India´s Development Strategy: Crisis and Conflict

Abstract India, at the time of attaining political independence in 1947, had a well-established capitalist class and a trained bureaucracy. Soon after independence the political leadership formulated a programme of rapid economic development, with a balanced growth of agriculture and industry providing full employment and equitable income distribution. Its basic objective was to achieve a self-reliant, growing economy that would provide all possible opportunities for advancement. In this paper, the author takes a close look at India's evolution - the achievements and the failures - and draws conclusions for the future. An attempt is made at (a) identifying the major components of India's development strategy (b) analysing the actual performance of this strategy, (c) assessing the current situation, and (d) discerning, to the extent feasible, the contours of the future trends.