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India's Unfinished Journey Transforming Growth into Development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 August 2006

DEEPAK NAYYAR
DEEPAK NAYYAR
Affiliation:
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
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Abstract

This paper situates the economic performance of independent India in historical perspective to evaluate the past and reflect on the future. It shows that the turning point in economic growth was circa 1951 in the long twentieth century and circa 1980 in India since independence. Thus, it is not possible to attribute the turnaround in India's performance to economic liberalization beginning 1991. During the period 1950–1980, economic growth in India was respectable, for it was a radical departure from the past and no worse than the performance of most countries. During the period 1980–2005, economic growth in India was impressive, indeed much better than in most countries. The real failure in both these periods was India's inability to transform this growth into well-being for all its people. And India's unfinished journey in development cannot be complete as long as poverty, deprivation and exclusion persist. Even so, with correctives, it should be possible to reach the destination.

Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 40 , Issue 3 , July 2006 , pp. 797 - 832
Copyright
2006 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

The author can be contacted at: Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110 067, India or by email: deepaknayyar@mail.jnu.ac.in