Tough Roads to Viksit Bharat by 2047

Context: Ex governor of Reserve Bank of India has raised concerns about the achievement of targets of 'Viksit Bharat’ by 2047 with the present pace of economic prospects. 

Relevance of the Topic: Mains: Analytical questions on 'Viksit Bharat by 2047’, inflation and Growth prospect in nation. 

About 'Viksit Bharat 2047’

• Viksit Bharat 2047 is a vision introduced by the Government of India aiming to transform the country into a developed and self- reliant nation by the year 2047, marking the centenary of India's  Independence. 
• There are various objectives of the Viksit Bharat target;
  • Economic growth and self-reliance by pushing 'Make in India’ and Atma Nirbhar Bharat scheme. 
  • Human resource development by implementing National Education Policy 2020 with efficiency and promoting skill training with PM Kaushal Vikas Yojana. 
  • Infrastructure development by fostering the growth of physical, social and digital infrastructure under Smart City initiative. 
  • Sustainable growth by reducing carbon emission by adopting alternative energy sources to achieve carbon neutrality by 2070. 
  • Promoting good governance with administrative reforms using Mission Karmyogi and e-governance. 
  • Fostering inclusive growth by raising women participation in the economy and ensuring equitable growth across the regions in the nation. 
  • Robust global leadership by strengthening the position of India in organisations like the UN, G20 and BRICS. 

Constraints in achieving Viksit Bharat by 2047

Various constraints in achieving the targets of Viksit Bharat exist, these are;

• High rate of inflation: India is facing a high headline inflation, especially due to food and fuel inflation. This reduces the savings of people reducing the prospects for an investment led growth by channelising the savings. 
• Low growth rate: India is facing a low growth rate of  about 6%, due to the underutilised potential of demographic potential in India. 
• Populist policies: The state governments are more inclined towards the ‘freebies politics’ leaving less scope for the capital investment to foster the growth of India. 
• Low tax to GDP ratio: India has a low tax to GDP ratio i.e., of 11.7% as compared to 40% in OECD nations impacting the revenue of the government. 
• Substandard labour: India has only 5% of formal skilled labour as compared to 95% in South Korea, hampering the growth. 
• Pre-mature deindustrialisation: India is facing a premature deindustrialisation, where the service sector has taken over the economy without complete actualisation of the manufacturing sector's potential. 
• Skewed sectoral growth: A non-uniform sectoral growth leaves certain sectors like agriculture vulnerable. This restrains the growth rate of the nation. 

Way Forward to achieve Viksit Bharat by 2047

• Rationalisation of targets: India should rationalise the targets making them more practical to achieve by tracing the growth in a phased manner. 
• Focusing job creation: To materialise the demographic potential of India jobs need to be created by promoting labour intensive industries like textile. 
• Promoting capital expenditure: To achieve the desired infrastructural growth India needs to focus more on the capital expenditure. 
• Human resource development: India should focus on promoting skills and education, especially higher education in STEM (Science and technology; Engineering and Mathematics). 
• Rationalisation of schemes: The government should rationalise the 'freebies schemes’ to focus more on developmental aspects. 
• Deep sectoral reforms: India should implement deep sectoral reforms in the agriculture, mining and manufacturing sectors by fostering private partnership to make them a growth engine of the economy. 

Conclusion: India's target to become a developed nation by the year 2047, though there are certain challenges like high inflation, low growth, and poor human capital prospects. But, to achieve the target a holistic approach driven by the reforms need to be implemented. A phased, consultative and inclusive strategy will help India to become a 'Viksit Desh’ by 2047 in a sustainable manner.