COMPARATIVE DEVELOPMENT EXPERIENCE OF INDIA WITH ITS NEIGHBOURS | SHORT NOTES ECONOMICS CHAPTER 10 | INDIAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT| CLASS 11

Development Path of India, Pakistan and China

1) All the three countries started their development path at the same time. India and Pakistan got independence in 1947 and people’s Republic of China was established in 1949.

2) All the three countries had started planning their development strategies in similar ways. India announced its First Five Year Plan in 1951, Pakistan announced in 1956 and China in 1953.

3) India and Pakistan adopted similar strategies, such as creating a large public sector and raising public expenditure on social development.

4) Both India and Pakistan had adopted ‘mixed economy’ model but China had adopted ‘Command Economy’ model of economic growth.

5) Till 1980s, all the three countries had similar growth rates and per capita incomes.

6) Economic Reforms were implemented in China in 1978, in Pakistan in 1988 and in India in 1991.

Development Strategies of India

1) Sound Trade System: 

India was the country which had the history of closed trade. Because of this historical background; there is a critical challenge for India in order to make a new policy which can support the new trade system. This new reform has been introduced in the economy of India and accelerates the growth of India.

2) Reduction in Poverty:

 India has adopted several poverty alleviation programmes to reduce poverty in India. This would help in increasing per capita income, rise in nutrition levels and reduction of poor in some states.

3) Rural Development: 

Under this strategy, India adopted various measures of development of areas that are lagging behind in the overall development of village economy.

4) Employment Generation:

 Several economic reforms were initiated to generate employment in the country and their aim is to provide gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities.

Development Strategies of China

1) Giant Leap Forward:

 This Campaign was started in 1958 aimed at industrializing the country on a massive scale. People were encouraged to set up massive industries in their backyards.

2) Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966-1976):

 In 1965, Mao Se Tung started a cultural revolution on a large scale. In this revolution students and professionals were sent to work and learn from the country side.

3) 1978 Reforms:

 In 1978, China began to introduce many reforms in phases. These reforms were initiated in agricultural, foreign trade and investment sector. The goal of Chinese economic reforms was to generate sufficient surplus the finance the modernisation of mainland Chinese economy.

Development Strategies of Pakistan

1) Mixed Economy: 

Pakistan follows a mixed economy system were both public and private sector co-exist.

2) Import Substitution:

 Pakistan adopted a regulatory frame work in the late 1950s and 1960s for import industrialization. The policy combined tariff protection for manufacturing of consumer goods together with direct import controls on competing imports.

3) Green Revolution: 

This was introduced to increase the productivity and self-sufficiency in food. This increased the output of food grains. This changed the agrarian system dramatically.

Economic Development Strategy after Independence

1) Both public and private sectors were allotted to carry business activities. Public sector was allotted activities like coal, mining, steel, power, roads etc. Private sector was allotted to establish industries subject to control and regulations in the form of law.

2) Public sector was given major push by the Government. Maximum revenues in this sector was invested which increased from Rs. 81.1 crore in First Five-Year Plan (1951-56) to Rs 34,206 crores in Ninth Five-Year Plan (1992-97).

3) Public sector was given importance in order to eliminate poverty, unemployment etc.

4) Public sector contributed to the industrialisation of the economy. It also helped Indian economy to achieve a considerable degree of self-sufficiency.

Comparative Study – India, Pakistan and China:

1) The population of Pakistan is very small and accounts for roughly about one-tenth of China and India.

2) Though China is the largest nation geographically among the three, its density is the Lowest.

3) Population growth is highest in Pakistan followed by India and China. One child norm which was introduced in China in the late 1970s is the major reason for low population growth. But this measure led to a decline in the sex ratio, that is the proportion of females per 1000 males.

4) The sex ratio is low and biased against females in all the three countries. There is strong son-preference prevailing in all these countries.

5) The Fertility rate is low in China and very high in Pakistan.

6) Urbanisation is high in both China and Pakistan- with India having 28 percent of its people living in Urban areas.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Sectors

1) China has the second largest GDP (PPP) of 10.1 trillion in 2013 whereas India’s GDP (PPP) 1.86 trillion and Pakistan’s GDP (PPP) 0.47 trillion respectively.

2) On this path of Development china’s average growth rate is about 9.5% while India’s and Pakistan’s average growth rate is about 5.8% and 4.1% respectively.

3) In China, in the year 2011. with 37 percent of its workforce engaged in agriculture, its contribution to GDP is 9 percent (approx). While in India and Pakistan the contribution of agricultural sector in GDP is about 19% and 21% respectively. In India about 56% are engaged in agricultural sector, while in Pakistan this figure is about 45%.

4) In china, manufacturing contributes the highest to GDP at 47 percent whereas in India and Pakistan, it is the service sector which contributes the highest (more than 50 percent of GDP).

5) Though china has followed the classical development pattern of gradual shift from agriculture to manufacturing and then to services, India and Pakistan’s shift has been directly from agriculture to service sector.

6) In the 1980s, India, China and Pakistan employed 17, 12 and 27 percent of its workforce in the service sector respectively. In 2011, It reached the level of 25, 33 and 35 percent respectively (approx.).

7) China’s growth is mainly contributed by the manufacturing sector where as in both India and Pakistan, the service sector is emerging as a major player of development.

Human Development Indicators

1) In most areas of human development, China has performed better than India and Pakistan. This is true for many indicators-per Capita GDP or proportion of population below poverty line, health indicators such as mortality rates, access to sanitation, literacy,life expectancy or malnourishment etc.

2) Pakistan is ahead of India in reducing proportion of people below the poverty line and also its performance in transferring labour force from agricultural sector to industrial sector and access to water is better than India.

3) Contrary to it, India is ahead of Pakistan is education sector and providing health services.

4) India and Pakistan are ahead of China in providing improved water sources.

Conclusion

• India performed moderately as is clear from

1) A majority of its people still depend on agriculture.

2) Infrastructure is lacking in many parts of the country.

3) It is yet to raise the level of living of more than 22% of its population that lives below the poverty line.

• Pakistan has performed poorly. The reasons for the slowdown of growth and reemergence of poverty in Pakistan’s economy are

1) Political instability.

2) Volatile performance of agriculture sector.

3) Over dependence on remittances.

4) Growing dependence on foreign loans on the one hand and increasing difficulty in paying back the loans on the other.

• China has performed comparatively the best as is clear from

1) Success in raising the level of growth along with alleviation of poverty.

2) It used the market mechanism to create additional social and economic opportunities without political commitment.

3) By retaining collective ownership of land and allowing individuals to cultivate lands, China has ensured social security in rural areas.

4) Public intervention in providing social infrastructure has brought about positive results in human development indicators in China.