Dr Shamika Ravi, Research Director, Bookings India; member of Economic Advisory Council to PM, Govt. of India delivered a lecture ‘From Fragile Five To Fastest Growing Economy’ as part of New India Manthan – Leadership Talk. This event was hosted in School of Life Sciences.
The lecture was moderated by Pro Vice Chancellor Prof. Arun Agarwal. Dr Shamika Ravi covered many aspects on how India developed after 1992. Talk was backed by many informative graphs and her own research.
India’s growth rate rose after 1992, a watershed year in Indian history when India opened its market. But the real fruits of globalisation were seen after 2002 when the economy started accelerating. A comparison study between South Korea, China and India shows that all three countries started similarly but South Korea is leading the race and India is on the right track to narrow the gap. Human Development Indicators for India are growing at the same rate as China but with a 10 year lag. Riots in India are on wane, as data suggest.
As opposing to the popular opinion of studying India as North and South, the data shows that there is a real divide between West India and East India with wealth distribution skewed towards West India. Data on Per Capita State Income suggest a correlation of political economy to the economy of the state. A case where Punjab which was faring well has seen a decline in its Per Capita State Income growth rate in comparison to other states.
In Health sector, people are moving towards private sector for treatment barring few states like Kerala and Odisha. This calls for more investment in public sector for making treatment cheaper and improve faith in people towards public hospitals. Ayushman Bharat is a step in this direction, with lofty goals of providing Universal Health Care. India has done wonders in bringing down the Infant Mortality Rate.
Unemployment rate in Urban India in more than in Rural India and heavily biased towards men in comparison to Women. More graduates are unemployed than non-graduates because of higher aspirations and skill mismatch with the current market expectations. People above 30 years are more employed than youth.
In Q&A session more nuances like environmental impact and inequality were discussed. Overall India has come a long way in established itself as the fastest growing economy.
Prof. Naresh Kumar Sharma, dean-School of Economics gave the welcome and introduced the speaker while Prof. Phanindra Goyari, senior faculty from economics proposed words of thanks. The lecture was attended by students, faculty, staff, guests from other institutions in the city and was also streamed live.
-By Lokesh Naik, Department of Communication