Shocking story of two abandoned girls lays bare hypocrisy of Incredible India

There were maggots in the wounds of the girls - aged three and eight - found abandoned in a colony housing mostly factory workers in the national capital. They were found huddled together in a blanket, starving.

The more I read and think about this story, it stumps me into numbness - the plight of the eight-year-old who would offer to pick up garbage just so she could feed her younger siblings (they had a younger brother who, reports say, was taken away by the mother) while her parents went purportedly to work, or the helplessness of the father or of the mother who couldn't deal with an abusive relationship and poverty, and perhaps walked out of her marriage and the life of her children.

This happened in the nation's capital where the per capita income is among the highest in the country.

We are also a nation with many a scheme targeted towards all aspects of a child's development - from mid day meals to mobile health clinics to the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan and countless others. You name it and we have it.

Yet, here's a family that was living in abject poverty, perhaps comparable to that of pre-Independence days.

Considering India is very much a socialist economy where the state is omnipresent, how and why were the girls not identified earlier for intervention?

Where were the volunteers of Aam Aadmi Party who famously take over all nooks and corners of the city to ensure implementation of the Odd and Even scheme?

Considering that "garibi hatao" has been part of sloganeering since the days of India's most remembered Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, why are we still failing our children and the poor?

There is a clear disconnect between our policies and what they have achieved then.

Also read: 4 stories from India that will make humanity hang its head in shame

Wonder why India is still wobbling its way through a more targeted, proactive approach.

Legalising illegal colonies or waiving off electricity and water bills, as has happened in Delhi, is once again a rehash of "garibi hatao" and not "garibi mitaao". As long as our politicians and so-called thought leaders continue to devise policies purely from an electoral perspective, India will continue to fail its poor, its children, and its vulnerable.

There are questions now on the fate of the two young girls who will be discharged from hospital soon - where will they go? Should the state be held responsible for them? If not, then the state too needs to rethink on how it will conduct itself.

Because if it wants to get into every aspect of our lives, then it should brace up for accountability.