Can India become developed?

Whatever indicators we have of quality of life, the

nagging worry when we apply the talisman
prescribed by Gandhiji.
 Technology as core strength
What are the technological imperatives in view of
the dimensions of (1) People, (2)economy (3)
Strategic interest
Direct linkage of technology to nation's strategic
interests are clear.
 Technology...
Though cold war ended tactics are made to
ensure technology and economic dominance of
developed countries
From 1990 onwards economic warfare has
become more common by trying to control
market forces.
 Second Vision
First vision, seeded around 1857, was to be
independent. The second one is to be a fully
developed nation.
Developing various endogenous technolgical
strengths
Some features of Indian psyche like greater
tolerance, less discipline, the lack of a sense of
retaliation, emphasis on personal safety over
adventure, more flexibility in accepting
outsiders etc resulted in India never tried to
expand. Does this affect the ability to pursue a
vision tenaciously?
 Second vision...

Indian mind set which embraces anything foreign

continues even after several years of
Independence.
Even though British learnt use of rockets in
warfare from Tippu Sultan's rockets, there is no
record of who Tippu's engineers were
 Some examples
Japan: In 1975, import bill of technology was 20
billion yen and export was 5 billion yen. In
1995, this was 39.17 billion and 56.21 billion
respectively.
S Korea: devastated during second WW,
S.Korea became a major power in steel
production, ship building, electronics, and
automobiles.
 Examples...
Israel: born in 1948 under difficult circumstances
Surrounded by hostile nations, the desert state
transformed into a world leader in agro food
processing and a major defense force
 India's Core Competencies
After Independence though India made progress
in agriculture, health, education, infrastructure
etc self reliance in all areas was not achieved.
Space research and a few other areas emerged
as islands of confidence and not as
movements for developing core competencies.
With growing dependency coupled with some
bold success, a unique institution called
Technology Information Forecasting and
Assessment Council (TIFAC) was born in
1988.
 Core..
Technology is the vision for the future because it
is the highest wealth generator in the shortest
period of time if deployed in the right direction
Human resource base is one of India's greatest
core competencies with learning capability and
enterpreneurial and competitive spirit.
Another core strength is natural resource base.
With abundant supply of most ores and minerals,
and an excellent base for living resources.
 Two Systems
User Community Pyramid and Societal Development
Radar to ensure sustainble development
UCP: Users are the bottom of the pyramid—the vital
link for all economic activities and beneficiaries of
sustainable development. Then comes natural
resources—the basis for sustainable development.
Then comes convergence of technologies: eg. Bio-
info-nano. These technologies have to reach user
community through information and
communication technologies and societal
business model.
 SDR
Eight traits to be used for monitoring:
Access to food and nutrition
Access to water for drinking, irrigation and
sanitation
Access to health care
Access to income generation
 SDR...
Access to education and capacity building
Access to quality power and communication
applications
Avoidance of societal conflict
Access to financial services
 Irony of 21st century
Poorest of the world pay a higher per unit cost for
basic amenities like clean water, nutritious food
and health care.
Though India became polio free in 2014, in the
same year 1.5 million children die of diarrohea.
The task is more time consuming than running
a pulse polio campaign.
In terms of nominal GDP India stands 10th in the
world with US at the first and China on the
second. China reached the second by enabling
people to engage in value added
manufacturing, agriculture and services.
 Irony...
Though India is largest in milk production,
second largest in fruits and vegetables, third
largest in food grain this is no cause for
celerbation because production still falls short
of requirements...
 Missed Opportunities
Rich in natural resources with abundant
sunshine, a large percentage of arable land,
huge bio diversity, India's potential is high.
Electronics: though identified as key element for
future in 1960s little progress was made. India'
fledgling radio industry was equal to or better
than what S Korea had then. But since 70s no
foreign company who had started
manufacturing ICs was allowed to set up
facilities in India.
 Missed...
Since much of micro electronics manufacturing
done outside, computer and chip imports to
bleed India's foreign exchange reserves soon.
Since 1995 with IT revolution, manufacturing
neglected. Many were dismissed as sunset
industries. Some claim India bypassed the dirty
phase of agriculture and manufacturing to
services led growth.
PM's task force on IT set up during the late
1990s gave
 Missed...
equal importance to software and hardware. But
implemented only for the former.
Though progress made in auto sector and
pharmaceuticals, machine tool sector—heart of
manufacturing—languished. This affects Micro
Small Medium Enterprises.
Thus manufacturing is a case of big missed
opportunity. Since manufacturing sector is
stagnant, people are not able to move from
agriculture to manufacturing
 Missed...
Some estimates say had India not
underperformed, India's per capita GDP would
have been 15,000 dollars instead of 4000
dollars,
Can we sprint a marathon for the next two
decades? The alternative is clear and dire.