The Two Sides of Same Coin-A Look at Indian Health Industry

Every year, the world celebrates its “World Health Day” on 7th April, under the sponsorship of the World Health Organization. This year, the organization celebrated the day focusing on the safety of health facilities and the willingness of health workers who take care of people who got affected by emergencies. However, the question is --has Indian Health scenario changed as it was expected to be? Certainly, we all have an answer and it’s very true that still lot need to be done to improve the Indian Health Industry.

According to a recent report submitted by Save the Children in India, more than half of children whose are under the age of five do not get the health care they require. In fact the country along with Ghana when it comes to offer the basic health care to its children under five years of age. Looking at whether developing countries are actually delivering health care effectively to children, it found that even country like Philippines was performing best with almost 69% of children able to get access to health care. The report, known as the State of the World's Mothers, states that girls die at much higher rates in India than most countries. Besides this, India’s maternal mortality rate (MMR) stands at 450 per 100,000 live births against 540 in the 1998-99 period and way behind the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which call for a reduction to 109 by 2015, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said.

According to UNICEF, India must work hard to achieve about a two-thirds reduction in MMR to meet the target by 2015, which at present seems to be a difficult task as per growing social and income inequalities. In addition to this, despite enjoying nearly 9 percent economic growth for three years the major part of Indian population still lives in rural areas, many without access to basic medical facilities. Moreover, with climate change expected to increase the strictness and frequency of natural calamities, India is one of the few countries that must make its hospitals disaster-resistant so that sufficient medical relief can be provided in emergencies, says an international expert, Claude de Ville de Goyet, former director of emergency preparedness and disaster relief coordination in the World Health Organisation.

Nevertheless, looking at the other side of the coin—Indian Health sector is considered to be one of the major booming sectors of India and all set to grow exponentially and with its inherent qualities can become the global hub for healthcare services. It has undergone through a period of relative transition, registering a 12% annual growth rate. Enjoying its ride on the current growth speed some leading experts even predicts the market expansion of over US $25 billion by 2010.


One of the major problems of this industry is an acute shortage of trained personnel, ranging from doctors, nurses, technicians and even healthcare administrators. Besides this, it is also expected that by the year 2012 there could be a shortfall of over 450,000 doctors. However, such challenges even offer a better opportunity for both domestic and foreign players in the form of ‘training & education’. It offers perfect opportunities for foreign players to enter the market to take a two-fold advantage. First, they can get a piece of the booming education sector and second, they can source some of the talent for their own countries as human resources shortage in healthcare.

The growth has created various areas of opportunities for investors. As per recent report given by FICCI-Ernst and Young (E&Y) :
• The medical equipment industry is around US$ 2.17 billion and is growing at 15 per cent per year. It is estimated to reach US$ 4.97 billion by 2012.
• The medical textiles industry is projected to double to reach US$ 753 million by 2012.

In last few years the increased importance given to medical and technical education by the Government has also resulted in a qualified labour force. There has been a significant growth in stem cell biology, biofuels, and bioinformatics, while rigorous R&D efforts continue to aid in the development of advanced treatment for several debilitating diseases.

Vote and be a Part of Change Or Else deserve its Consequences

With polls around the corner, the madness surrounding the political event has finally reached new heights. Different political parties has started gearing up for 15th Lok sabha Elections and garnering the awareness of the local people are thought-provoking and crispy electronic media ads that urge them to vote and choose right candidate responsibly. But, what evokes a serious concern is that do we still don’t realise the importance of our vote. Celebrating the 60 years of Indian independence, have we still failed to realise that our vote can actually make a difference. Being a citizen of India and eligible to cast my vote, I am once again excited to cast my vote. Vote is yet another tool that gives me right to raise my voice, express my concern and role I need to play being a true citizen of India. Unfortunately, there are many who still are unaware of importance of voting.

May be you are asking yourself, “With billions of people who vote in any given election, does my vote really count?” Or perhaps you may feel like you can’t really make a difference, so why bother? But the truth is all different. Your vote does count and you always make a difference every time you use your right to vote. The chances are more when you come across your friend or colleagues who choose not to vote because they sense or drive an illusion like what goes on in the government doesn’t affect them. The truth is again different in numerous ways. You need to understand that elected officials make major sorts of decisions that can directly affect your life. The candidature you elect will decide whether to raise or lower taxes, create economic policies that could affect your job.

Talking about the next probability, it may be you feel that when it comes down to it, all the candidates are the same, so why bother voting. But the answer is even if this is how you feel, kindly keep in mind that the winning party may have an enormous impact on our children's future, and our future. If we do not vote, we forfeit our right in bringing a change in the society. Each election, we find approximately 40 to 45% of the electorate do not cast their vote due to several reasons. So, the voting percentage must go up 70 to 80% if we want to eradicate the candidates with criminal background. Today, most intellectual gene pools in India know about IT, economics, culture and other things than how their own future is decided every four years. So no criminals, do vote and caste your right.


Being a youth perhaps the time has come to realize that the young people have the power to transform society with their passion and energy. It is right time to realize that we just cannot treat Election Day as another holiday. Looking at the present scenario, participation is the only feasible way to show your concern.

Here are some of the famous incidents from across the world where the importance of just vote made the difference. If you think that your vote won't make a difference, please consider the following:

a.In 1645, one vote gave Oliver Cromwell control of England.
b.In 1846, a one vote margin in the U.S. Senate approved President Polk's request for a Declaration of War against Mexico.
c.In 1850, California was admitted to the union by a margin of one vote.
d.In 1875, a one vote margin changed France from a monarchy to a republic.
e.In 1940, the vote taken by the French parliament to maintain its status as a republic failed by a margin of one vote.
f.In 1994, the U.S. House of Representatives enacted a law banning specific classes of assault weapons. The vote was initially tied but one member changed his vote to approve the ban.

While young people historically have the lowest turnout rates for any age group, but this time lets be the one to bring a change. Today with every form of media publicizing the importance of voting through youth icons, I hope young India gets charged. It is the right time to make sure we get what we deserve.

Have a thought and take action...let’s go and vote.

Indian Education System -Is there anything to cheer about?

India, a nation that has always been known for its unity in diversity and plurality never ceases to fascinate. Education is its one among various other attributes of India that have always gained the whole world attention. Though the United Nations is more likely to be worried about the existence of a large number of illiterates, on other side various other countries are actually surprised by the excellence of Indian human resources that the Indian education system has delivered since its independence.

In last few years, the growth of an Indian economy and urge to maintain it is forcing the Indian government to speed up the course of developing the new branches of the Indian education system. As a result of this, it is very vital to understand and analyze the various structures of education in India, its present condition and future developments.

As per our great Mahatma Gandhi’s values and vision education can constitute a truly civilized and free India. He always emphasized on education and said “Education can not only mould the new generation, but it has the ability to reflect a society’s fundamental assumptions and the individuals which compose it.” His incident in South Africa was enough to change his outlook on politics. It even helped him to see the role education could play in freedom struggle.

After India gained its independence in 1947, providing education for all becomes a priority for the government. As inequity on the basis of caste and gender has been a key obstacle in the healthy development of the Indian society, they have been made unlawful by the Indian constitution.



Today, we can proudly address to entire world that we have the world’s largest education system with 290 university-level institutions, 13,150 colleges, 88 lakh students, and 427,000 teachers. Yet, its enormity fades if we look that only 8% of the related age group avail themselves of higher education. This certainly shows that if there is a slight increase in the demand for higher education then it would put massive pressure on the existing system. Besides this, while Indian institutes of management and technology are world-class, the picture of primary and secondary schools, particularly in rural areas has not changed since 1947. Moreover, new governments always guaranteed to boost spending on education and bring in structural reforms but this has rarely been delivered in practice.

There have been numerous efforts to add in all the sections of the population into the Indian education system, through process like positive unfairness and non formal education, still large numbers of young people are without schooling. Adding to this, though enrolment in primary education has increased, it is estimated that possibly as many as 60 million, children aged 6–14 years are not in school. In addition to this, high drop-out rate, especially after Class 10, low levels of learning, insufficient school infrastructure, high teacher absenteeism, the large number of teacher vacancies are other key prime issues.

Looking at the other side today, every child has a dream of a bright future. In this flattening world, the aspirations of people have also increased manifolds. Their horizons have broadened; there is a hunger to learn more, a hunger to excel. So, the time has come for the government who strives to a superpower to satiate this hunger of the populace of its country. As India is on the edge to make an important change to a knowledge economy, it means that it will not only have to develop and disseminate knowledge, but even use that knowledge-base to increase its growth and wealth.

It is important for every single citizen to understand that education is not just another tradable service with profit as its primary motive. It has the capability to shape the very process of economic and social development. The structure and growth of a country’s education sector actually depends upon how the country’s policy makers view higher education. So the question is does education is viewed as a vital service for developing human resources? Or is it just like any other trade generating service responding to market demands?

Finally, the answer of these fundamental questions would decide how the educational sector needs to shapes up as a consequence of liberalisation.

Have a thought.............

Global Warming and India- Are We Ready for Climatic Disaster?

For the past few years we have heard a lot and read more about global warming. In fact today every channel is emphasizing on the consequences of global warming. These days the term “global warming”, is widely used in the popular context of scientifically controversial phenomenon that has attributed in an increase of average annual surface temperature of Earth.

As per recent studies and report submitted by WWF, indicates about how global warming can be a major threat to ten of the world’s greatest natural wonders, including two in the United States. For instance, the Yangtze River is facing water shortages as glaciers continue to retreat. Besides this, from turtles to tigers and from the desert of Chihuahua to the great Amazon – all these nature wonders are at risk from warming temperatures.

India has not been an exceptional and is one of major countries where global warming can disturb the lives of millions of people. The rising of sea levels have submerged the two islands in the Sunderbans, where tigers roam through mangrove forests in the Ganges River delta, and a dozen more islands are also under threat। As per official report that lists 102 islands on the Indian side of the vast Sunderbans is turning out to be wrong statement as scientists found that two have been swallowed up.

In September 2002, scientists at the National Centre for Agricultural Economics and Policy Research conducted a people’s perception survey on climate-induced natural disasters in the Kendrapara district of Orissa। The result depicts an alarming picture। The frequency and intensity of droughts have increased in last 10 years and so have the incidents of flooding. Moreover, the intensity of cyclones has also increased and local people believes even the sea-water had become warmer.

As a result of ongoing climate change, the climate of India has become increasingly volatile over the past several decades and this trend is expected to continue. The Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research has reported that, if the assumptions relating to global warming made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change come true then the climate-related factors could cause India's GDP to decline by up to 9%. This particular change might contribute in shifting growing seasons for major crops such as rice and production of which may fall by 40%.

Moreover, as per UN study, that examined the possible outcomes of global warming in the next 30 years, has identified India as one of the "hot-spots", particularly susceptible to rise in extreme drought and floods in the coming decades. By 2050, India will be at least 3 Degrees Celsius hotter, many of its rivers would have dried up, cyclones more intense and there will be ruthless water and food shortage.

In the year 2007 in Delhi, winters arrived by late October. But last year they made a very hesitant appearance only in the third week of November. Pindari glacier, a favourite destination among trekkers, melts over 130 metres every year. The Chota Shigri glacier in Himachal Pradesh loses 6 metres annually. The International Commission for Snow and Ice also warns that by 2035, most glaciers in India would have melted.

There can be number of latest examples where we can actually know about the affects of global warming in India। The comparisons may appear very unfair and the predictions too farfetched. But both, world scientists and Indian experts, see a method in this maze of climate change.

Though India does not emit even 5 per cent of the greenhouse gases at the moment, it is already paying for the sins of industrialised nations, especially the US and Japan। No matter what is the outcome, India needs to decide soon on how to prevent damage to its climate। "Clean development mechanism and technology transfer are some of the key answers to global warming. But at the end the question is- Are we really concerned? Give a thought...