Economic Liberalization still has a long way to go in our Country

Context: India's 20-year delay in going for much needed economic reforms during 1991 had been a humanitarian nightmare. Understanding such delays will play a crucial part in the future well-being of the economy.

Failure of economic reforms:

• Delay in reforms: A 20-year delay in reform since independence is showcased through no improvement in poverty between 1947 and 1983, while the population doubled.
• Failed in comparison to other Asian neighbours: like the unprecedented economic rise of China and double-digit growth of the Four Asian Tigers- Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan
• Populist policies defying free-market policies:

• For E.g. while the Mahatma Gandhi Employment Guarantee Act of 2005 (MGNREGA) provides the "right to work" it hinders the adoption of technology or mechanized labour.
• The Right To Education Act of 2009 has led to the unfair treatment of privately-run schools, which require endless compliances and licences that severely affects their profitability.

Lessons for India through its journey of economic reforms:

• Strong market-driven reforms: that would boost economic growth and wages, thereby avoiding the temptation to take a socialist path to recovery.

• For E. In United States, pro-business attitude oversaw the creation of 6.6 million jobs, mainly on account of bringing back offshore manufacturing jobs to the US.

• Minimum government and maximum governance: through simplification of the country's tax system, transparency of processes, etc.
• For E. Aadhaar, provided an opportunity to plug a decades-old problem of leakages in social security schemes.
• Digitization of land records in under-developed states such as Bihar.

Conclusion: Current leadership should re-focus the government's attention away from the "entitlements-based" approach of the past to a clear jobs-driven agenda in order to reap benefits of demographic dividend.