why developmental models should be unique and not standardized
In India, there are always debates about developmental models. Many economists, including the former Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, believe that it is high time that people are drawn out of villages, and made to work in factories, in whatever capacities are available.
There are many who feel that rapid industrialization, of the Western kind, are simply not suitable for India, which is basically an agriculture oriented economy. And of course, we have a huge multitude of economists and planners who pin their hopes on the educated unemployed to simply man the various positions that will come up in the IT and IT enabled service sector.
While each of the above observations or ideas or developmental models have their own merits and demerits, we need to develop our own unique models, based on our understanding of the developmental needs of a particular region, the impact of high wages on a whole lot of local people, and so on.
For instance, we can indeed have industrial corridors along the National Highway routes. This makes sense as we have road and rail infrastructure already connecting them at most places. However, these industries should not be allowed to snatch away tens of thousands of acres of fertile land, that can give us good vegetable and fruit produce for example. We should recognize that prices of rice, fruits, and vegetables are very high, only because agriculture has not grown at all.
Contrary to all public perception, a good monsoon, along with pick up in agricultural production, actually saves our economy, like it did in the year 2009 and even for a couple of years after that. We cannot just afford to neglect agriculture.
And we cannot afford to destroy ecology and have thousands of factories, that will increase income, but give rise to more of income disparity and mere migration of the educated but highly employable from one region to another. The private sector will only employ the best. The so-called "local' stance will not work. Hence, unless the educated are employable, those who are employable will come from elsewhere.
Witness the huge influx of North Indians in both Chennai and Bangalore. The articulate, educated and smart two percent of the Hindi belt, are here to stay and literally dominate every single avenue of employment in IT and even manufacturing, in both the metro cities. It is not that local talent is not available. It is just that the local population of the educated is not all that employable,
So, the developmental need is to urgently ensure that huge multitudes of educated employed in various cities are really employable, in line with what is expected of organizations that have global clients, where English is the only global language understood and appreciated.
What is relevant is to find out the actual developmental need of a region. For example, the tens of thousands of uneducated Hindi speaking men and women who are now migrating to the South of India, in search of all forms of contract employment in factories, construction sites, hotels, lodges, and even the medium sized private hospitals can be trained in various trades like electrician, plumber, motor mechanic, fitter and welder, among several others. The unemployed women can also be taught skills that will fetch them some income.
Unfortunately, in States like UP and Rajastan, there is hardly any development of any kind taking place. Of course, there is some improvement in the industrial landscape of Rajastan, but such development only helps the rich. The poor have to work on contract, and the educated unemployed are also made to work on contract on many jobs. The regular employment is missing in the North Indian States.
It is wise to put up factories outside a twenty kilometer radius of areas that are traditionally less rain fed. Far example, Dharmapuri and Ramanathapuram districts of Tamil Nadu, and the Bellary region of Karnataka. The twenty kilometer radius is a wise option, given that industries near the city center end up competing for water. The men can travel to these places for work. Let the women and children stay in the city center which is superbly developed. For example, thousands travel between Hosur and Bangalore which are just less than forty kilometers away from each other.
However, it is yet another story that Hosur itself has become a big industrial cluster by itself, providing a big fillip to the development of the service sector of all shapes and sizes in not only Hosur, but in the neighboring Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu as well.
Yes, the service sector can be a major source of income and self employment of all kinds should be encouraged, particularly when the banks can chip in with loans to augment capital requirements of service industries. Witness, for example, the huge self-employment available in the form of cell phone sales and service establishments. Each of these big size shops employ a minimum of two people, and there are at least thirty even in a small Panchayat town in any place in South India.
Big cities like Coimbatore can easily have four hundred such shops, at least. And then one will loose count of the hundreds of "fast food" shops serving a huge variety of non-vegetarian food. So, the development is centered around what is basically self-employment of a big kind.
It is absurd to argue that a State like Kerala, which is rightly called God's own country, should have huge industries. Pollution of air, water and land is the worst cancer of our society. We should never allow Kerala to be spoiled in any way. :Let tourism be encouraged in a very big way. Let agro-industries come up, without spoiling the environment.
And let thousands of Kerala men and women continue to find employment anywhere in the world (they search and get it on their own), The remittances help millions of people to keep the economy of Kerala growing.
And why not look at developmental models that will enable us to export millions of educated, abroad, to places where their skills are needed? For instance, it is becoming clear that many regions of Africa will become centers needing qualified doctors, engineers,architects, Universities, professors, and skilled labor of all kinds. Why not produce them, and enable them to go over there, through appropriate trade agreements?
When the Manipal Univesity and the Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad can set up good centers in Dubai, why not more established Universities like the University of Madras or the MS University of Baroda, for example? We just need common sense and a lot of political will to make it happen. Millions of Arabs need to be educated. Why can't our B schools, that are research oriented, go over there in more numbers?
Instead of simply aping the West, we need comprehensive solutions for development. The "one-size-fits-all" type of developmental approaches do not work at all. They never will.
And we need more investment in quality education. Let Government schools close down, like in Tamil Nadu or Kerala. We will probably need much lesser people in India. We cannot afford this huge population. Education is the only solution for a lesser population in the years to come.
Let us look at development from a very big, macro perspective. Let us look at inclusive growth. A developmental model that merely makes the rich much richer, will only add to more income disparities. A developmental model that addresses real developmental needs in a very comprehensive manner is urgently needed in India.
Very specific and very localized developmental need (like for example, the need to develop tourism in Kerala, much better than what is being done now), is required.
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