Now before we rush out to buy that Mother’s Day card or put up a nice-sounding status message on Facebook, here’s something that ought to have a sobering effect on us. India, reveals the State of the World’s Mothers 2011 released Saturday, ranks 75th among 79 less developed countries in terms of the importance that the country gives to its women and mothers.
The Index also tells us a lot, by default, about what the Congress-led government in New Delhi has been doing for women and mothers – India, in fact, has slipped by two ranks since 2010. The ranking will also make us wonder what the Ministry of Women and Child Development has been doing since 2006 when it was made a full-fledged ministry. India, by the way, ranks above only Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire in this category of countries. And also, of course, above 43 other least developed countries. Proud moment for us, that. So shouldn’t we scream “Bharat Mata ki Jai” one more time? After all, that’s so much importance that this country grants to its matas.
Let’s look at one indicator closely. The lifetime risk of maternal death in India is one out of 140 (2008 figures). In Norway, the best place in the world for a mother to be, the figure is 7,600. But Norway does not lead on this particular count – it is Greece with 31,800. In India a young woman is more likely to die. Only those like Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, Swaziland, etc, fare worse. So much for maternal care.
We shouldn’t really be surprised, leave alone be shocked, at the numbers. Only a couple of months back the preliminary results of the latest census had told us that the child sex ratio of 914 girls for every 1,000 boys has been the lowest since Independence. And in October last, the World Economic forum had ranked India 112th among 134 countries in its global Gender Gap Report. Take the two together, and the rankings/findings of this report would be something of a fait accompli. Actually, it is only a confirmation of our fears.
The Ministry of Women and Child Development, however, is a fearless one. Its website brags fearlessly. For instance, it says, “For the holistic development of the child, the Ministry has been implementing the world's largest and most unique and outreach programme of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) providing a package of services comprising supplementary nutrition, immunization, health check up and referral services, pre-school non-formal education.”
Now, we indeed need to get rid of such frivolous superlatives. The “world’s largest outreach programme” would mean nothing if it turns out to be the world’s biggest flop. Maybe it isn’t. But then, it is not a resounding success either. The under-5 mortality rate (per 1,000 live births), for the record, is only 66. In most developed countries, it is a single digit number. In India, the percentage of children under 5 who are moderately or severely underweight is 48. Yes, 48. The only less developed country which comes close to India is Pakistan with 38. Even the “impoverished” nations of Africa fare better.
The problem is not only of the sad state of women’s affairs; it is also about raising these issues. At a moment when the elite and the upper middle class are still drunk on its World Cup success, the chances of one being called a party-pooper for raising such issues are extremely high. You would be called a consummate loser. Numbers, however, will tell us who the real losers are: women and children.
[The 12th annual report from Save the Children, released ahead of Mother's Day Sunday, ranks the state of mothers worldwide by studying the performance of women on indices such as maternal mortality rate, percentage of women using modern contraception, female life expectancy at birth, educational status of women, healthcare received by pregnant women, post-natal care and participation of women in government, among others.]
