अमावस से पुकार

अमावस की काली रातों में

जीवन तलाश रहा  हूँ

उम्मीद मन में  लगाये

कोई रौशनी की किरण

चाहे दूर हो या पास

जो छु ले तन को

जो मन को टटोल दे

जो इस कमजोर शरीर में

जान की खुशबु डाल दे

जो फिर से मन को समझा दे

जो फिर से कानों को बोल जाये

जो सागर की लहरों की तरह आये

और तन को छुकर मोहित कर दे

जो पर्वत की तरह कठोर हो

पर मन माताओं जैसी कोमल 

जो फूलों से चुराकर

खुशबु मुझपर बरसा दे

जिसकी धार तलवार जैसी हो

पर अहिंसा से प्रेम करती हो

जिसमे नीम सा तीतापन क्यों ना हो

पर जरुरत में दवा बन जाती हो

जिसमे पीतल से भी कम चमक ही हो 

पर मेरे भाग्य को चमका सकती हो 

जो बच्चों जैसी चंचल क्यूँ ना हो

मुझे धैर्यवान बना सकती हो

जिसे अपने ऊपर गर्व हो तो क्या

मुझे झुकना सिखा सकती हो

यही एक छोटी सी बिनती है मेरी

एक ऐसी ही किरण की तलाश है

इस अमावास की काली रातों में !!! 

Note: It is for the first time I am trying my hand at writing poem. It took me nearly 4 hours to write this short poem. 

Leader, but not to be proud

THE former President of India Mr. A P J Abdul Kalam always reiterate in his speech to the youth of this highly diversified nation regarding the great mission of making India a Superpower by 2020. I do not know how we will be able to realize this dream of such a great and inspirational person of our time. The reason that makes me nervous (not nervous I suppose, but sad) about the thought is because of the today's headline which reads " India has 40 per cent of world's malnourished, says expert".  Apart from this the current economic state of India with rupee slashing down with respect to USD, lowest growth of the last decade (2012-2013 financial year growth data), the debt ($172 billion) , which is the sum of short-term debt as well as long term debt maturing the same year (31st March 2014), of India  is approximately 60% of it's foreign exchange reserve and what not. In that case, we have six and a half years left to hit the mission. I would like to wait and watch till I comment anything on the economy as I think it is premature to judge the sudden fall in the economy which is forming a vicious cycle at present with both Current Account Deficit and Depreciation of rupee hunting us together. My main focus, thus, will be regarding the health prospect of India.   

We are surely the leaders of the world in terms of the number of malnourished children. Before beginning to put pen to paper on the impact of such condition on the development prospect of India, let me write the definition of malnutrition: It basically refers to a situation where lack of certain nutrients, necessary for key physiological functions, is observed among children. Sometimes, it also refers to those cases where children are over-nutritioned. Overall, it is necessary for children to have a balanced diet which is required at that particular age. However, in general, children suffers from malnutrition (state of overweight, stunt growth etc.) because of low nutrition resulting out of poverty, hunger etc. According to the UNICEF data, 1 in every 3 of the world's malnourished children lives in India. On one hand, India is being counted as one of the front-runner among emerging economies and it's state of economy being compared to some developed nations. At the same time, on the other side of the story, we are being compared to Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Sub-Saharan Africa etc. As a matter of surprise, we are even behind these countries when it comes to the data of malnutrition. 

Looking from the manpower perspective, India is one of those nations having no dearth of manpower to work on it's various projects and contribute to the economy of nation. Some of the European nations promote immigration (with some regulation) in order to supply manpower to it's various industries such as IT. Very recently, the American President Mr. Barack Obama said in a discussion with the business leaders that they need to create a system so that they can attract the young and brilliant minds to do business on the American soil. Inspite of looking at the need of different countries, our policy makers fail to appreciate the need to promote health of its citizens (specially those children under 5 who are vulnerable to various shortcoming in their health bcacuse of their specific requirements) who in the long run might provide the brain to boost up the economy of the country. It is not a rocket science to understand the relation between manpower and development which goes as: If we have large manpower sufficient for every industry which includes education, agriculture etc., there will be more production, more invention as more ideas are working together, more development. However, it is easier said than done. There are several intermediate variables like efficiency, gender equality etc. which needs to be addressed in order to realize the full benefit of having huge manpower. By not able to save the young children, we are inviting a dark future.

India has no dearth of programs to tackle health issues of children. Some programs under the banner of Government of India in this direction includes: 
(a) Midday Meal Scheme in Indian Schools.
(b) Integrated Child Development Scheme.
(c) National Children's Fund.
(d) National Plan of Action for Children.
(e) National Health Mission.
The main objective of all the programs mentioned above it to promote the welfare of children. Programs like Midday meal scheme deals with providing nutritional meal, according to the nutritional norms given by the Government of India, to children of Government and Government-aided schools in India. While ICDS has the task of educating pregnant and lactating mothers about the nutritional requirements of a child. They also provide health services, supplementary food. The objectives of National Rural Health Mission are to reduce the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR), provide universal access to public health services, prevent locally endemic diseases, promote healthy life styles etc.  

According to MG Venkatesh Mannar, president of Canada based NGO Micronutrient Initiative, India has all the policies and programs required to handle the problem but there is no proper implementation. Our system regarding the implementation of such policies revolves around many ministries like Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Rural Development. Thus, it is a herculean task to implement any policy as it has to go through many hurdles. He also believes that lack of co-ordination between the central and state government is another obstacle in the solution of this problem. 

In the research paper, " Mercedes de Onis, Edward A. Frongillo & Monika Blossner: Is malnutrition declining? An analysis of changes in levels of child malnutrition since 1980", the authors have clearly shown that stunted growth and development can hamper their academic performance and clearly the ability to contribute to the society. The policy-makers thus have to understand and take the burden on their shoulders that the nutritional status in children is one of the major indicators of developments and will play a key role in not only the economic development but also the development of society as a whole. We, as a Nation, certainly need a mass movement to protect the young children. The problem itself does not provide any solution, rather we have to join hands and pledge as a responsible country towards those young minds to protect them from malnutrition. At last, I just want to rewrite the statement in the banner which says, "Let's take a pledge together to rid India of malnutrition"