Answer to rural development lies in urban planning, according to Atanu Dey, economist and a visiting faculty at the University of California, Berkeley.
The Indian economy should move away from agriculture, he said while delivering a leadership lecture on ‘India: Past, present and possible futures,’ at Asian School of Business (ASB) here.
ABSORBING LABOUR
The manufacturing sector should be enhanced to absorb the labour released from the agricultural sector, he said.
Urbanisation is the way for the country, and it has to be matched by development of rural people and investment in education, transportation and energy sectors.
Explaining his rationale, De said: “Cities are engines of growth because they manufacture wealth. Urbanisation and economic growth are bi-directionally bound.”
Education should be liberalised and made free from government control to facilitate greater investment in the sector.
He also called for a sound energy policy with focus on research and development in solar power. “We should emerge as a solar power superpower.”
OF OWN PAST
Dey said that reasons for India’s ‘impoverishment’ can be found from its own past.
The systems designed by the British for their benefit were transferred lock, stock and barrel to those who took control after 1947.
All extractive and exploitative rules and regulations were left untouched, he said and cited the examples of Indian Police Act that dates back to 1861 and the Indian Telegraph Act.
The real tragedy is that the country did not become really free even after Independence.
Dwelling in detail on economic freedom, he said Google, Facebook, Amazon and Hewlett Packard were born in the US because the country offered economic freedom.
RE-DEVELOPING NATION
S. Rajeev, director, ASB, pointed out that until around 1750, India was consistently ranked among the richest countries of the world.
The country declined during the years of colonialism and is now re-emerging. India is not a developing nation, but rather a redeveloping one,” he said.
Development does not happen by itself nor does prosperity occur automatically. It requires proper policies, vision and leadership, he added.
Malini Nair, economics faculty, ASB, proposed a vote of thanks.