Thursday, April 13, 2017

The 10 propellers

"The sovereignty of scriptures of all religions must come to an end if we want to have a united integrated modern India."
—B. R. Ambedkar (Indian, 1891-1956)
Word for the day
Rebarbative (adj)
Causing annoyance, irritation, or aversion; repellent.
Malice towards none
Is it only me, or you are also noticing that many non-NDA parties in India are compromising with national interest in their fight against dominance of PM Modi on Indian politics.
First random thought this morning
As he completes 100days in office, President Trump's negotiating skills will be put to severe test during last week of April, when the US Congress would reconvene on April 25th after Easter vacations, and will be required to pass the government spending bill in four days to avoid shut down of government on 29th April.
Senators are going to bargain hard in lieu of their approval to the Spending Bill. Mexican Wall is one of many things that may fall during the negotiations.

The 10 propellers

From my experiences, observations and discussions with number of common people during my recent travels across the country, it is abundantly clear to me that India, as represented by her people and their aspirations, is changing faster than most of us would like to believe.
Unfortunate part though is that not all changes are positive or in desirable direction. The speed of change also varies on regional basis as well as on the basis of the area of change. The impact of the change therefore is not strong enough to change the general perception about the country.
Moreover, this disharmony in the direction and speed of the changes is creating an optical illusion of goal incongruence and holding up the overall development and growth from gathering required pace.
Notwithstanding the current positive sentiments on India which seem driven by TINA factor to a large extent, there are serious doubts over India's capability to sustainably grow at faster rate to become a high income country, unlike the peers like Brazil and China.
In my view, India has the potential and capability to become a high income country in next 5 decades, provided it can manage the necessary escape velocity through a mix of economic, social, cultural and religious reforms. The key would be to pursue all reforms simultaneously, earnestly, and vigorously.
I have identified the following ten areas of change that could propel India to a higher orbit.
(1)   Financial inclusion
(2)   Compliance standards
(3)   Water and Electricity
(4)   Farm sector
(5)   Economic integration
(6)   Social integration
(7)   Human resource development
(8)   Social reforms
(9)   Religious renaissance
(10) Political establishment
Some of these areas have seen phenomenal developments in past few years, the most notable being financial inclusion. In recent months, sincere efforts have been made to improve compliance standards in areas like taxation, road safety, emission norms, real estate development etc. Implementation of GST, completion of dedicated freight corridors, expansion of national highways, especially in east and north east, and national markets for agri produce, etc. would be big steps towards economic integration of the country.
In next few weeks, I shall share my views on all these areas, especially what needs to be done.
Readers are cordially invited to share their thoughts on any reforms in any of these areas.

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