Poor Indians
In the fight against COVID-19 Government of India made announcements for welfare program which aimed to provide food for 800mln Indians. That’s 2/3rd of the country. 2/3rd of India needed help from Government to not remain hungry during lockdown. Great gesture to feed so many, begs the question though, why are so many Indians so poor?
Delving in History is really a necessity to understand the wealth scenario of Indians.
Indians were looted and made impoverished, so poor that famine was norm, by Britishers using a bureaucratic setup. They wanted to grant India dominion status using Government of India Act, 1935, whom Nehru had called a “charter of slavery” and yet 2/3rd of Independent India’s constitution, which is basis of life in the country today comes from this. Ambedkar said following :
“As to the accusation that the Draft Constitution has produced a good part of the provisions of the Govt. of India Act, 1935, I make no apologies. There is nothing to be ashamed of in borrowing. It involves no plagiarism. Nobody holds any patent rights in the fundamental ideas of a Constitution…provisions taken from the Government of India Act, 1935, relate mostly to the details of administration…”
Dr. Ambedkar’s reply on the criticism that it has been copied. 4th Nov 1948, Constituent Assembly
The sum and substance is that even today India’s Bureaucracy’s design is same as what Britishers had designed to rule it while giving Dominion status. What needs to be done to correct the situation is well documented in many reports and books and is not going to be discussed here. The purpose here is to look at the most important harm done due to this setup, India’s Economic Setup!
Even if you are aware of right-left debates on ideology in the country, mark that it is primarily on cultural aspects. Economic principles have been more or less similar since independence. The striking feature has been lack of focus on wealth creation by the citizen. Tell me, how else can an impoverished country come out of poverty?