ABSTRACT

This chapter highlights the achievements and failures of India's development effort. The nature and extent of poverty and unemployment in the economy is a matter of dispute among Indian economists, but they are agreed that there has been no decisive change for the better. Several academic economists, both in India and abroad, however, had all along expressed misgivings about the savings and capital accumulation-centred approach to development. Agricultural development was accorded a relatively low priority; and in the production of manufactured consumer goods, resources were diverted to the production of luxury goods. There is no escape from the conclusion that the only viable solution to the problems of low growth, unemployment and poverty is to promote conditions favourable to an efficient allocation of resources and technological progress. The mechanics of a policy would involve the pursuit of a liberalized foreign trade regime and emphasis on market forces.