India@2047: Developed nation?; Unabated human trafficking; India’s Mango slice in world trade
Opinion Watch
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his ninth Independence Day speech said that India must aim to become a developed nation by 2047. The next 25 years, thus, is an Amrit Kal that will shape destiny of India.
The Times of India, The Hindu, The Indian Express and The Pioneer in their respective Edits has sought to dissect Modi’s speech.
The dailies have, however, hinted at some places that not all statements made from the ramparts of the Red Fort actually see light of the day.
The people shouldn’t immediately begin celebrating India becoming a developed nation by 2047, for realities are harsher and they may disappoint the day-dreamers.
ToI in its Edit listed twin yardsticks for a developed nation – per capita income and non-farm employment.
At USD 2300, India is currently at 144th position in per capita income in the world.
Around 41 per cent of employment was in farm sector in 2018-19, added ToI, while manufacturing employed only 12.1 per cent, and services sector jobs are mostly of low-skilled and low-wage.
That should caution people from jumping immediately at thoughts of India becoming a developed nation by 2047.
TH too commented that details of how the country would reach the objective were scanty.
The Chennai-headquartered daily, however, listed goals that should be met on the way such as democratic rights, equitable distribution of wealth and access to health and education.
IE put the spotlight on the missing parts in PM’s speech, as it noted “there was no outreach to those who feel exclude or left out from the collective”.
With just a little over two years to go for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the politics of the day overwhelmingly been predisposed to ways to lure voters with doles, there appears not much of realistic grounds that India would take the flight of Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s helicopter shots to become a developed nation so quickly.
Unabated human trafficking
If the national fervour made people jubilant, here is a rude shock –the Indian Mission in Kuwait in the first seven months of this year received reports of 1637 cases of human trafficking against a total of 2390 last year.
Kuwait just gives a representative idea of the scale of human trafficking, which is further becoming alarming for nonconsensual organ donation.
The Pioneer grimly put the spotlight on women and children below 15 years pushed into human trafficking, with the victims largely hailing from Odisha, Telangana, West Bengal, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. The family backgrounds, noted the daily, are semi-literate and poor.
Worse is the conviction rate of the accused involved in human trafficking that has slumped from 27 per cent in 2016 to 10 per cent in 2020.
This should be an embarrassing state of the affairs.
Further, TP, reminded that the U.S. in its 2022 report has clubbed India in a group of nations which are not doing enough to stop human trafficking.
Despite being a signatory to several global conventions, India’s record is indeed disappointing, and calls for political ownership of the issue.
India’s Mango slice in world trade
India produces half of the world’s mangoes, while export market is mostly dominated by Thailand, Mexico, Peru and the Netherlands.
India grows almost 1000 varieties of mangoes, but only 30 of them are part of the commercial trade, noted The Economic Times in its interesting Edit, which applauded the country exporting 1000 tonnes of mangoes to the US.
This is significant since export to the US market had previously been disrupted on safety issues.
The daily stated that India exported USD 44 million worth of mangoes in 2021-22, lower than USD 56.11 million in 2019-20.
Exports to the Middle-east countries are dominated by India and Pakistan, but the real gain will be from the European and the US market.
But that would require availability of refrigerated containers for shipments, better processing, training of the mango growers, investment in storage facilities and also branding by tapping into the resources of Indian Missions and the diaspora abroad.
About The Author
