Justice Nayak speaks of pathetic human rights situation in India

Justice Nayak speaks of pathetic human rights situation in India

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore , Jan 18, 2012 : S. R. Nayak, the chairperson of the Karnataka State Human Rights, said that modern states will have to face dire consequences if they fail to eliminate problems of mass poverty and hunger and restore self-respect and dignity to human life.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of a UGC-sponsored national seminar titled “Developmental Agenda and Human Rights: A Special Focus on DK,” which was organized jointly by the Human Rights Cell and University College in Mangalore at Ravindra Kala Bhavan today, Justice Nayak said that lack of social service programs is leading to a rise in unemployment, social inequality and discrimination, and poverty.

Further, he said that one and a quarter billion of Indians live on an income of less than USD 1 per day while 50 percent live on an income less that USD 2 per day. He said that millions die of preventable diseases every year, millions of kids are denied an opportunity to live a life of dignity, and slavery exists even today.

 

 

 

 

Speaking about the flawed development policies of India, he said that they exclude a number of groups, particularly the marginalized.

Stating that the human rights situation in the country is pathetic, he said that India is no close to fulfilling the commitments it made as per the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted in 1948 by the General Assembly of the UNO.

While the country has people listed by the Forbes Magazine as the richest in the world, it also has millions who go hungry daily, he lamented. He also said that Dalit women who live on the borders of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Nepal spend most of their time hunting for food and even catch rats and pick undigested grain from cattle dung to prepare their food.

Stating that the situation in the rest of the country is no different, he added that every second child in India, which claims to be a developed country, is suffering from malnourishment. The marginalized societies have taught their bodies to manage with little or no food, he added.

Prof. T. C. Shivashankar Murthy, the vice chancellor of Mangalore University, presided over the inauguration ceremony. Prof. K. Chinnappa Gowda, the registrar of Mangalore University; Prof. P. L. Dharma, the director of the Gandhian Studies Centre; Dr. K. R. Shani, the coordinator of the Human Rights Cell; and Dr. Laxminarayana Bhat H. R., the principal of University College, were also present.