POWER OF 5

PM Modi says India should become a developed nation by 2047, as he lays out his “Panch Pran” resolutions. For India to join the elite league in the next 25 years, BW Businessworld zeroes in on immediate and long-term imperatives that will help it achieve the goal. A report

- SUMAN K JHA

WITHIN DAYS OF PRIME Minister Narendra Modi exhorting fellow countrymen to take five pledges (“Panch Pran”) on 76th Independence Day this year, where the first pledge was to make India a developed country by 2047, India overtook UK as the fifth-largest economy in the world, on September 3.

India is now poised to be the third-largest economy by 2030. It is being said that India will be “amongst top two economies” in 2047. It is also being said that we will be “a $30-billion economy in the next 30 years”.

The “Panch Pran” highlight of PM Modi’s Independence Day speech this year also talked about “liberating ourselves from a colonial mindset,” “having a sense of pride about our civilisational heritage”, “unity and harmony” and our “duty”.

It was in his 75th Independence-Day speech that PM Modi first talked about “Amrit Kaal” and India@2047. Since then, multiple government programmes have been conceptualised keeping in mind their long-term implications. The goal to make India a developed country in the next 25 years now has a clear roadmap and an ambitious target to be achieved.

Can the “Panch Pran” be further energised if an enabling environment is created, keeping in mind the economic and policy challenges ahead?

Consider this; The “Amrit Kaal” period of the next 25 years is also the period when India is blessed with what is commonly referred to as “demographic dividend”.