Post-Independence India: Economic Development Hurdles

India became independent on 15 August 1947. Economic development was one of the significant challenges facing independent India. The Planning Commission was entrusted with designing viable plans for an economic system that could contribute to the growth and development of the country and promote the welfare of the people at the same time. Thus, the Five Year Plans were developed.

Goals of Five Year Plans

• The National Planning Commission developed five-year plans to achieve specific goals. These goals included growth, self-reliance, modernisation, and equity. 
• All policies were aligned with the four critical goals (growth, modernisation, self-reliance and equity), which provided the base for the five-year plan.

Economic growth and development

• Growth can be defined as the capacity of a country to produce high-quality goods and services to meet demands. It can be either measured by the productive capital stock or the size of several supporting services, including banking, transport, etc. Economic growth can be defined as the continuous rise in the GDP or the Gross Domestic Product. The GDP refers to the market value of all the produced goods and services in the country in a year. Economic development refers to a change in income, savings, and socio-economic structure of the country.
• Imagine GDP as a cake. The larger the cake is, the more people can enjoy it. India is a highly populated country. Therefore it was necessary to produce goods and services in more significant numbers for the masses.
• The country’s total GDP is dependent majorly on three sectors: the industrial sector, the agricultural sector, and the service sector.
• The total GDP of a country includes the contributions made by all three sectors of the economy. However, in countries like India, there can be a situation where one sector contributes more compared to another. 

Modernisation

• After Independence, people moved on to a new way of living which was more modernised. To boost the production of goods and services, the industry owners started to incorporate new technologies into their production processes. For example, many farmers began to use high-tech machines to replace manual labour, which ultimately increased efficiency and growth.
• Modernisation started to take place at a rapid speed. Considerable changes also took place in the social outlook. One significant change was the promotion of equal rights between men and women. Women started to come to the forefront. Some of the places where women began working were factories, banks, and schools.

Self-reliance

• The success of the economic plans depended majorly on the ability to use the available resources effectively.
• Self-reliance meant understanding what could be produced domestically and reducing imports from other nations. This policy emerged as a revolutionary step that empowered India in various ways. The dependence on foreign countries for essential items such as clothing and food was comparatively low.
• This step was necessary as the dependence on imported goods and technology made India’s sovereignty vulnerable. 

Economic Development Hurdles

• Low levels of per capita income: Per capita income measures the amount of money earned per person in a nation or geographic region.
• Low levels of national income: Economic growth of any country can be viewed from its level of national income and per capita income. It is said that the higher the level of national income, the higher is the rate of eco­nomic growth. 
• Widespread poverty: Poverty and hunger are regularly acknowledged as issues that have little desire for going endlessly because they are so far and wide. In reality, however, it is quite the opposite. For instance, the world creates a sizable amount of food to take care of everybody, which could, in turn, lead to dissolving worldwide hunger and a few parts of worldwide poverty.
• High level of unemployment: A high unemployment rate means that the economy cannot generate enough jobs for people seeking work.

• Predominantly agriculture-dependent economy: As agriculture becomes modernised, its reliance on land and human resources diminish.
• Population explosion in India: A population explosion is a sudden increase in the number of individuals.
• Low rate of saving: A low savings proportion implies that customer spending might be excessively high, and there might be insufficient assets for investment. In the short run, low savings will increase standards of living. However, a low savings proportion will imply that fewer assets are accessible for investment, and economic development might endure in the long run.

Conclusion 

The British ruled over India for more than 200 years, and finally, India got Independence after a long struggle on 15 August 1947 and woke up as a new country. Now, it was time for the economic development of India. Economic growth can be defined as the capacity of a country to produce high-quality goods and services to meet needs. It can be either measured by the productive capital stock or the size of several supporting services, including banking, transport, etc. In economics, economic growth can be defined as the continuous rise in the GDP or the Gross Domestic Product. India understood that a nation could only succeed if it knew how to use the available resources effectively.