India got Independence from British Rule in 1947, but still India is lagging behind in basic things some of which in brief are as follows:

1. Illiteracy is too high a percentage when compared to the population and population growth. India continues to be a home to 313 million illiterate people, 59 percent of them are women. India is the second-most populous country, with a population of 1. 36 billion  (2019) with an annual population growth rate of about 1% (2019).

Basic education still needs to spread to the villages and nook and corner of India. According to the report of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), 32 million Indian children of age up to 13 years have never attended any school (2019). While quantitatively India is inching closer to universal education, the quality of its education has been questioned particularly in its government run school system. While more than 95 percent of children attend primary school, just 40 percent of Indian adolescents attend secondary school (Grades 9-12). Some of the reasons for the poor quality include absence of around 25% of teachers every day.

Although there are private schools in India, they are highly regulated in terms of what they can teach, in what form they can operate and all the other aspects of operations. Hence, the differentiation of government schools and private schools can be misleading.

School infrastructure is in a poor state and many schoolteachers are not properly qualified, with 31% of them not having a degree. 40% of schools are without electricity. There are schools where at the time of exams the invigilators ignore the students, giving them full freedom to cheat, and at times the teachers themselves abet the act of cheating. Also, there are instances where the children are asked to sweep the floors, serve meals to the teachers, and children as young as six are beaten with rulers. Consequently, the state of learning is extremely poor. This is highlighted by the Annual Survey of Education Report (ASER), which found that a substantial number of government schools have 14-year-old students six years behind what would be expected of them on average. These circumstances create a predicament for economically deprived groups, who cannot afford a private school to educate their child.

The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) and several other studies reveal that more than 50 percent of class 5 students cannot even read basic text or solve a basic arithmetic problem. Besides, a significant number of government schools have a shortage of quality infrastructure, including fans in classrooms and separate toilets for girls and boys.

These failures of the Indian education system push people into working poorly remunerated and unsecure jobs, where they are exploited and trapped in a state of deprivation. A vicious cycle is created across generations. Education is important because it allows people to live fulfilled and dignified lives. States have an obligation to provide education to their citizens, and unfortunately, in India, that obligation is not being fulfilled.

2. Still 168. 64 million population lives below poverty line. Internationally, an income of less than ₹150 per day per head of purchasing power parity is defined as extreme poverty. By this estimate, about 12.4% of Indians are extremely poor. Income-based poverty lines consider the bare minimum income to provide basic food requirements; it does not account for other essentials such as health care and education.

3. Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for about 58% of India’s population. Gross Value Added (GVA) by agriculture, forestry and fishing was estimated at Rs. 19.48 lakh crore (US$ 276.37 billion) in FY20 (PE). Although India has attained self-sufficiency in food staples, the productivity of its farms is below that of Brazil, the United States, France, and other nations. Indian wheat farms, for example, produce about a third of the wheat per hectare per year compared to farms in France. Rice productivity in India was less than half that of China. Other staples productivity in India is similarly low. Indian total factor productivity growth remains below 2% per annum; in contrast, China’s total factor productivity growths is about 6% per annum, even though China also has smallholding farmers. Several studies suggest India could eradicate its hunger and malnutrition and be a major source of food for the world by achieving productivity comparable with other countries.

Agriculture and allied sectors like animal husbandry, forestry and fisheries accounted for 15.4% of the GDP (gross domestic product)  of India with about 41.49% of the workforce in 2020. India ranks first in the world with highest net cropped area followed by US and China. The economic contribution of agriculture to India’s GDP is steadily declining with the country’s broad-based economic growth. Still, agriculture is demographically the broadest economic sector and plays a significant role in the overall socio-economic fabric of India. This sector needs vast reforms for the betterment of 58% of India’s population.

4. Manufacturing Strength of India still needs to emerge in terms of world class capacities. The share of manufacturing in GDP is a basic indicator of the significance of the sector in India’s economy.

In the recent period, manufacturing holds a share of 14% in India’s GDP. For advanced and developed nations like Germany, the US, South Korea and Japan, the comparable figures are 19%, 11%, 25% and 21%, respectively. For emerging and developing countries like China, Turkey, Indonesia, Russia, Brazil, the corresponding figures are 27%, 19%, 20%, 13%, 9%, respectively, and for low-income countries the share is 8%. Indian policy planners had earlier set a target of raising the share of manufacturing to 25% by 2022, but it could remain well-nigh difficult to achieve.

Looking back, it was not a healthy journey for Indian manufacturers consisting of a large group of MSMEs. The thrust on product development by initiating new technologies, new processes for a large group of manufacturers, instead, paved the way for the simple task of assembling the products from the key components imported from abroad. Technology transfer suffered as well as the initiatives required to pursue the multinationals to set up manufacturing bases in India. It is a fact that the appropriate policy incentives for technology transfer and setting up of new facilities were not available as exemplified by difficulties of doing business in India.

It must, however, be appreciated that replacement of imports by indigenising domestic manufacturing of the items requires a definite time-bound policy with necessary nurturing by the government in the initial phases.

5. Poor Roads, Shortage of Electricity, Scanty Potable Water are the major issues faced by the nation and its population.

Since 2000, there have been 81,49,079 accidents, 24,24,251 deaths and 88,60,070 injuries, making India’s roads one of the most dangerous in the world. Unfortunately, a majority of the accidents and even deaths are caused by situations that are avoidable. World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Global Report on Road Safety says the country accounts for almost 11% of such deaths across the globe.

When it comes to design, engineering norms are often circumvented, leading to faulty roads that are accident-prone, especially in rural areas, which accounted for 59.5% of the accidents last year. Faulty roads, which are built defying the norms set by the Indian Road Congress, curves on roads and potholes,  not just that, when the roads do not have a proper width, the ratio between the width and slope is compromised, leading to accidents. Removing potholes does not happen most of the time.

India’s “power deficit”–the difference between the demand and supply of electricity–is not zero. India’s electricity deficit in the financial year ending March 2019 was 0.6%, and the “peak power deficit”–shortfall from the maximum electricity demand in a year–was 0.8%. Power deficit is primarily due to the reluctance of debt-laden states’ DISCOMS in buying more power.

Nearly 76 million people in India do not have access to safe drinking water, as polluted rivers and poor storage infrastructure over the years has created a water deficit which may become unmanageable in the future.

Half of India’s population—some 600 million people—ekes by on scarce or polluted supplies of water. As many as 200,000 Indians die annually from the effects of water contamination. And it has been projected that more than 20 major cities—Delhi, Bangalore, and Hyderabad among them—will zero out their groundwater stores in the coming years.

6. Basic human necessities in terms of food and shelter are still issues to be resolved.

Data from the latest edition of the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI, 2020) report show that India retains the dubious distinction of being the country with the largest population of food insecure people. Estimates presented in the report which was released by several United Nations organisations show that the prevalence of food insecurity increased by 3.8 percentage points in India between 2014 and 2019. By 2019, 6.2 crore more people were living with food insecurity than the number in 2014.

These estimates show that while 27.8% of India’s population suffered from moderate or severe food insecurity in 2014-16, the proportion rose to 31.6% in 2017-19. The number of food insecure people grew from 42.65 crore in 2014-16 to 48.86 crore in 2017-19. India accounted for 22% of the global burden of food insecurity, the highest for any country, in 2017-19. It is also noteworthy that while the Prevalence of Moderate and Severe Food Insecurity (PMSFI) increased in India by 3.7 percentage points during this period, it fell by 0.5 percentage points in the rest of South Asia.

There are an estimated 1.8 million homeless people in India, with 52% based in urban areas. A further 73 million families lack access to decent housing (IGH, 2018; Habitat, 2019). In 2017, government authorities demolished 53,700 homes, evicting 260,000 people for reasons such as slum-free ‘city beautification’ projects, despite the government’s ‘Housing for All-2022’ scheme (HLRN, 2018). Nearly 2.9 million people were displaced through natural disasters and violence in 2018 (Internal Displacement, 2019).

7. Further, Growing urban migrants and lack of planning of the city’s leading to forceful illegal occupation by the migrants for livelihood which is becoming a major social issue.

Multi layered governance through various bodies leading to excessive politicization rather than meeting the requirements of the population.

Parallel political administration to executive in nook and corner of the country increasing the burden of overall costs.

Multi-Party System though an inherent feature of democracy, but these multi political parties for their survival are concentrating on politicization of the issues at the cost of real development.

A citizen in India is not aware what developmental activities are going to take place in his village, town, or city as there is no involvement of citizens in the developmental activities by the respective Government Bodies.

Planning and Vision Statement i.e., to say Micro Level Planning with a Vision for future right from implementing basic infrastructure is absent, which is why, who plans for what? What development one can expect as a Citizen? Where are these developmental activities going to take shape? are purely left to the hands of Politicians who runs the Governments with the help of Bureaucrats.

Development has fallen prey to the whimsical musings of the few individuals, who think in terms of their constituency at the maximum for any developmental activities.  Added to this the excessive division in terms of region, religion, language, caste, creed, community are finding upper hand in every sphere of today’s life.