Introduction
- National have been primarily trying to adopt various means which will strengthen their own domestic economies. To this effect, they are forming regional and global economic grouping such as the SAARC, European Union, ASEAN, G-8, G-20, BRICS etc. In addition, there is also an increasing eagerness on the parts of various nations to try and understand the developmental processes pursued by their neighboring nations as it allows them to better comprehend their own strengths and weaknesses vis-a- vis their neighbor’s. In the unfolding process of globalization, this is particularly considered essential by developing countries as they face competition not only from developed nations but also amongst themselves in the relatively limited economic space enjoyed by the developing world.
- We will compare the developmental strategies pursued by India and the largest two of its neighboring economies – Pakistan and China. It has to be remembered that despite being endowed with vast natural resources, there is little similarity between the political power setup of India – the largest democracy of the world which is wedded to a secular and deeply liberal Constitution for more that half a century, and the militarist political power structure of Pakistan or the command economy of China that has only recently started moving towards a democratic system and more liberal economic restructuring respectively.
Development Path – A Snapshot View
Do you know that India, Pakistan and China have many similarities in their developmental strategies? All the three nations have started towards their development path at the same time. While India and Pakistan become independent nations in 1947, People’s Republic of China was established in 1949.
All three counties had started planning their development strategies in similar ways. While India announced its first five year plan for 1951-56, Pakistan announced its first five year plan, now called the Medium Term Development Plan, in 1956. China announced its first five year plan in 1953.
China – After the establishment of People’s Republic of China under one- party rule, all critical sectors of the economy, enterprises and lands owned and operated by individuals were brought under government control. The Great Leap Forward (GLF) campaign initiated in 1958 aimed at industialising the country on a massive scale. People were encourage to set up industries in their backyards. In rural areas, communes were started. Under the commune system, people collectively cultivated lands. In 1958, there were 26,000 all the farm population.
Pakistan – while looking at various economic policies that Pakistan adopted, you will notice many similarities with India. Pakistan also follows the mixed economy model with co-existence of public and private sectors. In the late 1950s and 1960s, Pakistan introduced a variety of regulated policy framework (for import substitution – based industrialization). The policy combined tariff protection for manufacturing of consumer goods together with direct import controls on competing imports. The introduction of Green Revolution led to mechanization and increase in public investment in infrastructure in select areas, which finally led to a rise in the production of foodgrains. This changed the agrarian structure dramatically. In the 1970s, nationalization of capital goods industries took place.
Demographic Indicators
If we look at the global population, out of every six persons living in this world, one is and Indian and another a Chinese. We shall compare some demographic indicators of India, China and Pakistan. The population of Pakistan is very small and accounts for roughly about one-tenth of China or India.
Though China is the largest nation and geographically occupies the largest area among the three nations, its density is the lowest the population growth as being the highest in Pakistan, followed by India and China. Scholars point out the one-child norm introduced in China in the late 1970s as the major reason for low population growth. They also state that this measure led to a decline in the sex ratio, the proportion of females per 1000 males. However, from the table, you will notice that the sex ratio is low and biased against females in all three countries. Scholars cite son preference prevailing in all these countries as the reason. In recent times, all three countries are adopting various measures to improve the situation. One-child norm and the resultant arrest in the growth of population also have other implications. For instance, after a few decades, in China, there will be more elderly people in proportion to young people. This led china to allow couples to have two children.
Gross Domestic Products and Sectors
One of the much-talked issues around the world about China is its growth of Gross Domestic Product. China has the second largest GDP (PPP) of $22.5 trillion in the world, whereas, India’s GDP (PPP) is $ 0.94 trillion, roughly about 11 per cent of India’s GDP. India’s GDP is about 41 percent of China’s GDP.
In the normal course of development countries first shift their employment and output from agriculture to Industry and then to servises. The proportion of workforce engaged in industry in India and Pakistan were low at 25 per cent and 24 per cent respectively. The contribution of industries to GVA is at 30 per cent in India and 19 per cent in Pakistan. In these countries, the shift is taking place directly to the service sector.
Thus, in all the three countries the service sector is emerging as a major player of development. It contributes more to GVA and, at the same time, emerges as a prospective employer. It we look at the prospective of workforce in the 1980s Pakistan was faster in shifting its workforce to service sector than India and China. In the 1980s, India, China and Pakistan employed 17, 12, and 27 per cent of its workforce in the service sector respectively. In 2019, it has reached the level of 32, 46 and 35 per cent, respectively.
China is moving ahead of India and Pakistan. This is true for many indicators – income indicator such as GDP per capita, or proportion of population below poverty line or health indicators such as mortality rates, access to sanitation, literacy, life expectancy or malnourishment. China and Pakistan are ahead of India in reducing proportion of people below the poverty line and also their performance in sanitation. But India and Pakistan have not been able to save women from maternal mortality. In china, for one lakh births, only 29 women die whereas in India and Pakistan, about 133 and 140 women die respectively. One such indicator has actually been added as a measure of ‘the extent of democratic participation in social and political decision-making’ but it has not been given any extra weight. Some obvious liberty indicators’ like measures of the extent of Constitutional protection given to rights of citizens’ or ‘the extent of constitutional protection of the Indidependce fo the Judiciary and the Rule of Law’ have not even been introduced so far.
Development Strategies – AN Appraisal
It is common to find development strategies of a country as a model to other for lessons and guidance for their own development. It is particularly evident after the introduction of the reform process in different parts of the world. In order to learn from economic performance of our neighboring countries, it is necessary to have and understanding of the roots of their successes and failures. It is also necessary to distinguish between and contrast, the different phases of their strategies. Why did China introduce structural reforms in 1978? China did not have any compulsion to introduce reform as dictated by the world Bank and International Monetary Fund to India and Pakistan.
Conclusion
What are we learning from the development experiences of our neighboures? India, China and Pakistan have travelled seven decades of development path with varied results. Till the late 1970s all of low development. The last three decades have taken these countries to different levels. India, with democratic institutions, performed moderately, but a majority of its people still depend on agriculture. India has taken many initiatives to develop the infrastructure and improve the standard of living.
