India must unite to wage a war against pollution

Livemint     23rd October 2020     Save    

Context: In order to make Atmanirbhar Bharat and goal of self-reliance a reality, India needs major reforms in Education, Employment and Entrepreneurship. – The Triple E-Highway to Self-reliance.

Challenges faced by Swadeshi 2.0: Since the evolution of Swadeshi as a concept in 1905, India has evolved into a new set of challenges  

  • The interconnectedness of global supply chains: While the global value chains have strengthened economic independence, these chains are heavily dependent on China. (from phones to firecrackers.)
  • Focus on sops and benefits: is inefficient in attracting businesses and thus require training of the workforce, recasting financial system to measure entrepreneurs and how they drive employment.
  • Shifting Economic Landscape: Recent reports by the International Monetary Fund reflects India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will degrow by over 10%, lagging behind Bangladesh.

Steps to make India Self Reliant:

  • Encourage new entrepreneurial activities instead of classical sops and tax breaks - 
      • By training of legions of the new workforce, recasting financial system that measures entrepreneurs and how they drive employment 
      • Adopting a socially conscious approach to private equity and capital channelized towards emerging areas of business.
  • Re-skilling and Up-skilling: To capitalize on rapid tech-enabled innovation, there is a need to focus on regular training by companies, of the newcomers and the existing employed.
    • New Technologies rather than replacing humans would create ‘hot jobs for future’, requiring new skill sets.
      • Flexible Employment: Enabling companies to employ gig workers and contract employees with relevant qualifications for short durations.

      Conclusion: For the digital revolution in India we must ensure that citizens have the tools, the training and the entrepreneurial leaders needed to get there, which would truly lead us into a virtuous cycle of socio-economic evolution.