Time To Start Part 2 Of Our Campaign

MY FIRST COLUMN in BW Businessworld of 19 November 2022, was titled India Continues to March Ahead.

- By Krishan Kalra

Since then I have written on diverse issues - including, of course, economic growth, always analysing what had already happened and making some suggestions to make our lives - and our planet - better. Just once (issue dated 1 July 2023) did I attempt to peep into the future, when I wrote The Modi I got to know in 2006 reflecting on the great man’s traits after I got the opportunity to watch him a little closely in the run-up to ‘Vibrant Gujarat 2007’.

Now, for my landmark 70th column, I want to reflect mainly on what we need to add to the wonderfully improving national scenario - especially areas that have become the envy of even the developed world.

Just look at how our digitisation programme has spread its wings - Rs 44 lakh crore transferred directly to the poor under the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme, almost 1,000 crore documents uploaded on more than 50 crore Digilockers, UPI transactions worth Rs 24 lakh crore in just the month of April 2025 - “every second global real-time digital transaction happens in India” screamed headlines in the newspapers.

It is incredible that the cost of data transfer in India is perhaps the lowest in the world - ‘a mere Rs 10 per GB’. Our super-efficient Election Management continues to baffle the world. We are making inroads into indigenous defence equipment manufacture; we have made the world’s tallest rail bridge; our highways are increasing at a rapid clip... just to mention a few things.

However, I feel, we have to now concentrate on the less discussed issues that are extremely important for our societal maturity and especially for meeting our sacrosanct goal of becoming a developed country by 2047. Let me illustrate my list of 12 issues - in no particular order.

OUR GDP