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As my small school group followed a young tour guide around the dirty streets of Delhi the juxtaposition of wealth and abject poverty was overwhelming. When we emerged from the underground metro we were literally bombarded by intensity like nothing most of us had seen -- thousands of people, all of different levels of caste and class, and clad in vibrant colors were everywhere. Desperate sounds attacked our senses. It was clearly difficult for some in our group when a young beggar girl, (she had to have been 3 or 4) walked into the middle of the group and started touching people and asking for money. The senses reeled as women and small children could be seen sleeping and eating in the dirtiest of street corners while Indian men and women wearing Prada bags walked by on their mobile phones. It seem that as Americans we are often unaware that this type of poverty exists. It is one thing to see poverty on TV and to read about it on the news. It is far different to feel the tug of a starving child on your designer hem. It shocks the core of what we all know and believe.
Culture shock sets the scene for one of India’s most intricate social problems. India is a place where over a billion people co-exist in often-small, confined spaces. It is such a beautiful thing to see the smiles on their faces -- the smiles that can invigorate anyone from down times. The trouble with accepting the smiles as reality is when you see people dying on the streets. It causes one to immediately question how a country so rich in culture and heritage could be so poverty-stricken.
So how can I help to solve this juggernaut of a problem? The growing trend in India is for the wealthy to get wealthier and the poor to remain stagnant. As India continues to grow, the country will see more of this disparity unless the growing social gaps are markedly reduced and proactively addressed.
Our group also recently participated in a walk sponsored by the Salaam Baalak Trust, an organization that promotes awareness of street childrens’ lives in Delhi. The organization gives street kids an education and provides them medical support and counseling. Many street children run away from their homes at early ages in order to escape rules, follow a Bollywood dream or to escape sexual abuse. The children also have the very common but false perception that jobs are in the cities. To problem is that there are rarely jobs available in the cities because of overpopulation and the children flocking to the cities compound the problem of unemployment and overpopulation. Salaam Baalak Trust teaches the children English, trains them to run tours for tourists, and supports their education in developing a profession. The company takes volunteers as counselors, computer trainers, doctors and English teachers. As I spoke with a number of volunteers they commented that they were overwhelmed with the positive results they saw daily. The refreshing thing, they said, was that the company was not sympathizing with the children but giving them the tools to success.
To me it seems that the keys to social change are education and awareness. However, the sheer number of ‘humans’ in the country makes it tough for the government, who is corrupt and inefficient, to educate the people in order for them to advance in society. Since the government is in the position to be the main sponsor of education, the government’s inefficiency dictates that little social change occurs for the lower classes. To further complicate the availability of education and jobs to young Indians, Indians tend to love bureaucracy. And therefore, those without the means to ‘jump through the hoops’ are often left standing still. It is only the top 20% of Indians who are economically positioned to be effective in the country, however it is the lower ‘classes’ (not necessarily castes) who are the voters and important in the democratic rule of the nation. Normally it is the voters who make the decisions, however with a corrupt government like India’s, the voting class often can’t exact the change they need to make changed in their lives. It seems the country has created yet another growing disparity. As the cities become more congested and poverty-stricken the rural areas, where the voters can be found, are simply left without attention. Therefore, children flock to the cities, chasing a dream, only to find themselves living on the streets.
For example in Udaipur, a flourishing city of 500,000, just 10 kilometers outside of the city in every direction are slums. Companies such as the ones I hope to create or participate in could help to move the jobs outside the cities into rural areas. I would like to model my business plan after some of the NGOs I mentioned above. They prove that making a difference everyday can be a realistic goal. By stimulating not only the incentive for companies to move to the ‘suburbs’ but also to create an infrastructure that can handle such a move, I can help India’s success. To move employment to urban areas will stimulate local economy thus bringing in educated workers and thus bringing the livelihood of all town members to a higher level.
The challenges that can arise while trying to build a social bridge that connects Indians, are multi-layered. However, the growing pains of this overpopulated nation are inevitable. The challenge is to create opportunities for Indians, which increase social
awareness and economic growth and outweigh the disadvantages. Social problems often take time to fix. It is the work of those with patience, foresight and drive that allow these problems to evolve into solutions. I am well positioned to bring a business to fruition that would help India and other developing countries increase their quality of life.