We have a long way to go

Great things are being talked about Indian growth story. International leaders are coming down here and lavishing lots of praises. But the question is do we really deserve this praise.

If we look at the real picture on the ground, the story is different. Since the economic reforms of 1991,Indian economy’s growth has picked up momentum. But this growth is not all inclusive growth. Income disparities have increased. Rich people have got richer  whereas poor people haven’t benefitted at all. Even today 60 percent of population lives in rural areas. Primary source of their income is agriculture. In most of the rural areas, basic infrastructure is missing. Most of them do not have access to power, communication facilities, modern transportation,healthcare.As  per one estimate India needs  $500 billion to plug these gaps which is a big challenge for Indian government given the state of our fiscal deficit.If,these gaps are not plugged in time, urban migration will gain momentum which will put additional load on already stretched urban infrastructure.

Then we talk about largest pool of skilled manpower as our strength.Yes,we do have a very large pool of qualified manpower. But the question is about quality of manpower. It is quite evident from outsourcing revolution. Majority of jobs that are being outsourced to India are low skilled jobs. Education has become a big business in India wherein the focus is more on commercial aspects rather than real development of students.

Majority of sectors have been opened up for foreign direct investment. But our share of global foreign direct investment is not remarkable.  Corruption and redtepism are the biggest hurdles. We are one of the most corrupt developing countries. Now a days media is playing a vigilant role in this field. Let’s hope that  ,It will put pressure on such corrupt tendencies.

We are the largest democracy in the world. This aspect should have been our strength. But unfortunately  because of democracy, first class nation of our has been successively governed by third class political parties. In democracy, people get what they deserve. Certainly we all Indians do not deserve such a bad governance. Ultimately all of us will have to wake up to the fact that through democracy, we have to shape our future. And  our future has to be a superpower India where our per capita income is higher, very less number of people living below poverty  and access to world class infrastructure.