Hindustan

INTRODUCTION

India was industrialized by the British during imperial times for over two centuries.  Industrialization did wonders for India, however after independence, India proved unable to manage the large and diverse population.  A major problem is that a large portion of India’s population is illiterate (McCullough, 1965).  The people of India, although happy with independence were ill-equipped to govern effectively.  The government, although not explicitly communist, is one which controls all major utilities.  Its’ counterpart, China, with a greater population, has managed its’ people very effectively and is considered a superpower today.  India suffers from great poverty.  This is purely a fact of poor management in the government.  It is actually very simple: there is a population of approximately 1 billion with certain demands which have to met; Centralize command like the Chinese did and provide the goods and services to the 1 billion.  It’s not like there is a shortage of labor.  Labor is a commodity that has to be utilized in every society and in India it is being wasted.  India has restrained from privatizing major utilities, a reason many see as the major policy problem in India, however I disagree.  I think communist thought is the only option for India to prosper.

THE SCENARIO

Less than 5% of India’s billion are well off and are enjoying luxuries available in the West.  The rest of the population, the middle class and the extremely poor have to suffer the misery of a lack of the basic necessities taken for granted in the West.  There is a lack of electricity (Pachauri,1982), (Anonymous 1, 2 & 3).  The water is not drinkable and is not supplied 24 hours a day (Cullet, 2013), (Truelove, 2011), (Kurian, 2000).  There is not even enough food as some go without two square meals a day (Bajaj, 2012), (Mehta, 2003).  There is obviously not enough housing and the erection of slums dwellings has created unsanitary living conditions negatively impacting on health (Loughhead, 2000), (Sen, 2011).  India has not privatised its’ utilities.  Electricity and water is still managed by the government and they are doing a poor job at it.  Property is privatised and a large percentage of the population are unable to access housing.  “... a major part of the poverty in rural and urban India is due to the unequal distribution of the basic factors of production especially, land and capital” (Mehta, 2003).  Agriculture, food processing and distributing is privatised.  The government do have food rations for the poor, however it is not enough.  Health care is privatised and unavailable to the poor.  The poor do not even have access to a toilet and have to do their business on the streets and the whole country has to suffer!

STAKEHOLDERS & POSSIBLE RESPONSES

I have worked out a plan where I start a non-profit organisation for charity.  The following outline are the steps to be carried out by the organisation:

• organise some volunteers to help with the administration
• contact religious groups and work out a coordinated effort to raise cash and free goods - hare krishna and the vatican
• contact the world bank and international monetary fund for cash grants for development programs in India
• contact governments in the G8 to help with cash grants and help with professional and trade  labor services
• gather core design group to design the overall big picture of restructuring infrastructure - planning of housing, transport (air, rail and roads), power, agriculture, sewerage, water, recycling
• with the redesign of the country, we automatically create jobs, hence we can utilize our billion people
• eliminate money and coordinate a census and identity card program where all activities of debits and credits, extraction and deposits of commodities of the economy are monitored - indian computer engineers to design and satellite owners (US, Russia?)
• ascertain all demands at census
• ascertain all skills available at census
• ascertain all means of production and export demands
• limiting the amount of imports, avoid a trade deficit
• crunch the numbers
• for immediate demands:
• establish  distribution centres for rationing
• establish soup kitchens
• establish temporary toilets
• establish dormitory hostels
• establish training centres
• for long term demands
• implement urban design!

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Anonymous 1, “An area of darkness; India’s electricity problems”, The Economist (US), 404.8796, August 4, 2012
• Anonymous 2, “The future is black; energy in India”, The Economist (US), Jan 2012: 78(US)
• Anonymous 3, “Electricity in India: Providing power for the millions”, International Energy Agency, 2002
• Bajaj, V., “As Grain Piles Up, India’s Poor Still Go Hungry”, The New York Times, June 8, 2012
• Cullet, P., “Right to water in India”, The International Journal of Human Rights, Vol. 17, Iss. 1, 2013
• Kurian, N. J., “Widening Regional Disparities in India: Some Indicators”, Economic and Political Weekly, 35 (7), 2000
• Loughhead, S., Mittal, O., & Wood, G., “Urban Poverty and Vulnerability in India”, 2000
• Mallah, S., “Nuclear energy option for energy security and sustainable development in India, Annals of Nuclear Energy, Vol. 38, Iss. 2-3, Feb. - Mar. 2011
• McCullough, C. M., “Illiteracy in India: Problems and Progress”, The Reading Teacher, Vol. 19, No. 2, Nov. 1965
• Mehta, A. K., Shah, A., “Chronic Poverty in India: Incidence, Causes and Policies”, World Development, Vol. 31, Issue 3, March 2003
• Pachauri, R. K., “Electric power and economic development: The case of India”, Energy Policy, Vol. 10, Iss. 3, Sep. 1982
• Sen, B., “Securing the right to health for all in India”, The Lancet, Vol. 377, Iss. 9765, 12 - 18 February 2011
• Timmons, H., “World Bank reports on India poverty”, The New York Times, May 19, 2011
• Truelove, Y., (Re-)Conceptualizing water inequality in Delhi, India through a feminist political ecology framework, Geoforum, Vol. 42, Iss. 2, March 2011