India is a country of middle-class people with meager to negligible information about economic planning, functioning, and counteracts. It’s not the case of ignorance or low literacy rate but the way the Indian economy is run in closed chambers. Since Independence, policymakers have made it exclusive affairs and we are treated like fish in the race climbing.
Our life was made difficult by newspapers which led to with invention of a hundred parameters to gauge the economy.
What Indians did do?
We attributed economic success to the price of the everyday commodity. It not only made wrong economic judgments but invented freebie policies. It led to election welfare rather than inclusive socialism. Indian economy had a phase where grain and oil surges led to economic problems but we live in a strong economy of almost 3 trillion dollars.
Now let’s talk contemporary situation.
India is facing inflation out of band to RBI and energy price surge. Indians have a peculiar economic stringency that they want to constrain the expenditure irrespective of revenue. This misery approach led to almost stability during the pandemic but govt doesn’t have gold mines. People want lower prices but good public infrastructure also. It’s like output without input.
We are the oldest civilized people but the economic prudency of people is very fragile. We are made to be myopic in economic sense with only limited to petty benefits. We raise our voice to higher energy prices but in a similar sense, poor quality of roads make the same toll on our pocket is acceptable. Revenue accounting is made a priority to capital expenditure. Horizon problem of government excavated the problem. Indian economy came out to the black hole of corona waves but all the other nations did the same, right. No other nation of 1.5 billion stood so resiliently in a democratic way but we are comparing per capita GDP to Bangladesh. It’s like comparing a family of 10 to 100.
Now we are left with social media misinformation that is politically motivated. Then a common man knows whether it’s going right or not?
Information in today’s world is readily available but we just want populist belief in the truth. The economy should be looked at with capital expenditure to revenue one. our public assets like hospitals, railway stations, bus stands, and roads are improving with slight loose pocket then we are making a good fortune for our children.
Indians need to look economy as an asset, not with liability that is short shelf life. Once a good road is built then it will last for decades but lower energy prices will only promote the lethargies that the government is working for them. socialism is a boon to the nation until it gives people their labor’s due share and doesn’t promote non-sustainable equality like USSR did in cold-war era.
