Anurag Singh Thakur, MP, Hamirpur, HP
Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee for IT
Member, Public Accounts Committee
Prime Minister of India gave a clarion call for making a New India by 2022. And, 2022 turns out to be the year when we will be completing seventy five years as an independent nation. In Indian culture, seventy-five years marks a water shed movement in one’s life; when a person, having retired from active life, gaining reflections thereafter, becomes wise by that time.
But, for India, a country of 1.3 billion people, we are still entering the youthful phase of our life. Interestingly, this is being coincided by some big churns in technology and geopolitics. A fourth industrial revolution is all set to begin. The axis of world action has neatly come back to Asia. Climate change is making undocumented changes to Earth’s ecosystem.
Seeing all this, it looks like we were meant to be leading the global change for a better tomorrow. As a young nation, we are capable of handling the change without much consternation. But, the question is, are we able to?
An India that is malnourished cannot lead the world. In the recently released Global Hunger Index report, India stood at 100 of 119 countries. The problem of hunger and malnutrition has to be dealt with iron-hand and in mission mode. India is the world’s second largest food producer but we’re also home to the second highest population of under-nourished in the world. It is time we go down to each panchayat and fight the battle against hunger with all the policy and administrative tools available.
An India that is plaguing with Tuberculosis cannot change the world. An India suffering from HIV cannot grab the opportunities thrown at it. And an India with high infant mortality rates cannot dream big. That’s why governments across India, central and states, have been trying all these years to improve the health of India. Some have been fickle in their priorities while others more focussed.
Like, the current government. Targeted policies for specific problems like immunisation, Old age troubles, and Mother-infant health issues have delivered very positive results. Mission Indradhanush is a very positive step towards immunising all the children. The mission has accelerated the rate of immunisation at 5% from a meagre 1% previously. States being very crucial stakeholder and service deliverer in health, have to equally, in fact, more aggressively work on improving the general health of the citizen and ensure a healthy India. The fact that medical tourism to India is so popular, says about the best doctors and facilities that we have and also about what more we can create.
Yet, we need to up our game. As a Global Funds Champion, I am advocating a hunger-free, TB-free, HIV-free and a malaria-free world. For the greatest land of the world, I cannot wish lesser than the greatest- A healthy India which is at the fore front of the world action! People need to look at India for positive direction and Gyan. That is what we aspire by 2022 and beyond, Bharat as a World Guru.
