Inarguably we should all admit to this fact that our rate of growth is dead slow. From the time, we got Independence till date.
To prove this, there is no application of scientific principle required. Just travel around in any part of this country or if it rains, it can make your job easy. Maybe some planned places will be exceptional! But if you take the majority of the cases, the result will be positive.
I am not being a pessimist here, but just trying to understand what went wrong from the beginning. Are we wrong from the beginning or we lost the path somewhere? This book In Spite of the Gods, the Strange Rise of India throws some light on this issue.
I am just taking some facts and figures from the book by Edward Luce and trying to present in a simplified manner here.
Note: It is not an in-depth analysis, just some basic facts.
Nehru's Economic Policies
How the situation was when he came into
Impact of Nehru's economic Policies - A comparison with other countries
In the year 1950, South Korea was still in the process of getting relieved from the impact of the war with its counterpart North Korea. At that point of time, their living standard was almost equal to that of India's. Now 50 Years later their per capita income is10,000 US dollar (10 times that of India). Maybe we can say excuse with population and cultural difference and other post-colonial impacts as a factor of slow growth. But is it the reason?
Even China's per capita income is double than ours! Their revolution towards economic growth also began in the year 1949.
Reference: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/74121.In_Spite_of_the_Gods
To prove this, there is no application of scientific principle required. Just travel around in any part of this country or if it rains, it can make your job easy. Maybe some planned places will be exceptional! But if you take the majority of the cases, the result will be positive.
I am not being a pessimist here, but just trying to understand what went wrong from the beginning. Are we wrong from the beginning or we lost the path somewhere? This book In Spite of the Gods, the Strange Rise of India throws some light on this issue.
I am just taking some facts and figures from the book by Edward Luce and trying to present in a simplified manner here.
Note: It is not an in-depth analysis, just some basic facts.
Nehru's Economic Policies
How the situation was when he came into
- Nine out of 10 Indians lived in villages
- Literacy rate of the country was 16%
- Average life expectancy was 32 years
The Need then
- India needed rural land reform to boost crop yields
- Local irrigation projects to help farmers
- Basic education for the poor class
- Access to antibiotics and anti-malaria medicines
What Nehru's policy provided
- Drastic industrialisation instead of land reform which didn't take up as expected
- Dams instead of effective irrigation projects that were never completed
- Instead of promoting basic education to poor class, the priority was given on building universities targeting urban middle class.
Impact of Nehru's economic Policies - A comparison with other countries
In the year 1950, South Korea was still in the process of getting relieved from the impact of the war with its counterpart North Korea. At that point of time, their living standard was almost equal to that of India's. Now 50 Years later their per capita income is10,000 US dollar (10 times that of India). Maybe we can say excuse with population and cultural difference and other post-colonial impacts as a factor of slow growth. But is it the reason?
Even China's per capita income is double than ours! Their revolution towards economic growth also began in the year 1949.
Reference: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/74121.In_Spite_of_the_Gods
