Why I’m Rooting for ‘Handsome’ Raghav & ‘Smart’ Atishi: Gul Panag

As Gul Panag campaigns for AAP’s Atishi & Raghav Chadha, she explains why education & healthcare remain core issues.

Gul Panag campaigning for AAP’s Raghav Chadha and Atishi.

(Photo: Altered by Kamran Akhter / The Quint)

As I hit the campaign trail to support Raghav Chadha and Atishi of the Aam Aadmi Party, I can’t help but wonder, how in this day and age, candidates are still seeking votes for providing basics. I would also like to use this opportunity to exact revenge for the objectification I faced during my own campaign, by objectifying Raghav (albeit in jest!) – when I spoke of him being honest, upright, hardworking – and handsome!

Both Raghav and Atishi are contesting the parliamentary elections on the basis of the work their government has done in education, healthcare, and in providing access to basic amenities.

Too busy to read? Listen to this instead.

Why? Because the bulk of our electorate still don’t have access to these basics. The foremost responsibility of a government is ensuring equal opportunity. (Then let merit take over). Providing equitable access to public healthcare and education is where it begins.

Abysmal Health & Education Record: Lack of Political Will Largely Responsible

It’s incredible that in this day and age, as we complete close to seven decades of electoral democracy – our public health and education records remain dismal –attributable largely to the lack of political will (which manifests itself in the form of inadequate public spending in these areas). A large portion of this blame – for not prioritising public healthcare and education – rests on governments led by the Congress party, but let’s not be quick to absolve the BJP of responsibility here. Its two terms in power notwithstanding, it has been part of governments before (in its earlier avatars), and hasn’t done much to speak of.

Ayushman Bharat is a great step in this direction, but is India’s public spending on health, at an abysmal 1.4 percent of GDP, adequate? Compare this with the US’ 17.2 percent allocation of its GDP on healthcare in 2016; 9.7 percent in the UK the same year – as per a BBC report, and Germany’s 11.14 percent – as per The World Bank’s data.

Gul Panag campaigns for AAP’s Raghav Chadha and Atishi.(Photo: Gul Panag)

In fact, India’s healthcare expenditure is less than its neighbours – Nepal and Sri Lanka – according to a report by IndiaSpend. Nepal spends 2.3 percent of its GDP on health, while Sri Lanka spends 2 percent.

And what of public education? Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said that the government expenditure on education had gone up from 3.8 percent of the GDP in 2014, to 4.6 percent during the NDA rule. But is 4.6 percent adequate?

Why Access to Good Public Healthcare & Education Is Crucial

Why is access to public healthcare and public education so important? And why is it not an electoral Issue? A single health crisis can destroy a family and set it back financially for decades. Even without a crisis, the loss of man/woman hours due to lack of timely access to primary healthcare, sets back breadwinners and their families financially – especially if they can’t afford private healthcare. As per a 2018 report by The Washington Post, “India, with its population of 1.3 billion people, has 5 percent of its population living in extreme poverty, according to the World Poverty Clock”.

This significant percentage of our population is wholly dependent on public healthcare. Do we have enough healthcare solutions for them?

Gul Panag campaigns for AAP’s Raghav Chadha.(Photo: Gul Panag)

Expenditure on public education, to improve it qualitatively and quantitatively, will go a long way in providing equitable opportunity. In fact, if there is one way to slowly wean off those dependent on reservation – it is through quality public education. If the child of someone reading this on an entry-level smartphone, and that of someone reading this on a phone that costs more than the 3 month average income of an average Indian – had access to the same quality of education – we would have a level-playing field.

The state of public education is so poor, that the ambition of those living on daily wages is to send their kids to a ‘private’ school.

And there are enough – and more private educational institutes that have sprung up (often with political patronage) – not providing anything close to quality education, that prey on this economic class.

Poll Promises Are Easy to Make, Hard to Keep. We Need the Right Kind of Public Representation

Making poll promises is easy. Delivering is hard. Older, more established players know this, and master the art of obfuscation. Newer players learn over time.

Having the right kind of public representation goes a long way in addressing the needs and demands for healthcare and education – core issues for the majority of the electorate, since they cannot afford quality private healthcare and education.

The strength of a parliamentary democracy is the representative. However, the same representative is also its weakness. Thus, she needs to be aware of local issues, and must be accountable, approachable and responsible to her constituents. The idea is to focus on sending good, dutiful folks to the Parliament. When political parties distract from this core issue by drawing attention to caste, religion, profession, parentage, or by choosing to focus on one individual only – they do a great disservice to not just the electorate, but the whole idea of ‘representative’ democracy .

(Gul Panag is an actor, pilot, politician, entrepreneur, and a lot more. She tweets @GulPanag. This is an opinion piece, and the views expressed are the author’s own.The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)