Today, its not quite difficult to imagine India at 100. As we celebrate the Azaadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, at 75 there are lot of threads hanging that are persuading Indians to bring them to a logical end. This Article would talk of those threads and how can we make sure they are brought to the logical conclusion with the best for the countrymen. From the shackles of the poverty, illiteracy and years of slavery, both the invasions and colonialism have led India towards darkness until the era what is referred to as Modern India where the population with the leadership of freedom fighters began its path towards bright future. And today there are ample reasons to believe that India at 100 years of its Independence will be somewhere our forefathers laid down their lives for.
1. Politics
Starting with the Indian politics, which is at quite a raw phase and in the building phase where Indians still vote on caste, color and family name. For any successful politician normally to win elections need to have a strong backing behind apart from money, it is the person's caste that plays a huge role. Like Shri B.R Ambedhkar ji said, Indian society is a democracy that is highly non democratic. This was because Indians were still under the mindset of Varna system and colonialism even after Independence the trend continued till today. However, Indians at least some percent are making the government accountable for the policies they make and are not turning blind eye to it, shows that the population of India is ready to ask the government its right which is the step in taking away politics from caste and making it a development based model. India at 100 would be able to see Indian democracy becoming not only the largest democracy in the world, which it is already right now but it to become one that is accountable and free from the shackles of mindset of slavery and is progressive.
Today, we the people of this country blame the government for anything happening around and still vote in the elections that shows the faith people have in it, the people of the country are able to see their future when they vote.
2. Health
Recently, COVID has shown the mirror to the world and the countries like India which are still at developing phase have got ample of lessons which says how important it is to work towards the health sector and quick reforms whether it is strict medicine price regulations and laws, regulating the doctors and making world class health care accessible to all. India at 100 aspires to set benchmarks like this. Today preventive healthcare makes up around 36% of the entire healthcare and in 2019 it was 11%. This shows that we need to work more in the rural areas for quality and in urban for affordability.
3. Birth Rate and Mortality Rate
The other fact is that child marriages are decreasing in India, of course the technology has played a role with people in remote areas of India becoming aware and the say of young population also has increased which shows going forward India is moving towards late marriages and one child system which has both pros and cons. But currently this seems positive as population explosion in India is the root cause of many problems India has right now, of course by 2047 the population would get stable but India.
If we look at the data, the current birth rate for India is 17.63 births per 1000 people so far in 2022 which is about a 1.23% decline since 2021 as it was 17.377 births per 100 people which further is 1.22% decline from 2020 levels.
4. Average Income and Education
The Average Income of Indians is also increasing every year, but then it’s important to talk per capita here. Because India does have rich but it's important to make the people with low income to make on par with others so at least basic necessities are not an issue. Education will play huge role in this. Seeing current trends this is going to increase as Indians have started to celebrate the entrepreneurship culture and are willing to take risks. Quoting some data, the GDP of India per capita increased by 17.81% from 2020 levels as it was 2,277 Dollars for 2021.
Many big industrialists and ranking institutions believe India would be somewhere in the 20 to 30 billion dollar economy by next 30 years. Which quiet looks a possibility, with the fast road network, startup culture and thriving youth we can do this.
As the OECD baseline projections say, by overtaking the US, India will become the second largest economy in terms of GDP size and Purchasing power parity by 2040s.
5. Happiness and Wellbeing Coming next to the happiness level of the citizens. It is an important factor for any country to imagine its future. This is very important and as important any other index is, we see the most number of depression cases in World, India rank high- this is a concern. We need to make sure that the population that is young, which is huge in India leads a happy life as well. India at 100 surely needs a happy population but the current trends are disturbing. Of Course COVID is also the reason where few job and family losses have contributed to it. But hopefully this trend does not continue in future.
India at 100 cannot be dream unless the issue of hunger is tackled. This needs a serious discussion. As per the NFHS-5 survey indicates that more than 57% of women (15-49 years) and over 67% children (six-59 months) suffer from anemia. This shows being the agriculturally independent nations and running schemes like NREGA and subsidized ration at Re. 1 respectively is still lacking somewhere. Its more about the awareness than the money that matters in this case, the educated youth and technology can play huge role in it.
6. Environment and Wildlife
Also, 69% of wildlife has disappeared from the world and all of us are responsible for that. Mahatma Gandhi rightly said during the freedom struggle that the way west is proceeding with Industrial revolution, the coming generations will need 2 to 3 more earths to live. While imagining India at 100 we cannot leave the wildlife and biodiversity behind. Nature, wildlife sanctuaries, national parks, bio reserves, wetlands all need proper attention. It’s a reality that due to poaching and illegal trade many species has gone extinct and many are on the verge. It becomes the duty of each and every citizen to make sure the wildlife is protected as they got a huge role to play with the survival of humans and the tourism and economic prospects are huge as well.
7. Reforms
Further, India needs quite a fast pace of reforms and among them few are the reforms in the policing system, creation of more courts and judges in the country, doing away with unwanted laws and regulations, reforms with the current reservation system so that the benefit reaches the last person, women empowerment, illiteracy and poverty. India needs to go for both Sarvodaya and Antyodaya that the progress of all and making it reachable till the last mile. We need strong ideals and morality in the society that will make the economic and other goals also worth.
India at 100 looks like an exciting dream and a progressive one, as the stature at the world stage is rising rapidly and say in the world institutions increasing, one can only be confident of positive results. Still fingers crossed.
stay tuned for more.
Author: Ashutosh Garg
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