THE DILEMMA'S IN INDIAN

DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

• - Homarjit Singh
 - Rashi Sachan
 INTRODUCTION

Among the developing countries in the world, India marks itself as being one of the fastest growing economies.
India’s political and economic history has led it to become one of the fastest developing countries in the world.

Despite all thus, India continues to face dilemmas in its development process. Dilemmas in Indian development
process simply means the obstacles that India Is facing on its journey to become a developed country. The
processes of development, have brought about some dilemmatic situations in which the nations like India are
caught up and exposed to uncertainties regarding their policies of reforms and development.

The major dilemmas of Indian development process are as follows:

(a) Dilemma of Development
(b) Dilemma of Self-sufficiency
(c) Home vs. External Environment
 (D1) DILEMMA OF DEVELOPMENT

India is known as one of the fastest growing economy, but it still faces a dilemma of
development along with other developing countries.

Agriculture sector is the mainstay of Indian economy and there is a lot of evidence
that agriculture can contribute to poverty reduction beyond a direct effect on farmer's incomes.
But often agricultural development is considered synonymous with rural development.
Development is a must for alleviation of rural poverty, but ironically, conventional development
programmes have aggravated the pressures on the rural poor and unwittingly destroyed the
environment as well.

Also, development has been seen as the great threat to human beings as environmental
imbalance and depletion of renewable natural resources, faced in the world today, remain a
matter of great concern.
India his seen to be developing rapidly, this rapid development has led to both positive
and negative social, economic and environmental impacts in India.

Positive:
1 . I m pr o ve d h e a lt hc a r e - in c r e a s e d lif e e x p e c ta n c y a n d d e cr e a s e d d e a th r a te s
2 . I n c r ea sed li te r a c y r a te s .
3 . Be n e f i t f r o m in c r e a s e d G D P p er c a p it a a n d e c o n o m ic g r o w t h
4 . A ttr ac t in g F D I
5 . I m pr o ve e ff ic i en cy a n d s u s t a in a b ili ty o f f ar m in g te c h n iq u e s - r e d uc e s p r o c e s s e s
s u c h a s o v e rg r a z in g & o v e r c u lt iv a ti on .

Negative:
1 . Ra p i d p o p u la ti o n g r o w t h d u e to i n c r e a s e d l if e e x pe c t a nc y a n d d e c r e a s e d de at h
rates
2 . S tr ess o n h ou si n g p r o v is io n a n d h ea lth c a r e s e r v ic e s .
3 . I n c r ea sin g in co m e in e q u a li ty a n d d is p a r it ie s b e tw e e n r u r a l a n d u r b a n a r e a s .
4 . O v e r- e x tr ac tio n o f n a tu r a l r e s o u r c e s w h ic h l e a d s t o ir r e v e r s i b le d a m a g e of l a n d
r e s tr ic t in g f u tu r e u s e
 
Yet another dilemmatic situation today is to choose between development
and sustainable development. This dilemma is more gripping in the less
developed countries than the developed ones because the latter have already
achieved the target of devel ­o pment by using those technologies which are
now considered dangerous for the health of natural environment, whereas
the less developed countries have yet to achieve the target of joining the
class of the so-called developed countries. .
 (D2) DILEMMA OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY

Any country would like to be self-sufficient. The bigger countries, due to their vast natural resources
and raw material, claim greater self-sufficiency than the smaller countries which generally lack in
natural wealth. India has always longed for self-sufficiency & economic independence.
In pre-industrial rural communities, self-sufficiency was possible to some extent possible but now,
the concept of self-sufficiency is a misnomer as almost every country striving for development are in
the relationship of interde­pendence with some countries for capital, labor, technology, commodity,
know-how and entrepreneurship.

India provides know-how and labor to the developed countries and in exchange receives capital.
However, the relationship of interde­pendence is not free from the element of dominance. The
developed countries, which extend financial help to the less developed countries, also exercise
considerable degree of authority over the recipients and force them to concede to their terms and
conditions, causing under development.
 F a c t o r s t h a t c a n h e l p I n d i a b e c o m e S e l f - re l i a n t :

Wi t h t h e a i m t o r e v i v e t h e e c o n o m y a f t e r C o v i d - 1 9 , P M N a r e n d r a M o d i e m p h a s i z e d t h e
n e c e s s i t y o f a s e l f - r e l i a n t I n d i a . T h e i n i t i a t i v e f o c u s e s o n r e v i v i n g t h e e c o n o m y, p r o m o t i n g
domestic production, generating employment, supporting start-ups and budding enterprises,
strengthening supply chains and empowering people. .

I n d i a i s e m e rg i n g a s a s t r o n g , s e l f - s u ff i c i e n t a n d s e l f - r e l i a n t n a t i o n w i t h e n o r m o u s
opportunities. Here are a few factors that can help India become a self-reliant nation.

Social Factors: Economic Factors:

1. With such large population, India has a strong 1. The ‘Make in India’ campaign plays a significant role
consumer market. Moreover, the spread of the internet in boosting the domestic manufacturing industries and
and changing consumer habits have given a push to reducing the reliance on imports. PPE manufacturing
the domestic market, supporting budding industry is an exemplary example of the Make in India
entrepreneurs and start-ups.  success story and India is now the world’s second-
largest supplier of medical PPE.
2. India has numerous opportunities and abundant
resources. Combined with the high level of skills, it’s 2. India has a favorable business environment, it ranks
one of the factors which has made India the IT hub of at 63rd position among 190 nations in the recent World
the world. Bank's ease of doing business 2020 report.
 (D3) DILEMMA OF HOME & EXTERNAL
ENVIRONMENT

India’s development options are being shaped by dilemmas at home and monumental
changes in the external environment.

Domestically, there is a seeming impossible trinity of jobs, growth and sustainability, where
at best two out of three objectives get fulfilled.

For instance, solar parks attract international investment in sustainable infrastructure but do
not create as many jobs as distributed energy infrastructure.
Scaling up natural farming is good for soil health, carbon retention and water conservation
and is labor-intensive but value addition in farm yields might not compensate for value loss
in the fertilizer industry.
=> One such example of dilemma is Desertification
 Desertification
Desertification is one of the threats in India as we intensify real estate and plan infrastructure.
We have fractured the Aravalli's in multiple locations across Haryana, reducing resilience to desertification.
 - In Mumbai, the Aarey forest is being sacrificed for the metro.
 - In Kerala, massive deforestation over the years had intensified flooding.

PROS OF DESERTIFICATION CONS OF DESERTIFICATION

• Improved infrastructure. • Loss of fertile soil.
• More jobs. • Worsening erosion.
• More land for cultivation. • Droughts and floods

 Although the objective of growth and jobs have been satisfied, the question of sustainability
arises
ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF DESERTIFICATION
Economic impacts of desertification are divided into three main categories:
1. Direct impacts, which affect the land users that cause degradation.
2. Indirect impacts, which can affect people far away from where the degradation occurs.
3. Economy-wide impacts, in which the sum of these initial costs is increased by the
"multiplier effect" owing to complex links with other economic sectors.

DIRECT ECONOMIC COSTS

• Direct economic costs reduce the income obtained by land users as a result of the lower
productivity of land resulting from desertification. These 'on-site' costs are experienced either
by the land user who degrades the land, or by another user who uses the site subsequently.
• The estimate of direct costs of land degradation in India da was around 2% of India’s GDP in
2003.
INDIRECT ECONOMIC COSTS

• Dryland degradation also leads to indirect economic costs through off-site impacts. These
impacts can be long distances from the land use that is the immediate source of degradation and
so are generally suffered by people other than those who cause degradation in the first place.
• For example; The transport of soil by water erosion can lead to the siltation of rivers, reservoirs
and irrigation canals which reduces their effectiveness and may cause flooding. E.g.: Assam
floods,2020.

ECONOMY-WIDE COSTS

• Both direct costs and indirect costs can, through a complex chain of influences, lead to a
multitude of other costs throughout an economy.
• For instance, soil which is eroded by wind and reduces reservoir capacity can lead to electricity
outages throughout a country, which in turn can result in production losses in many industries
and other commercial enterprises, which eventually affects the size of government spending
and the income of employees who are put on short-time work.
 STEPS TO BE TAKEN TO CONTROL
DESERTIFICATION

Protection of
Alternative Farming Establish economic
vegetative cover
Sustainable Land Use and Industrial opportunities outside
which would prevent
Techniques drylands
soil erosion

The practice of The practice of Eco

Raise awareness
Sustainable Forestry made to be Use of recycled paper
about Desertification
Agriculture regular
 CONCLUSION

The presentation concludes that India faces several dilemmas in its

development process such as dilemma of rapid development or sustainable
development, dilemma of being self reliant or globalizing and dilemma
between home and external environment.

To suggest that our development dilemmas could be easily overcome would

be naive. But they also present opportunities for the rural economy,
sustainable urbanization and green industrialization - that could help India
gain new competitive edge.
-END-