The Indian Sedition Law owes its origin to The British Sedition Act of 1661, an Act of Parliament of England which was passed as an Act for safety and   Preservation of His Majesties Person and Government against Treasonable and Seditious practices and attempts. However Sedition was abolished in Great Britain through the Coroners and Justice Act of 2009.

The Sedition Law in India was inserted into IPC under Section 124A in 1870 when Britain ruled India. This Law states: “Whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the Government established by law in India, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, to which a fine may be added; or, with imprisonment which may extend to three years, to which a fine may be added; or, with fine.”

Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi were two prominent leaders who were imprisoned under this Act during the British rule of India.

The irony is that Great Britain abolished this undemocratic Act in 2009 with the prophetic words : “Sedition and seditious and defamatory libel are arcane offences – from a bygone era when freedom of expression wasn’t seen as the right it is today”. “Freedom of speech is now seen as the touchstone of democracy, and the ability of individuals to criticise the state is crucial to maintaining freedom”.

However Independent India is still carrying this imperial legacy in the form of silencing dissent and criticism in the so-called democracy. It has been widely used against popular movements and individuals speaking up against the establishment.

The Preamble of the Constitution of India is very clear in declaring that it secures to all its citizens Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship.

The Constitution of India under Article 19(1)(a)  guarantees to all its citizens the right to freedom of speech and expression. The law states that, “all citizens shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression”. However under Article 19(2) “reasonable restrictions can be imposed on the exercise of this right for certain purposes”.

The offence of Sedition has been misused by the Government in imprisoning those who differ from the Government point of view thus negating the freedom of speech guaranteed by the Constitution. A plethora of intellectuals, journalists, social activists, writers, tribal sympathizers, etc. have been put behind bars with no scope for bail or quick hearing in Courts. One remembers such tall thinkers and activists as Gautam Navlakha, Anand Teltumbde, Varavara Rao, Sudha Bhardwaj, Stan Swamy, Umar Khalid, etc. who have been arrested under Sedition/UAPA charges with no quick hope of redemption.

The Sedition law has also been invoked to arrest dissidents often without bail while they await trial — sometimes for years. Police arrested Disha Ravi, a 22-year-old environmental campaigner, for sharing a tweet in support of the Farmers’ Movement. Farmers have been arrested in good numbers for opposing the three Farm Laws that this Government wants to implement by force.

Gandhi when charged with sedition in 1922 told the Court :

“Section 124A under which I am happily charged is perhaps the prince among the political sections of the Indian Penal Code designed to suppress the liberty of the citizen. Affection cannot be manufactured or regulated by law. If one has no affection for a person or system, one should be free to give the fullest expression to his disaffection, so long as he does not contemplate, promote or incite to violence.”

Sedition has today become a convenient legal tool to stifle any voice that goes against what the State perceives as nationalism or patriotism.

We must remember at this stage what Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore warned us, “I will never allow patriotism to triumph over humanity for as long as I live.”

The Constitution of USA, whose democratic traditions the world looks up to, has a very strong First Amendment stating that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

The attempts to regulate or restrict the First Amendment on pretext of security, patriotism or otherwise have been thrown out by the American Courts as restricting the First Amendment guaranteed under the Constitution.

On First Amendment cases the Supreme Court Justices have issued rulings that have protected the speech of unpopular individuals and groups against government censorship. Cases concerning government attempts to crush union and student protests of the Vietnam war, flag-burning and Nazi protests established free speech as an essential protection for people with minority opinions who were in danger of being silenced by the majority.

India similarly must throw out from the statute books laws like the Sedition, UAPA and other similar Acts and allow the public freedom of speech guaranteed under our Constitution.

Without public criticism and consequent change in course of action India will remain a false democracy not reflecting the will and decisions of its population. The danger to becoming an autocratic ruled country then becomes real and frightening.

Echoing the appeal of Md. Zeeshan Ahmad and Zain Haider on this Sedition issue we concur with the same, “Lack of guidelines on arrest and inquiry gives further room for abuse of this law. As the latest National Crime Records Bureau data shows, there is a mere 3.3% conviction rate for sedition in the 93 registered cases. The UK scrapped its sedition law in 2009 on grounds that it is arcane and irrelevant and suppresses freedom of speech. This should be India’s aim too. The Law Commission said in a 2018 consultation paper that it is ‘time to re-think or repeal’ the section.” 

Mr. Shashi Tharoor writing his comments on the book written by Supreme Court Advocate Chitranshul Sinha entitled ‘The Great Repression’ mentions: ”Chitranshu Sinha’s trenchant exposition of the History of sedition laws in India is an exceptionally well researched and strongly argued case against this antiquated and undemocratic tool of repression.”

(The author is Convenor, Jharkand Nagrik Prayas) 

The post The Draconian Sedition Law in Independent India appeared first on SabrangIndia.

I am a devout Hindu but not a believer of RSS Hindutva form of Hinduism which brings about hatred of other religions. My Hindu religion has not taught me to look down on other religions and neither has it instilled in me the desire to go about converting others to my religion because my religion is superior. Hinduism has shown me a way to interact with my God with humility and adoration and at the same time allowed me to look at other religions with respect and acceptance of their choice. Above all Hinduism has given me the inner strength to accept truth and non-violence as twin virtues to pursue and to remain in peace with all mankind no matter what their individual beliefs are. 

Mr. Tapas has summarised very well the difference between Hinduism and Hindutva as follows :

1.  “The core concept of Hinduism is leading a meaning-full life whereas that of Hindutva is hegemony of Hindu beliefs and practices.

2. Hinduism guides people towards Moksha, whereas Hindutva guides people to acquire political power.

3. Hinduism is a religious believe, but Hindutva is a political movement.

4. Hinduism never supports violence to believers of other religions. Hindutva, on the other hand, promotes non-tolerance, even hatred to other religions.

5. Hinduism holds a pluralistic view of society, but Hindutva believes in a monolithic society with Hindu domination.

6. Hinduism is followed by overwhelming majority of Hindus, but only microscopic minority of Hindus follow Hindutva.

7. Hinduism recognizes a number of Gods and Goddesses, but Hindutva ionizes Lord Rama as trade-mark of Hindutva.”

Hinduism is a large umbrella that welcomes all to its shelter no matter what their religious beliefs may be. I am proud to be a Hindu but do not suffer from a superiority complex in believing that all other religions are inferior. All are children of God and while we may be treading different paths through different religious beliefs we will all meet at the end in the Almighty’s kingdom.

Hinduism has nothing to do with the violence being perpetrated in its name. Hinduism is a peace-loving religion that treats all human beings as equals and unflinchingly believes in non-violence as a life-long goal. There is no place in Hinduism for anger, jealousy, killing, feeling of superiority and looking at other religions as being inferior.

Our Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhiji very lucidly interpreted Hinduism many times as given below :

“Hinduism is not an exclusive religion. In it there is room for the worship of all the prophets in the world. It is not a missionary religion in the ordinary sense of the term. It has no doubt absorbed many tribes in its fold, but this absorption has been of an evolutionary, imperceptible character. Hinduism tells every one to worship God according to his own faith or Dharma and so it lives at peace with all the religions.”

“The beauty of Hinduism lies in its all embracing inclusiveness.”

“Hinduism tells everyone to worship God according to his own faith or dharma, and so it lives at peace with all religions. Its freedom from dogma makes a forcible appeal to me inasmuch as it gives the votary the largest scope for self-expression.”

“My Hindu instinct tells me that all religions are more or less true. All proceed from the same God, but all are imperfect human instrumentality,” 

“Non-violence is common to all religions, but it has found the highest expression and application in Hinduism. What of substance is contained in any other religion is always to be found in Hinduism. And what is not contained in it is insubstantial or unnecessary.”

The great Saint Swami Vivekanand similarly spoke about Hinduism as follows : 

“I am a Hindu. I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true.” 

Hinduism is an old religion rich in traditions which has no axe to grind against other faiths. It is for this reason that India has attracted people of all faiths to live in harmony in this country. By this process we have learnt the good points about other religions and adopted them in our daily lives. Hinduism is unique when compared to other religions in as much as it believes that no religion is untouchable and that all can co-exist amicably. Peace, non-violence and empathy are Hinduism’s salient features. 

Hindutva on the other hand as preached by RSS and present BJP’s leadership is a monolithic thought process that brooks no challenge. Hindutva spreads fear and hatred against non-Hindus that lead to violence and deaths in a number of cases. Hindutva believers indulge in mob lynching on suspicion of beef eating or cattle being taken for cow slaughter, violence against youth in the name of love jihad, beating for not reciting ‘Jai Shri Ram’, anti-Muslim and anti-Christian rhetoric so that they can leave the country for Bharat to become homogenized, etc. etc.

What we are witnessing today under the present regime is an attempt to make India of one colour instead of the rich coloured rainbow of religions, thoughts, ideas, languages and traditions. The variety that is India that the world praises has to be preserved and therefore it becomes our duty not to allow anyone to change and destroy the same. Religion of course is a personal matter and we cannot allow anyone to make it a public event coercing us to follow their dictates on our personal beliefs. Uniformity of thought breeds dictatorship whereas variety of ideas waters the plant of democracy. 

As Mr. Vikas Pathak clarified in The Wire, “Hindutva isn’t the same a practised Hinduism. It is basically a modern ideology that seeks to organise Hindus by projecting the Muslim as the Other. Translated as Hindu-ness, the term Hindutva was popularised by V.D. Savarkar in 1923. In his text Hindutva, he argued that all those whose fatherland and holy land were in India were Hindus. This marked a sharp distinction between Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists, on the one hand, and Muslims and Christians, on the other.”

If the above definition of Hindutva is not communalism then what is it?

(The author is Convenor of Jharkand Nagrik Prayas)

The post My Hindu Religion appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image: Karuna John / SabrangIndia

The post Why do Urban and Rural Indians have such different priorities? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Farmers had a very successful Tractor Rally on January 26 in Delhi. The attempt to malign their non-violent effort, through the Red Fort violent incident, is a standard tactic the Government uses through their supporters masquerading as farmers. What the Government fails to realise that the farmers’ protest has now spread to all parts of the country and more and more people are supporting the farmers. The absurdity of FIR against non-violent Ms Medha Patekar and Sri Yogendra Yadav for inciting violence speaks for itself. 

The Government must realise that a large majority of people have rejected the Farm Laws, and the Government must accept the inevitable and forego their ego. How can we displease the bread-givers who toil day and night to keep us fed and healthy. Their protest is fully justified and all of us support them in this endeavour. In the end they will win, and the sooner the Government scraps those Corporate-favouring Laws, the better.

Farmers in the country are agitating against the three Farmers’ Bills passed by the Government without any consultation with the stakeholders and the opposition political parties. The Government claims that it is good for the farming community whereas the farmers think otherwise. There is a stalemate and the Modi Government is adamant that the Bills will be implemented come what may. In this situation temperature is rising to the detriment of the nation. Let us think coolly about the situation.

Quoting from the Swaminathan Report on Agriculture of 2006:

“To those who are hungry, God is Bread – Mahatma Gandhi, 1946
Everything else can wait, but not agriculture – Jawaharlal Nehru, 1947

A majority of the hungry live in rural India and also depend on agriculture for
their  livelihood.”

Our own survival depends on what the farmers grow. They are our important lifeline. If they survive we will survive. Hence their well-being should be our prime concern. Over three lakh farmers have committed suicide over past years, and we do not seem to be worried. They have committed suicides because they have been unable to pay back the loans taken for their farming and this is because the price obtained for their produce has not been able to give them the profits envisaged.

An industrial goods manufacturer calculates the cost of manufacturing, adds overhead costs and then puts a price on the goods after adding the amount of profit he desires to make. Thus he is ensured of the profit amount and the loan repayment if any.

In the case of the farmer, a lot has been said and discussed about the Minimum Support Price (MSP). MSP has to be the price based on cost of farming plus 50%. Once the correct MSP has been determined for the crop it is the Government’s duty to buy the crops at the agreed MSP rates to keep the farmers alive.

The Farmers’ agitation has focused on two points, namely scrapping the Farm Laws and fixing the MSP of the crops. There is great fear among the farmers that once the Laws are enacted they will be at the mercy of the Corporates and India will gradually shift to Corporate Farming. Also doing away with MSP will endanger the farming community against the financial might of the Corporates. Farming community and the farmers will at the end have to give up farming.

As Kavya Datla writes in Down to Earth in an article entitled: ‘Farm Laws 2020: Who are they meant to serve’ –

“It is also difficult to ensure that the big corporates do not enslave the already marginalised farmers. By allowing both verbal and written contracts, the Centre places the farmers at the vulnerable end of the bargain with no redress.
It is highly likely that big corporates bury the farmers in an avalanche of legal resources. There is no denying that there is a widely disproportionate access to legal resources between farmers and corporates and there seems to be no real law in place to safeguard the interests of the farmers.
Both farmers and consumers run the risk of exploitation by placing the market in the hands of big businesses.
To build trust among farmers and the states would be to include a mandate for MSP, as recommended by the Swaminathan Committee, within the ambit of the bills. Another would be to plug the holes in the current system instead of trying to dismantle and introduce a new structure.”

The Farmers’ Agitation has awakened the population about the problems farmers face and of which the city-dwellers are unaware of. Supporting the farmers is like supporting our food giver. Lakhs of farmers committing suicide has not made news headlines, and over 130 farmers dying in the current Protest has not made the news item either. Thanks to the various social organisations and NGOs and awakened public these facts are now being circulated although the Government pretend to be deaf to the reality. All of us must unite and force this Government to cancel the draconian Farm Laws hurriedly enacted. 

Jai Kisan! Long Live our Farmers and their families!

*The author is convener of Jharkhand Nagrik Prayas

Related:

Kisan Ganatantra Parade: How the mainstream media deliberately ignored ground realities

Why did Delhi Police mislead us, not stop the outsiders who initially broke the barricades: Farmers

The post Farmers’ protest fully justified appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Today we are living in dark – the Age of Darkness. Under the present regime no one is able to predict what will happen tomorrow. Which draconian law will get “passed”, who will be arrested under UAPA next, what new “lies” will be told to the citizens, etc. This is the rule of Hindutva homogeneity under the garb of national unity. 

Opposition to Government is decried, nay punished. We are looking for 100% similar “yes” men and women and differences have to be crushed. Nothing would please the powers that be if we wore the same dress as ordained, ate the same food, talked the same language, thought the same thoughts. This would be ideal for our patriotism and national unity, and we could overtake all power on earth. So be it.

In this bleak atmosphere, let us remember the Father of the Nation who said,  
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a long time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it – always.”

Hatred and violence can never win, though for some time, they can make us despair. India has braved all cruel rulers in its glorious history and thus present situation cannot last forever. We are inherently strong and with Gandhi’s above inspiring words, the change in the right direction is not far.

What shall we do to keep our spirits high and body intact in this autocratic atmosphere? Again let us recall what Gandhiji said if such a situation arises
(we have all his wisdom at our disposal even when he is not alive) :
“Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly.”

It would be cowardice on our part to shrink back from our responsibility towards protecting our sacred Constitution and securing the future for our coming generations.

Only one example shows how callous and hard-hearted this regime is in the way it handled the large migrant population when the sudden complete Lock-down was announced in March 2020. The argument, if any, must have been that to protect people from Coronavirus, severe Lockdown was necessary. Somebody must have said, “What about migrants in various cities who would get stranded with no job, no house, no money, far away from their hometowns, etc.” The answer might have been, “That is collateral damage.” If we want to save people from Corona, some other people have to be sacrificed.  

That is the awful story of migrants walking thousands of kilometres to their homeland, quite a number dying on the way. Migrant lives don’t count.

Pratap Bhanu Mehta in a recent article has eloquently emphasised what liberalism (so sacred to our Constitution writers) is: “All liberals should be interested in is making sure that freedom is not compromised… They will have to ensure that the purpose of public policy and public discourse is to protect freedom and not to stereotype or subordinate another culture or produce a forced uniformity.”

Freedom was also the slogan of Balgangadhar Tilak when he proclaimed, “Freedom is my birthright.” Today that sacred freedom is being curtailed for
various arbitrary reasons – what you say is against the Government, your speech hurts the majority community, it is against my religion, you are preaching sedition and terrorism and so on. A cap called “urban naxal” is put on any dissenter’s head.

If Gandhi or Jayaprakash Narayan were alive today, they would stand on the streets and shout to the people to join and protest non-violently against the false arrests, destruction of Constitutional bodies, spread of hatred and divisiveness, attacks on minorities and dalits. They would fearlessly exercise the freedom of expression and not allow our country to be destroyed 

So once and for all, let us join hands together in non-violent protest against the Government’s selfish machinery and fight for the upliftment of our poor brethren since the poor, the deprived, the hungry, the tribals and the dalits are the conscience of this nation, not the fortunate few at the top of the pyramid exercising their cruel authority for their personal gain.

We are the nation and we will make it a nation for ALL.

*The author is Convener, Jharkhand Nagrik Prayas.

Other articles by Prem Verma:

August 5, 2020 and thereafter

Free universal healthcare for all in India

Fight against Commercial Mining of Coal in Jharkhand

The post The Age of Darkness appeared first on SabrangIndia.

December 6, 1992 – The day India lost its secular character and opted for majoritarionism as its ruling philosophy. The quilt of India made from its myriad beliefs, religions, languages, customs and traditions was torn to shreds by an insane crowd of zealous fanatics egged on by a short-sighted selfish leadership of Bhartiya Janata Party and Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh. It was a day of mourning, never to be forgotten, written in history of this country as an act of repudiation for all that this nation had stood for – a nation for all its population despite the differing beliefs.

August 5, 2020 – The day we put a final seal of approval on our denial of this nation encompassing all with sympathy, humility and brotherhood.

NO MORE.

This country is for devout Hindus and all should accept the same no matter what they have been falsely believing so far. The Bhoomi Pooja by our elected Prime Minister signifies that this is Hindu religion that gets priority over all other beliefs and the rest will be given second class status in our scheme of things. It’s almost like saying that you be a devout Hindu or seek solace in some other country. One wonders if this is the same Hinduism that Gandhi, Ramkrishna, Vivekanand and Tagore preached. Where is the sympathy, sensitivity, non-violence, humility of Hinduism which welcomes all faiths and beliefs to co-exist peacefully in a world created by the Almighty? 

 Does Hinduism become superior by killing of other non-believers? Did Emperor Ashoka become great because of Kalinga war or he is greater still because he embraced non-violent Buddhism? Do we as a people become famous by shouting “Jai Shri Ram” or we need to embrace people of all diversity to create a peaceful world? Today daggers are drawn, non-Hindus are threatened, liberal Hindus are persecuted, Muslims and Christians are a foreign entity who have wrongly invaded our shores and we must act fast enough to create a Hindu paradise.

 August 5, 2019 – Another black day for this country when we abrogated Section 370 for Kashmir and downgraded the paradise of Kashmir into two Union Territories – all by an autocratic nation calling itself a democracy. The significance of August 5 being also the day of Bhoomi Puja of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya cannot be lost on a heady population which considers Kashmir subjugation and Ram Mandir construction as two pillars of enactment of Hindu majoritarianism. The choice of August 5 – the day the Muslim majority Kashmir was taught a good lesson – as the day of Ram Mandir is not a coincidence but a well thought out programme to subjugate the Muslim minority to the wishes of Hindu majority. Gandhiji’s lessons and preachings that it is the duty of the majority to protect the minority have been thrown to the winds and going to Rajghat on October 2 and January 30 has become a fashion to fool the public about our commitment to non-violence.

 Mother India cries out for peace and amity among all its population and appeals against divisive tendencies so rampant and being promoted in the country today. Hopefully saner minds will prevail and the Hindi-Muslim fabric of our multi-coloured quilt, so rich in inter-culture relationship in novels, art, music, etc. will remain intact for future generations to enjoy.

 The threat to and silencing of minorities will continue unless we as a nation realise that India’s greatness lies in its diversity of religions, languages, traditions, customs, etc. All of us have benefitted immensely  from this cultural potpourri. Let us not copy the American way by becoming similar in all respects in food habits, in religion practices, in dress, in thinking. We are a nation of many varieties and opinions and the openness of the society which welcomes criticism is the bulwark of real democracy.

*The author is Convenor, Nagrik Prayas, a concerned citizens group, Jharkand   

Also by Prem Verma:

Free universal healthcare for all in India
Fight against Commercial Mining of Coal in Jharkhand

The post August 5, 2020 and thereafter appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The spread of Coronavirus in India and the subsequent misery of the migrant population has exposed the underbelly of dismal healthcare in our country. There is a daily outcry of shortage of hospital beds, doctors, nurses, ICUs, absence of functioning rural healthcare centres, etc.

It is a great pity that while our neighbouring small nations like Bhutan and Sri Lanka provide free universal healthcare for all their citizens, India is still struggling with healthcare schemes that cover only partially a small section of our population that have to struggle meaninglessly for a gold/red/blue, etc. card to become eligible for partial healthcare facility. Almost all advanced nations like the U.K, France, Switzerland, Canada and a host of others provide free universal healthcare for all of their citizens irrespective of income status. Other countries like Cuba, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, etc. also cover all their citizens with universal healthcare. Why India does not think in this direction and consider providing free healthcare for its citizens a top priority is a mystery unsolved.

The argument that we do not have money for providing free healthcare for all is a fictitious argument because if defense requires double the budget, the money somehow is made available. Defense is top priority but citizens’ health is at the bottom of the list. If citizens are not healthy, whom are we trying to protect with the piling of armaments?

What is the present scenario? India’s Annual budget is Rs. 27,84,200 crores (2019-2020). Out of this allocation for health sector is a mere 2%, i.e. Rs. 63,538 crores whereas the defense budget is 11%, i.e. 2,82,733 crores. Thus India’s Defense budget is five and a half times the Health budget.

Let us see how other nations, who provide free universal healthcare to all its citizens, do their allocation for healthcare from their budget.

Country                                        Health Budget as a % of total Budget   

Switzerland                                                         34.7
Cuba                                                                    28
U.K.                                                                     19.7
Sri Lanka                                                             11
Bhutan                                                                   9
India                                                                      2                             

India’s current population is 136 crores and average annual expenditure incurred by its citizens on their healthcare is Rs. 2,465. This means that to cover all its citizens with free universal healthcare, an annual fund of Rs. 3,35,240 crores is required to be allocated to the health sector, i.e. 12% of Budget. Is that impossible? If the health of its citizens is top priority for a nation, can we give an excuse that due to non-allocation of required resources the health sector will continue to suffer?

Indian Government’s apathy towards healthcare delivery to its citizens is borne out by the following facts as stated by Saif Kamal in Health and Life – 

“There is only one Government allopathic doctor per 10,189 people, only one Government hospital bed per 2,046 people, and one state run Hospital per 90,343 people. Out of 1 million doctors in the country, only 10% of them work in public health sector. They lack good infrastructure, proper management, dedicated staff and many other things which are required to provide reasonable and appropriate healthcare.”

Malnutrition is a serious problem in India. According to Unicef at least 3,000 children die due to malnutrition every day in this country and every year 10,00,000 children die below the age of five.

In Global Health ranking India’s position is 145th out of 195 countries, even below Nepal. Bhutan and Sri Lanka.

Medical costs are one of the primary causes of poverty in India. Around 63 million Indians fall into poverty each year because of health care bills, and 70 percent of all charges are paid directly by patients.

Due to lack of proper and adequate healthcare delivery from the state run hospitals, patients are forced to seek relief from private hospitals where the charges are abnormally high. This results in the poor patient being forced to incur very high out-of-pocket expenditure and this forces him to sell his assets, property or land and drives him ultimately below the poverty line.

When we compare Per capita expenditure on Health for various countries, we find India at the bottom of the list as shown below –

Country                                        Per capita expenditure on Health (US $)

Switzerland                                                            6,944
Norway                                                                  4,802
U.K.                                                                        3,500
Sri Lanka                                                                     71
India                                                                            35

Comparing Healthcare Expenditure as a % of GDP –

Country                                                               Percentage of GDP         

France                                                                         8.7
Switzerland                                                                8.5
U.K.                                                                             7.9
India                                                                           1.02

A large country like India, where 70% of total population resides in rural areas, continues to be biased in its healthcare delivery in favour of the urban population. Instead of relying on preventive care and well equipped Primary Health Centres in semi-urban and rural areas, the emphasis has been on city hospitals which become overcrowded and suffer from population pressure.  

The Constitution incorporates provisions guaranteeing everyone’s right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. Article 21 of the Constitution guarantees protection of life and personal liberty to every citizen. The Supreme Court has held that the right to live with human dignity, enshrined in Article 21, derives from the directive principles of state policy and therefore includes protection of health. Further, it has also been held that the right to health is integral to the right to life and the government has a constitutional obligation to provide health facilities.

Failure of a government hospital to provide a patient timely medical treatment results in violation of the patient’s right to life.  Similarly, the Court has upheld the state’s obligation to maintain health services.

It is therefore imperative that we make free universal healthcare for all our citizens a goal to be achieved in the nearest future. A healthy nation is a happy nation and the exorbitant amount that the rural population has to shell out today for healthcare from their meager personal earnings leading to extreme poverty can be totally avoided.

*The author is the convener of Jharkhand Nagrik Prayas.    

Related:

Covid-19: Jharkhand Nagrik Prayas condemns the Centre’s inefficiency in implementing the lockdown
Fight against commercial mining of Coal in Jharkhand
Why should India’s migrant labour pay for their return home

The post Free universal healthcare for all in India appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The spread of Coronavirus in India and the subsequent misery of the migrant population has exposed the underbelly of dismal healthcare in our country. There is a daily outcry of shortage of hospital beds, doctors, nurses, ICUs, absence of functioning rural healthcare centres, etc. 

It is a great pity that while our neighbouring small nations like Bhutan and Sri Lanka provide free universal healthcare for all their citizens, India is still struggling with healthcare schemes that cover only partially a small section of our population that have to struggle meaninglessly for a gold/red/blue, etc. card to become eligible for partial healthcare facility. Almost all advanced nations like the U.K, France, Switzerland, Canada and a host of others provide free universal healthcare for all of their citizens irrespective of income status. Other countries like Cuba, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, etc. also cover all their citizens with universal healthcare. Why India does not think in this direction and consider providing free healthcare for its citizens a top priority is a mystery unsolved. 

The argument that we do not have money for providing free healthcare for all is a fictitious argument because if defense requires double the budget, the money somehow is made available. Defense is top priority but citizens’ health is at the bottom of the list. If citizens are not healthy, whom are we trying to protect with the piling of armaments? 

What is the present scenario? India’s Annual budget is Rs. 27,84,200 crores (2019-2020). Out of this allocation for health sector is a mere 2%, i.e. Rs. 63,538 crores whereas the defense budget is 11%, i.e. 2,82,733 crores. Thus India’s Defense budget is five and a half times the Health budget. 

Let us see how other nations, who provide free universal healthcare to all its citizens, do their allocation for healthcare from their budget.

Country                                        Health Budget as a % of total Budget    

Switzerland                                                         34.7

Cuba                                                                     28

U.K.                                                                      19.7

Sri Lanka                                                              11

Bhutan                                                                 9

India                                                                     2                             

India’s current population is 136 crores and average annual expenditure incurred by its citizens on their healthcare is Rs. 2,465. This means that to cover all its citizens with free universal healthcare, an annual fund of Rs. 3,35,240 crores is required to be allocated to the health sector, i.e. 12% of Budget. Is that impossible? If the health of its citizens is top priority for a nation, can we give an excuse that due to non-allocation of required resources the health sector will continue to suffer? 

Indian Government’s apathy towards healthcare delivery to its citizens is borne out by the following facts as stated by Saif Kamal in Health and Life – 

“There is only one Government allopathic doctor per 10,189 people, only one Government hospital bed per 2,046 people, and one state run Hospital per 90,343 people. Out of 1 million doctors in the country, only 10% of them work in public health sector. They lack good infrastructure, proper management, dedicated staff and many other things which are required to provide reasonable and appropriate healthcare.”

Malnutrition is a serious problem in India. According to Unicef at least 3,000 children die due to malnutrition every day in this country and every year 10,00,000 children die below the age of five.

In Global Health ranking India’s position is 145th out of 195 countries, even below Nepal. Bhutan and Sri Lanka.

Medical costs are one of the primary causes of poverty in India. Around 63 million Indians fall into poverty each year because of health care bills, and 70 percent of all charges are paid directly by patients.

Due to lack of proper and adequate healthcare delivery from the state run hospitals, patients are forced to seek relief from private hospitals where the charges are abnormally high. This results in the poor patient being forced to incur very high out-of-pocket expenditure and this forces him to sell his assets, property or land and drives him ultimately below the poverty line.

When we compare Per capita expenditure on Health for various countries, we find India at the bottom of the list as shown below –

Country                                        Per capita expenditure on Health (US $)

Switzerland                                                            6,944

Norway                                                                  4,802

U.K.                                                                        3,500

Sri Lanka                                                                     71

India                                                                            35

Comparing Healthcare Expenditure as a % of GDP –

Country                                                               Percentage of GDP         

France                                                                         8.7

Switzerland                                                                 8.5

U.K.                                                                               7.9

India                                                                             1.02

A large country like India, where 70% of total population resides in rural areas, continues to be biased in its healthcare delivery in favour of the urban population. Instead of relying on preventive care and well equipped Primary Health Centres in semi-urban and rural areas, the emphasis has been on city hospitals which become overcrowded and suffer from population pressure.   

The Constitution incorporates provisions guaranteeing everyone’s right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. Article 21 of the Constitution guarantees protection of life and personal liberty to every citizen. The Supreme Court has held that the right to live with human dignity, enshrined in Article 21, derives from the directive principles of state policy and therefore includes protection of health. Further, it has also been held that the right to health is integral to the right to life and the government has a constitutional obligation to provide health facilities. 

Failure of a government hospital to provide a patient timely medical treatment results in violation of the patient’s right to life.  Similarly, the Court has upheld the state’s obligation to maintain health services.

 It is therefore imperative that we make free universal healthcare for all our citizens a goal to be achieved in the nearest future. A healthy nation is a happy nation and the exorbitant amount that the rural population has to shell out today for healthcare from their meager personal earnings leading to extreme poverty can be totally avoided.

*The author is the convener of Jharkhand Nagrik Prayas.    

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The news of the Supreme Court approving the Posco and Vedanta Projects in Odisha came as a huge blow to all the movements striving for an equitable Indian social order. Large forest land amounting to 2,900 acres had been permitted to be decimated by the Korean giant and a sacred hill amounting to 660 acres had been allowed to be dug and destroyed by the Sterlite group. If this was not a travesty of justice against the poorest of the poor, what is? It seemed God was also not listening to the helpless cries of those being displaced and deprived.

The answer always given for such cruel displacements is that adequate compensation will be given in form of alternate land and/or money. What is conveniently forgotten is that not only the land and environment is being destroyed in the name of development, it is a whole way of living developed over centuries that is being attacked for a promise of happy materialistic living totally built on selfishness. We wish to convert this wonderful country of diverse cultures and traditions into a monolithic American way of life where everyone eats, dresses, thinks and speaks the same way, thus drowning out our rich cultural heritage.

Much as we respect the Highest Court and the law of the land, it was time now for all people’s movements to get together on this issue and support wholeheartedly our friends in Odisha who were fighting on an uphill path but knew they were right according to the higher law of humanity. No government in history has been able to rough ride the united voice of the people and this was the moment and occasion

for us to come forward and gather together in large numbers around our friends from Odisha to give them strength, support, encouragement and a loud voice that could be heard all over the country.

Mr. Jairam, an activist of the DongriaKondh tribe, which holds the hill sacred (awarded to Sterlite), declared,“Even if you kill us we will not give up Niyamgiri. Our souls are in Niyamgiri, our food, water, homes are in Niyamgiri.”

The Niyamgiri people had decided not to allow Sterlite to enter Niyamgiri and unitedly they resisted all Government orders at the cost of intimidation, arrests, threats and punishments meted out to them. The decision of the united tribal community was clear – we will not allow even at the cost of our lives. This was Gandhi’s Satyagraha in its purest form and like Gandhi the people of Niyamgiri won despite all the Court orders and Government pressures.

We need a similar Movement in Jharkhand to stop and scrap the commercial mining of coal, a commodity on which the Gram Sabhas have total ownership power.

*The writer is the convener of Jharkhand Nagrik Prayas.

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