India is worse off – we should be helping them

liberté, égalité, fraternité – applies to Muslim women. BUSILWE NGCOBO Clare Estate DHAYALAN Moodley’s argument in his letter titled “Modi could help SA delivery” ( Daily News, August 24) is fundamentally flawed.

He called for the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help South Africa with service delivery issues, but it seems Moodley is not aware that India is in a worse situation than South Africa in terms of service delivery.

According to the UN’s Millennium Development Goal (MDG) programme, 270 million Indians live below the poverty line of $1.25 (R17.65) a day.

The country still lacks safe, clean drinking water, housing, and sanitation and health facilities.

The country is also riddled with corruption. A study conducted by Transparency International in 2005, found that more than 62% of Indians had first-hand experience of paying bribes to get jobs done in public offices.

With these numerous problems facing Modi’s India, I do not think it would be wise for Modi to help us. His country is in a mess. Perhaps it would be better if Mr Moodley and I joined forces to help India get rid of these ills. ROMANIUS ZULU

Durban