INDIA @ 60

INDIA @ 60

India @ 60 is a nation of young people. To realize our true potential, India must invest in health and education of every child. The country must create new employment opportunities for all, especially for the less privileged sections of the society and for those living in rural areas. In the past 60 years, people moved to where work was available; in the next 60 years work must move to where people live. The Government has an important role to play in not only sustaining higher rates of growth, but also in making the growth process for more inclusive, socially and regionally.
People in India, the world's second most populous country, have more access to a mobile telephone than to a toilet, according to a new UN report. "It is a tragic irony to think that in India, a country now wealthy enough that roughly half of the people own phones, about half cannot afford the basic necessity and dignity of a toilet," Zafar Adeel, Director of United Nations University's Canada-based think-tank for water, the Institute for Water, Environment and Health, said. Recent UN research in India shows roughly 366 million people (31 percent of the population) had access to improved sanitation in 2008. Other data, meanwhile, shows 545 million cell phones are now connected to service in India's emerging economy. The number of cell phones per 100 people has exploded from 0.35 in year 2000-01 to about 45 today.