CHENNAI: Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan on Monday said it was a ‘pity’ that India sees Defence as more ‘newsworthy’ than healthcare, while reimagining India for a “postCOVID world.” He outlined a strategy that cut across sectors and emphasised the need for an ‘epidemic preparedness budget’ for the health sector.
He said India’s defence allocation for 2020-21 was $65.86 billion, which is 2% of our total GDP while that of healthcare has been hovering just over the 1% mark for about a decade.
“While good defence is a deterrent, microbes don’t make that judgment. They wage a war with anyone irrespective of their military budgets. That’s why India needs to earmark an epidemic preparedness budget with immediate effect,” Haasan stated in his statement that he put out on his Twitter handle.
The Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) President said that poor healthcare is an everyday war leading to 1.6 million deaths annually. Yet, our Defence budget overshadows the healthcare budget.
Haasan said India needs to make agriculture great again. To do so, he said we require a ‘Green Plus’ revolution that converts part of our agricultural land for an allied enterprise like processing, logistics and so on.
“Secondly, we need to accelerate productivity maximization on a war footing. Boosting agro-based MSMEs will help retain youth in the sector and build a sustainable and prosperous future for farming. This will also solve the problem of seasonal lack of work for farmers,” Haasan said.
He went on to suggest that it was crucial to formalise India’s vast informal sector and said this should be the biggest national exercise that the government should undertake. He added that women engaging in housework must be accorded job status and that a Universal Income Guarantee will provide an impetus to their savings.
Haasan said the government should integrate the poor man’s life in how they plan the running of the country, thus putting the spotlight on income inequality and poverty alleviation.
“COVID-19 has shown us that poverty still remains India’s most critical challenge,” he said. “In a crisis, the rich will take a hit but they will not starve to death. Our leaders must learn to integrate the poor man’s life in how they plan the running of the country. Relief measures are mere afterthoughts.”
