Do it yourself

“Life is about the journey, not the destination”. This is a popular quote (often attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson) amongst motivational speakers, self-help and mindfulness coaches, therapists, and teachers. I have spent a good part of my life aimlessly wandering in the hinterlands of India. During these journeys I have learned a lot not only about my country, people, culture, traditions, treasures, and problems; but have also explored my inner self. I can therefore relate deeply with this saying.

However, a grave situation could arise when governments, businesses and other institutions begin to take this saying seriously; not realizing that it is about self-help and mindfulness at an individual level. Policy makers and institutions focusing on journeys rather than destinations may frustrate millions, depending on them for governance and livelihood, by causing avoidable agony and making their lives miserable.

Unfortunately, prima facie, our governments have been taking this saying too seriously. Their planning process appears to be focusing too much on means rather than goals. They have been putting the cart in front of the horse, not reaching anywhere or moving extremely slowly.

Let me explain with a few examples.

Constructing fancy buildings instead of character and scientific temper

The government has set a goal of constructing institutions like IITs, IIMs and AIIMS. Whereas, the goal should have been making Indians educated and healthy, in order to help them in developing a scientific temper (fundamental duty of citizens as per the Constitution).

Primary school is the place where you develop the character and temper of a child. And unfortunately, that is the place which is being ignored the most.

Merely constructing fancy buildings to produce graduates with little scientific temper and lacking in basic sense of inquiry does not serve any goal. A number of top engineering graduates pursue a management degree immediately after completing graduation, and they aspire for a banking job. This clearly shows that the selection process of engineering institutes like IITs is completely flawed and does not serve the purpose. A student who does not aspire to become a top class engineer to drive innovation and inquiry, should get eliminated at the application stage itself.

Similarly, a fully equipped primary health center in each village could eliminate the need for 50 AIIMS like institutions, and make the country much healthier. Building AIIMS, when diabetes, cancer, Vitamin B12 and D deficiencies, etc. have already assumed epidemic proportions, makes little sense.

Awarding national awards to actors who have been actively promoting consumption of tobacco, cause of thousands of untimely deaths every year, while focusing on constructing AIIMS in every state clearly indicate towards goal incongruence.

GDP is statistics not development

Celebrating the absolute GDP number and taking comfort in a growth rate that is higher relative to other economies, is also superfluous. The policy goal should be to improve the quality of life of every citizen to a certain level of comfort and dignity. Statistics like GDP growth should be left to the agencies monitoring the achievement of this goal. Government focusing on GDP growth is purely a distraction from the primary goal, i.e., “to minimize the inequalities in income, status, facilities and opportunities (as per the directive principles of the constitution)”. The government should monitor and report the progress in achievement of this goal rather than throwing random and meaningless numbers like $5trn and $10trn.

Medal and sports

The government has apparently set a goal to win a certain number of medals in the international sporting events like Olympics, Asian Games etc.

The goal of the policy should ideally be to promote sporting habits in the citizens, especially children, in order to make/keep them healthy, and help them develop characteristics like brotherhood, team spirit, harmony (as per fundamental duties prescribed in the constitution). Winning medals is just a by-product of sporting habits, which a few young people, who choose sports as a career, might win in due course. This cannot be a policy goal in a country like India.

Temple vs Character

The government has celebrated the construction of a grand Lord Rama’s temple at his birth place in Ayodhya, as one of its main achievements. The point is what should be the policy goal – building temples or building Lord Rama like character in the citizens of the country.

Lord Rama was anointed king of Ayodhya, but left the throne for his younger brother to honor the words of his father. He defeated Bali, but left the throne of Kishkindha to Bali’s younger brother Sugriva. He defeated Ravana, but left his kingdom Lanka for his younger brother, Vibhishana.

However, the outcome of the Ayodhya temple is that the followers of Lord Rama have become aggressive in their pursuit of taking possession of several other religious buildings for constructing temples at the expense of social harmony, common brotherhood, and peace.

An ideal policy goal would have been to develop Lord Rama like character in all primary school students, such that every household becomes a temple. The temple at Ayodhya should be used as an epitome of strong character not as an excuse for jingoistic nationalism.

These are just a few examples, where the government policies are like cart before horse. Everyone is enjoying the journey without going anywhere!!!

Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra (SRJBTKshetra), a public trust, is building a grand temple dedicated to Lord Rama at his birthplace in Ayodhya of Uttar Pradesh. Recently, the consecration ceremony of Lord Rama’s idol at the temple was performed with great fervor. To facilitate the devotees visiting the temple, the Government of Uttar Pradesh and the Central Government are investing in developing civil infrastructure in and around the Ayodhya town. Reportedly, the Master Plan 2031 envisages the redevelopment of Ayodhya to be completed over 10 years with an investment of over Rs 85,000 crore.

This is expected to establish Ayodhya town prominently on the world tourist map. It is pertinent to note that just three years ago, Ayodhya was a small municipal town with a population of approximately 70000 with poor civil infrastructure. Impressed by the government’s investment in Ayodhya’s civil infrastructure, Global brokerage firm Jefferies commented in a report, “The grand opening of the Ram temple at Ayodhya by PM Modi on Jan 22nd, is a big religious event. It also comes with a large economic impact as India gets a new tourist spot which could attract over 50 million tourists per year. An Rs 85,000-crore makeover (new airport, revamped railway station, township, improved road connectivity, etc.) will likely drive a multiplier effect with new hotels & other economic activities. It can also set a template for infra-driven growth for tourism”.

Incidentally, it is not Ayodhya alone. This is, apparently, the template of development chosen by the government. In the past few years, the government’s emphasis has been on the development of infrastructure, especially logistic infrastructure, and encouraging private enterprises to build manufacturing capacities taking advantage of improved infrastructure and logistic facilities.

It is pertinent to note that the contribution of manufacturing to India’s economy peaked in the mid-1990s and has been on the decline since then. In the year 2022, manufacturing contributed 13.3% to India’s GDP, the lowest level since 1967.

Earlier some East Asian countries, and lately China, used this strategy to accelerate their economic growth with mixed outcomes. Though years of high growth ensured a decent quality of life for their citizens, none has been able to become a developed economy. The high growth phase could not be sustained even for two decades. The economies are now mostly growing below par. In recent years, Chinese economic growth has also been decelerating. The authorities have clearly shown a tendency to shift focus on domestic consumption to support the economy.

The Indian economy has mostly been dominated by services on the supply side and consumption on the demand side. Now there is a concerted effort to change the model to manufacturing and investment-led growth.

The questions that need to be examined in this context are:

·         Given the fact that the Indian economy may probably be in its last decade of demographic dividend, is it desirable to cut spending on building social infrastructure, reduce the education and healthcare budget, and invest in long gestation infra projects?

·         Agricultural sector contribution to India’s GDP has been stagnating around 16-17% for a long time. The proportion of the population directly dependent on this sector is close to 44%. Would it not be better to invest in developing agro-technology, infrastructure, and logistics than focusing on manufacturing (with much lower employment intensity now) to make growth sustainable, faster, and equitable?

·         What is the probability that in one decade India can meaningfully increase its share in global manufactured trade? Curtailing domestic consumption to augment exports may be a high-risk strategy at this point in India’s economic growth journey. Of course, if it is successful, the rewards may be exciting. But the odds do not look great at this point.

·         Self-reliance in defense production, full energy security, and net exporter status in manufactured electronics, are three key expected outcomes of the current policy direction. Healthcare, higher education, advanced technology, water, urban planning, etc. are some of the areas that are getting lower priority than required. Failure to achieve the outcomes could prove to be exponentially disastrous.

The point is that this midway diversion in the growth strategy could be fraught with significant risk. Our social, political, cultural, and economic structures are not the same as China’s. Adopting the Chinese strategy of economic growth and development may neither be desirable nor effective, in my view.

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View from my standpoint