In past few months you have read the suggestions of the globally reputable experts to remove the growth impediments of Indian economy. Indubitably their efforts are commendable and suggestions very valuable. But in my view, these suggestions seek to maintain and somewhat improve the status quo. In that sense, these are incrementalist only. Moreover, since the experts recognize that the status quo is not a pretty picture in itself, rather the conditions are pathetic in many important areas, the approach may be lacking. Believing that the present conditions are poor and challenging, and the current approach and ecosystem has mostly failed in tackling the problems afflicting the Indian socio-economic milieu, a zero based approach is worth trying.

1. 11 July 2019
Vijay Kumar GabaVijay Kumar GabaVijay Kumar GabaVijay Kumar Gaba
Growth paradigm needs to change, completely
In past few months you have read the suggestions of the globally reputable experts to remove
the growth impediments of Indian economy. Indubitably their efforts are commendable and
suggestions very valuable. But in my view, these suggestions seek to maintain and somewhat
improve the status quo. In that sense, these are incrementalist only. Moreover, since the
experts recognize that the status quo is not a pretty picture in itself, rather the conditions are
pathetic in many important areas, the approach may be lacking.
Believing that the present conditions are poor and challenging, and the current approach and
ecosystem has mostly failed in tackling the problems afflicting the Indian socio-economic
milieu, a zero based approach is worth trying.
In five decades of post Nehru period, there have been many national movements which have
attempted to redefine the India's social, political and economic milieu.
Most notable of these movements are Naxalite movement of 1960's spearheaded by Charu
Mazumdar and Kanu Sanyal et. al.; Jaiprakash Narayn's "Total Revolution" in 1970s, V. P.
Singh's "Jan Morcha" in late 1980's, and L. K. Advani's "Ram temple" movement in early
1990's.
Besides, many regional movements have also had notable impact on the Socio-political order.
Kanshiram's movement for social justice to the bottom of the pyramid, viz., "Bahujan Samaj" is
amongst the most prominent ones.
Though most of these movements have had material influence on our socio-political order,
none of these movements could sustain to achieve a potent revolution that could catalyze a
complete break away from the politically feudal, economically colonial and socially divisive
legacy of British Raj.
After five decades, the society continues to be divided on the lines of religion, caste, and
community. Socio-economic inequalities obdurately persist. Social and gender prejudices run
deep into citizens' mindset.
The political consequence is that the populace as a whole still prefers to closely identify with
religion, caste, community, region rather than the Nation. Reflecting the divide, the elected
representatives are often seen pursuing parochial agenda; many a times at the expense of
broader national interests.
The economic consequence is that we have failed to devise a "National" approach in economic
planning and programming. A fragmented approach in defining economic agenda, has often led
to clash of regional aspirations and misallocation of scarce national resources. Indian Railways,
various river water disputes, conspicuous regional growth imbalances and wasteful "tax
exempt industrial zones" are some classic examples.
I would like to present the following 5 point agenda, that will challenge the status quo and seek
to establish a sustainable growth model based primarily on the Indian ethos, rather than
typical post industrial revolution western paradigm which is mostly materialistic, neo feudal,
and phlegmatic.
1. Bring temple to the core of economy
Religion has been a major force in core Indian ethos. Traditionally it has been the influence of
religion that has brought the concepts of scientific inquisition, righteousness, moral rectitude,
social responsibility, environmental sustainability, debt management, HR management, and
just & fair taxation, etc. in the trade and commerce.
Post Independence the State has been over focusing on micromanaging businesses and
ignoring key social issues. This has weakened the core fabric of Indian society, inasmuch as

2. 11 July 2018
that taking pride in our rich heritage has become synonym with bigotry for most - the so called
"nationalist" who takes pride, the so called "secularist" who is too scared to take pride, and the
so called "rationalist" who find nothing to take pride in Indian heritage.
Consequently, places of worship have degenerated from being center of learning &
spiritual evolution to shelters for hatemonger, fearmonger, power seeker, and wealth
hoarder. Many of these promote superstitions and block scientific inquiry to the
detriment of society at large.
In my view, if we want to make this century belong to India, then Indian State—
(a) should leave business completely to private enterprise;
(b) play a much larger role in social awakening and create an enabling environment of
mutual trust, self motivation, and compassion;
(c) make the Temple (of course including Mosques, Churches, Monasteries, Gurudwaras,
Mutts, Agiyaris, Derasars and others) play a larger evolutionary role in progress of the
society, rather than continuing to degenerate further and stay a stumbling block in
the path to socio-economic progress; (Taking their gold for managing current account
deficit is not sufficient!)
The State must realize and accept that politicians and bureaucrats are naturally and seriously
handicapped insofar as their understanding of business is concerned. They should just secure
borders, maintain law & order and promote social harmony. So far they have focused on the
former at the expense of the latter for the disastrous consequences.
Moreover, Indian people in general have been seen to be most compliant, philanthropic, and
honest while dealing within their own small local communities. There is strong anecdotal
evidence of numerous democratic assemblies within various communities and localities. From
my experience I know for certain that most Indians not only feel comfortable working with the
members of their own community, but are usually most productive when operating within the
network of their “Own people”.
The regulatory framework therefore must take cognizance of these local communities.
The ecosystem should be designed in such a manner that these communities are
assigned the responsibility of self regulation of their members in matter such as tax
compliance, sustainability and environment protection, financial discipline, women
empowerment, disease prevention, etc.
2. Let our children grow as Indian
A couple of years ago, the government of Maharashtra decided to erect a colossal statue of the
great Maratha King Chatrapati Shivaji off Mumbai coast, broadly on lines of the Statute of
Liberty off New York coast.
The effort to commemorate of one of the greatest sons of India is commendable, but the
proposed statute may not be a justice to his memory and stature. It may be seen as yet another
poor attempt at Americanization of India.
This needs to be appreciated that the Statue of Liberty is deep rooted in the American
consciousness. Freedom of people, thoughts and ideas is at the core of American State. The
Statue came after the American State enshrined the idea of liberty in its consciousness. The
flame carrying lady represents what USA stands for. It is widely considered both a reminder of
core values, and inspiration to many.
In India, outside the erstwhile Maratha kingdom, the knowledge about the ideology and Vision
of Chatrapati Shivaji is scant. The school history books outside Maharashtra contain few short
stories about his valor, but nothing beyond that.

3. 11 July 2018
Unless, the students across the country are taught about the great vision, struggle and
contribution of the great king, in a manner that it leaves an indelible imprint on their collective
conscience, the proposed Statue may just remain a tourist attraction.
Not only this, the same is in fact true about most great kings, saints, religious leaders and
literary genius. School students in Maharashtra read little or nothing about history and
legends of South, East or North India. The same is true about most states. The students are
taught only about the respective regional personalities.
Students in Mumbai & Delhi could not even name all North Eastern states. None of several
10th class Delhi students I spoke to were unaware about a region named Rohilkhand in India
(located just 160kms from Delhi). Students in UP, Punjab, Bihar, Rajasthan are mostly
ignorant about Tukaram, Thiruvalluvar, Subramanya Bharti, Eknath, and Chandidas.
To a person sitting in Mumbai, Bangaluru, Chennai or Hyderabad, the state of Uttar Pradesh
(UP) may not mean much more than – Taj Mahal, Varanasi, Lucknow, Kebab, taxi drivers and
construction labor. Very few residents of the western and southern states appreciate that UP is
as diverse as India itself. Various regions of the state, i.e., Awadh, Brij, Rohillkhand,
Bundelkhand, Purvanchal, and Doab, have distinctly identifiable history, food, dialect,
customs, deities, and problems.
The consequence is that student grow up with mostly misplaced sense of supremacy of
their regional identities and culture vis-à-vis other regional identities and cultures.
Under these circumstances, how could one expect people in general to have a national
approach to any issue! Politicians who emerge from these people only, naturally have
parochial viewpoint of most issues concerning growth and development of the country.
3. Take factories to farms
The mission of the government to double farm income is commendable. However, it may not be
sufficient. The farm income must rise much higher, led by superior productivity gains and
higher realization.
The measures initiated so far, e.g., higher support prices, cheaper credit, crop insurance,
improved irrigation, cash fertilizer subsidy, better market access (eNAM, roads etc.) have
definitely improved the state of agriculture in the country. But this improvement may not be
sufficient. A lot more needs to be done, rather urgently.
Firstly, the business of agriculture in the country needs to be restructured; well, as a business.
A material part of the agriculture in India continues to be a sustenance measure, not a
business. It suffers from huge disguised unemployment, underemployment and poor returns.
Secondly, the historical transition of farm workers to industry during the developing stage of
growth may not work in current Indian context.
The so called developed economies have transited the labor from farm to factories, when
industry and mining were still labor intensive and global competition was not much. The
productivity gains were immediate and tangible.
It is no longer the case. The industry in India is already capital intensive. Even traditional labor
intensive industries like gems & jewellery, textile, leather, mining and construction are
becoming increasingly automated to stay viable against the global competition. Emulating
China model may not work in India, as our political and economic model is entirely different.
Moreover, the skill and training requirement for modern industry do not allow a straight farm
to factory transition. So the options get limited to unskilled construction sector jobs and
building industry around farms where the skill of the farmers could be suitable employed.

4. 11 July 2018
While MNREGA and ambitious rural road program is taking care of unskilled construction
jobs, there is little effort to take factories to farms.
The ambitious Make in India program mostly aims to substitute imports. We are trying to
compete with manufacturing powerhouses like China, Vietnam, Taiwan, etc. This defies the
basic principle of making economic decisions.
Whereas, what we need is to promote the export traditional Indian stuff which is our strength.
My suggestion would be that the government should acquire all farm holdings below
the viable size and consolidate these into large sized farms. The respective land owners
and/or and landless farmers tilling the acquired land should be employed at minimum
wages plus a share in profit. The money for this venture should be raised by selling
most of the industrial undertakings in the public sector, as their purpose of being in
public sector has already been served.
For the larger farm holdings, the government should encourage the farmers to partner
with the food processing industry on cooperative model. The factories must be taken to
farms.
4. Change the political paradigm
The present political structure of the country is not very conducive for a higher trajectory of
economic growth and development either in terms of popular parameters or in terms of
quintessential Indian ethos.
A study of the history of Indian politics would suggest that unlike western democracies only an
abysmal minority of Indian voters are strongly committed to a political or socio-economic
ideology.
The political discourse in India is usually dominated by contemporary issues and personalities.
The economic issues raised during elections are mostly confined to the slogan of poverty
alleviation and nationalistic fervor. In recent times corruption has also become a popular
electioneering slogan.
Perhaps, no political party seems to have taken issues of poverty alleviation seriously.
Therefore no one has bothered even to outline a conceptual or ideological framework for solving
these problems.
Ideologically, the Congress Party abandoned the most acceptable and perhaps most suitable
Gandhian Socialism in favor of Nehruvian Socialism that was a poorly mixed concoction of
Leninist central planning (central ownership and management of resources and businesses)
and British colonial legacy (discretionary patronage to the faithful and loyal).
The model was certainly at cross-purpose with the constitutional federal structure. Poverty,
poor governance and corruption were natural off-springs of this system.
BJP (earlier Jan Sangh) started with Deen Dayal Updhaya's Integral Humanism. However, in
1990s it adopted Gandhian Socialism (which is not too far moved from the Integral Humanism)
as the principal doctrine.
The present leadership has presented a confusing concoction of Integral Humanism, Gandhian
Socialism, Marxism and Laissez-faire model used by some developed economies principally
USA.
Politically leadership preaches "Human Being" as the fulcrum of policy making. Whereas the
executive is more focused on "Business", "Markets" and "Macroeconomics" as central themes.
The conflict is for everyone to see. The consequence is that we seem to be moving in no
direction.

5. 11 July 2018
The people at the left end of the spectrum exercised significant sway on the bottom of the
pyramid in Indian society since independence. They controlled most of labor unions. Though
divided between Marx, Lenin and Mao they still were the preferred choice of landless,
oppressed and intelligentsia. There was a time when being poor, intelligent (economist, thinker,
poet) or rebellious meant being communist.
The things however began to change in late 1980s post dismantling of USSR and the German
wall. The Lenin and Marx were relegated to the history lessons. The economic reforms initiated
in China under Deng Xiaoping's supremacy, further pushed back the traditional Marxists.
Insofar as the Lohiaites (socialist parties occupying the left of the center space in Indian
politics) are concerned, they deserted both Lohia and his ideologue Gandhi as soon as they
came into power. Degenerated into motley feudal lords themselves, they mostly have no
commitment to any economic idea and mostly follow the Congress Party's status quoits agenda.
The rise of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) from a massively popular anti-corruption civil society
movement 6years back had given hope and raised expectations of people. This party had no
ideological baggage and promised to address the problems as they exist, without any legacy
concerns. This party has also degenerated into a motley group of egotists, having no
commitment to their raison d'être.
In my view, a continuation of the current state of quandary with respect to economic growth
model is a major hindrance in our path to higher growth orbit.
I strongly believe that the inherent austerity, industriousness and enterprising skills of
the Indian populace are sufficient to provide escape velocity for moving the Indian
economy into higher orbit.
Limiting the role of government to developing and maintaining the institutional
framework relating to law & order, sovereignty, external security & relations,
municipal functions, inter-state relations and facilitating trade & commerce, may
improve economic conditions much faster than otherwise.
5. Make growth inclusive and sustainable
A key economic reform would be to earnestly hand over the ownership of natural resources to
“the public”, instead of few ministers controlling the resources. The trusteeship of all the
natural resources may be vested in the local body of people. The local people should determine
how these resources should be exploited. Industry based on these resources if developed on co-
operative model with equitable ownership of (i) local people (ii) financial investors and (iii)
technical experts who would manage the business, the growth could be fast, equitable, and
sustainable.
In summer of 2013, the tribal villages of Niyamgiri in Odisha, unanimously rejected the
proposal of Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) and Vedanta group to mine bauxite from
Niyamgiri hills and forests under the Forest Rights Act of 2006. The decision was widely hailed
as historic.
Two years later, similar situation emerged in the forests of Chhattisgarh. As many as 17 gram
sabhas, falling under Hasdeo-Arand coalfield, passed a resolution opposing the re-allotment of
coal mines and have written to higher authorities seeking dialogue on the issue.
The protagonists of faster economic development dismissed the protests as yet another
mischief of foreign funded NGOs who are allegedly paid to stop India from becoming an
economic super power!
The pragmatic are asking , what is the fun in faster development if it is not sustainable?

6. 11 July 2018
The austere and humanitarian Gandhians say the goal (faster economic growth to eliminate
poverty) is important, and means are equally important.
Amongst the recent examples, the following two are most noteworthy—
The most cited welfare measure of the incumbent government is implementation of Ujjawala
Scheme, under which the government has proposed to provide subsidy to 8cr BPL families for
acquiring a LPG connection. At present the beneficiary families are required to get refill of LPG
cylinders as per the norms applicable to all other LPG users, i.e., 12 refills per year at
subsidized rates and more refills at market driven rates. As per recent claims, more than 4cr
families have already availed benefit under this scheme.
I must admit that this scheme may definitely benefit the target households and prove to be a
great help. But when we juxtapose the scheme to the history of fuel subsidies in the country, it
appears a blunder.
Once introduced, it almost took 50yrs to remove the kerosene subsidy, and it was possible only
once enough electricity generation started and cooking gas availability got materially
augmented. In the meantime kerosene and transportation fuel subsidies constrained the fiscal
position of the country materially for many years.
Now consider this. 8cr intended beneficiary household means at least 16-20cr voters under
influence. To put this in political perspective, please note that in 2014 Lok Sabha elections the
incumbent BJP was polled a total of 17,16,57,549 votes (won 282 seats) and principal
opposition party Congress was polled a total of 10,69,38,242 votes (won 44 seats). BSP at third
place got 2,29,46,182 votes and won no seat.
With this political dynamics, ignoring this huge block of 16-20cr voters would be very difficult
for any political party. It is only a matter of time, when some political party will promise free 12
refills per year to the beneficiaries of Ujjawala scheme and put a fiscal burden of close to
Rs1trn on the nation.
This eventuality could have been easily prevented, if the scheme was implemented through a
legislation to be passed by Lok Sabha as a money bill, clearly providing that it is one time
subsidy of Rs1600 and no further subsidy could be provided under the scheme by any
government. The government has obviously not learned anything from history.
Another blunderers populist announcement relates to a major road project in the Garhwal
Himalaya. The project aims to connect the four sacred temples in upper reaches through a
wider road network. The stated objective of the project is to make it more convenient and safer
for the pilgrims to visit these sacred temples and develop the tourism infrastructure in the
state.
As a frequent visitor to the region, I can vouch that the ecology of the region is already facing
serious threats. The Kedarnath tragedy of 2013 is just an illustration of the disasters we are
going to face rather frequently. Worst the
This widening of roads will not only cause cutting of numerous trees, but also result in massive
increase in vehicular traffic and number of pilgrims visiting the region. Rise in pollution &
garbage, pressure on infrastructure, massive construction of room capacities and other
conveniences will thoroughly destroy the sanctity of the place itself; and kill the sacred rivers
that originate from there.
If I am minister today, I will completely ban private vehicles in 100km radius of these sacred
temples. Allow only disable and senior citizens to travel by public buses to the temples. Develop
the traditional pedestrian route to the temples. Provide tented accommodation with bio-toilets
along the way. Ration the number of pilgrims visiting these temples, and make it compulsory
for all pilgrims to plant one tree each and pay for their maintenance for one year.