speech on India a develop nation
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Answer:
As the world's largest democracy prepares to go to the polls, we've invited five people from India, the US and the UK who have expertise on economics, women's rights, youth movements, disability rights and urban development to answer the question: "Do you perceive India to be a developing country?"
Jayati Ghosh, professor of economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
The development project in India is nowhere near complete – indeed it has barely begun. It is still a poor country: per capita income iremains below $2,000 (£1,206) at actual exchange rates, and there is still widespread destitution. Development is supposed to involve job creation, with more workers in formal employment in large units, but that has not happened.
Manufacturing still counts for less than one-fifth of both output and employment. More than half of all workers languish in low productivity agriculture, while another quarter or so are in low grade services. About 95% of all workers are in informal employment, and roughly half are self-employed. What's more, the recognised and paid participation of women in working life has actually been declining in a period of rapid income growth.
This basic failure helps to explain several other failures of the development project so far: the persistence of widespread hunger and very poor nutrition indicators; the inadequate provision of basic needs like housing, electricity and other essential infrastructure; the poor state of health facilities for most people; and the slow expansion of education. Growing inequalities do mean that a rising middle class is emerging, but this should not blind us to the lack of fulfilment of basic social and economic rights for the bulk of people.
Raka Choudhury, urban planner and writer for the Wall Street Journal
MDG : Street sign on bustling Chandni Chowk in Delhi
Cars make up a tiny fraction of all road users in India. Photograph: Alamy
India is developing at a breakneck pace. Literally. Over the past decade, India has added local roads and highways that prioritise the speed and efficiency of vehicles with no consideration for human safety. The World Health Organisation reports that the death rate in road crashes in India has been consistently rising. Approximately 134,000 people died in traffic crashes in 2010, about half of whom were pedestrians, bicyclists, and riders of two- and three-wheelers; as many as four times this number were injured.
While the safety standards of automobiles are an issue, a lack of consideration for all road users by traffic engineers and planners is largely to blame. Cars are a tiny fraction of all road users in India, but we continue to design roads without sidewalks and crosswalks in dense urban areas, and avoid providing traffic signals altogether to promote "free-flow" of cars. New development patterns such as suburban, gated residential communities continue to feed this reliance on cars. And in cities like Kolkata, cyclists are now banned from most city streets during business hours.
Until India begins to value the lives and needs of all its road users, and move away from its current middle-class aspiration of car ownership, in my opinion, India's growth is backwards and inequitable.
Explanation:
As the world's largest democracy prepares to go to the polls, we've invited five people from India, the US and the UK who have expertise on economics, women's rights, youth movements, disability rights and urban development to answer the question: "Do you perceive India to be a developing country?"
Jayati Ghosh, professor of economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
The development project in India is nowhere near complete – indeed it has barely begun. It is still a poor country: per capita income iremains below $2,000 (£1,206) at actual exchange rates, and there is still widespread destitution. Development is supposed to involve job creation, with more workers in formal employment in large units, but that has not happened.
Manufacturing still counts for less than one-fifth of both output and employment. More than half of all workers languish in low productivity agriculture, while another quarter or so are in low grade services. About 95% of all workers are in informal employment, and roughly half are self-employed. What's more, the recognised and paid participation of women in working life has actually been declining in a period of rapid income growth.
This basic failure helps to explain several other failures of the development project so far: the persistence of widespread hunger and very poor nutrition indicators; the inadequate provision of basic needs like housing, electricity and other essential infrastructure; the poor state of health facilities for most people; and the slow expansion of education. Growing inequalities do mean that a rising middle class is emerging, but this should not blind us to the lack of fulfilment of basic social and economic rights for the bulk of people.