Developed India by 2047?

PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI has set an ambitious target of making India a developed nation by 2047, the centenary of Indian Independence.

- Minhaz Merchant

The key question: what defines a developed nation? Take quantitative criteria first. A developed country should have a per capita income of at least $12,500 at market exchange rates. India’s current per capita income is just above $2,500. To raise that five times between 2023 and 2047 will need an average annual GDP growth rate of seven per cent. This is hard but doable.

Simultaneously, there must be an improvement across qualitative health parameters. Nutrition levels must go up, hunger levels must go down. Inequalities in incomes must reduce. Average life expectancy should rise from the current 70 years to 80 years, the gold standard in developed nations today.

Education comes next. India’s large demographic base of young people needs to get better primary and secondary education and develop vocational skills. India’s higher education, however, has improved significantly. The new education policy (NEP) allows students to mix subjects between science and humanities. This will produce more rounded adults with better job prospects.

A key qualitative measure to make India a developed nation is social cohesion. Caste and religion should be made irrelevant in public life and discourse. The criminal justice system requires an overhaul to enable it to deliver fairer and faster justice.

If these quantitative and qualitative criteria are met, India can conceivably emerge as a fully developed nation by 2047. If it does, it will be a unique achievement for two reasons.