On Independence Day, the Prime Minister has said that henceforth India should focus on five important goals namely  making India a developed country by 1947; removing all the symbols of colonialism; achieving unity and integrity; making Indians proud of our history and heritage;  making Indians conscious of their duties.

While no one should have any qualms in accepting the goals of removing all Colonial symbols and making Indians proud of our history and heritage, there is a need to explore the possibility of achieving and prioritising these goals.

Though there are many criterion of a developed country, per capita income is  most widely accepted one. According to the Investopedia,the world’s leading financial data depository, a developed country should have a per capita income of at least $15000. The average per capita income of the G7 countries, the group of developed countries, is $44000+. So if we take a mid figure, to be declared a developed country, the per capita income should be at least $30000 as on today.

But by 2047, at the average rate of 2% at which developed countries grow, to be a developed country, India’s per capita income should be $45000 non-conpoundingly computed for 25 years. During the last 25 years starting from 1997, India’s GDP grew 5.59 times. It was $415 in 1997 and in 2022 it is $2321 as per Macrotrends.net. So even if we suppose that in the next 25 years the country will grow as it did during the last 25 years then per capita income by 2047 should be 5.59 times of $2321 that is $12000 +  to be called a developed country. That will be still $32000 less than what is required to be a developed nation in 2047.  This is economics. Dreams are essential as Kalam said but should be realistic.

Besides the growth  in terms of GDP only indicates increase in the consumption. In his book “Hot,Flat and Crowded” its three time pulitzer prize winning author, Thomas L Friedman quoted a study which said that average American consumes hundred times more than an average Indian. This figure is at least 50 times in case of European countries.  He also said in the same book that if India and China citizens are to consume as much as the citizens of developed countries,  then we will need 2 to 3 equally resourceful planets like the earth which hopefully political parties may promise but cannot deliver.  So in the given climate change conditions, the promise should be to put in place policies that guarantee sustainable growth with equality rather than absolute growth and concentration of wealth which is happening in almost all the countries including India.

In an interview with Karen Thaper, the Tamilnadu Finance Minister PalenevelThiagarajan has remarked that how India is remaining United India is a miracle given the disconcertingly wide social, economic and educational disparities among the various States. When asked the question whether this disparity poses a threat to the unity of India, he parried the question and answered that many possibilities have the potential to happen and yet he was optimistic on the positive side. So the unity and integrity that the Prime Minister has promised is the need of the hour and should be achieved by bringing down the disparities in social, economic and educational fields among the States rather than harping on cultural and linguistic issues and raking up the differences in religious or other issues that will not in any way contribute productively for the growth and stability of the nation. The social scientists and intellectuals have been voceferously and uni voce pointing out that in India religious, regional, linguistic caste and even class disparities are increasing because of the policies being pursued in the recent times. This tendency must be arrested in order to achieve the unity and integrity goal without which not only growth not possible but whatever the growth achieved will be negatived.

Recently Rajmarg in Delhi has been refurbished and rechristened as Kartavya Marg as a symbol for the newly enunciated goal of making the citizens do their duty to the Nation rather than asking for the rights. But all the citizens who have the work are doing their duties and following the rule of law.  The growth that the Government has been crediting to its governance is because of the duties of these law abiding citizens. Probably the government’s intention is that people should do their duties but not seek their rights which are guaranteed by the Constitution; but fight for the rights has been a recurring feature in history that underlies the progress of the humanity. It must be borne in mind that the growth that has been achieved by the developed countries was not at the cost of the rights of the people; in fact it is the undiluted honour of the rights of the people that enabled their growth.

So the new goals, let us hope, will be followed with more positive perspective to  keep torch of miracle of India burning and shining.

Dr M H Prasad Rao

Srirangavihar apartments

Flat number 402,KPHB colony 5^th phase

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