, electricity and sanity. Even schools were situated at a distance. There were many other issues. All these were few decades back.

Now come to this century. People believe most of these issues have been sorted. In fact, most of these problems are not only related to rural but also found in urban area. Let me give some for urban first. Still urban cities in India lack proper loos for public. Recently, the government in Mumbai announced to build many such.

Now come back to rural area. Whenever I visit my village, I face a lot of problems. Mind you this is 21^st century. No proper roads. If roads are there they are narrow. Most of them are kuccha road. In some area you may find patches of metallic road. The last time when I saw electricity was in 1997. In those days, it would be there for a few hours in the afternoon. No drinking water facility! Many schools lack loos for the students. This is very important because one of the most important reasons for girls in rural area to discontinue their studies at a later stage is lack of toilet in the schools. Transportation is one other issue that needs to be solved.

It is said that with proper planning everything can be solved. What is planning? (unknown word for politicians). India is growing. No doubt about that. Growth should be for everyone. But here the growth is only for selective.

I believe that this is the best time for India. It is having both prime minister and finance minister of great caliber. I respect their knowledge and their capability. If all these issues can’t be tackled now then, God save us!