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Tata Mumbai Marathon 2024
When the catchy slogans of "Vikaas" are slyly invoked and blindly cheered; the stark, grim reality a poor indian bleeds through each day fades away into the dark. Is development equivalent to the cold GDP figures?
This time, I want to focus, discuss and debate about urban poors' health. Why urban? In our Indian urban population, one in every third person is destined into a slum. What about Mumbai? 54 per cent reside in slums. If we want to passionately dream about "smart cities", we cannot shy away from these dim figures.
The invisible prerequisite for the success of any development program is: good health. Health of the urban poor is as worse as the rural population. Unlike, rural areas which have a dedicated government health care structure, urban areas do not have such a structure. Can children focus and enjoy their studies when approximately half are plagued with anaemia and are inadequately immunized? These tiny ones are our future. Aren't we failing them? Can we expect a strong, healthy workforce for the "Vikaas" when the government fails to provide the most basic sanitation facilities; like, pit toilet to approximately two-thirds?
Ever since UHRC's inception a decade ago, it has been developing creative solutions to talk control over the devastating urban health care dilemmas. For instance, a program in Agra has yielded tremendous benefits at a cost of just 3 US cents per person per month!
About Me
"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars." ~Jack Kerouac, On the Road
I think the above para describes me the best. Moreover, I'm lucky enough to run for a cause much greater, much larger than the simple thrill one might get from running a marathon.