ECONOMICS OR NOT ECONOMICS

I often end up having heated debates with friends on the performance of India’s economic or GDP growth. These debates got more heated up when India recorded its worst decline in GDP of 23.9% in the first quarter of 2020 post COVID and the subsequent lockdown as compared to a growth of 5.2% in Q1 of 2019. The government has forgotten the economy, most say.

These debates began much before the lockdown. That was when our GDP fell to 6% rates as compared to the 8-9% we were so accustomed to before the current government came into power.

My question is do high GDP figures mean we are rocking? For me it is like this man who sells beautiful flowery plants on the streets in his cart. Red Roses, Marigold, Hibiscus and many more exotic plants with flowers in full bloom. I am always tempted to buy them and I am already dreaming of a home filled with plants blooming with flowers. I have bought them a couple of times and planted them at home. The flowers soon die, never to come again. The plant too withers away. I rarely face this situation when I tell my local gardener to get me plants. Moral: I see a blooming plant till he holds it, the weak roots are not apparent to me. 

The earlier government had shown 8-9% GDP growth and everyone believed that we were rocking. Not always were we booming. A lot of the growth come from black money and the real estate market which then had positive ripple effects on the economy. If you go back and look at GDP contributors, real estate forms a major chunk.

Many of these thoughts brewing in my head for a long time came back to me when I traveled by the newly introduced RoRo ferry from Mumbai to Alibaug. It is a private ferry. A ferry that has made its presence in the COMMERCIAL capital of India in the country’s 73th year of Independence when smaller countries like Sri Lanka had such a service years and years ago. Never mind that we are showing 9% GDP growth.

The government has to now look at making toilets for women in the rural areas. Women would not venture out in the night with no toilets inside their home. Reminding you we are in our 73th year of Independence! Never mind that, look at the GDP growth rate.

A dirty Ganga river, a dirty India, the land of Gods, which should have been the tourism superpower by now, has heritage structures neglected and falling apart. Never mind we have 9% GDP growth.

Villages don’t have power and water, they don’t have connectivity, they lack infrastructure, our inland waterways/ water transport is neglected, we have ignored solar power for the last many decades in a sun-filled country, our commercial capital lacked a metro over all these years. Never mind all that, we are showing 9% GDP growth.

I am not a fanatic supporter of any government but we need to open our eyes to understand what true development is and how it will impact us and the future generation.

It is important to focus on making our roots healthy and strong so that flowers will be in full bloom naturally and with ease.