Top Five Challenges of the Indian Economy

Every person in the country has the right to live a dignified life. Every individual must be able to meet their necessities, such as food, health care, housing, and primary education. However, India is a developing country, and a significant portion of the people cannot afford all of these. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the country’s economy does not give enough job possibilities for disadvantaged individuals to find work and make money.

As India has such a vast population, providing education, health care, and joint working groups to all of its residents is a significant task for the government. For the growth process to continue, the nation’s income must grow with the increasing population and their desires. As a result, achieving annual economic growth is a big problem for the economy. Although India has experienced rapid growth and expansion, there are specific challenges faced by the Indian economy.

 The five challenges faced by the Indian economy:

• Unemployment

According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, India has 53 million unemployed individuals as of December 2021, with many women. Approximately 35 million unemployed people are actively searching for work, whereas 17 million people want to work but not actively pursuing it (as per CMIE).

There are various reasons for the problem of unemployment in India. High population, faulty education system, an enormous burden on agriculture, low productivity in the agriculture sector combined with lack of alternative options for agricultural workers, and unskilled labour are the reasons for this unemployment scenario. Though schooling has improved in recent years, skill development remains a critical issue. 

Aside from the typical remedies of reducing population growth or improving the quality of our education to incorporate skill-based learning, there are other options. Governments should also foster and develop industrialisation and agriculture-based sectors, particularly in rural regions, to prevent rural candidates from migrating to cities.

• Providing Education

In India, education is still one of the most severe socioeconomic issues. Despite a 2010 government reform that made elementary education free and compulsory for students aged 6 to 14, about 300 million Indians remain illiterate. The gender disparity in literacy rates is still high, reaching 30% in some states.

Quality and relevance are the overriding issues in Indian education at all levels. India faces significant challenges in meeting the needs of a rising and contemporary workforce. Appropriate curriculum, skilled teachers, financial support for students, and proper facilities are some of India’s education industry’s needs. Additional issues include the country’s incapacity to address its diverse linguistic, socioeconomic, regional, and municipal schooling needs. Due to recent breakthroughs in Indian management, it is a good time for businesses to form a joint working group to invest in the growth of India’s education system. As a result, the government should take considerable actions to progress the country’s educational system to overcome these issues.

• Price Rise

In India, price rises or inflation significantly impact the average citizen’s everyday experience. Inflation is considered one of India’s most serious issues. Prices of essential consumer goods such as grains, vegetables, cooking oil, and other items have been steadily rising. The most apparent cause of price increases is a scarcity of commodities in sufficient quantities.

According to some sources, Indians own trillions of dollars in black money inside and outside the country. Tax evasion and smuggling from foreign areas are carried out due to this improper hoarding, leading to rising prices. According to estimates, if all of the black money held in the Swiss Bank of Switzerland is returned to India, prices of essential consumer goods fall. Still, the Indian government will also be free of all loans it has borrowed from Western countries.

• Poverty

Approximately 800 million people are considered poor in India. Many Indians are migrating to metropolitan areas such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Calcutta due to various reasons such as low income in rural areas, lack of jobs, etc.

Poor sanitary conditions cause diseases such as cholera, typhus, and dysentery, and children, in particular, suffer and die. Poverty affects the people living in India and its economy in various ways, such as malnutrition, child marriage, lack of education, and other issues. That’s why the government is looking to promote business linkages to alleviate poverty to combat the challenges of the Indian economy. 

• Skill Development

India is confronted with numerous issues in developing skills among its citizens due to its current infrastructure and policy framework. Insufficient scale and limited capability, skills mismatch, mobilisation, scalability, and non-emphasis on technical skills are significant challenges in India’s skill development.

To assure more employment generation in the country, the Skilled India programmes must develop more entrepreneurship skills among the population. When it comes to making concerted efforts to boost trade, these programs should focus on the unorganised sector. As a result, the Make in India campaign will succeed in terms of skills, and India will fulfil its goal of ‘Koushal Bharat, Kushal Bharat.

Conclusion

The Indian economy is through a time of turmoil, with crucial signs pointing to a lengthy slump. Numerous concerns range from a slowing economy to growing inflation and unemployment. The exponentially increasing number of coronavirus patients undermines the argument for recovery. The government of India can make concerted efforts to form a joint working group so that economic growth can take place at a rapid rate.QA