India's 67th Independence Day: Taking stock of the economy

It is Independence Week, so a good time as ever for stocktaking, to be sure the nation has done well these 66 years. The economy’s total output that is gross domestic product (GDP) has gone up nearly 19 times, forex reserves have gone up 1500 times and food grain output has shot up a more modest five times. This explains the high food inflation today, but here is where progress is clearly wanting.

Also read: Modi is the message: Decoding him post Bhuj I-Day speech Sex ratio in 1951 was at 946 females to 1,000 males, in 2011, it stands at 943 females to 1,000 males. Biologically women outlive men and world over in developed economies females out number males. Literacy has improved from 18 percent in 1950 to 73 percent in FY12. However, after 66 years of independence 27 percent are illiterate, 53 percent of households do not have latrines and 49 percent of the population defecates in open spaces. Into our 67th year of independence 22 percent of rural India and nine percent of urban India don’t have drinking water.