Gravity Magazine_Final - Great Lakes

COVER STORY
7
India -
An exclusive interview with Mrs. Sudha Murty, a
well-known writer, teacher and social worker. She
is currently the Chairperson of Infosys Foundation
From your extensive work with rural India,
what would you suggest to be the most
important needs of the rural India to fuel their
economic and overall development?
Education is the most important need. In India, only
a small percentage of the rural population is highly
educated and about 33% do not even have good
education. We are unable to give good education to
all. Lack of education results in poor awareness,
improper hygiene and poor family planning.
Hence, by focusing on education, we can improve
quality of life and ensure overall development.
What can we do to change their mindset and
promote education?
Empowerment and responsibility are the keys to
the success of education. Often, government school
teachers drawing salary from the government are
complacent about their jobs. By empowering the
stakeholders (parents, gram or zilla panchayat) for
the compensation, teachers will be accountable and
more responsible. This model has been successful
and must be encouraged. Total free education
sometimes makes the parents careless. By making
the parents pay small amount as school fees, even
one rupee, they will feel bound to take more interest
in their children's education.
Do you think the wings of technology have
touched the rural India duly? Why and what
could be done to change/improve the situation?
The impact of technology differs from state to state.
States like Tamil Nadu and Kerala are well
Straight
from its
Heart
I will not see poverty disappear in my lifetime, yet there are
certain changes that I would like to see and try to do whatever
I can for them. I am working for my country and society in my
limited capacity.
developed and technology has affected a
considerable amount of the rural population
whereas, states like Bihar and Orissa are still
lagging behind in this aspect. As mentioned earlier,
education and awareness are the important factors
to improve this situation in any state.
What is the status of the gender disparity in the
rural areas? What do you think NGOs like
yours can do to alleviate such a state and help
such women take part in the economic
development of their families and the society?
Gender disparity is a big problem and prevalent in
states like BIMARU (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh,
Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh) than others. There is a
direct correlation between the level of education
and gender disparity. Therefore, we see that urban
areas face lesser gender disparity than rural India.
As NGOs, we do our best, but we cannot do
everything alone. The mindsets of the people have
to change. Only education, job opportunities and
economic independence will empower the women
to bring about this change that will help us reduce
the gender disparity.
There are many NGOs working for India,
which is truly heartening. However, have you
ever felt that there are certain changes that you
wish to see but would take more than the efforts
from NGOs, something like a systemic change?
When I started working, I was young and it was
only later that I realized that changes do take place
in every society but, it is the rate of change that
differs, depending upon many factors. In my
experience of 13-14 years, I have seen the dire
poverty in villages reduce considerably in
Karnataka. In addition, people are aware of the