It is not that India's achievements are anything to sneer at. It is simply that Indians behave as though they owe the world a favor all the time.
India in 2020 has every reason and chance to become at least a mid-sized economic power. But there are enough pitfalls and risks that could delay this outcome. Most of them are internal challenges, while there are external obstacles and unresolved issues like cross-border terrorism in Kashmir and the nascent insurgency in the Northeast. However, India has survived many challenges to its polity, structure and culture. Therefore, there is every hope that the present challenges will be tackled successfully in the years ahead. This paper identifies some of the issues that are fundamental, in the author's opinion, and outlines a few ways to address them.
In the modern times, India has slowly come out of the protectionist mindset that was, to start with, a natural response to centuries of external invasion culminating in nearly 250 years of British colonialism. Hence, India sought to build a fortress around itself with tariff and non-tariff barriers. India believed in self-reliance through import substitution and not through export promotion. It must also not be forgotten that it was the extant wisdom in the 1950s when India had just attained independence. Government intervention, central planning and import substitution were deemed necessary to catch up with the economically developed nations. |
