Bernie Sanders took the internet by storm when he announced that he would be dropping out of the US Presidential race. His supporters all over the world were distraught because he was their only hope to fight off Donald Trump’s racist and xenophobic policies. Bernie Sanders announced that all his campaign funds would be used to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. During these difficult times, hearing this was quite heartwarming.
His legacy will be carried on by his supporters who will ensure that everything he believes in is not forgotten. Politicians all over the world should take examples from Bernie Sanders about how policies can be both effectively and equally implemented for every citizen. He was a progressive man who will continue to serve his country in whatever way he can.
Here is a deeper look into some of his policies, and what India can learn from him:
College For All And Cancel All Student Debt:
“You are not truly free when you graduate college with hundreds of thousands of dollars in student debt. You are not truly free when you cannot pursue your dream of becoming a teacher, environmentalist, journalist or nurse because you cannot make enough money to cover your monthly student loan payments. And you are not truly free when the vast majority of good-paying jobs require a degree that requires taking out tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt to obtain.”
Sanders campaign guarantees free public education for all—from childcare and pre-kindergarten to college. They also guarantee to free generations of Americans from the outrageous burden of student loans by canceling all existing student debt. He also wanted to pass the College for All Act to provide at least $48 billion per year to eliminate tuition and fees at four-year public colleges and universities, tribal colleges, community colleges, trade schools, and apprenticeship programs.
In India, a similar problem of student debt is being seen. According to a recent report, the total non-performing assets (NPAs) in the education sector registered an increase from ₹2,615 crores in March 2013 to ₹6,336 crores in December 2016. That is, Indian banks saw a 142% increase in student loan defaults during a period of just over three years.
However, Indian education varies from public to private institutions. Private institutions account for 75% of all educational institutes in India, and the cost to attend them is almost twice that of a public institution, making them less affordable for students. It is becoming increasingly important to pay off interest on student loans and to provide a cheaper education for all student. Most of India remains uneducated due to lack of affordability in private colleges and less availability of seats in public ones.
Medicare For All
Today, more than 30 million Americans still don’t have health insurance and even more are under-insured. Even for those with insurance, costs are so high that medical bills are the number one cause of bankruptcy in the United States. According to a February 15, 2020 study by epidemiologists at Yale University, the Medicare for All bill that Bernie wrote would save over $450 billion in healthcare costs and prevent 68,000 unnecessary deaths—each and every year.
All people are entitled to go to the doctor when they’re sick and not go bankrupt after staying in the hospital. Currently, the pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies are making profits of billions from the people. This needs to stop, and healthcare needs to be more accessible to every person.
Medicare for All, a single-payer, national health insurance program, aims to provide everyone in America with comprehensive healthcare coverage, free at the point of service. No networks, no premiums, no deductibles, no copays, no surprise bills. Medicare coverage will be expanded and improved to include: dental, hearing, vision, and home- and community-based long-term care, in-patient and out-patient services, mental health and substance abuse treatment, reproductive and maternity care, prescription drugs, and more.
Currently, the public sphere of Indian healthcare lacks quality service due to lack of funds, insufficient resources and technologies, inadequate training of medical staff, etc. Public spending on the health sector in India is a mere 1.5% of the GDP. Policies related to healthcare need to become clear as most of our population cannot afford the lofty private hospital bills. Government hospitals need to be invested in, and doctors and nurses should lead comfortable lives.
Women’s Rights
“We must fight back together, and defend a woman’s right to control her own body and economic future.”
Sanders aims at adopting Equal Pay for Equal Work through the Paycheck Fairness Act. He also aims to protect women from harassment, discrimination, and violence in educational institutions by protecting and enforcing Title IX (Title IX: This law protects people from discrimination based on sex in educational programs or activities that receive Federal financial assistance). Further he also aims to enforce Title X (Title X: This law aims to provide individuals with comprehensive family planning and related preventive health services), and other initiatives that protect women’s health, provide access to contraception, and ensure the availability of a safe and legal abortion.
The status of women in India is something that has always been called to question. While there are various programmes and policies that have been implemented by the government to help them, the fight is still not over. Though the Directive Principles of State Policy declare that there should be Equal Pay for Equal Work, however, for the year 2013, the gender pay gap in India was estimated to be 24.81%. Further, while analyzing the level of female participation in the economy, the same report slots India as one of the bottom 10 countries on its list. According to the Human Development Report 1995, women spend about two-thirds of their working time on unpaid work, while men spend only one-fourth of their time towards unpaid labor.
Family planning was another programme Sanders campaign wanted to implement. India was the first country in the world to start a family planning programme in 1952. However, due to lack of awareness about contraceptives and child marriage, the programme has not been successful. Access to abortion services is also an important point that Sanders campaign brought up. In India, only 5% of abortions occur in public health facilities, which are the primary access point for healthcare for poor and rural women. The social stigma attached to such problems need to be done away with so that women feel safer, happier and can fight for their rights.