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A determined national effort must make the next half century an era of economic freedom for the Indian people

This contribution is being written on the eve of the 50th anniversary of India's Independence. The dominant mood on the nation in one regret mixed with sorrow. Of course there are sections of society for whom the golden jubilee of the nation's Independence from foreign rule is an occasion for joyous celebration. But such euphoria tends to be driven by commerce or narrow ambition rather than a genuine satisfaction with the state of the nation which began its tryst with destiny amidst high hopes and lofty ambitions exactly half a century ago.

In particular, the mood of the nation's intelligentsia is despondent. And it is the small voice of the knowledgeable minority which has highly developed faculties of reasoning and analyses, that the citizenry should be listening to at this important juncture in the nation's history. Not to the loud noises being made by shallow individuals driven by profit or self-interest. Nor to the raucous voices of politicos who have divided the nation against itself all the while wearing their hollow patriotism on their sleeves.

Certainly it is deeply depressing that virtually the entire intelligentsia is disappointed and disillusioned with the nation's progress -- or lack of it -- during the past fifty years. But the silver lining is that barring the obsolete ideological hang-ups of die-hard Left intellectuals, there is an emerging unanimity within the Indian intelligentsia about the causes of the national malaise which has cast a dark cloud over the nation's fiftieth Independence anniversary celebrations.

The remarkable socio-economic development of the late starter, natural resources deficient nations of South-East Asia and the Pacific Rim has finally persuaded the Indian intelligentsia even if not the political class, that education aka human resources development, is the vital prerequisite of economic growth. Therefore a consensus has emerged that larger outlays for education's, particularly primary education, should top the national development agenda of the next half century.

Both the Narasimha Rao administration and the incumbent United Front government had pledged to raise the annual outlay for education from the current three per cent of GDP to six per cent with the major share of the outlay going to primary education.

This is the time for the intelligentsia to exert irresistible pressure on the political class to make good this pledge. And let's not fall for the familiar excuse of paucity of resources for education. Slashing non-essential subsidies and privatisation of public sector enterprises would release a flood of money for building the nation's woefully neglected primary education infrastructure.

While on this subject, it might be appropriate to examine the politically unpopular but socially purposive argument to limit electoral franchise to citizens who have completed primary school. When an eminent jurist, economist and nationalist such as Nani Palkhivala is moved to remark that "our biggest mistake has been adult franchise," and that "no democracy has paid a heavier price for adult franchise than India," enlightened citizens need to be ready to risk unpopularity by initiating a serious debate on this issue. I have argued before in these columns that such qualifications of adult franchise would improve the quality of people's representatives in the legislatures and provide a powerful thrust to the nation's moribund adult literacy movement.

The second priority item on the development agenda of the nation for the next half century should be the tightening to the law and order maintenance and justice delivery systems. The nation is fast sliding into anarchy. The intelligentsia and the middle class need to be bold and resolute in exerting pressure on the political establishment to stem this rot. Again, resources to equip the police and paramilitary forces and increases the number of judges and courts can be mobilised by rationalising subsidies and the proceeds of privatisation.

And the last but by no means the last priority item of a basic three-point national development agenda for the next fifty years, should be a determined national effort to make the next half century an era of economic freedom for the people of India. Though the first half century since Independence was a period of political freedom for the citizenry, it was a period characterised by excessive regulation of agriculture, industry, and trade with disastrous consequences for the economy. One hopes that economic freedoms will be available to the citizenry during the next half century. Especially now that it is manifestly clear that the licence permit quota regime has been a dismal failure.

The basic problems which have bedeviled the Indian polity during the fist five decades after freedom day are by no means insuperable. It the citizenry and the intelligentsia, in particular, do some honest introspection and learn from the mistakes of the past fifty years, the next half century could prove to be a new golden age of a society which has yet to scratch the surface of its great potential.