fsayed
SENIOR MEMBER
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- Feb 21, 2013
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The economy is bad, but the UPA may also
have laid the ground for long-term growth
Jul 15, 2013, 12.00AM IST
The UPA government gets a lot of flak, most of it
justified, for having ground down the economy.
But there's an alternative picture emerging as
well, of the UPA having ushered in some
fundamental changes that bode well for the
country's long-term growth. So while the short-
term outlook is pessimistic, the macroeconomic
scenario becomes much brighter if one takes a
slightly longer-term view.
One of the most important areas where the UPA
government has made significant gains is
education, an important element in sustaining
long-term growth. A rapid increase in school
enrolment rates to close to 100% and sharp
decline in dropout rates indicates major gains
made despite shortfalls in quality. The results
are even more impressive in higher education,
where the number of students enrolled has more
than doubled to 26 million in five years. The
many vacant seats in important professional
courses like MBA, MCA and engineering despite
enrolments having gone up, highlight
quantitative strides achieved in higher
education.
Despite its vaunted slowness and ambivalence
regarding project clearances, the UPA has also
made some gains is infrastructure and energy.
The railways is rolling out two gigantic dedicated
freight corridors that will not only boost
transport logistics and productivity but also help
expand manufacturing capabilities and create
vast new urban stretches. Similarly, liberal FDI
policies in civil aviation have substantially
extended global connectivity. The SEZ story has
got a boost with Japanese and Korean companies
setting up exclusive zones. In energy, the
government has encouraged large investments in
new sources across the globe. Similarly, despite
coal shortages annual capacity addition in power
generation has shot to record highs.
However, the biggest success of the UPA has
been in the rural sector. Agriculture output has
picked up substantially and exports have
zoomed, with India emerging as a major exporter
of wheat and rice. Rural wages have accelerated
sharply for a prolonged period. Rising rural
wages and fall in agricultural employment have
set the stage for rapid mechanisation and
productivity gains that can now change the face
of rural India. The data on rising rural
consumption indicate that while urbanites are
smarting and feel let down by the UPA's
economic policies, they may have a different
story to tell in India's villages.
The economy is bad, but the UPA may also
have laid the ground for long-term growth
Jul 15, 2013, 12.00AM IST
The UPA government gets a lot of flak, most of it
justified, for having ground down the economy.
But there's an alternative picture emerging as
well, of the UPA having ushered in some
fundamental changes that bode well for the
country's long-term growth. So while the short-
term outlook is pessimistic, the macroeconomic
scenario becomes much brighter if one takes a
slightly longer-term view.
One of the most important areas where the UPA
government has made significant gains is
education, an important element in sustaining
long-term growth. A rapid increase in school
enrolment rates to close to 100% and sharp
decline in dropout rates indicates major gains
made despite shortfalls in quality. The results
are even more impressive in higher education,
where the number of students enrolled has more
than doubled to 26 million in five years. The
many vacant seats in important professional
courses like MBA, MCA and engineering despite
enrolments having gone up, highlight
quantitative strides achieved in higher
education.
Despite its vaunted slowness and ambivalence
regarding project clearances, the UPA has also
made some gains is infrastructure and energy.
The railways is rolling out two gigantic dedicated
freight corridors that will not only boost
transport logistics and productivity but also help
expand manufacturing capabilities and create
vast new urban stretches. Similarly, liberal FDI
policies in civil aviation have substantially
extended global connectivity. The SEZ story has
got a boost with Japanese and Korean companies
setting up exclusive zones. In energy, the
government has encouraged large investments in
new sources across the globe. Similarly, despite
coal shortages annual capacity addition in power
generation has shot to record highs.
However, the biggest success of the UPA has
been in the rural sector. Agriculture output has
picked up substantially and exports have
zoomed, with India emerging as a major exporter
of wheat and rice. Rural wages have accelerated
sharply for a prolonged period. Rising rural
wages and fall in agricultural employment have
set the stage for rapid mechanisation and
productivity gains that can now change the face
of rural India. The data on rising rural
consumption indicate that while urbanites are
smarting and feel let down by the UPA's
economic policies, they may have a different
story to tell in India's villages.
