By Mithilesh Kumar Sinha | EMN
As a student of economics I got tempted to look at how far this country has come since the British left. Imaging taking responsibility for the governance of a country in 1947 when only 16 per cent of Indians were literate, life expectancy at birth was 32 years, per capita income at current prices was `247, and per capita consumption of electricity was 16.3 kWh per year. Lesser mortals would have concluded that India was ungovernable.
But our visionary leaders, policy makers and planners bravely shouldered the awesome responsibility of governing a vast and volatile nation. On the owing of their tireless effort, India has made much progress, come a long way since August 1947 and can look forward to more.
Though, the first 20 years can be described as the lost years, the second 25 years were even more lost- so probably best described as the atrociously lost years and the most recent 25 years can be thought of us the years of modest positivism. In 70 years, India witnessed a great leap of change and swing. Things have changed. Businesses are not evil; entrepreneurs are all not crooks; laws are not all draconian. 1971 was Socialist India. 2014 is India, flourishing market economy. India is today the world’s 7th largest economy. India is now among the world’s top exporting countries. Innovation has improved productivity so dramatically that merchandise exports are growing faster than 30 per cent annually. GDP growth has doubled or tripled since 2004 in six large, poor states- Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh. Today we are one of the consumption engines of the world as we are guzzling colas, downloading music on hour iPads and zipping around in our sedans.
India is on the verge of becoming a great power in the world. In 2016, India’s GDP growth rate was 8.0 per cent, India witnessed 3.4 per cent growth rate in IIP, Manufacturing growth rate was 10.8 per cent, growth rate of Electricity was 5 per cent. Foodgrain production was very high i.e. 252 mn tonnes. Savings growth as % of GDP was 32.2 per cent, that of investment as % of GDP was 33.2 and electricity production was 1336 bn kWh (utilities) (see Table)
India has witnessed the rise in the life expectancy at birth to 68. 34 years. The rise in literacy took place and it reached at 73 per cent. Per Capita Income surged to `1, 03,219. The proportion of people living in poverty declined to less than 22 per cent. India achieved the self-sufficiency in food grains and got success in avoidance of famine. It has overcome the occurrence of plague, kala azar, small pox and polio. India advanced in science and technology, especially space and atomic energy, with limited resources.
It is, of course, true that the country has progressed on several fronts but much work still needs to be done. Literacy may be well over 70 per cent now but there are significant gaps in schooling performance that need to be filled. Life expectancy may be more than twice that it was in 1947, but health care remains abysmal. Public health care is mired in corruption, inefficiency, and chronic incapacity; private health care is expensive and often exploitative. India has much to celebrate by way to go in making this growth process more socially, economically and regionally inclusive. Seizing the opportunities for reform today- to create jobs, improve access to quality education and health, develop infrastructure, and ensure a cleaner environment- will make it possible to harness globalization and realize India’s potential in the decades ahead. Governance still needs a miracle. Before becoming a superpower India should focus more on providing dignity to its citizen.
