India - 70 Years
Some people wonder what we did in the last 70 years, but we often miss the context that was in 1947, in 1960, in 1980 .. without context, facts may give only the half-truth.
Some Historical facts :
India literacy rate in 1947: 12%, in 2011it is 75%
Economy size: 1947 - 90 billion, 2.5% of world income.
2018 It is 2.5 trillion with 7.45% of the world.
In 2014 it was 3rd largest in terms of PPP.
Indian space/military programs are now one in the best 10.
Challenges it faced: Slavery (caste system) of 100s of years (one of the longest in the world), a corrupt social hierarchy which denied education and access to land to the majority of its people. It inherited less compared to many of its peers
We can argue about its pace, but it progressed in a good direction strategically, now there are very few large developing countries in the world that having a good growth rate but also it is driven by internal consumption rather than export. Also more on services than low-end manufacturing.
Poverty in India is declining at a fast rate. If we compare it with large democracies of the world it is commendable progress, We mostly compare India and China (which has a benefit of implementing Iron hand policies). If we compare India and China, the two highly populated and poor countries of the world in the 1960s. Till the 1980s both progressed in a comparable path. India in a better sustainable path that provides 4-5% growth even without FDIs. India controlled famine better than China.
After the 80s three important things altered the path of India and China bit differently. First is China's one-child policy - they prevented about 300 million births in decades which also paved a way to a generation with no aunties and uncles or niece and nephews. Some reports suggest it is going to cost society. Another thing is China has become the factory of the world with the help of the USA and the western corporates. While India in many ways has undergone Western sanctions for decades.
The third one can be a bit controversial but if we can see the things from distance it is very clear - The great game to tarnish Rajiv Gandhi and keep him away from power and later his killing. We lost 10 years there. Most of the millennials from India are products of the policies initiated by Rajiv's era. Initiatives and policies like Navodaya schools, IT education, MCA, telecom revolution, decentralization (Panjayathi Raj) and the blueprint on which future governments of the country build India.
Even being poor we achieved self-sufficiency w.r.to food very early on, our drive to achieve this didn’t go well with other powers, they in some way want India to depend on the outside world for food. Indian 'bimaru' (impoverished) states, like Bihar/Rajasthan/MadhyaPradesh/Uttar Pradesh which dragged India compared to other states, mostly ruled by “casteist” parties in last 20 years. Recently Bihar made a good improvement w.r.to HDI under Nitish Kumar.
Still, India is progressing positively by avoiding the costs of many aggressive policies. We just need to reduce corruption and refine and bolster the current framework of institutions. Most of us who are English educated may be less than 10% Indian population, try to compare India with the western world or a world projected by the media and become a pessimist. But examining things from a birds-eye view will show that India is progressing positively. We can debate about the pace and the aggressiveness. But surely it is progressing. We just need to reduce corruption and refine and bolster the current framework of institutions and ensure harmony within India and around its neighborhood.
One of the greatest achievements of the republic is none other than its the Indian constitution, and the failure is often we undermine it. We need to better our transparency index, civic index. Policies such as RTI, Lokpal, Lok Ayuktha, even Adhar were brought in to bolster this effort.
Our constitution, its cool check here - https://thewire.in/video/watch-five-cool-things-indian-constitution
Some Links: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/india-at-70-a-comparison-of-progress-with-pakistan-and-4-other-nations-here/story-UEIuCPfvjOFE4U3aFHaIYI.html
https://www.oneindia.com/2007/08/13/india-economic-progression-since-1947.html
Some Historical facts :
India literacy rate in 1947: 12%, in 2011it is 75%
Economy size: 1947 - 90 billion, 2.5% of world income.
2018 It is 2.5 trillion with 7.45% of the world.
In 2014 it was 3rd largest in terms of PPP.
Indian space/military programs are now one in the best 10.
We can argue about its pace, but it progressed in a good direction strategically, now there are very few large developing countries in the world that having a good growth rate but also it is driven by internal consumption rather than export. Also more on services than low-end manufacturing.
Poverty in India is declining at a fast rate. If we compare it with large democracies of the world it is commendable progress, We mostly compare India and China (which has a benefit of implementing Iron hand policies). If we compare India and China, the two highly populated and poor countries of the world in the 1960s. Till the 1980s both progressed in a comparable path. India in a better sustainable path that provides 4-5% growth even without FDIs. India controlled famine better than China.
The third one can be a bit controversial but if we can see the things from distance it is very clear - The great game to tarnish Rajiv Gandhi and keep him away from power and later his killing. We lost 10 years there. Most of the millennials from India are products of the policies initiated by Rajiv's era. Initiatives and policies like Navodaya schools, IT education, MCA, telecom revolution, decentralization (Panjayathi Raj) and the blueprint on which future governments of the country build India.
Even being poor we achieved self-sufficiency w.r.to food very early on, our drive to achieve this didn’t go well with other powers, they in some way want India to depend on the outside world for food. Indian 'bimaru' (impoverished) states, like Bihar/Rajasthan/MadhyaPradesh/Uttar Pradesh which dragged India compared to other states, mostly ruled by “casteist” parties in last 20 years. Recently Bihar made a good improvement w.r.to HDI under Nitish Kumar.
One of the greatest achievements of the republic is none other than its the Indian constitution, and the failure is often we undermine it. We need to better our transparency index, civic index. Policies such as RTI, Lokpal, Lok Ayuktha, even Adhar were brought in to bolster this effort.
Our constitution, its cool check here - https://thewire.in/video/watch-five-cool-things-indian-constitution
Some Links: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/india-at-70-a-comparison-of-progress-with-pakistan-and-4-other-nations-here/story-UEIuCPfvjOFE4U3aFHaIYI.html
https://www.oneindia.com/2007/08/13/india-economic-progression-since-1947.html
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