Like Australia, India is one of the larger nations to call itself a democracy. However, this article will show that democracy can exist on a sliding scale and that India has many issues it has to tackle in 2022. India’s situation is not helped much by the ruling government’s attitude toward charities and NGOs. The Indian government barred a charity founded by Mother Teresa two years ago from receiving foreign funds to provide education, medical care, social assistance, and disaster relief to its citizens. Do not let that stop you from donating! There are still many ways to donate to help India tackle its top issues in 2022.
Crimes Against Women and Children
One of the issues that India must tackle in 2022 is the way it treats its female citizens and children. For the first time in over 100 years, the Indian census has reported more women than men (1,020 women for every 1,000 men) in India. Historically, India has had a sex skewed ratio, created by a social preference for sons to carry on a family legacy rather than daughters who eventually cost a dowry. From the advent of antenatal sex screening in the 1970s, sex-selective abortions, known as female foeticide, became commonplace. Some people hail the census findings as evidence of a societal shift, evidence that India is now a safe, accommodating place for women. However, just as the number of women has increased, so too has the rate of violence against them. Last year the National Commission for Women (NWC) recorded the highest number of crimes against women since 2014. India is not a place for societies vulnerable, of which there are many. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), crimes against children in India have increased steeply by 381% in the last decade.
Corruption
Women and children are not the only demographic to experience skewed victimisation and violence. The current governing political party in India is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP champion Hindutva. Hindutva is an ideology that privileges the Hindu majority over religious minorities. Muslims are a religious minority in India and represent approximately 14% of the population. Muslims in India have experienced dozens of murderous attacks incited by the ruling Hindu nationalist party. In December 2021, a video showed a meeting of Hindu religious leaders calling for genocide against Muslims. In attendance were members of the ruling BJP. The government in India seems unconcerned with the rising crime rates against minorities, women, and children. In August 2021, the BJP had over 100 MPs with criminal charges pending against them. Among these charges were rape and murder. Corruption is a significant issue India has to tackle as a country in 2022.
Poverty, Healthcare and Basic Sanitation
Along with social and political issues that India has to tackle in 2022, it also has to tackle poverty. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measures the goods and service output of a country. India has had a strong economic growth rate post-Covid-19 of any other country within the last few months, with an increase of 8.4%. Despite healthy GDP growth and ranking as the sixth richest economy in the world, approximately 37.2% of 1.2 billion citizens live in poverty. Poverty persists in India due to high urban unemployment, agricultural hardship, and inflation. Farmers experience a lack of basic amenities such as irrigation systems and agricultural implements. With farming becoming all too hard India is seeing people move into the cities to find work. This just leads to life in the mega slums where unemployment and poverty persist. Imagine not having access to a working toilet, this is the reality for 36% of India’s population, which is about 700 million people. Imagine having no access to healthcare providers, again this is a reality for 50% of India’s Indian villagers.
Mistreatment of women and children, corruption, poverty, healthcare, and basic sanitation are prominent issues for India to tackle leading into 2022. As our sibling nation in democracy, we owe it to India to be aware of their hardships and to buffer them from sliding off the scale of democracy in any way we can. This article provides a few of the most prominent issues for the country in 2022, but sitting back and doing a search will no doubt lead the inquisitive reader to many other issues India must tackle for a better tomorrow.
