HEALTH OF THE NATION

The nation’s approach to health needs to go from ‘reactive’ to ‘proactive’

One important indicator of a developed nation is the health of its citizens. For India, which is aspiring to enter the ‘developed nations’ club’, it is important to emphasise healthcare. It is a major challenge. Not only are we still struggling to fight the diseases that were the scourge of the medieval, but the new age diseases are also threatening us. So, it is a double whammy. On the one hand, diseases like Tuberculosis, Malaria, Cholera (and other communicable diseases) continue to affect large sections of our population, particularly the poorer segments. The diseases of the modern times like Cancer, Coronary Heart Diseases, Diabetes etc. are spreading their tentacles over the people. Then, there is the rising challenge of mental health as Depression strikes a large number of people. An objective assessment would suggest that all is not well on the health front. It is important to focus on this aspect of our nation which we must cope with through a more comprehensive approach. ‘Health for all’ was an important Millennium Development Goal, which we faltered over. There is a need to have another look at the whole concept of health. A widely accepted definition of health given by the World Health Organization (WHO) says that it is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not just the absence of disease or infirmity. Indices of the recent past suggest that Indians are visiting hospitals in greater numbers. The number was 31 per thousand in the urban areas as per the NSSO data of 2004. In 2014, this number rose to 44. The figures exclude hospitalisations due to child birth. This, of course, is not the whole story, given the economic and social reasons that determine the reach of the affected people to hospitals. The public expenditure on health remains low, at 1.4 per cent of GDP. The investment in health research is just one percent of total public health expenditure. This has caused a stark rise in the out-of-the-pocket expenditure of the people on healthcare. It is 6.9 per cent in the rural areas and 5.5 per cent in the urban areas. How to tackle this issue of health is thus a tricky question and calls for greater concern. There is need to understand that good health is not just absence of disease and health cannot be a function of health care. Good health denotes freedom from illness as also freedom from vulnerability to illness so that it allows a person to realize one’s potential. There is need to focus on preventive care and help people acquire robustness and resilience so that they do not have to depend on health care for maintaining health. Rather than depending on reactive healthcare there is need for proactive healthcare. With commercialisation of healthcare and rise of corporate hospitals proactive healthcare is taking a back seat as return on investment and not health of the people becomes the objective. It is therefore imperative on the part of the government agencies to aggressively create health consciousness in the people through marketing campaigns. Lifestyle changes and focus on health habits may yield rich dividends with little expenditure. Rather than marketing healthcare, there is need to market health given the fact that lack of awareness and ignorance of the common people causes more diseases than the microorganisms. Health, hygiene and habit are intricately linked. And there is need to establish this link through awareness campaigns.

A THOUGHT FOR THE NEW YEAR

There is a very insightful story from the life of famous singer Tansen. He was the court singer of Emperor Akbar and one of the nine jewels, the Navratna of the court. Such was the singing prowess of Tansen that many seemingly impossible feats would be performed by his melodious music and songs. The legend goes that his popularity was far and wide and there were no challengers. During the same time there was another equally good emerging singer and musician named Baiju Bawra. Baiju wanted to be a better and more famous singer than Tansen, but could not attain the same recognition. He, in frustration, decides to eliminate Tansen so that he could become Numero Uno by default. With this in mind he one night sneaks into the bedroom of Tansen with intention to kill. But as he was about to strike the fatal blow with his knife,Tansen wakes up. Surprised as Tansen is, he asks Baiju who he is and why he wants to kill him. Baiju says that he wants to be the best singer of his time and it was not possible as long as Tansen was living. Tansen, then, gives a pithy piece of advice to Baiju saying that if he wants to kill Tansen the best way is to create love and compassion in his heart. Tansen will be finished without any bloodshed. Baiju takes the lesson to his heart and practices with full dedication, without hatred and ambition and later on beats Tansen in a widely touted duel. The authenticity of this legendry tale and its historicity may be questioned, but not the significance of the message. It is love and compassion of the heart that goes into the composition of great music. Success does not come from ambition and envy. It comes from love and dedication. As we look back at the year 2017 on this last day, we find that a lot of hatred and violence has gone by. And on flimsiest of the reasons. Let us look forward to the year 2018 with love and compassion in our hearts. There is a popular saying that if you sow wind you will reap whirl wind. India has witnessed a lot of violence, hatred and strife in its formative years and there is little room for any more. A resolution, then, for the New Year is very much is order. Let the coming year be a year of love and compassion, camaraderie and peace — a marked departure from the year that was. Hatred and violence have never and will never solve the problems of mankind. It is love and compassion that makes the human society peaceful and liveable. History suggests that Indian subcontinent has seen world’s greatest votaries of love, compassion and peace. The land of Buddha, Mahavira and Gandhi must once again take the lead in dissemination of the right message for mankind. The previous century saw death and destruction in large numbers due to ambition and hatred. Let the present century be oriented towards love. And what better day to call it a day for hatred and strife than today,the last day of 2017. Let there be a new beginning tomorrow as the New Year dawns. Human beings are born with three basic emotions of love, hate and rage. We need to emphasize love and suppress the other two. Only love and compassion can make this world liveable and lovable.

SAVING THE LAW

The hallmark of a healthy democracy is the rule of law. And what is this rule of law? Equal rights to all, special privileges to none. The Indian democracy ensures this through the three institutions of Executive, Legislature and Judiciary. A free press, of course, is another institution to monitor as a neutral observer so that the institutions act in consonance for the maintenance of the rule of law. Of late, there have been several debates on institutions going for some kind of an overreach. While that may be true for the Executive and the Legislature, it seems to be a misnomer in the case of Judiciary. The very purpose of Judiciary is to act as a watchdog to make sure that Executive and Legislature perform their duties in accordance with law. Judicial overreach is thus an imaginary condition, a bogey raised by those who find it intervening in high handedness. But Judiciary is a machinery that operates to ensure that the common man gets justice. And this is done with the help of agents of law, that is, the lawyers. A disturbing trend has been some kind of a disarray in this agency as commerce and not justice is becoming the key objective of the legal fraternity. Naturally, when commerce becomes the need, means become immaterial. Or rather, they facilitate the end by all means. The result has been that justice is not distributive, it has become selective. So, it is the hand-maiden of some. The recent suggestion of the apex court to the Central Government to bring a law to regulate the legal profession and cap lawyers’ fees aims to address difficulties that the poor face in accessing justice. In the process the court seems to be concerned about legal ethics. There are, however, many others dimensions too, of this legal ethics that need to be addressed. There is need to look at all those issues that are doing a disservice to the cause of justice. What goes behind all this undesirable action of some members of the legal fraternity is, of course the profit motive that is the driving force. But regulating the professional fees may not be workable. Just like the case of medical profession. With the growth of the corporate hospitals, the basic objective of the medical practitioner has become moneymaking. Same is true of legal profession. The capping of professional fee may not solve the problem. Because there will always be the underhand deal. There is need for stronger focus on professional conduct and punitive action in case of faltering. If it is criminal negligence in the case of doctors, it is criminal indulgence in the case of lawyers. There is need for strong mechanisms to report misconduct and improve the legal machinery to discriminate between frivolous, motivated and genuine litigation. It is important to ensure that the law is not used as a tool by a lawyer-criminal nexus to harass the law abiding. Such scenarios do exist. How to contain this is certainly a difficult question to answer, but there is need to fix lawyer’s liability in false cases. The need is to emphasize professional ethics and make the guilty stand in the dock. From instituting criminal cases to seeking unnecessary adjournments to dragging cases to higher courts are all means to pursue the commerce objective. It is time these tendencies were curbed and those responsible made to compensate. It is time we saved the law.

DEMOCRACY AND INDUSTRIAL PEACE

Though trends suggest that Industrial violence is not as prevalent as it used to be yet some incidents of the recent past do remind us that complacence will be dangerous. Even CEOs and executives may face the wrath of workers that gets aggravated due to perceived dissatisfaction. The episode of violence at the Maruti Suzuki Factory at Manesar, Haryana, is a case in point that reminds that industrial violence in India is by no means a thing of the past. The consequences of violence are disastrous leading to bloodshed and destruction to property. What is the answer to this may be a matter of concern for the industries but one thing can be said ensuring democracy at the workplace can be helpful. Democracy has been defined variously and any one definition may not encompass the entire concept.Nevertheless, its spirit can certainly be summed up in these famous words from the classic work of the noted author Harper Lee — Equal rights to all, special privileges to none — is what sums up the idea of democracy as given in the book by the protagonist. But experiences suggest that making this concept work is rather difficult. For example the case of many Heads of State today who seem to have acquired dictatorial streak.They get inebriated and the power enters the head. And the first casualty of such a state is peace. The same principle can be applied to industries where CEOs seem to become power crazy. But these aberrations do not make democracy undesirable as there is no better system. Democracy is a system that works despite its weaknesses. The moot point is that democracies ensure peace much more than other systems. In the case of industry this is all the more important because industrial democracy leads to industrial harmony and ultimately industrial peace. The working class knows its limitations and is not worked up about privileges though it certainly wants them. But it is conscious of its rights and wants to be sure that those rights are protected. In other words it wants to be ascertained that its rightful dues will be met justifiably. The working class wants to be treated fair and square and expects the management to handle it with care. It is this perception that makes the working class free of anxiety, free of apprehensions. So in words of Tagore he wants an environment in which the mind is without fear and the head is held high.This is the first precondition of peace. Such an environment can only be expected in a democracy, a setup in which all are treated equally. What should that democracy be like? To quote one of the greatest US Presidents Abraham Lincoln, “A democracy is a Government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” That is a system in which it is the ruled who rule. Understanding this in an industrial context it becomes a system where even the last man has all the rights. The role of trade unions is paramount in facilitating the creation of such an environment and thus ensuring peaceful co existent of all present.The management and the workers are not to conflicting parties but two wheels of the chariot which make it run smoothly. Democracy ensures peace and peace brings harmonious relations amongst the people present. The traditional formula of achieving industrial relation through legislations need to change. It is human relations which ensures industrial relations.