New Delhi, November 5: Lambasting the present as well as previous governments, Congress stalwart Shashi Tharoor has said that successive governments in India had not spent enough on education and health sectors, underutilizing the annual budgets.
“In this country, mostly individuals spend for their treatment and poor people end up losing everything for getting cured in the private healthcare space,” Mr Tharoor said at an interactive session organized by the Indian Chamber of Commerce here on October 4.
Lack of creative thinking
Discussing the education sector in the country, Tharoor stated that it was “over-regulated”. “The education system being followed here is not focused on creative thinking. Here, students are taught what to think and not how to think. This is what is encouraged in our classrooms,” he said.
Mr Tharoor said the government clearly needs to prioritize spending on health. “I would not exempt even my previous governments because over the last 70 years, the expenditure on health and education has been modest,” Tharoor added.
Referring to government-backed insurance schemes, he said even though here is a primary need of for social security in the country, the ultimate gainers are the insurance firms.
“What we ought to do in the government is to massively invest in public sector hospitals, primary and community healthcare sector where treatment will be free. If we have a decent infrastructure available at the public sector, the question of needing a subsidized insurance scheme should not exist,” he stated.
Education important for national security as well
Earlier in September, Tharoor has said that the country’s demographic dividend would turn out to be a demographic disaster if “we do not provide education to all sections of society including the poor, the marginalised, Dalits and tribals.”
“If we don’t, the alternative stares us on the face because [in] the 125 of the 625 districts, we have seen Maoist violence as unemployed, undereducated and unemployable young men, particularly from tribal populations, are induced by wrong-headed ideologues to take up a life of violence with a thousand rupee and Kalashnikov,” he said.
Stating that education is not only a tool for social transformation, but also important for national security, Tharoor pointed out that the education system has failed to give them [Maoists] a stake in society.
“It has failed to equip them with the skills that would give them a chance to make a decent living for themselves and their family, and therefore they have no stake in Indian economy, no stake in the future of India, because they believe they have no part in it and that’s why they have turned to Maoism and to violence,” he said.
Suggesting that the country promote excellence in education to transform society, Tharoor said that it’s very important to provide value education and instill gender sensitivity from a young age.