Kazira

It’s been a busy past few weeks preparing for my India trip and then finally landing in New Delhi. It’s been 3.5 years since I was here last and this is a trip I’ve been looking forward to for sometime now. Family, friends, food – those are the 3 things on top of my agenda. The few times that I’ve ventured out towards the city, markets, and malls, it is apparent that not a whole lot has changed. Let me explain why ......

India continues to grow at a break-neck pace with no signs of letting up in the foreseeable future. So this should really not be a surprise to any of you. New construction – school, malls, hospitals, commercial/residential developments, and flyovers – these continue to pop up in every square yard that the city of Delhi and NCR (National Capital Region) can spare. These again are typical signs of growing economies. With the increase in the earnings of the average Indian, there is a complimentary increase in the physical assets they continue to invest in – cars, electronics, clothes, and homes. All of this is overtly obvious every place I’ve visited thus far. But none of these are surprising. While all this is good, what are woefully lacking are all the other socio-economic changes that should typically accompany this growth – green parks and play areas, paved and clean streets, public parking to accommodate the glut of cars, reduction in the number of street beggars, general levels of cleanliness, and use of child labor in activities like construction and cleaning. This is the part that I thought would have shown some signs of improvements over the past 4 years but sadly, that is not what I am observing.

I am not sure whether this type of paradox is unique to India or is typical of all growing and developing economies that were once labeled the “Third World” and are now in the throngs of this painful transition to a better place. Whether it is the ever growing population of the country or the constant migration of masses from rural to urban India in hopes of improving their destinies, it seems to me that the all important demand-supply equation is ridiculously out of whack - the demand for and supply of wage-earning and life-improving opportunities. There is a relentless clamor and contention for the ever-shrinking pool of these socio-economic resources. The metros and a few other cities continue to get the lion’s share of investments and breaks while the smaller cities, towns, and villages continue to languish or get sidelined. Although there are other cities that have started seeing economic growth, the numbers are no where close to reasonable in order to keep the masses grounded to their hometowns.

You can neither blame the state governments, for the lack of pace or commitment, nor the people, for their desire to improve their personal state of affairs. The states enjoy a fair amount of autonomy in terms of how they want to organize and execute, corruption continues to be rampant, rule of law begs attention, and respect for fellow humans is abysmally low. Outside the metros and pseudo-metros, the pace of change has been rather slow and this aggravates the “opportunity divide” between the haves and the have-nots. Yes technology is starting to make some inroads into the heart of the country but that is not because the administration is doing anything creditworthy. Those changes are more due to individual efforts of a small set of entrepreneurs who see opportunities to target the BOP (bottom-of-pyramid) segments.

I guess one must be patient and hope for the best in these environments. Although India’s GDP presents a picture of a country that is way ahead of the pack in terms of economic growth, unfortunately that picture is one which is utterly distorted when you look at population, poverty, healthcare, and general happiness levels. India is in her early stages of reform, just like China, Brazil, and maybe Russia. It is unreasonable to expect dramatic changes in a short period of time. But it’s been 20 years now since the then Finance Minister and the now Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, kicked off this change agenda. In this day and age, 20 years is a generous enough duration for changes to be introduced and adopted. How much longer it will take to find a foothold at the grassroots level is anybody’s guess. But in the mean time, the world will continue to witness this growth paradox.