Modi’s 3 Ds

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his chat during his recent visit to USA had referred to three Ds: Democracy, Demographic Dividend and Demand as India’s mascot in the future. A careful scanning of this abbreviation seems to suggest that it is a carefully crafted long term vision taking a realistic picture of present India’s opportunities and challenges into consideration and thereby it makes immense sense from the point of view of overall development of the country. These three Ds signifies three different formidable issues in the contemporary India which are symbiotic in nature and each bolstering the other as described below.

First D of democracy signifies the relevance of true democracy with people in the driver’s seat and thereby providing country a long-term roadmap to solve its basic issues. Basically, the biggest challenge India faces today is the absence of charismatic leadership with a long term mission and vision to take the country forward through troubled waters. It is as clear as day light that even simple homogenous system cannot be expected to reach its logical conclusion without proper planning, let alone India’s wholly complex system. It is here we have to subject the way Indian democracy and politics is moving ahead to a careful scrutiny. Indian democracy even after sixty years of independence is still highly fluid in the sense that i) drivers of Indian politics are yet to come to terms with the necessity of designing a long-term vision taking India’s potential as well as challenges into consideration, ii) also yet to comprehend the necessity of ensuring continuity in the governance of, at least, fundamental issues. No system can thrive until it operates within a framework designed with emphasis on the ‘long-term planning and continuity of planning’. Unfortunately, given the short temporal dimension of electoral democracy coupled with all socio-economic evils of a third world country, Indian democracy is in a sense constrained to plan only for five years and thereby we failed miserably in the past on focusing ‘planning with continuity’.

Therefore, India requires a democracy giving emphasis to ‘continuous planning’ combined with a political culture of bringing such an emphasis into practice through ‘shared democracy’ rather than ‘personal democracy’ as seen today. In other words, there must have an implicit unanimity across political spectrum on the priorities to be carried forward or achieved irrespective of who is in power or out of power. That is, planning, execution and governance must be independent of electoral politics so that continuity can be assured. If so, successive governments can ensure that concerned stakeholders involved in the promotion of the cause of the country like private investors are not betrayed with change in guard which is essential in the efficient utilization of resources. Instead, in an individual(s) centric political environment, country will miss above  factors in the pursuit of development as those individuals who wield power today need not be in power tomorrow and so their policies as well. For, given differing perspectives of different individuals, policy decisions will be varying according to preference of individuals in power and thereby lacking a clear direction in the governance. Therefore, true democracy lies in decentralization of power at different levels and governing the country by taking all on board.

True democracy with long term planning is imperative to make use of the second D- demographic dividend- to the maximum possible extent by providing quality education and thereby enhancing skill and employability of the youth. Nowadays we can see everybody boasting of a young India as more than 60 percent of Indians is below the age of 25 years. Of course, it is a matter to be celebrated in this knowledge era. However, the real issue is how we are going to deal with this sort of historic human treasure or do we have required arms and ammunitions in our armory to make use of this historical opportunity. For, if we did not strike at the opportune time now, we will miss it and let us not forget the long term implications of missing this kind of historic opportunity. It is not simply a matter of missing the opportunity before us. Rather, it is more about how we will deal with this young population in the future when they grow old without getting adequate life saving training. That is, a young India not truly trained and educated will be a socio-economic burden to the society in the future. Therefore, today’s young India should be directed to surge ahead along a path which is so identified to equip them to meet elevated expectations that country has bestowed upon them in the process of making India strong.   This can only be achieved if we ensure that our educational system is reformed and refined to provide quality education to the young India.

In this knowledge era the full potential of young India can only be achieved if we train them through education. Nobody would contest the view that present educational system as a whole is devoid of a proper direction other than simply reducing them to certificate and degree producing centers. This has to be transformed into a system where students are trained through education in the respective fields of their choice and thereby make them skilled employable folks. Several initiatives must be undertaken to refine current educational system in India. First and foremost, we must shun our belittling attitude to basic school education in the form of, for instance, meager compensation to school teachers especially at the primary or secondary level, less financial support to build infrastructure etc. It is worth reminding us here that developed countries like Japan or South Korea gives utmost importance through all means to the school education. How can we develop strong higher education on a feeble basement laid at the school level? Therefore, we must give due consideration to develop a quality school education system by way of attracting best talented experts with highest qualification  to equip our kids and thereby help them to lay down a strong foundation in the basic education. Once so trained children moves up in the ladder of education, their performance will be highly efficient, concrete and result-oriented. Thus, fine-tuning of basic school education will automatically pave way to the greater refinement of higher education provided that other required physical facilities are also guaranteed. This kind of a holistic change in the education system today depend upon the determination of Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to lead the country in this revolutionary movement.   

Having said all these, we should not misconceive that demographic dividend can be reaped simply with education and training. Instead, policy makers must ensure that so trained and educated young is not left in the lurch without employment opportunities. It is here the third D enters the scene signifying not only the demand for goods and services but also demand for trained young talents. Hence to accomplish third D, government should spur the quantum of investment in areas such as basic physical infrastructure, modernization and expansion of primary, secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy. This kind of a focused systemic approach to increase investment will, on the one hand, expand production and distribution of goods and services in the economy and on the other hand, guarantee direct and indirect job opportunities for its citizens including trained educated young Indians. Going by British Economist John Maynard Keynes’ economic rationale, Increase in employment opportunities and subsequent increase in the purchasing power of the people will help spur the aggregate demand and push economy forward. And expansion of production of goods and services will help arrest sky-rocketing of prices as the impact of rising demand for goods and services on price level can be nullified with corresponding increase in the supply of such goods and services enabling government to check shooting up price level in the economy and therefore, the real value of the income earned will be higher which will indirectly help to boost demand.  Here Modi brand of ‘make in India’ and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) initiatives will be of immense use to increase job opportunities and thereby tackle the menace of unemployment in general and among educated in particular, provided that such initiatives did not remain to be paper-tigers. Thus, it is obvious to figure out an explicit link between second D (Demographic Dividend) and third D (Demand) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. That is, to make use of full potential of today’s young India and thereby avoid a heavy burden of  old India in the future, they should be trained and educated to help them to improve their skills, talents and employability in this knowledge era so that they can contribute their bit in the process of nation building on the one hand and on the other hand, government must also prepare the ground creating new large number of job opportunities so that unemployed people can be absorbed swiftly in the economy. The reinforcement between quality education and subsequent increase in the purchasing power of people will undoubtedly increase quantum of demand for goods and services including the demand for educated folks.

To sum up, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s brainchild of 3Ds is certainly coined at the right time now keeping in view both opportunities and challenges faced by modern India. Undoubtedly, since there exists a symbiotic relationship between these three Ds as outlined above,  if necessary policy prescriptions are put into practice as outlined above in a coordinated manner along with political determination and tenacity, a great deal of India’s burning issues can be effectively tackled and therefore, I do personally believe that union government must roll out a comprehensive agenda soon to deliver on these three pillars of present India and swiftly plunge into business on a war footing.