Dr. Devendra
Kothari
Population
and Development Analyst,
Forum for
Population Action
India has just
celebrated its 66th birthday (on 15th August), a healthy
age among the nations that emerged after World War II. Since 1947, there have
been great achievements - self-sufficiency in food, increase in life
expectancy, nearly universal primary education and revolution in information
technology. Enormous though these achievements are, however, its glory is
diminished by what India has not been able to do. Sixty years of a planned economy
has not been able to resolve the issues of
poverty, low
status of women, poor quality of education and pathetic governance as well as
law and order.
In fact, things are going from bad
to worse. India’s rank in the UN’s Human Development Report has fallen from 123
in 2001 to 134 out of 187 countries and territories in 2011. Further, India is simply not doing enough for
its women either. The Global Gender Gap Report 2011, released by the World
Economic Forum, reveals a stark and deep rooted gender gap in India. The
country has fallen from 96th rank in 2006 to 113th in the
last 6 years. In addition,
recent studies paint a grim picture of education, posing the risk of eroding
the long-term competitiveness of World’s fourth largest economy. A study by the
Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) found that out of 74
countries, Indian school students at the higher secondary level ranked almost
at the bottom, with only Kyrgyzstan faring worse than India. Today, more
children are going to school but what they are learning is not clear. The post discusses
why this depressing scenario.
All this is a
rather shameful reflection of the
prevailing conditions in a country that is said to be on a growth song, and
indicate that India is heading towards an unstable situation of extreme danger or
difficulty that could lead to despair, social instability, political strife,
policymaking paralysis and capital flight as well as a rapid collapse in growth
rates. It appears that efforts made over the years to improve the quality of
life have partially been neutralized by neglecting some basic issues. The
next General Election is around the corner and our political parties are
organizing or will organize some sort of
'Chintan Shivirs’ or brain storming sessions to work on a roadmap to win
the election. In the changed situation, the measures like MGNREGA, the Food Security
Bill or Direct Benefit Transfer scheme, Free Medicine, Free Electricity for Farmers, etc. will not provide balm. In fact they are hurting development. All
these, to a greater or lesser extent, are examples of outdated populist
measures to win the elections. The political class has to accept the fact that
things have changed especially the voter profile and requirements. As such, the political class has to keep pace
with the changed situation and focus on
real issues[1].
The next post discusses why pace of development is slow
in India.
[1]
In this
connection, see newspaper article by Jug Suraiya “For a Change”, Times of
India, January 16, 2013. Also see post by author: “To beat the gloom, India needs to focus on
real issues” at link: kotharionindia.blogspot.com, dated January31, 2012
