Economic and Gender Inequality in India
The Republic of India is a country that is based in the Southern parts of Asia that is the 7th largest country in the continent. It is bordered with Indian Ocean to the south; the Arabian Sea to the south west, the Bay of Bengal to the southeast and Pakistan to the west. At the same time, India shares a common border with China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east. It has the 2nd largest population in the world that stood at 1.2 billion according to the 2012 statistics behind the Republic of China that is leading in that aspect (Gesteland & Gesteland, 2010). India is an ancient country of the Indus Valley Civilization as well as a state of historic trade routes explaining why it was referred as the commercial and cultural country of wealth. Apart from materialistic wealth, the country of India was as well a wealthy nation when it comes to religions. For instance, it is the home of the four of the largest world religions that include Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. At the same time, of other religions that include Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam exist in the country after they arrived in the country in the 1st millennium. Hence, one would not be wrong in stating that India is a country with a diverse cultural background (Dutta & Mandal, 2011). Correspondingly, it is a country with two major language families which are the Indo-Aryan, which represents about 74% of the total population and the Dravidian that represents the remaining 24% of the country’s populace.
The country has the 10th largest economy based on their GDP not forgetting to mentioned that there larger population places them at top of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) that was according to the Market-based economic reforms in the year 1991. That, in addition, places the country as the fastest growing economy in the world considering that fact that it has developing industrialized country (Bangura, 2010). Equally, its nuclear capability has placed it as a regional power with the third largest standing army in the world, and top ten in military expenditure in the world. However, it has its fair share of challenges that include insufficiency, venality, starvation, inadequate public healthcare, and terrorism. Furthermore, it is a country that is a federal constitutional republic that is governed by a parliamentary system that is consisting of a 29 states with a total of seven union Territories (Dutta & Mandal, 2011). Worth noting also is the fact that India is diverse/multicultural, trilingual, and multi-ethnic society. It terms of its economy, the country’s economy was worth $ 1.8 trillion according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as at 2013 making it the 11th in the world. Their major agricultural products include rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, among others with their major imports including but not limited to oil, machinery, gems, fertilizers, and chemicals (Chant, 2010).
Among the major inequalities, India is typically affected by the social inequalities. It is the differences that are recorded in the income, resources, power, and status of the populace of a region. Health care and education are examples of social inequalities that would be deduced in the Republic of India (Gesteland & Gesteland, 2010). According to a survey that was done by the Indian National Family Health survey in 2006, it was revealed that almost two-thirds of the country’s populace were not accessing proper medical attention something that was attributed to various factors including the vastness of the country. By illustration, the number of births that were taking place out of health care facilities was alarming especially in the rural areas where they lack infrastructures including accessible roads (Dutta & Mandal, 2011). In addition, the fact that the country accounts for 17% of the world’s population as well as more than one-fifth of all maternal and child-deaths indicates without a doubt that the scope of the mentioned social inequalities in India is shocking (Gesteland & Gesteland, 2010). However, through the realization of the importance of education as well as a populace with good health, the country has taken critical measures in addressing the issues.
The fact that the country of India ought to have a populace that is equipped with knowledge and good health care in order to become a global power propels the Indian government to implement measures towards that objective. That they have done by taking into consideration the education of the girl-child something that was neglected over the years, and as a result, crippling the endeavors of the progress of the country (Gesteland & Gesteland, 2010). Various organizations within the country are playing an important role in the campaigning for education opportunities for all especially in the rural areas. Moreover, the government of the country has taken various steps to address the social inequalities through the realization that, failure to utilize the material health care services plays a role in the confining of the economic development. Hence, the government has taken up measures ensuring that the health care facilities are accessible to all the populace including the rural populace (Chant, 2010). Likewise, the fact that the government categorized education as a right that would be aggressively safeguarded indicates the seriousness with which the social inequalities were tackled in the country of India.
Reference
Bangura, Y. (2010). Combating poverty and inequality: Structural change, social policy and politics. Geneva: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development.
Chant, S. (2010). The International Handbook of Gender and Poverty. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Pub.
Dutta, P. C., & Mandal, R. (2011). Globalisation, growth and inequality in North East India. Delhi: Kalpaz Publications.
Gesteland, R. R., & Gesteland, M. C. (2010). India: Cross-cultural business behavior : for business people, expatriates and scholars. Frederiksberg: Copenhagen Business School Press.
