And for a Friday in Mumbai, the commercial capital of India, as the country barges into the top 5 economies of the world, some thoughts….. some musings…..
IMF notified India has now pipped UK to be among the big 5 Global economies along with US, China, Japan and Germany. Of course it’s a Marquee event to be celebrated cos it’s a “hockey -stick” moment , heralding the huge opportunities unravelling for India. Whilst the World is heading towards recession, India is an oasis, the fastest growing large economy in the world. Inflation has touched 10% in UK, 9% in US and Europe whereas in India it’s a manageable 6-7% which the country is well versed with. The world’s largest democracy has been making evolutionary changes over the last many decades. As a nation we are very self critical and chaotic. Notwithstanding, huge strides have been made with unified pan-India digital based indirect taxes – GST rolled out and fully operational, the implementation of the IBC (Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code), tech based, faceless, restructuring of Income-tax regimes and 466.5 mn Jandhan bank accounts for the underprivileged. The economy is undergoing a huge formalisation with the setup of scalable digital frameworks such as ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce), OCEN ( Open Credit Enablement Network) and NDEAR (National Digital Education Architecture). All these backbone networks will lead to multiple job creation and economic growth.
Whilst great strides have been made, the current per capita income of only 2500$ and the wide disparities between the 766 districts in India is the challenge being tackled. To hasten the process 117 aspirational districts of the country have been identified for focus development of all health and human indices. Even the most developed/industrialised states like Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamilnadu have such aspirational districts, not to mention the poorer states of Bihar or MP. Special steps to pull them up from the multidimensional poverty is underway. The world’s largest rural employment scheme MGNREGS, free supply of food grains as support to Covid hit poor families, a disability insurance for labourers and poor workers @ premium of 12 rs per year an insurance cover of 2 lakhs, Atal Bima Yojana, lifelong pension of maximum 5000 Rs per month based on subsidies for the unorganised sector workers and a host of skill development programmes to enhance job opportunities are under implementation in each of these aspirational districts. These initiatives are well supported by NGOs and various corporates under their CSR programmes. Hopefully these initiatives will help raise the poorest of the poor BPL families away from current abys levels.
Let us not be swayed by the cacophony of the social media, TV networks and the politicians. As professionals and good citizens, let us contribute honestly in our chosen profession and do our sincere nation building inputs, the honest way, the inclusive way, the SEEGOS way.