Maintaining rapid as well as
environmentally sustainable growth is not easy but is an important
and achievable goal for India, says the new book by leading
economists. In An Uncertain Glory, two of India's leading
economists—Jean Drèze and Amartya Sen—argue that the country's
main challenges are placed elsewhere. According to the arguments in
the book, growth can be maintained if adequate attention is paid to
the essential needs of the poor people in India.
The inequalities in Indian society tend to restrict public discussion in India's vibrant media to the lives and concerns of the relatively affluent. The book draws attention towards the ignored issues. It further points out at the very inadequate use of the public resources. There is a continued inadequacy both of social services, which the state has to look into, such as schooling, medical care and immunization, and of physical services such as the provision of safe water, electricity, drainage and sanitation. Indeed, the issues raised in the book are significant given the quality of life in other countries.
While India has moved up the latter
over a large number of other countries in the terms of economic
growth, it has, because of these inadequacies, fallen behind many of
the same countries - often very poor ones – in the progress of
quality of life.
Because of the importance of democracy in India, addressing these failures will require not only significant policy rethinking by the government, but also a better public understanding of the abysmal extent of these social and economic deprivations. This book makes a powerful contribution to that understanding.
Comments
Post a Comment