Editorial

Published: Aug 31, 2022
Updated: Aug 31, 2022

Challenges for next 25 years

No doubt, India has made rapid strides on the economic front during the last 75 years of independence, with the massive transformation of a poor, backward and totally agrarian economy into the fifth largest economy in the world. The country has seen all-round growth with significant contributions from various prime ministers – from Jawaharlal Nehru to Narendra Modi. But no one should forget the remarkable contributions made by Dr Manmohan Singh, father of the liberalisation and globalisation of the Indian economy, Dr S Swaminathan, father of the green revolution which has made the country self-sufficient in foodgrains, and Dr Verghese Kurien, father of the white revolution which has made India the largest milk producer in the world.

During the last 75 years, the country has made remarkable progress on several fronts, including literary, healthcare, life expectancy, road connectivity, sanitisation and education. The per capita income has shot up from Rs 365 in 1948 to Rs 1,28,829 and the GDP of the country has recorded a 500-fold spurt. India has overcome massive challenges ever since its independence to emerge as the 6th largest economy in the world at $ 3.17 trillion, ranking behind only the US, China, Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Thus, the journey of the Indian economy since independence is most remarkable. However, after 75 years of independence, the country faces severe challenges on three fronts, and unfortunately no decisive action is being taken to tackle them.

The first one is poverty. Though the country is growing economically at a fast pace, the gains are not equally divided and inequality is on the rise, with the rich becoming richer and the poor turning poorer. On one side, the number of millionaires is on the rise, while on the other more and more people are being pushed below the poverty line. Even after 75 years of independence, around 245 million Indians continue to be below the poverty line. Of course, this figure is also – ironically — in question as the Modi government has credited itself with feeding 800 million poor people in the country.

Another major issue is that of spiralling price inflation. With both wholesale and consumer price indices surging to all-time high levels, the lower-income and lower middle-class groups are finding it very difficult to make ends meet. Though inflation has been raging for quite some time, no concrete steps have been taken to control the spiraling prices.

The third major headache for the economy is the rising unemployment. The Covid-19 pandemic administered a body blow to the common man with millions of people losing their jobs. During the pandemic, not only did people suffer only on account of joblessness or reduced incomes, their woes were multiplied on account of a steady and sharp rise in prices of essentials. Ironically, the government, which was benefited greatly from very low prices of crude oil in the first three years of its regime, turned a deaf ear to the common man’s woes when the spurt in crude oil prices led to a steep rise in prices of essentials.

The government will have to pay special attention during the next 25 years to tackle these three major problems so that the country can truly celebrate a century of independence in the full spirit of freedom from want, poverty and unemployment.