Nobel laureate Amartya Sen says Bangladesh has overtaken India in “every parameter of human development”.The globally acclaimed economist delivered the G.L. Mehta lecture at the IIT Bombay campus entitled “India: A defence and a Critique” on Saturday, according to the Times of India.
It quoted Sen as saying that human development has a lot to do with gender equality and Bangladesh had forged far ahead of India on that count.
“Not too long ago, Bangladesh was behind India on all indices. Today Bangladesh is the only country with more girls than boys in schools. It has a higher life expectancy, lower mortality rates and more women in the labour force,” Sen was quoted by the newspaper as saying.
Sen said that gender equality had become increasingly important in Bangladesh politics as well.
He slammed the Indian state for the way it has treated issues of human development, specially gender equality.
Talking about the furore over the recent incident of gang-rape in Delhi, Sen said it is getting all the attention because it has happened in an urban metropolis.
“But lower caste Dalit women have suffered this indignity all over the country’s rural areas for a long, long time, almost day in and day out,” Sen said.
(Source: bdnews24.com)
