Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'End poverty in India' that was published in Newsband

End poverty in India

We should curb illiteracy and poverty. Both are inter-related. During the elections, the poors are lured on false promises for benefits, mainly financial temptations are given. It clearly shows that the governments should do as much as possible to remove poverty. Utmost importance should be given to education, skill development and jobs creation. Unless and until at least one member of the family is not given work to earn enough to sustain his/her family, poors will not be able to give education to their children or will have to stop sending their children in between. Poverty is the foremost problem and reason behind so many evils.

India as a democratic state should concentrate on eradication of poverty. The Indian government has to do a lot to eradicate mass poverty in India and to raise the living standard of common people in India. Government should make provisions of housing, education and also create skills, employment, electricity, roads, drinking water, modernisation of agriculture etc in rural India and provide basic amenities in urban India. And to make people self-sufficient there is a need of skill formation. The main motive of country should be eradication of poverty. People want food and shelter and not just speeches. Millions of people in India have just one religion i.e. food and shelter.

There is an urgent need to fight poverty, discrimination, embezzlement, bribery and corruption. An empty stomach understands only the religion of food. Poverty leads people to trespass conviction and leads them to a stage of utter confusion. It is a sorry state of affairs.

 During elections, only Media gets business profits; leaders get political mileage and the poor are drawn into the mirage of some trivial benefits ultimately leading to a ‘neither here nor there’ situation of confusing ideals.

Those government officials who deny these hapless souls basic credentials like ration cards should be punished. Poor and socially backward sections are treated as outcasts by the well off people of all the religious groups. This has led to the yearning for social up-gradation of the oppressed. The people belonging to the creamy layer are guilty of practicing this in many ways.

Media should echo the grievances of those sections of our society that are prone to conversions due to extreme poverty and gross deprivation of their fundamental rights. Neglecting poverty will only take the nation back to the Dark Age: Mass illiteracy, poverty and hunger.

Bharatiya Janata Party who fought election on Development Plank should not  cheat the voters. Instead it should live up to the slogans like Development, Make in India jibes, Toilets etc. raised by the Prime Minister. What is also important is the safety of women, drinking water and employment.

Fighting poverty is a gigantic task by an individual and the state which will go on for many more centuries to improve the per capita income and quality of life but one should stop playing hell with the poor in the name of democracy.

Only during the elections the poor are shown the dream of better life. Is not that inducement? It is not a hidden fact, and the so called fourth pillar, Indian media and intelligentsia are not unaware of it. Why is it not debated? It is high time every Indian concentrated on fighting poverty and deprivation.