-Dr. S. Vijay Kumar
The
US has classified India as a developed nation, eliminating the preferential
treatment it received in countervailing duty investigations. On 26 July, 2019
Ex-US President has said “The WTO is BROKEN when the world’s RICHEST
countries claim to be developing countries to avoid WTO rules and get special
treatment. NO more!!! Today I directed the U.S. Trade Representative to take
action so that countries stop CHEATING the system at the expense of the USA”. Trump
made this remark referring to India and China, because according to him his
country is put in loss in the world trade. But Classifying India as a ‘developed nation’ by the US is
not an indicator of progress, but it defines India’s future trade relationship
with the US. The reclassification does not indicate a rise in India’s Gross
National Income (GNI) or other social development indicators such as healthcare
and education. Before
knowing, whether a country is developed or developing, one must know how the countries
are classified as developed and developing. Countries
are classified either as developed or developing based on the gross domestic
product (GDP) or gross national income (GNI) per capita, Human Development Index
(HDI), the level of industrialization, technological infrastructure etc., among
several other potential factors. Usually, the following two popular
methods are used for determining whether a country is developed or developing.
Nominal Gross
National income (GNI) Per capita Method, which is a useful tool at-a-glance to estimate a country's
overall standard of living. Countries whose nominal GNI rises above a certain
threshold (which changes slightly each year) are classified as developed, while
those whose GNI falls below that amount are considered still developing. According to the
World Bank (2022) - Any country
with Gross National Income (GNI) per capita $12,536 or higher is considered as
a developed country. The rest of the countries are considered developing – as
they haven’t yet reached this threshold.
Human Development
Index (HDI) Method is used to determine whether a country is fully developed or
still developing. The HDI considers a broad range of factors, including
economic growth, life expectancy, health, education, and
quality of life. United Nations uses Human
Development Index (HDI) to determine whether a country is developed or still
developing. The highest possible HDI score is a 1.0. A country that scores less
than .80 is considered developing. Hence, let us examine whether India
is a still a developing country or a developed country in view of the above two
methods.
According to Developing Countries World Bank (2022) Data, if
we observe the recent data, it is clearly evident that India is still a
developing country as per the above said two methods, because its GNI Per
Capita is 1900 USD. This is far below the 12,536 USD prescribed by World Bank.
Regarding HDI it is 0.645. This is also less than
the prescribed 0.80 by United Nations. Now,
let us analyze the factors which are holding back India
to become a developed country even after 74 years of independence.
Population: Often, so many people including some economists attributes
that huge population of a country is the hurdle for development process. Is it
really true? Let us analyze. Actually, “population is no
demon” (an asset) to a country, but in our country the supply and demand equation has always been
highly unbalanced, the latter far exceeding the former thereby creating
imbalances in the standard of living, resource utilization, employment,
education, opportunities, healthcare, almost in every sphere. We get per capita income by dividing national
income by population. Hence, high
population growth leads to lower per capita income. As our Government is unable to provide the
required basic needs at the population growth rate, the growing population is
becoming burden on our economy. Hence, the Government of India started Family Planning
Programme in 1952. We are the first country in the world to launch National
Programme for Family Programme. In 1977, Family Planning Programme was
changed to Family Welfare Programme by extending its scope by covering
maternity and child health services (MCH). In 2016, Mission Pariwar Vikas has
been launched to lay special focus on high fertility districts of Bihar, UP, Assam,
Chhattisgarh, MP, Rajasthan, and Jharkhand. Despite all these efforts of
our government, due to some section of people’s non- cooperation @ population is growing steadily in our country. Ours, being a democratic
and non-religious country, we cannot force them. It is clear that Government’s
efforts alone are not sufficient for the development of any country but, public
support and participation is vital. But one silver line in our population
growth is seen that is “Demographic Dividend" i.e., the economic growth
potential that can result from shifts in a population’s age structure, mainly
when the share of the working-age population (15 to 65) is larger than the share
of non-working-age population (Below 15
and above 65). In other words, “a boost in economic productivity occurs
when there are growing numbers of people in the workforce relative to the
number of dependents”. United
Nations Population Fund (UNPF)
stated that, “A country with both increasing numbers of young people and
declining fertility has the potential to reap a demographic dividend. A 2011 International Monetary Fund Working Paper found that substantial portion of
the growth experienced by India since the 1980s is attributable to the
country’s age structure and changing demographics. The U.S. Census Bureau
predicts that India will surpass China as the world’s largest country by 2025,
with a large proportion of those in the working age category. Over the next
two decades the continuing demographic dividend in India could add about two
percentage points per annum to India’s per capita GDP growth. Hence, the Government of India has to exploit
this “Demographic Dividend” and take care of jobs, future basic minimum living
standards including food, water, shelter and energy. As
per Population Reference Bureau (Non-Profit NGO), India's population
in 2050 is projected to be 1.692 billion people.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------@ Islam is the fastest-growing religion in India. Growth rate of
Muslims has been consistently higher than the growth rate of Hindus, ever since
the census data of independent India has been available. For example, during
the 1991-2001 decade, Muslim growth rate was 29.5% (vs 19.9% for Hindus).
However, Muslims population growth rate declined to 24.6% for 2001-2011 decade, in keeping
with the similar decline in most religious groups of India.
Income
Inequalities: In India,
there are high income inequalities. According to the “World Inequality Report 2022” - Top 10% and top 1% in India hold 57% and 22% of
the total national income respectively while the bottom 50% share has gone down
to 13%. It says that while the top 1% has largely benefitted from the economic
reforms, the growth among low and middle income groups has been relatively slow
and poverty persists. In 2021, the wealthiest 10% of the population own 65% of
total household wealth in India.
Corruption: India is ranked 85th among 180 countries in Global Corruption Index,
2021. Last year India's ranking was 86.
Today, in almost all government offices works are pending for want of bribe. Common
man is suffering a lot due to high corruption. We cannot blame the government
officials alone, because for want of urgency sometimes public are paying money
to the works get it done fastly. Due to this attitude of the people, some of
the government staff are addicted to the bribe and keeping the files pending till
the concerned people approach them for their works get it done.
Lack of Political Commitment: In our country, all political parties
makes false promises to win the elections.
But, after winning the elections, they forget and make the same promises again
and again to win next elections. For example, BJP president Amit Shah has said
Narendra Modi’s ‘promise’ as the party’s PM candidate that each Indian would
receive Rs 15 lakh when black money would be repatriated from abroad was an
‘idiom’ and should not be taken literally. Although the ‘promise’ was never
realistic, the new interpretation suggests that BJP was looking for a way to
wriggle out after being accused by political opponents of reneging on its poll
promise. Most of our politicians are corrupt and swallowing public money. They
are enjoying at the cost of public money (Tax payers money) by availing several
perks in addition to their salary/pensions. Political Parties are exempted from Income Tax under Section
13A on its income from house property, income from other sources, capital gains
and voluntary contributions received from any person however, subject to
conditions. MPs
and MLAs are also exempted from paying taxes on some allowances. They are also claiming multiple pensions. It is a
welcome step that recently Punjab
Government announced scraping of ex -
MLAs multiple pensions, thus
saving lot of public money.
Unemployment: There is serious unemployment problem in
India. Unemployment means a person willing to work but unable to find a
qualified job. Due to unemployment, we are wasting our country’s human
resource. Though, there is a boom of outsourcing software companies in India,
the problem of unemployment is rising and still many companies are facing the
shortage of skilled labour. According
to Centre for Monitoring Indian
Economy, India has 53
million unemployed people as of December 2021 and a huge proportion of them are women.
Of these, 35 million are the unemployed who are actively seeking work, while 17
million are those who, though willing to work, are not actively seeking it. “India needs to
immediately provide employment to the 7.9% (35 million as on 12/2021) who are
in the unemployment rate are actively looking for employment”.
Illiteracy: Illiteracy is the major hurdle in the path of development. Due
to illiteracy common people are unable to exercise their rights and lead a dignified
life. They are not able to understand the government's development
schemes and missing the chance of being benefited by them. Hence, these schemes
thus fail to produce tangible results. Illiteracy leads to ignorance, which in
turn, leads to superstition. India
has the highest population of illiterate adults in the world at 287 million. Illiteracy in India is more or less due to the different forms
of disparities that exist in our society like gender discrimination, income
inequalities, regional imbalances, caste imbalances, technological barriers
etc. Even more worrying is the fact that illiteracy is directly linked to other
social evils like poverty, child labour, child marriage, unemployment, social
crimes etc. that should ideally have no place in a developed society.
Superstitions and
Religion: Superstitions and Religion have been more of a divider than a unifier in this country. And
the reason for this is not just the people who follow it but also unwanted
political interference that has always existed and exploited the people as per
their convenience. Religious beliefs have consistently played a crucial role in
national politics and decisions irrespective of governments, appeasement
playing a major role in ruling over the gullible masses.
Caste System: The
division of society into so many castes and sub-castes doesn’t allow upward
mobility for persons belonging to the lower strata in society and is replete
with gross inequality and injustice. Not just this, it makes a mockery of
democracy and its values as people in the world’s largest democracy vote on the
basis of caste and religion. They most often overlook merit, resulting in
an unfair selection of candidates throughout the country.
Brain Drain: India has failed
to hold back its talented youth and skilled workforce like Software Engineers, Academicians,
Doctors, Scientists, Technicians from emigrating to the developed countries.
This has had quite a significant impact on the country’s development. The
Reservation System for admission to top Indian Institutes that deny enrollment
even to the deserving candidates, better work opportunities, better pay
packages, high quality of life and facilities tempt most of the students to go
abroad.
Terrorism: Terrorism, whether it is Pakistan-sponsored, Maoist-sponsored, or
north-east insurgency has slowed down the country’s development in more ways
than one. A major portion of the country’s GDP gets diverted towards to
maintain defence capabilities, otherwise could have been directed towards
development activities. Terrorism has a significant impact on the economic
growth, investment, overall expenditure, and on the safety and security of the general people.
Poor
law and order:
Ours is a democratic
country with a well formulated constitution but, still people easily break the
rules and skip punishment. There is urgent need for fast track judiciary system
as there are bulk of pending cases seeking justice. Also, it is often observed
that the law is broken by the makers and protectors of the law itself. There is
a great need of strict policies to keep a check on it. Apart from Government,
individuals commitment to abide by the law is also important.
Innovation: Innovation is the
factor which economists believe would be the driver for future growth. Global
Innovation Index Report 2021, highlights the performance of 132
economies, documenting the changing landscape of innovation across economies
and regions. India is ranked 46th in this report. The level of innovation in a country is determined by the
level of research and development (R&D). India invests a meagre 0.6% of its GDP on R&D, whereas
China spends almost 2.2%, USA about 3% and Israel spends something in the range
of 5% of its GDP on R&D.
Human Development: Since GDP is not
the sole criteria of per capita of income, realizing this fact, the United
National Development Programme has started releasing the Human Development
Index (HDI) from 1990. The Human Development Index
(HDI) is a summary measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human
development: a long and healthy life, being knowledgeable and have a decent
standard of living. The HDI is the geometric mean of normalized indices for
each of the three dimensions. India ranks 131
among the 189 countries of the world. India’s HDI score is 0.645 (United Nations uses Human
Development Index (HDI) to determine whether a country is developed or still
developing. The highest possible HDI score is a 1.0. A country that scores less
than .80 is considered developing).
Reservation
System: Every decade reservations are extended for next decade
without any sort of analysis. Thus, Ambedkar’s policy has not been applied in
true spirit. No political party in
India in true sense is free from gender and caste bias. His reservation
policy is not reaching the really needy. In this context Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of the Babasaheb, while talking
to Manu Joseph on Outlook Magazine dated: 23/08/2004 said that “Legislation doesn’t change
people. That’s why B.R. Ambedkar didn’t believe that reservation of
constituencies or jobs for Dalits would change the way Indian society looked at
its lower castes. He reluctantly agreed to reservation in the belief that it
would be discontinued 10 years after the adoption of the Constitution. But half
a century later, reservation remains an issue in India”. Addressing officials and representatives of local bodies
at an event on smart cities the former Speaker
Sumithra Mahajan said, “Ambhedkarji had said, ‘Give reservations
for 10 years and after 10 years, do a rethink. Bring them to that stage’. We
have done nothing. Even I am guilty of this… We have not thought about it. We
do not contemplate why this (a rethink) has not happened.” why we have not
achieved the society dreamt of by Dr Ambedkar. We should ponder over the
reasons for that also”. Article 334 of the Constitution had originally required
the reservation to cease in 1960, but this was extended up to 2020 through 95th
Amendment of the Constitution. All political
parties are now using Ambedkar for vote bank, and no one truly tries to reflect his ideology
through actions. Simply, monuments and
memorials do not serve the purpose. Practice of his ideology only that
makes the difference.
Gender Gap: It refers to differences between
women and men, especially with regard to economic, social, political, intellectual, and cultural. The Global Gender Gap measure was introduced by the
World Economic Forum in 2006 to examine four critical
areas of inequality between
men and women. The four parameters are: economic
participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and
political empowerment. In India, despite several years of planed development,
improvement observed in education and, to a lesser extent, in health women’s
improved capabilities do not seem to have been translated into an equal
participation between men and women in economic and political activities. According to the Global Gender Gap
Index 2021 (World Economic Forum), India has slipped 28 places and has been ranked 140th
among 156 nations participating in the rankings. The
most gender equal country in the world is Iceland continues to be top, and it
has been in the first position for 12 years.
Agricultural Sector Predominance in terms of Employment, but with less GDP: Although, India's agriculture sector has emerged as the leading in terms of employment (nearly 50% of workforce), but its GDP share is 20.19%, while that of Services Sector accounts for 53.89%, and Industry sector contributes 25.92%. (Services and Industrial Sectors are providing employment to nearly 50% workforce).
Black
Money: The unaccounted money that is concealed
from the tax administrator is called black money. There are different
reports of Indian black money. Total amount held in all Swiss bank accounts by
citizens of India is about US$2 billion. In February 2012, the director of
India's Central
Bureau of Investigation said that Indians have US$500
billion of illegal funds in foreign tax havens, more than any other country. In
March 2012, the government of India clarified in its parliament that the CBI
director's statement on $500 billion of illegal money was an estimate based on
a statement made to India's Supreme Court in July 2011. In March 2018, it was
revealed that the amount of Indian black money currently present in Swiss and
other offshore banks is estimated to be ₹300 lakh crores or US$ 4 trillion. Thus,
it is clear that lot of Indian black money is not contributing to the
development our country.
Wastage of Public Money in Scams and for Political Mileage, Misappropriation funds in Public Works : Due to several scams in India (Bofors, Fodder, Harshad Mehta and Ketan Parekh, Vijay Mallya, Common Wealth Games, Nirav Modi, Spectrum, Hawala, Coalgate, Black Money) and for political mileage lot of public money is lost. For example, in Telangana for Rythu and Dalitha Bandhu Schemes crores of public money is being wasted for the sake of votes. Many economists and intellectuals advised the Telangana Government to give Rythu Bandhu only to the Small and Marginal farmers instead of giving it to the rich farmers. Dalitha Bandhu should be offered only to those STs who are economically poor, so that crores of public money thus saved can be utilized for the required infrastructure like Roads, Hospitals, Drinking Water, Schools etc. Lot of public money is being wasted in public works like in the constructions of irrigation Projects, Roads, Rail, and Government Buildings. Quality works are not done. Tenders are called for the same works again and again, and even sometimes claiming the money without practically doing the works (Just on paper only), and also quoting abnormal amounts for the said works. For example, Kaleshwaram Project – a white elephant on Telangana Governments exchequer - Independent analysis of the DPR by civil society organizations involved in water management and resettlement of evictees have questioned the proposed benefits accruing to farmers. They argue that: (a) the 180 TMC water is not enough for 26 lakh acres for any meaningful irrigation; (b) the crop yields have been grossly inflated almost 10 times as compared to the current levels for projecting highly favorable benefits/outcomes; and (c) the complete omission of social and ecological costs in the report. Telangana which was declared as “Surplus State” at beginning of formation, now suffering with total debt burden: Rs 4,75,444 crore and Per capital debt Rs 1,25,116 as per 2022 Budget. The State government is not in a position to pay salaries and pensions on 1st of every month (They are credited mostly between 1st to 5th and sometimes even it is dragged up to 15th of a month). The Dearness Allowance (DA) to the employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to the pensioners is paid after more than one year to one and half year. Under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), people in rural areas are provided employment through various schemes. Social Audit Units (SAUs) under the Department of Rural Development has found financial irregularities worth Rs 935 crore in various MGNREGA schemes.
Favorable Balance of Trade: It means, the value of exports is more than the value of
imports. It is and indicator for development. But India's trade deficit widened to USD
18.7 billion in March of 2022, from USD 13.9 billion in the same period last
year, a preliminary estimate showed.
Inflation: In developed countries inflation is checked and controlled so that people are not affected adversely, but in developing countries this is always a problem and the worst sufferers are poor and middle class people.
Problem of Unorganized Sector: Despite formalization gathering pace, the informal sector
continues to employ about 80% of India's labour force and produces 50% of its
GDP. About,
half of them are engaged in agriculture. It is the other half, employed in the
non-agricultural informal sector that is in crying need of help. Most are
engaged in construction, manufacturing and in services like trade, transport,
hotels, eateries etc.
Poverty: Poverty has been a major hindrance to India’s quest
to be a developed nation. Poverty is a situation in which a person couldn’t fulfil his basic needs like food, home, clothes, drinking water. According
to NITI Aayog, 25% of
the Population
in India are Poor. Every fourth
person of the total population of India is in poverty. In 2020, as per World Bank 65% of the
country’s population lives in rural areas in poverty with insufficient
infrastructure. Poverty is correlated with other social problems like
illiteracy, over-population, malnutrition, unemployment, homelessness etc. It’s
all linked together in a vicious circle that thrive on each other. In
2021, the total male population living in poverty in India was about 45
million. By contrast, the number of females in poverty during the same time
period was around 53 million.
Good Governance and
Infra-Structure: Strong
and excellence governance is a prerequisite for engendering trust in the
investment is a hallmark of advanced economies. Countries scoring high in
governance exhibit strong leadership underpinned by capable institutions that
support the rule of law, transparency, and consultation, and have established
effective and independent decision making structures for infrastructure
investment. According to the Global Infrastructure Hub (2021) Singapore is the global leader in
overall infrastructure with a value of 95.4 on a scale of 0 to 100. India’s value is 68.1
Pollution and Climate Change: Pollution and Climate Change level also determines
the level of development of a country. India is the third-most
polluted country in the world (Most Polluted Countries 2022, World Population). India
has ranked 168th out of 180 countries in the 2020 Environmental Performance
Index (EPI), according to
researchers at Yale and Columbia universities, who say India’s decarbonization
agenda needs to accelerate, and the country faces a number of serious
environmental health risks, including poor air quality. India
ranked 10th among the top performing countries with in the Group 20
in the Climate Change Performance Index CCPI) 2022 Report.
Some
Mistakes Committed by the Various Governments in the Past:
Nehru’s
Wrong Foreign Policy: The first test
of Nehru’s ability to successfully conduct foreign/national security policy
came two months after Independence, when Pakistan attacked Kashmir. It became
apparent that Nehru was more of an idealist, rather than a realist. It
was his idealistic internationalism that made him order a ceasefire in 1948 and
take the case to the UN. Nehru ordering a ceasefire was resented even by the
armed forces. He expected a favorable response from the UN because Pakistan was
the aggressor since Kashmir had acceded to India. Nehru had forgotten that the
UN was a political body and not a court of law. In the prevalent Cold War
scenario, the UN Security Council was not willing to see Pakistan, which was
aligned with the US, as the aggressor. Long after Nehru, Western powers used
the Kashmir issue to constantly stir up security concerns in the Indian
capital.
Second, he ignored strengthening of our Defence (Strengthening Military)
in the name of peace (Panchsheel -The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence). He never perceived China
a threat to our national security in spite of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel warned him not to trust China. He also not
listened to the advice of Patel regarding merging of Kashmir in to the union
territory of India. Nehru was committed to the Gandhian ideology of
non-violence, peace, and tolerance, while China was looking to transform itself
from weak and underdeveloped to a strong, militarily powerful totalitarian
state. China, from the beginning, was determined to assert her influence as a
radical, revolutionary nation willing to use militant power in international
politics, while India chose the more constructive path of mediation, non-alignment,
and peaceful accommodation.
Third, though Nehru laid foundation for science and technology,
he was against the development of atomic energy and weapons, and he never
changed his mantra of nuclear disarmament even after a war with China in 1962.
Fourth, Nehru was unwilling to use the favorable international
environment to advance national interests, even after his realization in
October 1962 that China was not a friend.
Fifth, Nehru’s soft approach towards Pakistan left several senior
members in the cabinet unhappy; Mukherjee and Neogy resigned in June 1950. They
felt it was important that the nation not barter away “vital national
interests.” Dr B R Ambedkar was another cabinet member to resign, citing
foreign policy failure as a reason.
Nehru’s
successors: Journalist Seymour Hersh
writes of the then US Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, recommending that India be
encouraged to develop its own nuclear weapons, in response to the Chinese
testing them. But Nehru’s successors for a long time not shanked from their
blind faith in his wisdom and policy guidelines. Even, Morarji Desai (Janatha
Party) followed Nehru’s path of non-violence, peace in foreign policy and soft
corner towards Pakistan.
In the Second Five Year Plan (1956-61),
the drawback of prioritizing industry over agriculture for public investments became glaringly mistake when
the
country
experienced a food
crisis, necessitating urgent large-
scale imports of subsidized
grain from the United States.
One government method for financing expenditures was the creation
of new money
(printing of notes), which
resulted in significant inflation.
Followed
Closed Economic System i.e., not allowing FDI into the country, resulted in foreign exchange crisis in 1991, then the government made a clear
break with past
policies and gave green signal to FDI through “New Economic Policy, 1991”.
Still following the age old “Reservation Policy on Cast
Basis”.
Even after 74 years of independence, India’s leadership is “not successful” in achieving
significant degree of living standards in the country. It means, our planning failed to achieve
required living standards of a developed
country. Hence, our leaders should ponder over on this issue and workout
strategies for the rapid development of our country.
Though, there is no dearth of good Schemes and Policies
like MGNREGA, Education for All, Right to Information Act, Poverty Alleviation Progammes
etc., there are so several loopholes in implementation.
So far, we have discussed several factors that
are holding us back to become a developed country, now let us examine what
needs to be done to transform our country in to a developed economy.
Suggestions:
1. Infrastructure: Our Cities and Towns are overpopulated with poor infrastructure (Roads, Continuous electricity supply, drinking water, hospitals, Schools, and Colleges, etc.). More people are migrating from rural to the urban for better amenities. Hence, proper infrastructure must be developed both in rural and urban for better living standards.
2. Disproportionate distribution of Income and Wealth: There are greater number of billionaires in India. It shows that “India is rich, but Indians are poor”. Hence, Government must take all the required steps, so that there will be equal distribution of income and wealth in the country. Economic reforms in India are much in favour of rich rather than in favour of poor people, small and marginal farmers.
3. Corruption: Due to corruption foreign investors show lack of interest in doing business in India. Scams are unearthed every now and then in our country. These scams are impacting FDI inflow. As we have seen in the past and present our rulers (Law makers) are themselves are corrupt and involved in several scams. Most of our government offices are involved in corruption, works are not done without paying money. Hence, there is a need to bring appropriate viable legislations to check corruption.
4. Unable to Exploit our Natural resources: We are rich in human and natural resources, but unable to exploit them, when a small country like Singapore grew despite dearth of natural resources. Hence, Government must take steps in this direction.
5. Demographic Dividend: We have a greater number of young people, which is called demographic dividend, hence we must tap this young population for the development of our country.
6. Unemployment and Defective Education System: Unemployability problem is rising in India day by
day. It is arising out of our defective education. The present education system
emphasizes theory, not practical. It encourages reading, writing, and
reproducing. It must be addressed earnestly to create skilled and creative workforce
to achieve better productivity and performance.
7. Agriculture: India is still an
agrarian country; major part of our economy is based on agriculture. Our nation
needs a paradigm shift from agrarian to industrial economy because agriculture
depends upon monsoon for irrigation that is highly unpredictable. Moreover, there is disguised
unemployment (working more than required) and under employment (working for lower
wages) in this Sector, but less GDP. Hence, there is urgent need to
revolutionize our agriculture by making it market oriented like industries, so
that the agriculturists themselves can determine the price of their product
like industrialists.
8. Favorable
Balance of Trade: Government must always
strive for favorable balance of trade and should take all the necessary steps
in this direction.
9. Inflation: Government must check and control inflation time to time, so that common people are not affected.
10.
Literacy: Even 74 years of our independence, we have failed to
achieve cent percent literacy rate in our country. Hence, Government must initiate
all the steps to achieve the goal of cent percent literacy rate to boost our
developmental process.
11. Secularism: Diversity is the backbone of India
where people of all faiths live together. Hence, it is essential to strive for
secularism to ensure unity and integrity of India. There must be tolerance and
respect for all cultures, castes, communities, religions, and regions.
12.
Regional Imbalances: Imbalances in any form including regional
imbalances leads to unrest in the country and hamper our development. Hence,
Government must strive to eradicate all types of imbalances.
13. Grab the World Market: India is the largest democracy in the world with the youngest population. Hence government must encourage small and medium enterprises to grab the world market like China to provide more employment opportunities.
14.Build Global Leaders: There is no dearth of leaders in our country, but unfortunately most of them are corrupt and busy to become millenaries and billionaires. Hence, the young talent must be inculcated with leadership skills, abilities with patriotism to groom them as leaders to encounter domestic and global challenges.
15. Commitment: Today commitment is lacking everywhere in our country, which is very essential to become a developed country. Hence, we must cultivate a positive attitude and enhance our commitment levels to contribute our best to make India as an economic super power in the world.
16. Mindset: Our mindset must change. There must be shift in the mindset of our people from being rights-oriented to duty-oriented.
17.Innovation and
Technology: To withstand in
the Global Market Competition, innovations and technology advancement is must.
Hence, Government must take all necessary steps in this regard.
18. Unorganized Sector: There is urgent need, for India’s enormous informal employment sector for a significant step up in public investment to improve the jobs prospects.
19. Caste Based Reservations: Originally, it was stated that these reservations will continue up to 1960 and later on they will be removed. But, till this date they are continued to gain votes to retain in power claiming that they are doing social justice. This is one of the reasons why our nation is not moving forward at a pace on which it should be to become a developed country. If we want to keep the caste based reservation system then a limit must be defined for the same. Only one member of a family should be allowed to use the reservation quota for one time only. This means that once a person in a family has used this quota, then no other family member should be allowed to use the reservation facility. Hence, Government should bring a legislation to this effect.
20. Brain Drain: To solve “Brain
Drain Problem” to a certain extent, Government must think about “Reservation for Economically Back ward in the Forward Castes”. If we
ignore EBCs in the FCs, again a class struggle may prevail, which is not good
for the future of our country. The present and future generations will not
excuse us for this mistake. Due to faulty reservations policy in our country,
lot of “Brain Drain” is going in our country (Lot of our intellectuals are
leaving the country for their bright future) for example, highly intellectuals
like Noble Prize winners – Hargobindh Kurana and Amartya Sen etc.
21. Empowerment of Women: Women must be empowered in all spheres i.e., in education, economical, political etc. Everybody must respect women. We must improve on female to male ratio. Girls should be permitted to born and live after birth.
22. Clean and Green: It is the bounded duty of every citizen in India to keep
our country “Clean and Green” so that we can protect our country from pollution. Every
Indian must learn basic manners to keep our country spic and span. This is one
of the obvious differences between a developing and a developed country. In
India anyone can spit and pee anywhere. Heaps of garbage can be seen in every
locality. Strict laws must be enforced to keep our country “clean and green”.
23.Good
Governance: There is probably no law in India that has been strictly
implemented. So, lawmakers must think on the firm implementation of laws and
good governance.
24.Education, Health, and Industrialization: Many
researchers in development economics have found out there is strong relationship
between education, health, industrialization, and development. They found out
that the productivity of educated and healthy workers is more than the illiterate
and unhealthy workers. It is also found that rapid industrialization has led a
developing country to a developed one.
25. Eradication of Poverty: In India, in spite of all the attempts, the number of poor is still increasing and becoming a hurdle for development. Poverty is just like a disease to which many other problems such as crime, low-paced development, etc are associated. There are number of people in India who are still homeless and beg for the whole day to eat a meal. Underprivileged children are unable to attend school and, and those have the opportunity to drop out after a year or so. People below the poverty line live in unhygienic conditions and are so prone to many health problems. With this, the vicious cycle of poor health, lack of education and more poverty keeps on increasing. Hence, Government must implement poverty eradication programmes strictly without any corruption.
26. Encourage Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Tourism by creating conducive atmosphere.
27. Political Reforms: In spite of number of political reforms in our country, talented and eligible persons are always kept out of the scenario. Ineligible, corrupt, criminals and stupid decide the fortune of our country. Hence, the Government must implement elections laws strictly to eliminate corrupt persons and criminals.
28. Alcohol Consumption: Alcohol consumption in India amounted to about five billion liters in 2020 and was estimated to reach about 6.21 billion liters by 2024. Alcohol consumption in India is rising day by day and most of the youth are addicted to it. All most all the State Governments are considering the sale of alcohol as a source of big income and forgetting the welfare of the Public. According to a Study, over 88 percent of Indians aged under age 25 purchase or consume alcoholic beverages even though it is illegal. Due to this, domestic violence, road accidents, and crime rate is increasing. Most of the youth’s bright future is in danger, thus the country is also losing their talents and energies for the development. Hence, all the State Governments must impose a total ban on alcohol or restrict its sale to a greater extent.
29. Black Money: Often, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) are misused for political purpose by the Central and State Governments leaving big culprits of their own parties. Thus, giving scope for the accumulation of black money in our country. Hence, Central and Governments must use the said Institutions impartially to unveil the black money in the country.
30. Pollution: Though, there are Central and State Pollution Control Boards for name sake, there is lot of environmental pollution in our country, especially in cities and towns, hence Government must take strong initiatives to control pollution so that our public will be free from hazardous health issues like heart, asthma, and skin diseases.
31. Responsibility of all the Citizens: Every citizen of the country must realize that Government alone cannot do everything without the support of public, hence everybody must support the Government to make our country a developed nation.
32. Vote Power: Ours is a democratic country, our strength is voting power. Hence, the people must elect good, able, and dynamic leaders who can guarantee a bright future for our country.
33. Patriotism: Above all, patriotism
is very important, which is lacking today. Without the safety of country, we
cannot live peacefully, hence it is the moral bounded duty of every citizen
to safeguard the interests of the country first and next ours.
To conclude, India is an emerging and developing
country (EDC) with rapid economic development. Former President A P J Abdul
Kalam has rightly said that country is more important than any religion or
fanaticism of any individual. The critical challenges India faces today can only be
overcome through communication and cooperative initiatives between the people
of India and the current political administration. Once both the parties
recognize that the critical problems of poverty, corruption, and literacy rates
need to be addressed, then only India can truly begin to successfully develop. Young and creative leaders can change India into a
developed nation. India will perform when its people will perform.
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