India@2070 Getting the Jugaads to Fly

There is a lot of opinion about economic development of a nation. Governments use GDP growth as a measure. For politicians it is about new projects. For businesses it is about profit and turnover. How about ordinary people? How ordinary people see economic development? Do they care about GDP claims or new projects or profit claims? Ordinary people look for improvement in their life. Continuous power supply, transportation, medical facilities, education, healthy environment and overall improvement in quality of life is what ordinary people see as sign of development. A question that is debated a lot within India is whether India is a developed country, or a developing country or an underdeveloped country. I have been living in Australia since 2007 and what I see as signs of a developed nation are the lives of ordinary people. In Australia an elderly person moving around on a wheel chair can live independently, travel around in a wheel chair, by accessing buses, trains and public places without support. India cannot claim developed nation status until quality of life for ordinary people reaches at that level. Liveability or quality of life is a measure for marking a nation’s place in the chart of development. Liveability considers educational standards, health, environment, crime rates, efficiency in business and administration, transparency in decision making, accountability of leaders in political and other spheres, public transport, art, culture, utilities, communications, emergency management and the list is endless. While Australian cities top the charts along with European cities, New Delhi has been ranked 112 out of 140 cities in the liveability report 2018. If the capital city of India is ranked 112, just imagine where her villages are. This is a big indicator of the living conditions in India now.