This book focuses on the economic challenges India has been facing since its independence in 1947. It traces the country’s journey of economic transition and critically analyzes themes such as the political economy of development, agriculture, macroeconomy, industry and labor, money and finance, trade liberalization, gender, welfare, energy, and the environment. The volume also addresses the issues of increasing income inequality, mass unemployment, and environmental degradation and suggests policies for efficient and desirable outcomes in socio-economic development. This is an important and timely contribution that it will be of interest to scholars and researchers in economics, development studies, political economy, management studies, public policy, and political studies. It will also be useful to policymakers.

This book focuses on the economic challenges India has been facing since its independence in 1947. It traces the country's journey of economic transition and critically analyses themes such as the political economy of development, agriculture, macroeconomy, industry and labour, money and finance, trade liberalization, gender, welfare, energy, and the environment. The volume also addresses the issues of increasing income inequality, mass unemployment and environmental degradation, and suggests policies for efficient and desirable outcomes in socio-economic development. An important and timely contribution, it will be of interest to scholars and researchers of economics, development studies, political economy, management studies, public policy and political studies. It will also be useful to policymakers.

As India enters its seventy-fifth year of independence, conventional policy is unlikely to combat the breadth of its economic challenges. Across a range of areas-human capital, technology, agriculture, finance, trade, public service delivery and more-new ideas must now be on the table. The COVID-19 pandemic has not only cost India many lives and livelihoods, it has also exposed major structural weaknesses in the economy. A huge farm and jobs crisis, rising and massive inequalities, tepid investment growth, and chronic banking sector challenges have plagued the economy, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. It has also exposed the limitations of the Indian state, which tries to control too much-and ends up stifling the economy and the inherent energies of its young population. Climate change is no longer a distant threat, while disruptive technology has huge implications for India's demographic dividend. In addition, the dangerous lurch towards majoritarianism will cast its shadow on India's pursuit of prosperity for all. Unshackling India examines the question: Can India use the next twenty-five years, when it will reach the hundredth year of independence, to restructure not only its economy but rejuvenate its democratic energy and unshackle its potential-to become a genuinely developed economy by 2047? The book argues that India can foster a prosperous and inclusive economy if it sets its mind to it, acknowledges the hard truths, and lays out the clear choices and new ideas India must adopt towards that end.

This edited volume documents through its 75 years post-independence, the developmental complexities, economic achievements and challenges unique to India, given its vast population and regional, cultural, and climatic diversities, with simple illustrations, making them accessible to readers with varying levels of expertise. Since gaining independence, the Indian economy has embarked on a distinctive journey, navigating through a series of economic policy experiments in diverse economic landscapes. This distinct trajectory has not only accelerated its pace of economic growth but also addressed a myriad of developmental issues, from poverty to well-being, with varied degrees of success over the years. The detailed analysis and anecdotal evidence are at the core to show how the country's experience and challenges are different from the linear model of development transition, and must be understood in their own context. The academic papers, both theoretical and empirical, highlight the pace and patterns of sectoral dynamics since independence, unfold the issues and factors affecting development, with a particular focus on the productivity growth of the Indian economy, and showcase debates that may help planning policy for Vision@2047, the year when India would celebrate its centenary year of independence. The book contains 23 chapters divided into ten sections, covering issues related to growth strategies, productivity growth, agricultural transition, growth heterogeneity, labour, rural non-farm sector and migration, social sectors including education and environment, and debates on industrialisation and servicification – the principle features of Indian growth and development story. Given such diverse collection of chapters and discussions in them, the book will find readers across the developmental economics sphere ranging from academics to policy makers as well as industry experts.

After 75 years of India's Independence, India is now one of the fastest-growing economies; hot FDI destinations of the World; India is the sixth-largest economy globally, with a GDP of $2.66 trillion. India is the world's largest producer of milk, pulses, and jute and ranks as the second-largest producer of rice, wheat, sugarcane, groundnut, vegetables, fruit, and cotton. It is also one of the leading producers of spices, fish, poultry, livestock, and plantation crops. (FAO 2018), It also produced 25 percent of the world's pulses, as of last decade, until 2019. (1BEF, 2021) Whereas India still has many areas of concern. Despite having food security, India has 97.7 million living below the poverty line, which is around 6 percent of the population in 2021, as per the World Poverty Clock.; India's rank is 66 out of 109 countries in United Nations Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2021: India ranked 101st out of 116 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2021. India ranked 131 out of 189 countries on the U.N. Human Development Index 2020; India ranked 139 out of 149 countries in U.N. World Happiness Index 2021. In this research article, the data of major socio-economic factors are analyzed to track the journey of India's growth in the past 75 years and has analyzed it using simple statistical tools like percentage and growth rate. The data about 75 years of India's Independence, GDP, Per capita Income Growth, Capital formation, Savings, Foreign Trade, Agriculture, Indebtedness, Industry, MSME, Infrastructure, Poverty, Inequality are analyzed, and meaningful analyses were drawn. The Challenges to the Indian economy, the way forward, and the lessons India can learn from China and South Korea are also discussed. India can surge ahead to its potential and celebrate the 100th year of India's Independence as a World Economic Superpower if India invests 6 percent of its GDP in imparting quality skill education, 4 percent of its GDP on providing quality health; increase the domestic capital formation to 40 percent, create world-class infrastructure, create more employment opportunities, eradicate Poverty and casteism, reduce inequality and corruption.

This tract provides an overview of Indian economic development in the last four decades since Independence. It traces the evolution of development strategies since the 1930s, attempts to understand their rationale, their problems and contradictions. It begins with an evaluation of economic performance under planning and goes on to review the range of arguments that seek to explain the constraints on growth. It argues against the rigidities and problems of the earlier system and stresses the need for strong corrective measures to restore the economy. While the tract is emphatic about the need for reforms, it questions the assumptions which underlie the present project of liberalization and reiterates the continued need for planning and state intervention within the framework of reforms.