India grossly underspent on education, health: Tharoor

Successive governments in India did not spend enough on education and health sectors both as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product and annual budgets, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said on Sunday.

In the country, mostly the individuals spend for their treatment and the poor people end up losing everything for getting cured in the private healthcare space, Tharoor said at an interactive session organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce here.

Regarding the education sector in the country, he said it was "over-regulated".

"The education system followed here is not focussed on creative thinking. Here, students are taught what to think and not how to think. These are encouraged in our classrooms," he said.

Tharoor said the government clearly needs to prioritize spending on health, far more than what it has done.

"I would not exempt even my previous governments because over 70 years, the expenditure on health and education has been modest," Tharoor added.

There is a prime need of social security buffer, not necessarily in the form the government was now providing, he said adding insurance companies are the gainers in the government-backed insurance schemes.

"What we ought to do in the government is to massively invest in public sector hospitals, primary and community healthcare sector where treatment will be free. If we have a decent infrastructure available at the public sector, the question of needing a subsidized insurance scheme should not exist," he viewed.