Aiyar criticises his own Govt again

The Panchayati Raj Minister, quoting figures from a Government-appointed committee, said contrary to India's "super economic power" status, there are 836 million people who live on less than Rs 20 a day.

"It's pathetic what we have succeeded in doing for the bulk of our people," Aiyar said, releasing the India Report of the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative here.

"According to Arjun Sengupta Committee report, 836 million Indians who live on less than Rs 20 a day and yet it is only those who live on less than Rs 9 a day, who are regarded as being below the poverty line," he said.

Aiyar, who is also Minister of Development of North Eastern States, said because of a small segment of 200 million rich Indians, the whole world thinks India was a economic super power.

"The whole world thinks we are a super economic power because if you take the first one million rich Indians, their per capita income is much higher than that of Luxemburg which has a population of one million," he said.

"If you take the first four million Indians, their per capita income is higher than that of Norway, if you take the first 10 million Indians, then their per capita income is higher than that of Belgium," he added.

Aiyar said the Indian market is important because of its size. "The size of our market, the people who can spend money for their basic needs, is in numbers if not in wealth," Aiyar noted.

"So those who have brought it onto the trajectory of growth are very significant to all this hyperbole on being a super rich economic power," Aiyar added.

Noting that breastfeeding was important for a child's growth, he said nearly 2,50,000 Panchayati Raj institutions in the country can play a vital role in educating women about it.

"We have 3.2 million elected representatives out of which 1.2 million are women in 2,50,000 Panchayati Raj institutions. They can play a vital role in educating people about the importance of breastfeeding," Aiyar said.

He said the number of women who contested in the polls for these local bodies would be about five million which is a remarkable achievement in women empowerment.

Observing they could play an important role in educating women about nutrition and breastfeeding, he again took on the Government saying, "there is a tremendous resistance" within his own dispensation about it.

"There is tremendous resistance within my own government not withstanding constitutional provisions and the active presence of so many women in the arena ready to act as transmitter of knowledge and experience," he said without elaborating much.

Aiyar said having 1.2 million women representatives in local self governance was the "next biggest achievement" after "proclamation of our independence and Constitution.

He also criticised the media for failing to highlight this important aspect of achievement. "Nobody talks about this issue. It is entirely because the media, to find something newsworthy, has to find a disturbance of order."

Aiyar said apart from Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), the country needs to have a nutritional programme for the children below the age of three.

Bureau Report