Sen gets serious on illiteracy, malnutrition

NEW DELHI, January 5: Like many Delhiites, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit was dying to meet'' Professor Amartya Sen. And the release of ...

NEW DELHI, January 5: Like many Delhiites, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit was “dying to meet” Professor Amartya Sen. And the release of the Madhya Pradesh Development Report today gave her the chance to meet and listen to the Nobel laureate before he flew out of the country tonight. Sen acknowledged that the function was equally special for him as he was addressing two chief ministers — Digvijay Singh and Sheila Dikshit — at the same gathering. Noted journalist N Ram was also present at the function.

Releasing the MP Development Report 1998, the professor described malnourishment and illiteracy as two “extraordinary failures” of India’s development process since Independence. “About sixty per cent of the children in south Asia, particularly India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, are undernourished. Even in the more underdeveloped sub-Saharan Africa, relatively fewer children (20 to 40 per cent) are undernourished,” he added.

Sen gave credit to Pakistani economist Maqbool Hassan for being the first to talk about human resource development. The characteristic Sen humour was missing this time as he tried to explain the seriousness of the issue to the audience.

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He said it was regrettable that almost half of India’s population was illiterate even fifty years after Independence. On the booming population, the professor pointed out that nothing could reduce the fertility rate as effectively as female literacy and creation of employment opportunities for them.

Sen cited the example of Bangladesh where the fertility rate came down after women moved out of their homes and took up jobs. Arguing that economic incentives were not enough, he said that human beings should not only be seen as an end but also as a means in the development process. He also emphasised on the importance of dialogue between the government and people. Talking about the allocation of space in the media, the professor pointed out that relatively remote issues get prominence here. “Most newspapers have more stories on food packaging in India than on the prevailing malnutrition. The energy of the press should be used to highlight basic issues in the public domain”.

Sen rushed out after the function letting the politicians grab all the attention. MP Chief Minister Digvijay Singh agreed with Sen’s view that basic education should be made a fundamental right. Singh spoke of the education guarantee scheme launched by the Madhya Pradesh government two years ago under which nearly 20,000 primary schools were opened.

He said it would be his government’s endeavour to move from politics to people’s movement so that the masses could become masters of their own destiny.

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Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit beamed after receiving an autographed report from Sen. She said that her government would like to come up with a human development report on the lines of Madhya Pradesh, but regretted that the multiplicity of authority might come in the way of such an endeavour.

“Delhi also needs a report like this, but I do not know how to go about it. There is a multiplicity of authority in the Capital. Sometimes the various agencies are working in tandem and sometimes they are not working in tandem,” Dikshit said. She also promised to do everything possible to make basic education a fundamental right in Delhi.