The new year has begun and naturally the people of the country are still looking for a better future as before. The general public has been wandering for years only in search of a peaceful life, but no political party has been able to do so much for the public so far, this is a bitter truth. Some special changes will be possible in the new year, its possibility seems very less. If we look at today's situation, then only disappointment seems to be in hand. Today, the general public is troubled by inflation, the unemployment rate is reaching almost 8 percent, the rupee has crossed 80 per dollar, the debt on the Government of India has doubled in the last decade, and in the last few years In 2015, the foreign trade deficit became one and a half times. In the recent past, the GDP growth projections of our country have been revised downwards by almost all the rating agencies, World Bank, RBI and others. These numbers mean a lot to many but mean nothing to crores of people in our country as they live in abject poverty despite years of so-called rapid growth rates. Unemployment continues to be a serious problem, which was deliberately ignored, it seems, during all the decades of double-digit growth. The blind faith shown by economists, planners and the ruling class in the so-called "trickle down growth" theory was willfully perpetuated, the consequences of which are in front of all of us today. The demand to revisit such flawed economic models has been going on for years by leaders and planners across the world, including India, but the current economic structure, which has seen a rapid rise in the number of billionaires, is yet to change or rethink. There doesn't seem to be any effort. Today economic inequality is at its peak in India and around the world.
Clearly the present dismal economic scenario is due to decades of flawed economic policies. Nehruvian socialist policies were blamed for the all-pervasive poverty recurring after independence. After 1991 liberal economic policy framework, end of license raj and liberalisation, globalisation, privatization mantra began to make their mark on the life of the country, along with the promise that poverty would be eradicated and the country would soon Will move ahead leaving behind the developing economy tag. Thirty two years later, we have some growth rate numbers, list of billionaires, privately operated airports, seaports, dozens of car models, mobiles, cosmetic manufacturing companies etc. to show for it. We take pride in the fact that our economy is now the fifth largest, but we forget that India's economy was the fifth largest in the world in 1947 itself. A glance at the country's economic prowess during the last few millennia is enough to astound the countrymen of the present generation.
As per available information, for a continuous period of about 1700 years from 1st AD, India was the top economy with 35 to 40% of the world's GDP. Long before this, the citizens of the Indus Valley Civilization, which flourished between 2800 BCE and 1800 BCE, farmed, kept domesticated animals, used uniform weights and measures, made tools and weapons, and moved to other cities. did business with. Available evidence of well-planned roads, an efficient drainage system and water supply reveals their knowledge of urban planning, including the existence of the first known urban sanitation system and a form of municipal government. The Indian economy was very large and prosperous till the 18th century. According to reliable estimates, China and India accounted for 60 to 70 percent of world GDP in the 17th century, with India producing about 25% of the world's industrial output by 1750, making it the most important center in international trade .
There is no doubt that under British rule, India's share of world income fell significantly from 22.6% in 1700, roughly equal to Europe's share of 23.3% at that time, to 3.8% in 1952. Even at present India's contribution to world GDP is equal to 3.8% as it was in 1952. So where is the development of the years? Where's the progress? A country which was one of the richest countries in the world for thousands of years, its contribution to world GDP was 22.6%, why is it in this condition today? The point to ponder is why even after 75 years of independence and three decades of liberalization of the country's economy, why is our contribution to the world GDP as low as it was in 1952? Germany and Japan were completely devastated after the Second World War but in a decade or two they came back on the path of development with a bang and they are the members of G7 group of most advanced countries. Where are we? Why are we not fully developed yet? Why the world's richest country for thousands of years is not able to wake up after 75 years of self-rule?
Our leaders and politicians need to answer these questions. Despite being in power for decades or even years, they have done nothing except raising slogans and fooling people on the basis of caste and religion. How long will we continue to support politics on the basis of black money, lies, caste, religion?
This country has always had the potential to become a world leader in economic and other fields, so it was ahead of others for centuries. It is the rotten leadership of decades that has trapped this great country in the cesspool of corruption, poverty and all kinds of deprivation. These selfish, incompetent, blind, corrupt, greedy leaders in connivance with corrupt bureaucracy and businessmen have thrown this country on the path of poverty and this corrupt politics alone is responsible for widespread poverty, unemployment, injustice, inequality, hatred in the country.
Vijay Shankar Pandey is former Secretary Government of India