Poverty is a killer disease.

For all of us who can see blindness would be a devastating condition. It is terrifying even to think about it. On World Disability Day, Dipak Shapariya, a 47 year old blind professor of history at Gujarat College said," ....My only regret is that I cannot read books for 12 hours a day. Instead, I have to settle for audio books. Anyway, I wish the same life in the next birth. I would choose blindness over poverty any day. For me, being in despair is defeat in itself. Facing the situation is victory." TOI, 3 December. We have always been told the health is wealth but here is a man who thinks that poverty is a far greater curse than blindness in a country that is callously indifferent towards disabled people. In western countries blind people have guide dogs who are trained to lead their masters on to buses or underground trains, traffic signals give out loud beeps to indicate when it is safe to cross roads and recorded messages in trams and underground trains announce stops coming up. So why do we still have legions of poor people in our country 65 years after independence? Why are 47% of children malnourished? Why are we debating whether poverty starts at Rs 28 per day or Rs 32? Because poverty helps to win elections. How else will politicians compete to give freebies with taxpayer money. In Gujarat the Congress promised free apartments to the poor under the " Ghar nu Ghar " scheme so now the BJP is giving away free apartments. One woman who works as a housemaid applied twice and has been offered a 3 bedroom apartment on the outskirts of the city and a smaller one inside the city. She is trying to keep both. This massive spending by parties to win elections has led to the fiscal deficit, the current account deficit, inflation and the falling rupee. But surely the recent US presidential elections was the most expensive in history where both parties spent a combined total over $6 billion. True, but it was not taxpayer money but raised through private donation which would not affect  government finances. The only way to combat poverty is by reducing the population and cutting corruption. The one child policy in China prevented 400 million extra births and led to improved education of children, improved health of women, less stress on health services, less stress on farmland and reduced labor costs as millions of women were able to work. India, being a democracy, cannot enforce such a rule but if aid to the poor is linked to less children we would instantly see less births. The Congress has started direct subsidies to the poor linked to Aadhar cards in an effort to cut corruption. The government should also start giving salaries to employees through such cards. That will prevent billions of rupees being stolen by millions of " ghost " employees. Good acts do not win elections. Patriotism is for losers.