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The only way to understand the present is to understand the past. The history of economic development shows that societies with political stability achieve a higher rate of economic growth. The era of belligerent economies, sustained by gun-boat diplomacy, developing at a faster rate is over.

We live in an era of enlightenment and democracy, enjoining on the operators of power to be liberal, fair-minded, educated with an international outlook, utilitarian assumptions, decentralization of power and rule of law.

Social unrest, political instability, economic upheaval, exploitation, moral degradation and corruption weaken democracy and make the middle classes panicky, two fundamental requirements for the rise of fascist forces. Political stability and economic development need peace and avoidance of social conflicts. We must be prompt to address people’s problems and redress their grievances before they seek manifestation in radicalism, breeding agents saboteur.

The strength of the chain lies in its weakest link. The face of the poorest is an indicator of the health of the economy of a nation. In a democracy, conducive conditions of people’s participation in all economic activities, as stake-holders and recipients of fruits of their participation, should be created.

There were inequalities in the past but people were neither aware of them, nor were the inequalities so glaring. The pace of economic activities has to be accelerated to create new and more avenues of employment to absorb the unemployed youth who have become a burden on the precious resources of their families and a nuisance for society. Matrimony, as a matter of money or job, is also a matter of great concern.

Our old education system has reached its nadir. Government schools are not turning out good quality students and there is mushroom growth of private schools even in the countryside. A massive overhaul of this education system is the need of the hour. Before students are taught, the teachers require our immediate attention: how to teach them to teach their student. A class should not have more than forty students and the teacher should be held responsible for the progress of his students.

To turn out skilled manpower to take up the challenges of the 21st century, the state should start more and more IT centres and provide them with tools to sharpen their skills to use them properly. The vision of the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi should penetrate the new horizons of information technology.

Foreign trade works as an engine of economic growth. Colonial powers acquired secure markets in their colonies and trade with them boosted the economic development of the home country. Under WTO, the world is the market and India must secure a place in that. For that, states should set up Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and each zone should specialize in different commodities for exports. China entered the world market at a much later stage. In a short time, it has captured all the world markets leaving India and Japan behind. Outsourced call centres provide opportunities for employment and for crucial foreign exchange. The large English-speaking Indian manpower is an advantage which must be maintained. China has started a massive programme to teach 30 million Chinese the English language to siphon off outsourcing jobs from India to China.

Massive and rapid industrialization is imperative to absorb the semi-skilled and skilled manpower now out of jobs. Our textile industry has become a thing of the past. Attractive and cheap textiles goods from South Korea and China have left our textile industry non-competitive. There is need to revive industry.

An international outlook and propensity to grab opportunities are the need of the hour. For a fully developed economic super-structure, we have to pay attention to the creation of infrastructure. Power is prime priority.

FDI is needed for creating infrastructure. For that, all avenues should be exploited. FDI investment in China is over $30 billion per annum which is about ten times of India’s FDI. No doubt overseas Chinese, out of patriotism, invest in China and that investment attracts more investment there. China has built a good infrastructure which invites more FDI.

India should explore and motivate overseas Indians to invest in India. That huge brain drain from India should be made to see India from a different prism. The Indian economy flourishes on the prosperity of the agriculture sector which has, unfortunately, developed the tendency of stagnation or slow growth. The era of Green Revolution and White Revolution is pass‚. We need a second Revolution of that sort in view of the unchecked population growth. This demographic effect has reduced people’s purchasing power and consumption.

We have to increase agriculture production, increase purchasing power of the rural masses by providing them jobs so that the wheels of National Economy remain on the fast track. The Rural Employment Scheme is a step in the right direction to provide them jobs and create infrastructure.

Democracy requires that the scales of social injustice are held in perfect equilibrium. For social justice, people’s participation in democratic institutions and creating new leadership at the grass-root level, Rajiv Gandhi visualized the Panchayati Raj system. This is a new step in decentralization of power. These institutions need Government support and finance, so that elected representatives are responsible to the people.

India has entered a new era of coalition politics. Coalition-dharma demands adherence to Common Minimum Programme. Past experience shows the tergiversation of the so-called secular outfits, in making private deals to remain in power, had eroded their credibility among people.

Success of the present UPA lies in learning from the failure of their predecessors. We have to take care to see that no section of the society feels alienated, especially the minorities and weaker sections of society. Peace and political stability are imperative for economic growth and to redeem our pledge given to the people at the time of elections.

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