By Ittoop Panikulam

Mumbai: An article on January 10 by Shoaib Baniyal in ‘Scroll.in’ had a question: “Why does poor West Bengal have healthier children than rich Gujarat I suppose the answer is, Gujarat has money, but not Gujarat’s poor children. Am I right, Shoaib?

What does our future cry for? For wealthier or healthier children? Do we want a healthier future or a wealthier future?

The Global Hunger Index 2020 report has placed India 94th position among 107 countries, behind Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal. The numbers of unhealthier children are on the rise in our rich, ancient and ever new land. The situation is grim and the country is battling/not battling widespread hunger. In the midst of this poor scenario, India’s ambition is to climb one step higher on the scale of wealth. The wealthy and the powerful few have their eyes on the world-o-meter that flashes the names of the richest countries in the world. Rejoice with celebrity India; it has now climbed up to the 5th position in the world, just below Germany and can you imagine, above United Kingdom. We are on the right prosperity map that should enable us one day to be on the top of the ladder, grabbing number one position? Arguably we shall sooner or later be at least above Germany.

At what cost?

May we look at a British Citizen, ranked 6th in wealth index and an Indian at 5th! The world-o-meter register shows while India has money worth the sum of $2,650,725,335,364 ($2.651 trillion), an Indian in real terms has a meagre $ 1, 980. Whereas a British citizen has $ 39,532; (their GDP, $2,638,296 trillion); every German citizen has $44, 680 and every Qatar citizen, $61,264. That’s a Himalayan sized gap. What a pathetic situation! India is having money while many Indians go starving? Why does comparatively poorer Britain have healthier children than rich India? And the truth is we are 94th in the latest global hunger- list. It would mean 93 countries in the world have healthier children than in the fifth wealthiest India. We might go up in becoming richer and richer while descending on having hungrier and hungrier bellies. The worth of a passport of a country is weighed not by the country’s wealth; we are ranked 85th in the world. Unless per capita income increases the quality of our passports will remain below poverty level as well.

While living in Rome, Italy, the 10th richest country in the world, three persons from a family came daily to work in the institute of which I was a staff member. Three of them came by three different cars, owned by each. Practically every domestic worker came by their own vehicles. They drove in, stayed on and drove away, with dignity, having no behavioural signs of inequality. They were healthy and sufficiently wealthy. Perception of equality was almost a given reality. Something similar I observed while working at Hawkstone Hall, England. The gardener, the cook, the cleaners and all came by their own cars, seated on places of dignity and equality. No one felt distanced from each other financially or relationally. The domestic workers who come to work in most of our institutes in India walk and reach their destiny. They often get below bicyclic treatment interactively. They are mostly not counted, never as equals in our and their minds, in thoughts, feelings and expressions. Poverty has robbed them and us off their possibility to think and relate as equal human beings.

Imagine one of the domestic workers becoming rich and coming to an institute by his car. The entire scenario would change. Those who used to look down on them, make rushed movements to have a closer look at them in admiration. Perceptions fall apart. They get dignity, social acceptance and respect. Money begets honour. India has got world respect, but not Indians. That’s why I titled the article: “Financial disparity is a clear indicator of relational inequality”. Should India have richer children or healthier ones? How do you solve the problem of being 122nd in the global hunger index?

The same day Shoaib Baniyal’s article appeared in ‘Scroll.in’, ‘Matters of India’ brought out a simple and inspirational blog written by Lissy Maruthanakuzhy, titled, “Give them something to eat”. That’s the only answer to have healthier Indians. Why do those who have, have their eyes ever focussed and fixated on riches and not at those who do not have? Gandhji had given us the psychological clue for perpetuating the status quo between the rich and the poor. His wise words were, “there is enough in the world for everyone’s need, but not for every one’s greed”. Gandhiji was not a monk. He was a sannyasi who walked on the streets. And so, the wisdom of the monk was alive in him as truth kept on speaking to him. He did not despise money. He despised greed, because he was aware of the danger of greed for money. It enslaved people then. It does the same now. And certainly tomorrow as well.

Jesus went a step further and deeper. Jesus spoke like a prophet: “You can’t be a servant of two masters – God and money”. One of the masters is God and the other, Money. Strange, he put God and Money as if they are on par with each other! The servant or better still a slave was then owned by the Master like a commodity. Money, he foresaw can become like a master owning even the owner of money. The greed, the fascination and attraction for money can be so compelling as if it is beyond one’s own self-control. So he raised the status of money to Mammon, to someone who is possessed by a negative devilish supernatural power. (Mt.6:24) Let me conclude with a question? Who or what runs the world today? Governments? Politicians? Religions? WHO? UN? You know the answer. Money runs men who run the world. In the language of Jesus, Mammon is running the world, creating disproportionate financial disparity and promoting lopsided relational inequality. “Why does poor West Bengal have healthier children than rich Gujarat?” How do we make the poor children of Gujarat healthier? “Give them something to eat”. How do we make the children of India healthier? It would be the same answer: “give them something to eat”.

(Ittoop Panikulam is a Divine Word priest living at Dhyan Kutir, Andheri, Mumbai)