Integrity Score 270
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Prologue continues.....
The reason why economic and social development in India was slow should be sought not in any inherent weakness of democracy but in our inability
to creatively use the potential of the system. We became a democracy
electorally, but could not fully use its potential. Planned development of
the economy was necessary for a country that suffered from scarcity of resources. But due to a variety of reasons, India could not ensure equitable development. Ideological confusion was a major cause of this state of affairs.
The ‘public sector vs private sector’ controversy had clouded the minds of
policy planners. With the abysmally bad performance of most of the public
sector industries, this dilemma became sharper; no bold and creative
thinking was visible anywhere. The imperatives of mixed economy and
the public sector occupying the commanding heights of the economy as
well as discharging social obligations led to a drift. Perhaps the level of
commitment expected of political leaders and bureaucrats for the establishment of a ‘socialistic pattern of society’ was absent.
The world was moving fast. The failure of the Soviet experiment and the final collapse of the Soviet system created a qualitatively different situation in the world.
It created a certain impact on the middle class in India. By the early 1980s,
the debate in intellectual circles had moved away from socialism and
‘socialistic pattern of society’.
To be continued...