Agenda for the new government
A new central government will assume office in India, in a few days. This is a great opportunity to look at the current state of affairs with a new perspective and reorient the policy framework. The present state of the Indian economy is characterized by the rising incidence of unemployment, disguised unemployment, and underemployment; higher than acceptable socio-economic inequality; strong and rising intellectual and skill inequality; gradually bridging but still high regional imbalances; low productivity especially in the agriculture sector; oversized government with abysmal level of decentralization; incapacitating supply constraints, especially in social and physical infrastructure terms; and trust deficit at all levels. A younger demography provides high potential in terms of growing workforce and consumption demand. However, the potential remains under-exploited due to low skill levels, lack of adequate employment opportunities, financial and social exclusion, and disillusionm...