Lets take a look at 2 of the recent studies:
1) Out of 73 nations studied, India stands 72nd in a survey of the ability of primary children to read, write and perform basic Mathematical operations. The Indian kids were outperformed not only by developed, but also some developing and under-developed countries. The study was carried out by OECD under Programme for International Student Assessment.
2) In a study by UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs, it was found that India is the deadliest place to live for a girl. This was an extensive study where data for past 40 years was observed for 150 countries. Shockingly, even hostile places like Afghanistan and Iraq are better than India when it comes to mortality rate of a girl child!
Given the results of above two studies only a fool would say that we are even developing, let alone being a superpower. We may want to believe otherwise, but the results of these studies by international organizations clearly shows that we are worse than even Sub-Saharan countries when it comes to Human Development Index.
Now the question is are we not efficient? Yes we are. Then why is it so that after more than 60 years of democracy which gave us all the freedoms, abundance of natural resources and human capital, we are no better off than monarchies and places with natural scarcities? We proudly say that Indians have the best minds and no denying of the fact that indeed most of the engineering, technical and scientific firms are run by Indians across the world. Even US Presidents have acknowledged it time and again. But when it comes to our own development we are lagging far behind. I wonder what has gone wrong with us. We have freedom, resources, manpower and ability. What else would a nation need to develop?
The answer is will power and a sense of nationalism. The solution to all our problems lies with our attitude and its our attitude that’s the reason for all our problems in the first place. What Indians seriously lack is a feeling towards their motherland and the society. When an affluent Indian child gets educated, he never develops a sense of gratitude towards society. He thinks only his parents were the ones who enabled him along with his hard work. Thus returning it back to the society never occurs to him. What he never realizes is that society and his nation has an equal role to play in his success. That if he is free today, it is because of the sacrifice of thousands.
A nation can never succeed if its youth doesn’t lend a hand to the process of nation building. And youth would never feel the need to build the nation if it has lost links to its culture, civilization, history and heritage. Sadly, this link seems to be vanishing fast from Indians. I think that our education system has a role to play here. It eludes me that why we dedicate chapters to Mughal history and only paragraphs to Bhagat Singh? Also as a contrast to most of the developed nations, social service never formed a part of our curricula. In several countries it is mandatory to serve the forces or serve as a scout. Also there are countries where social service is a part of graduation. Students have to devote one semester to any social cause or an organization.
But students from India never have to do so. Thus they are never able to relate to those who are less privileged in society. As such, they are indifferent to the pain and suffering of their fellow Indians. And after completing education, they seldom do anything for the nation. Most of them try to get some lucrative offers and settle abroad. No wonder we have one of the biggest disparity between rich and poor. Until that change, we will keep getting such shocking reports.
