Economic Growth and Development a function of Social forces

Economic Growth and Development a function of Social forces

India is a unique combination of urban-rural, agricultural-industrial and formal-informal skill components and as such India’s development plan or its trajectory is unique in terms of interventions, ideas as well as approaches mimicking the unique social milieu. With one of the world’s youngest population to its advantage, India has tremendous potential.

The wheels of transformation have full potential to bring a paradigm shift like, making government an “enabler” and not mere “provider”. As Prime Minister himself once observed, “If India is to meet the challenge of change, mere incremental progress is not enough. A metamorphosis of is needed.” As he stated the transformation of India cannot happen without transformation of governance, the transformation of governance can’t happen without transformation of mindset. And these mindsets are mostly and outcome of society.

In this Essay we are going to explore many intriguing questions, of how economic and developmental growth of a region is affected by the sociological environment prevailing in that region.
First we are going to through some light on what actually “economic and developmental growth mean” and what distinguishes them from each other. Then  we will move to our second excursion exploring various dendritic linkages between “these growth factors and society”. We would then be observing these developmental factors from Indian context. Then would discussion about possible favorable disruption required in Social factors. Then we would be connecting the dots towards enriching the democratic values. Finally we would be  observe the combined picture with my personal perspective.

Economic Growth and Development

Economic growth is something which is mathematically quantifiable like GDP of a country. On the other hand, Development has more Philosophical weight-age, it talks about the distribution of economic growth amongst various players in society. Various scholars have tried to quantify development; best they came up is “HDI”(Human development index), which measures inclusivity of social players in education, health, Standard of living. While assessing development GDP per capita is more meaning full then mere GDP. Example: India’s GDP is 5^th largest in world, yet she is host to largest number of poor on planet.
Factors affecting Economic growth= Government stability + Social stability (no/less internal conflict) + minimal conflict with neighbor countries + Human resource etc.
Factors affecting Development= Access of Quality education to all + access to health care + an environment acceptance of social diversity + absence of discrimination + food security etc.
Thus society is the common and most important factor affecting both. Having understood the meaning and various dimensions of “Economic growth and Development” lets analyze from Indian perspective.

Indian context

India ranks 5 in terms of GDP and hovers around 130 in HDI much below the rank scored by our neighbors like Bangladesh, Sri lanka etc. Its not only the present case, during Mughal era also, Indian was the reachest country in the world(according to Angus Madison, a british economic historian) but the common people in India were still then leaving in abject poverty, as described by Francois Bernier.

It was Adam smith who had propounded the selfish theory of economics: “If every player in an economy works for their self interest only and not for benevolence, it will lead to economic growth yielding development” . India till LPG revolution of 1990s followed the philosophy of economic growth without taking social factor into account. Rapid growth post liberalization yielding inordinate inequality in society. It was a watershed moment for Indian policy makers to peruse developmental growth independent of economic growth .

some of the changes that allowed Indian economy to flourish:
1) LPG reforms.
2) Change in social environment; a riot prone India to a harmonious environment
3)Poverty and crave to remove it= created cheap labor.
4)Changing attitude towards women= increased the pool of talent.


Social forces shaping Economic and Developmental growth.

The best way to understand how a economic and development both are function of Society  would be “Formation/Development of USSR”. Many country tried forming a communist regime but it was USSR  that showed promising success. A communist economy believes in shared resources, where economic growth is governed by development and not the other way around. Why is was a success in Russia ?  well the answer to this question is hidden in their society itself, traditionally Russian practiced shared cultivation where community owns the land.

Talking about India; She has a diverse economic and developmental growth across her geography which closely portrays diverse social environment. Example: Karla, It has a matrilineal society although its men who leads the house but the very existence of matrilineal society makes it most conducive for attaining Gender equality. Lack of discrimination resulted in open thinking and a feeling of cooperation. Thus we see Kerla ranking high in HDI when compared to other state. Openness and cooperative environment furthers social stability, a perfect requirement for economy to grow.
But when compared to states like Gujrat, kerla has less GDP; one of the reason for this is traditionally Gujrat was a hotspot for traders. Most of the household are engaged in some sort of trade or small business. But Gujrat scores much less in HDI when compared to kerla, because of prevailing orthodox culture in society, which restricts equal opportunity to women at the same time unlike Kerla it lacks pro poor economic growth leading to high inequality. In 2008 there was a major Hindu-Muslim riot in the state which proves existence of communal environment.
Comparing both the state with Bihar, we find, Bihar performs bad both on Economic front  and Development front. Its because of the social environment; high illiteracy, rigid orthodox culture  like dowry, communal environment, castiesm etc.
Since now we know that social construct affects both development and economic growth; We should now focus on utilizing these social forces to deepen democratic values coupled with growth.


Time to deepen the roots of Democracy:

Since society affects different facets of growth; therefore if its left unaltered we can’t achieve desired Development and Economic growth. In a democratic set up, changing the social construct is the most difficult work. Often leaders are seen perusing principle of populism.  Therefore, I think its most important to find a way to deal with the roots of growth factor in a democratic setup.
for this purpose I think Japan is the most suitable example; as in past, it was a nation entangled in orthodox  beliefs; complete absence of democratic values; economically devastated after 2^nd world war. Now when we look at the same country we find “a an epitome of development” and a thriving democracy. How was it done? The answer to this question is quiet simple “Human Resource”.
In India, quality of school education according PRATHAM is so poor that even 8^th class student are  not able to solve simple arithemetic. We observe, on regular basis crime against minorities and women. NCRB shows and increasing trend in crimes like “Witch hunting”, “honour killing” etc .

Leaders need to ensure that an independent agency out of any major government administrative control should function to tackle issues that are crucial but government finds it hard when dice of populism is rolled in the field of politics. Civil Societies, NGOs are the most important agency to hurl politics on track.

Conclusion

As was said by the Secretary general of UN, Kofi Annan, “any society that does not succed in tapping the energy and creativity of its youth will be left behind” . When the world is aging India is young, full of energy, creativity and potential to create another example in the field of development. If we loose this opportunity the demographic dividend may turn into demographic catastrophe, when India will enter into her old age. Its time to revive the instititution and strengthen them to the extent that no “vote bank politics”  or “Populism” can shake its determination.