Gujarat IAS cadre ex-bureaucrat regrets poor state performance in education, health

By A Representative
Former state health commissioner Dr Amarjit Singh, Gujarat cadre IAS, made a civil society consultation in Ahmedabad an occasion to come down heavily on Gujarat's performance in social sector. Quoting official data, he suggested that, despite economic growth, Gujarat remains one of the worst performers in the social sector. Not only does the state have one the highest out of school girls in the age group 15-16, 24.9%, he said, children’s learning levels too are extremely poor.
Recalling his visit to a school during the Gujarat government-sponsored Gunotsav festival for improving quality of education when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was state chief minister, Dr Singh said, he went to a Jamnagar school, which was in good condition. Finding the photographs of national leaders hanging on the wall, he asked children who they were. None of the children could identify Sardar Patel or Mahatma Gandhi.
Dr Singh said, he talked with the principal of the school as to find out what was the reason. The principal replied, most children belonged to the backward bharwad community, which has no inclination to learn. This suggested caste bias is extremely strong in Gujarat schools, he added.
Suggesting that things have turned worse for healthcare, Dr Singh – who is currently on a post-retirement job as chairman of the Gujarat Real Estate Regulatory Authority – quoted National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data to say that severely undernourished children in Gujarat have gone up from 5.8% to 9.5% in a decade. By sharp contrast, he added, Delhi’s AAP government was doing exemplary work in health and education sectors.

Organized by Vadodara-based NGO Sahaj, and supported by several women’s groups, Prof Jharna Pathak of the Gujarat Insitute of Development Research (GIDR) told the consultation on gender, health and women’s issues in Gujarat, that while cases of rape (from 1.71% to 3.3% of total crimes) have gone up, the conviction rate remains poor – 25% for rape and 4.1% for all crimes against women. Data suggested that incidents of cruelty by husbands and sexual harassment have gone down, but this could be because of lack of reporting to the police.
Despite the talk of gender budgeting, it was pointed out, allocation for women remained poor. For instance, women’s helpline was allocated Rs 56 crore in 2018-19, but spending has been just Rs 17.5 crore. The allocation for safety of women is also down from Rs 29 crore to Rs 19 crore.
While most activists and experts complained about lack of data on social sector, Dr Tannistha Samanta, assistant professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, regretted, quoting Helpage India data, that Ahmedabad has one of the highest old age abuse cases. In a comparison of 23 cities, Ahmedabad’s 46% elderly people experienced abuse, second only to Mangalore, 47%.

Comments

pan card online application said…

Good post.Thank you so much for sharing it.You have provided some useful information here.People can learn new things from this site.The blog shared here are informative.they are relevant today.So glad to read this post.It is a pleasure to visit this site.Keep sharing more posts.Really looking forward to it.Thanks once again for sharing this post.

February 07, 2019

Modi’s Israel visit strengthened Pakistan’s hand in US–Iran truce: Ex-Indian diplomat

By Jag Jivan M. K. Bhadrakumar , a career diplomat with three decades of service in postings across the former Soviet Union, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Germany, and Turkey, has warned that the current truce in the US–Iran war is “fragile and ridden with contradictions.” Writing in his blog India Punchline , Bhadrakumar argues that while Pakistan has emerged as a surprising broker of dialogue, the durability of the ceasefire remains uncertain.

Manufacturing, services: India's low-skill, middle-skill labour remains underemployed

By Francis Kuriakose* The Indian economy was in a state of deceleration well before Covid-19 made its impact in early 2020. This can be inferred from the declining trends of four important macroeconomic variables that indicate the health of the economy in the last quarter of 2019.

Why Indo-Pak relations have been on 'knife’s edge' , hostilities may remain for long

By Utkarsh Bajpai* The past few decades have seen strides being made in all aspects of life – from sticks and stones to weaponry. The extreme case of this phenomenon has been nuclear weapons. The menace caused by nuclear weapons in the past is unforgettable. Images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from 1945 come to mind, after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities.

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”

Food security? Gujarat govt puts more than 5 lakh ration cards in the 'silent' category

By Pankti Jog* A new statistical report uploaded by the Gujarat government on the national food security portal shows that ensuring food security for the marginalized community is still not a priority of the state. The statistical report, uploaded on December 24, highlights many weaknesses in implementing the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in state.

The soundtrack of resistance: How 'Sada Sada Ya Nabi' is fueling the Iran war

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* The Persian track “ Sada Sada Ya Nabi ye ” by Hossein Sotoodeh has taken the world by storm. This viral media has cut across linguistic barriers to achieve cult status, reaching over 10 million views. The electrifying music and passionate rendition by the Iranian singer have resonated across the globe, particularly as the high-intensity military conflict involving Iran entered its second month in March 2026.

Beneath the stone: Revisiting the New Jersey mandir controversy

By Rajiv Shah A recent report published in the British media outlet The Guardian , titled “Workers carved the largest modern Hindu temple in the west. Now, some have incurable lung disease,” took me back to my visits to the New Jersey mandir —first in 2022, when it was still under construction, though parts of it were open to visitors, and again in 2024, after its completion.

Civil society flags widespread violations of land acquisition Act before Parliamentary panel

By Jag Jivan Civil society organisations and stakeholders from across India have presented stark evidence before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj , alleging systemic violations of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RFCTLARR) Act, 2013 , particularly in Scheduled Areas and tribal regions.

Ecologist Dr. S. Faizi urges UN intervention to save 35 million Gulf migrants

By A Representative Renowned ecologist and veteran United Nations negotiator Dr. S. Faizi has issued an urgent appeal to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, calling for immediate diplomatic intervention to halt escalating conflict in the Persian Gulf. In a formal letter copied to several UN missions, Faizi warned that the lives and livelihoods of 35 million migrant workers—who comprise the vast majority of the population in many Gulf cities—are facing an unprecedented existential crisis.

Search This Blog