Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee | 8.5.22
Village of Books
Located
between Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra, Bhilar in Satara district
is known as 'Village of Books'. Based on the concept of Hay-on-Wye, a Welsh
village known for its book stores- this small village which produces organic
strawberries was made village of books.
The
idea was floated by the Rajya Marathi Vikas Sanstha and the then state
education minister Vinod Tawde, and, the village was given its formal identity
of 'Pustakanche Gao' (village of books) on May 4, 2017. Seventy five artists
creatively designed 25 spots which were like mini libraries that house about 15,000
books in Marathi.
The
concept clicked. The little village attracted attention of book lovers from
across the country. Number of homes offering book reading services and number
of books on offer increased.
Maharashtra
Government is now planning to set up a ‘book village’ in all the districts of
the state.
Odisha
Government can also think of emulating this idea and help create Village of
Books. It could be done near Raghurajpur of Puri (which has already been
declared as a heritage crafts village) or Daringbari in Phulbani district, which
attracts upmarket leisure tourists to begin with.
So
can West Bengal Govt. as Bengal has had a rich tradition of engagement with
books and reading and many villages already have well stocked libraries.
So
can Sikkim Govt. as Sikkim is known for its breath-taking natural beauty and a
long tradition of hospitality. What better way to relax than to have a hot cup
of tea at a place that overlooks snow clad mountains with a book in hand.
This
could be capitalized to help tourism, build a positive and sophisticated image
and also to promote public reading habit.
A
land of fat and unhealthy people
India, it seems, is
gradually turning into a country of fat and unhealthy people. As per National
Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS 5) one in every four Indians is now obese. Obesity
has increased at a national level from 21 per cent to 24 per cent among women
and from 19 per cent to 23 per cent among men. Consider hypertension. The
survey finds 21 per cent of women and 25 per cent of men above 15 have
hypertension. Twelve per cent women and 14 per cent men above 15 have random
blood glucose levels above normal.
It is ironical as
India is credited to have invented and popularized Yoga (so much so that we have
an International Yoga Day, now celebrated with much fanfare across the
country). Yoga, Baba Ramdev and other Yoga gurus would tell us, can preempt all
three. But all three are increasing, thanks probably the infamous duality in
our nature- we do not do what we preach. We consume junk food, abhor physical
labour (exercise included) and lead an unhealthy life. And we fall sick.
Ironically again, India's per capita expenditure on healthcare among lowest in
the world; government spends as little as Rs 3 per day on each citizen. India's
expenditure on public healthcare per capita per year is Rs 1112, less than the cost of a
single consultation at the country's top private hospitals. So we spend from
our own resources- called out of pocket expenditure. And it is so high ( In 2018, Indians spent around 62.7 percent of their total health
spendings as out-of-pocket expenditure) that pushes millions
below the poverty line, not to talk of the misery that the entire family has to
undergo.
Thus the bottom line
for hoi polloi is: take care of your health, adopt a healthy life style; and
for the government: please spend more on health sector, on basic health
infrastructure.
Silver
lining
The only silver
linings in the otherwise gloomy NFHS-5 survey report are:
a. the
country’s total fertility rate (TFR) has declined to 2 children per women now,
which is below the replacement level of fertility. At this rate, the population
may stablise by 2060.
b. Number
of women having a bank or savings account that they use grew from 53 per cent
to 79 per cent. This financial inclusion might translate into further
empowerment.
Times
of Corona
Corona cases are
again rising almost like the way the stealthy cat inches closer to the prey.
Most of us have merrily discarded the masks to the dusty drawers and
rediscovered that alcohol is not meant for washing our hands. In fact many who
are now struggling to wake up early for work find the days of ‘work from home’
quite a welcome option.
Corona meanwhile is waiting merrily.
Tailpiece:
India
If you want to know just how
divided we are, just look at matrimonial page of our newspapers.
(Courtesy: Social Media)
++
Journalist turned media academician
Mrinal Chatterjee lives in Dhenkanal, Odisha. He also writes fiction and plays.
This column is published every Sunday in Gangtok based English daily Sikkim Express and www.prameyanews.com
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