25 Ways in Which India Can Ensure its Rise and Avoid Impending Roadblocks

As India embarks on its growth trajectory, there are bound to be many pitfalls and obstacles on the way.

There will be resistance to India’s growth from outside inimical forces and from inside forces within who want to spoil the party. In this blog post, I will elucidate 25 ways in which India can ensure its rise and avoid the impending roadblocks on the way. These solutions will be in five categories: Political, Military, Social, Economic, and Human Capital. We must set our goals with utmost clarity, and all these five elements must be in complete sync, in complete harmony. Both the current and the previous dispensations have done a lot of good for the country according to their then or existing capacities, but they must be cautious of the following things: 

POLITICAL

First, perhaps, the most important factor that can potentially jeopardise India’s rise is its own flawed political system. The ruling party must have a good working relationship and amicable dispute resolution mechanism in place with the Opposition. When in power, the party must not act vindictively, must not hound the opposition, and must not frame false charges against Opposition leaders. Doing so, will be self-defeating and could put the integrity of the country in danger.

Second, the government in power must strengthen democratic institutions like the Supreme Court, RBI, ISS, CAG, CEC (for 'election integrity' through fair, transparent, and secure elections), CBI, and so on. Not giving full-fledged autonomy to these institutions can seriously erode the democratic traditions and values. Senior political leaders too should be held accountable for their constitutionally violative speeches and actions. These democratic institutions must be led by men and women of merit and mettle.

Third, the government in power must preserve the basic contours and structure of the constitution. Many men of ability debated for months and years before the constitution was framed and, therefore, the constitution is tenable for many decades to come. Amendments must be made only after debate in Parliament, and amendments made in the earlier years which are detrimental for the interests of the country may be rescinded after due debate in the Parliament.

Fourth, there is an urgent and crying need to set up Schools of Governance for the education of councillors, legislators, and parliamentarians in the five prominent regions: east, west, north, south, and central. These schools must have different graded curricular for councillors, legislators, and parliamentarians. Here they must be imparted basic essentials like no political violence, no corruption, duty and service towards the electorate, and essential subjects.

Fifth, each parliamentarian, legislator, and councillor must have a team of experts chosen from the civil society in matters pertaining to economy, security, health, education, civic services, and infrastructure. These advisors can be drawn from ex-servicemen, ex-IAS and ex-SPS, civil society, teachers, scientists, businessmen, traders, and industrialists. Each advisor must be an expert in a specific area and can be appointed on a yearly or two-yearly tenure.

SECURITY

Sixth, India’s villages, towns, cities, and metros must be well policed without in any way being a police state. Ex-servicemen from the police, paramilitary, and military must complement the existing security personnel in providing security to a ward or constituency. Able-bodied men and women must be part of the civil defence force and should provide tertiary security in the neighbourhood. Resident Welfare Associations must provide private security personnel who keep a vigil.

Seventh, due to neglect, flawed policies, and exploitation of the tribal folks, many districts of India are under the grip of armed insurgencies. Rehabilitating tribal people, giving them a fair share of the local natural resources, and providing them a means of livelihood will go a long way in assuaging their hurt feelings and grievances. It must be always remembered that disproportionate use of force against your own people is always counter-productive.

Eighth, luckily for us, only one of our neighbours indulges in state-sponsored terrorism against India. To some extent, this can be considered an achievement as India has successfully kept other countries from using this method as a means of settling scores and destabilising the country. Quickly resolving the J&K issue along with other contentious issues with Pakistan is the key to nipping the terrorism bud. India must quickly strengthen its hold in contentious Indian administered areas.

Ninth, the Agniveer scheme recently launched for recruitment of soldiers in the army must be slightly tweaked. Right now the scheme is for 5 years. Do you mean to say that rural boys who are the main source of infantry soldiers are fodder for the enemies’ fire? They should be given a fair duration in the army to contribute and to gain some skills from their service. The scheme’s duration must be extended to 8-10 years with accompanying benefits.

Tenth, the military and the para military forces must be given training in new skills given the changing nature of warfare. Modern day warfare encompasses economic, social, psychological, business, and cyber spheres. The military (arm, navy, and air force) and the para military (CRPF, ITBP, BSF, SSB, CISF) must have special wings for cyber, IP thefts, espionage-busting and the like. India must build a strong military industrial complex with caution.

SOCIAL

Eleventh, there is an old saying that give me a child for the first seven years, and I will mould him for the rest of his life. Catch them young is the key here. It is important that young children are given a strong foundation to equip them to face the challenges later on in life. Moral science along with social duty and responsibilities must be part of the curricular upto the Xth standard. If the right values and morals are taught early in life, they bear fruit later on.

Twelfth, it must be made compulsory for students to serve in the NCC/NSS for 1-2 years after school. The NCC will make them mentally and physically tough while the NSS will make them service oriented and duty conscious. Discipline, service to the motherland, and responsibility are other traits which the young can imbibe by NCC/NSS training. NCC will hold them in good stead of they want to join the police, military, or para military at a later stage.

Thirteenth, the public discourse in the media, seminars, and conferences can make or break the country’s future. It is the duty of the moderator and the anchor to guide the discussions or debates in a manner which show positivity, faith, and hope about the country’s destiny. If you talk about negative topics like disintegration, disharmony, discord, and strife, then the results will be disastrous. This is because you are feeding such thoughts in the minds of the public.

Fourteenth, the Muslims of India are not a minority, but the second largest majority with approximately 190 million people. How you treat this second-largest majority and ensure their positive participation in national development will be crucial to India’s success. As a community, the Muslims are united, they are very organised, they believe and respect themselves, and they expect the others to extend them the same regard which they believe they are deserving off.

Fifteenth, the crisis within the Hindu community is phenomenal. Despite being the largest community, Hindus are a divided lot, they don’t have a plan for themselves, they have a weak family and religious structure, the upper castes within the Hindus very often exploit and deprive the lower castes of work and recognition, and they can't work in a cohesive fashion. If you are weak and meek, you become fair game for others.

HUMAN CAPITAL

Sixteenth, while for a country of the size of India with 1.2 billion people, building new educational institutes is important, it is perhaps more important to ensure the upkeep of the current educational infrastructure with proper maintenance and facilities. The educational premises must be clean, properly distempered, with good electricity, water, food and canteen, well maintained lawns, walkways, and playgrounds.

Seventeenth, India must impart quality education and maintain high standards in its educational institutions. This could mean updating the curricular on a regular basis with advances in knowledge and understanding, interactive teaching, extra-curricular participation, regular assessments, and ensuring cheating-free examinations. Students must be inculcated in the habit of reading good books, and those who come out of a particular grade must be qualified for that grade.

Eighteenth, right now the syllabi for students upto the Xth standard is overwhelming and overburdensome. Upto the Xth standard, the focus should be on the overall personality development of the child by ensuring his participation in sports, martial arts, debates, speech contests, performing arts, music, and fine arts. It must be made mandatory for students to serve 12-18 months in the NCC, NSS, and Scouts.

Nineteenth, students must be encouraged to travel and explore their vicinity and surroundings. This gives them a sense of curiosity and a better understanding. Inter school, inter college, and inter university cultural and academic exchanges must be part of the ongoing activities both at the national and international levels. Students must be selected on strict merit and the government should subsidise travel for these activities.

Twentieth, the government must identify about 50 new and emerging technologies and these should be taught as electives in the graduate, post graduate and doctoral levels till proper syllabus is developed for them. These technologies could be AI, ML, AR/VR, RPA, big data, cloud, web3, genetic engineering, and so on. As Modiji rightly said, we must not miss the fourth industrial revolution, but must spearhead it and be an example for the rest of the world.  

ECONOMIC

Twenty First, India has a demographic dividend and as the young population becomes increasingly qualified, it will be very important to provide them jobs or avenues for self-employment. The government should turn from a net provider of jobs to a net facilitator for job creation through self-employment and entrepreneurship. The ideal situation would be that in every Indian family, you have one member working in a job and one member who is an entrepreneur.

Twenty Second, since India has a sound industrial and manufacturing base, it must focus on an export-driven economy. The balance of payment ratio should in most cases be in favour of India with exports exceeding imports. For a country like India, we must come out of the primary products base mindset and focus on producing capital equipment, industrial products, and manufactured goods of a superior quality.

Twenty Third, perhaps if we truly want to spread prosperity in the suburban and rural area we should focus on creating a marketable surplus of agricultural produce. Digitisation of land records, land reforms, developing new variety of seeds, efficient use of the land through new technology, and increasing R&D spending on agricultural and dairy sciences will go a long way in strengthening the agricultural sector. Ideally, the economy should be 30% manufacturing, 30% agriculture, and 40% services.

Twenty Fourth, India must increase the supply of goods and services and other non-market products and services and thus increase its GDP per capita. The government should spur consumer spending while at the same time encouraging people to save and invest, hike investment in business and inventories, and accelerate spending on exports while minimising those on imports to the extent possible. India must enhance capital formation by increasing the ratio of savings for investment and increase the ratio of capital to labour.

Twenty Fifth, the government should focus on keeping the inflation rate or CPI low thus ensuring high disposable incomes and increasing the purchasing power. Inflation rate determines the real rate of return on investments where supply should in most cases increase demand. Under the Modi government, a large part of the informal economy has been formalised. The government should find innovative means for increasing revenues and increasing the tax base.