Twenty-five years of independence

Is social justice compatible with growth? Should the poor wait till the challenge of growth is adequately met? Economic growth for whom? These are the issues which are likely to dominate the next 25 years of independent India. If the first 25 years of freedom witnessed a debate about the size of the national cake versus social justice, the next 25 years are likely to witness a rising demand for sharing the scarcity. If the size of the national cake cannot be enlarged, if the problem of poverty cannot be tackled immediately and if scarcity is going to be with us for some time, then let us all share it. If in the name of growth the standard of living of Western societies is introduced for the upper strata of Indian society, it would be irresistibly asserted that we would rather remain in the 19th century than permit a microscopic minority of the country to create an island of Western culture in the midst of an endless Sahara of medieval poverty.