Being the capital city of the country, it lives up to its name.
On one side where we have Connaught place, a well known place. On the other side we also have places where people strive for a meager meal of two times a day.
You must be wondering who this lady is and what this post is all about!
Met this lady near India gate selling corns and thought of inquiring about her.
She's from Bengal and was married off at a small age and came to Delhi and has been working since then around Delhi.
What touched me from inside was "people come from all sorts of places to see India gate and then there are people for whom it doesn't matter whether its there or not".
Each time 25 year old Salma takes her one year old son Zubair to the Batla Clinic (a private clinic in Delhi) for a shot of the DPT, the cost of transportation and the vaccine adds up to approximately Rs.500.When it is time for Zubair to take the next immunization dose, Salma may find that the expenses have entirely spiraled out of her reach.
New vaccines and expensive brands of baby foods and tonics are flooding the market. Three shots of the Pneumococcle cost Rs.12, 000; a dose of the Diarrohea Rota Virus comes for Rs.2000; the polio injectible (IPV) comes for approximately Rs.2000.
“We end up spending approximately Rs.20,000 on vaccinating one child alone. These expenses are not covered under any insurance scheme. My husband earns a decent sum, but we find it difficult to meet the rising medical expenses.” Said Shweta Jha, mother of two, who owns a three bedroom house in an up-market locality in Delhi’s outskirts in Noida.
For Salma, spending Rs.500 (for a shot of the DPT) is hugely prohibitive. She shells out a monthly Rs.1000 rent for a damp and un-ventilated one room house crammed in between the narrow and foul smelling streets of Madanpur Khadar wher– in the absence of civic or sewerage facilities – mosquitoes breed in cesspools and mountains of garbage are stacked up everywhere. A foamy yellow liquid spurts out of the municipality taps – which is used up in the toilets and for washing clothes.
Like many of her neighbours, Salma spends Rs.12 to buy a 20 liter can of water filled from the nearby tube-wells for cooking and drinking purposes. “We spend approximately Rs.3,000 each month on medical expenses. My husband Zakir Hussain works as a clerk in a private bank (the family’s only bread earner) and brings home a monthly salary of just Rs.7,000 in all”, said Salma.
Rich versus poor divide
Like several resettlement colonies of the poor, Madanpur Khadar – sandwiched between the blue-glass fronted corporate offices and spanking new malls of Sarita Vihar, adjoining the imposing Apollo Hospital – does not have a primary health centre. “People go to quacks or to the private doctors for treatment”, said Madan Lal of the “Mobile Creches” – a voluntary organization working for welfare of children of migrant labor.
Diarrohea, typhoid and respiratory diseases are common among children living at Madanpur Khadar. The 2010 study by the Delhi Forces Neev – a network of organizations working on child-related issues - found 20% children at Madanpur Khadar as being severely malnourished.
Delhi- metamorphosing into a capital of the new world and a city that boasts of the country’s second largest per capita income – has an ugly face tucked away in its innards.
The Delhi government does not have an estimate of the number of poor living in the metropolis. “We have now started the process of identifying the poor”, women and child development minister Dr. Kiran Walia said.
The 'mobile creches' estimates are that more than half of Delhi (64% of the population) is poor – family earnings less than a monthly Rs/4,000.
Even after government's claim of being on the track of a better India, we can barely see changes that should have taken place.
Isn't it?
#Satyam_Bruyat
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