INDIA'S ECONOMY: OVERVIEW 0F PRESENT
India's economy was growing at a respectable rate during the
first decade of the twenty first century. But Manmohan Singh's UPA
govt.'s performance in its second term (2009-2014)
was disappointing. By its end, gdp growth slowed down to 4 to 5%
from about 8% to 9 %. In 2014, BJP came to power on the basis of
"Achchhe Din" promises of Narendra Modi which convinced
most Indians of change for the better. But the performance of last 6
years of Modi govt. has fallen far short of its high expectations.
India's gdp growth has gradually slowed down from 8% to 4%, even
prior to the arrival of Kovid-19. The pandemic has added fuel to the
fire, driving India's economy into negative growth territory. The
unemployment has reached to more than 20% among the urban
educated youth.(By the way, China's gdp, at present, is about five
times that of India, despite having equally large population.)
Unless drastic corrective steps are taken, India's economy is
likely to be mired into a middle income trap for many years. The
foremost priority and focus for the developing countries like
India should be economic development and upliftment of people out
of poverty. The bent of current ruling party toward Hindutva cultural
identity based on India's glorious past and religious intolerance
toward certain minority is not conducive to this goal. With such
divisive distractions how can we attract foreign investment into
India?
A few suggestions from experts to improve the economy are:
(1) Strong fiscal stimulus to the bottom half of the population even
at the cost of increasing fiscal deficit. (2) Generous expenditure
on infrastructure projects to employ the unemployed (specially rural
women), and thereby attract foreign trade. (3) Decentralize decision
making in running the government.
quic generous
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