Testing, Testing

Browsing current events, I've been keeping a close watch on the Middle East, but especially on India. After having spent a month traveling in Kerala, India, I have a special fondness for any new conflicts or resolutions that may arise. I found this particular article on an innovative way that Indian people have found to increase sustainable development; through a TV game show. CNN World is reporting that there is a green game show being introduced in Kerala, and reports that “Green Kerala Express” will focus on efforts of its citizens to, “improve lives and work for sustainable development at the grassroots level.” The fact that this new enterprise will get its start in Kerala is not surprising, as I was continuously surprised with the students I encountered and their profound knowledge of science. As we walked in, toting around our most basic science experiment, we found ourselves constantly shown up by students half our age, who claimed that they had found the key to alternative fuel, and had posters explaining, in detail, the changes that the world needed to make in their energy plan. It seems like “Green Kerala Express” will be a great and innovative way for villages to increase funding, as well as find alternative, more sustainable energy and resources.

Another article that I found about India was surrounding domestic travel within the country, which has increased over the past year. “The worst seems to be over,” reports the president of Boeing India. While I’m sure that this is in large part due to the sheer population within the country, the airlines expect the number of flight passengers to increase by 10% next year. “India’s airline sector—the fourth-largest globally in terms of domestic passenger numbers – has been one of the most vibrant symbols of the country’s economic progress,” says the article, and it seems that airlines are just one more sector within the country to be prospering as most of the world’s economy continues to flail. Due to the sheer density of people in the country, it is not surprising that their domestic airline sector would be soaring; the economy is growing leaving expendable money for people to use for travel.

The third article that I have found is in extreme juxtaposition with the first two and shows that there is still such extreme poverty and work to be done. Writes the report, “At least 12 children were killed in a massive fire on Thursday which gutted a school hostel in northeastern India made of bamboo and hay.” It’s so difficult to imagine that in this newly thriving and industrializing country, there are still children attending school in makeshift classroom. We see Slumdog Millionaire, and do not actually believe that conditions could be so bad, but for 12 school children to be killed due to poor conditions and mismanagement shows that there is still a stark difference between prosperous India and poverty India. Even when traveling through Kerala, we visited schools of several distinct economic levels; we visited one boarding school where tuition was 46,000 USD annually to attend, and also visited on rural school, where we were the first white people the children had ever seen. This economic stratification is where India struggles; while they may be working hard to develop more sustainable living, or their economy may be growing and with that, an increase in domestic travel, but as long as there is such a distinct contrast between the rich and the poor, India will continue to struggle.