India has seen its share of success and disappointments since independence in 1947. Starting from the point where the British finally left us, to today, we have come a long way. While we have many a reasons to celebrate, there are also many places where we seem to have regressed.
Here is how the different sectors have fared.
Development in Agriculture
Agriculture has traditionally been the mainstay of the economy. Starting from the era where famines were feared and there was shortage of food, we have covered a major distance by becoming a net supplier of food. The green revolution was a large step towards technological advances in the food and agriculture sector and we have been successful in implementing the same in other grains from wheat.
Dairy too at the same time has seen good development since the Anand success story replicated by many other dairy farmers.
Development in Education
The literacy rate in India was 12 percent when the British rule ended. Since then the government policies towards education have been steered in the right way by providing schools and colleges and even high quality higher education institutions like medical colleges and IITs.
The basic education and the school meals program has seen a rise in nutrition and of course literacy. According to the last recorded census the literacy rate has reached 74 percent in 2011 and the youth literacy rate is 95 percent.
Development in Industrial Output
India ranks tenth in the world in the output produced by factories. Initially it was mining and quarrying but in the recent times the fast moving consumer goods have taken over.
Development in Service sector
Service sector has been the biggest contributor in the high growth of GDP in the past decades. The IT sector among others has been doing well and one factor for this is the English speaking population which is higher than other developing countries and so even now many multinational companies outsource their work to the workers in India.
Banking hospitality and health are other sectors which have seen an encouraging growth over the last decades.
Conclusion
Although it feels that we can do better in areas particularly national security and social and civic understanding, but all countries go through more or less the same growth paths and we have more to look forward to.
By Janhavi
EdgeArticles 