By Ruma Dubey

In Mumbai or almost all major cities across India, anyone has fever which lasts for more than a day or two, immediately blood tests are done; after all dengue is so rampant that it has become quite common to hear someone or the other admitted to the hospital.

In Delhi, people are choking in the gas chamber and this is a yearly phenomenon with no long term solution in place, despite gasping for breath every year.

Tamil Nadu was literally under a deluge due to torrential rains and people had started wondering whether it would be a repeat of 2015.

The point here – the common man is affected by so many health issues. Today, living in Indian cities has become hazardous to health, which could cause debilitating and lifelong prevalent diseases. How can we ignore the epidemic of dengue? How is it that we discuss pollution only when winter comes calling every year? Really, is India becoming unhealthy to live in?

We are all living in a ticking time bomb – we do not know what could hit us from where. And the strangest part – the BJP and the Congress are both busy politicking – one is on a perennial self-congratulatory mode and the other is trying its best to continue making a fool of itself. For them, it is only Himachal and Gujarat which matter; so what if someone close to you succumbs to dengue or a child develops asthma just by breathing?

Why aren’t health issues ever taken seriously by any political leader? What is the point of everything we do if the teeming Indian population is largely sick? The “youngistan” that we keep tom-tomming about is growing up to become a large cesspool of diseases, undernourishment and poor immunity systems. 

Is this the quality of life that the young have to grow up with and the old to survive in? All efforts are made only and only health of the economy. But what about the health of every Indian? Mumbai city, the financial hub of India is inundated with dengue yet the civic body and the Govt does nothing. Why is health, which is affecting the day-to-day life of every Indian not a priority at all?

We have become a nation of mere sloganeering, candle-light vigils and making headlines. Inside, it all seems so hollow. The Swachh Bharat abhiyaan has become a mere photo-opp and let’s not even begin to talk about the public toilets which never have running water.

All this angst is because of what we are seeing in Delhi today; this happens every year, the same old debates on TV, the same editorials and the same lackadaisical responses from the Govt. Yet, we seem to be making no headway, no solutions are in place, simply put, no thoughts are given. Is this the kind of super power we are aiming to become – a sickly tiger?

Make India healthy and clean first and then dream about ‘Make in India.’