Why talk only terror? Talk about social and economical injustice

The ongoing BRICS summit again went in the same direction as recent summits, with India’s Prime Minister using it as a platform to blame Pakistan as the “mothership of all terror activities” and squarely putting TERROR as the cause of all the social, economical and ecological inequalities in the world.

Is this really true? Or, is “Terror” being increasingly used as the new punch bag for all the evils that continue to plague us?
Coming to an important issue- food. The International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington has ranked India 97 among 118 countries on the Global Hunger Index. India fared worse than all its neighbours – China, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – except Pakistan, which is ranked 107. The Global Hunger Index report also predicts that India will fail to achieve its Sustainable Development Goal target of ending hunger by 2030. This despite the midday meal schemes for school children, anganwadis and public distribution system. Is terror the cause for this failure?

Coming to health, it has recently come to light that India has been grossly under reporting its total tuberculosis burden (total number of cases suffering from Tuberculosis)- almost by half. According to the World Health Organization(WHO), India had reported only 56% of TB burden in 2014 and 59% in 2015. Why? Should terror be blamed for this gross negligence of a serious health problem?

We are proud of our Jawans. But are they atleast safe from the caste discrimination that haunts the Dalits, tribals and others in India? Here is an instance of Dinesh Rathod, an army man and bravery award winner and a Dalit, who was killed by upper caste persons in Surendranagar village in Gujarat in 2010. Right now his elderly parents (mother Jethiben and father Jahabhai Rathod) are fighting for justice for their son by going on a fast unto death after the accused were acquitted for lack of evidence. They are demanding a CBI inquiry. It is now two weeks and we should wait and see how our leaders respond to this.

Two countries which need to look at more immediate issues are now talking only terror and taking war positions. They are shouting hoarse on the human rights violations occurring in the neighbouring country. Will a war solve the problems of their people?

-UDAAN