Ironies and Paradoxes of Indian Development

Economic development is what everyone swears by today. And we wish to quantify this economic development in terms of a rapidly increasing GDP and present that to the world as the proof of India’s economic development. In the process, we often overlook some fundamental issues – Who is this growth intended for? Do those intended bear the fruits of this economic progress in reality? And most importantly, what are the real costs of this economic development?

Ours is a democratic nation. But what is more conspicuous than democracy is infact a democracy of injustice and inequality where injustice and inequality are inflicted by the people, on the people and for the people. This chasm of disparity has in fact deepened more during the period of India’s economic development.

Take for instance what is now ostensibly considered as an indicator of economic growth and development – Growth of Cities and Urbanization, ergo, the Smart Cities program of our country. So caught up are we in catering to the ever-increasing urban population that we fail to notice how the urban resource-consumption has, besides emptying its own share of resource allocation, also eaten into what is rightfully the rural share of resources. Reports indicate as to how urban development is taking place at the cost of rural progress. For example, the very primary resource, Water, and in that fresh water is being diverted from agricultural/irrigation purposes to meet the drinking water needs of urban areas. And instead, the waste water generated by these urban areas, partially or completely treated waste water, is then sent back to the rural areas for the purpose of farming. Interestingly, the agricultural produce so obtained is then rejected from the market on the grounds of contamination. So essentially what is happening is that the rural areas are firstly given low quality input to be used as means of their livelihood and then penalized for producing low quality output using this same input. There is a gross injustice that is being inflicted on the rural communities for the sake of providing better quality amenities to the urban class.  There is a gradual class divide that this brings into the picture- probably a new age caste system in contemporary India. So, even as urbanization is claiming the rightful share of rural space, which is the backbone of Indian economy and soul, focus is still on urbanization rather than rapid rural development. Talks are more of Smart Cities than Smart-Self-Sustained-Villages.

It is estimated that by 2050, the percentage of Indian population living in the cities is expected to rise from the present 30-40% to about 70%. But instead of working on equipping the cities to withstand this explosive rate of urbanization, it would be prudent to examine the causes of migration that has been a major contributor to the increase in urban population. The focus should then shift on these issues, which primarily centre around better livelihoods and opportunities, and provide the same in rural setting thus minimizing migration and subsequently expansion in urbanization, and also simultaneously raising the standard of life. But instead we are consumed by this notion of equating development with urbanization. Where did this idea come from? Where did even this notion of GDP as a measure of development come from? From the West, of course. After Indian independence, India was launched on a growth trajectory modeled on the West’s economic growth model, even as the West itself was beginning to get over its obsession with consumerism and had started to look for more sustainable means of development. So, even as the West has realized the environmental perils of industrial production and has outsourced nearly all of its dirty jobs to third-world countries desperate for economic growth (take China and Malaysia as examples), India is offering up herself at the altar urging companies to come Make In India and therefore pollute in India. It’s as if we are offset from this whole cycle of economic growth and development by more than half a century or so, that even as we could learn our lessons from the West and leap directly into sustainable means of livelihood and economy, we are instead opting to go through the whole process of industrial expansion and environmental degradation. Interestingly, the West itself if now looking at community-based livelihood and decentralized governance, a concept advocated by Mahatma Gandhi and his followers more than 70 years ago. What is ironic is that the very people who prefer the West’s model of economic growth over that of sustainable livelihoods and community-based living long-practised in India, are the ones who are vehemently opposed to the Western Influence in Indian Culture.