Economic State of the Country
By Barada Das
Cuttack/Odisha, Jun 20 : The Thinkers’ Club in its 155th webinar discussed on a relevant subject of the current time. The topic was economic state of the country at present. The Chief Speaker of the meet was former Professor and Vice Chancellor, Professor Dr Kumar Bar Das. The meeting was moderated by Sri Barada Prasanna Das, the President of the Club. It was presided by Sj Vivek Pattanaik, former bureaucrat of the state. Dr Santosh Kumar Mohaptra, a senior columnist and an economist was the observer.
Prof Das, in his speech said that, India at present is top among the developing countries. The present growth of the GDP of the country is at 7.7%. The actual projection for the period was in between 6.5 to 6.6%. as per the estimation of the world bank it will exceed to 8% at the end of the period.
In a population of nearly 145 crores it is not surprising that the GDP of the country is high at 4.15 trillion in American Dollars. The rate of inflation in the country is within 3.93%. Fiscal deficit is 7.4% of GDP. In spite of these regulated parameters, we are not better than the small neighbouring countries like Ceylon and Bhutan.
The wellness of a country is not dependant upon GDP only. The per capita income is a better index. When the per capita income is calculated, it also includes the incomes of 200 billionaires of the country. A modal average will be a better index in judging the wellness of the people. Besides this, there are other parameters like, the happiness index, peaceful living index and literary index. It is unfortunate, that the country has failed in these parameters.
The future of the country is not clear. There is no balanced growth in the country. All round development refers to equal growth in agriculture, industrial production, service sector and allied sectors. Loan to GDP is operating at 66% level.
It is in rise and trending towards 87% and will likely touch to 100%. Fiscal deficit is caused due to misallocation of funds. The reliance upon natural resources is not a healthy sign. These sources are dwindling every day.
Consumption of resources is not development. It is necessary to utilise the available resources judiciously. There should be emphasis on posterity and sustainability. At present humanity is at stake. There are several issues causing public resentment. Reck[UM1] less allocation of subsidies, reservation issues and the politics connected to border infringement are all barrier to holistic growth of the economy. It is not material, whether the country is adopting, capitalistic economy, socialistic economy or the mixed economy. Our country started with socialistic economy but at present is switching to privatisation in many sectors. It is also a great constraint for development that, the country is forced to spent more and more in the defence sector.
The technical aspect of the webinar was managed by Jyoti Malla. Engineer Nanda Nandan Das, Prof Umasankar Mishra, Prof Mitra, Prof Mishra participated in the discussion forum. Many intellectuals were in the U Tube attended the webinar.
