Professional Documents
Culture Documents
UNIT
IV
III
2015-16(20/01/2015)
In todays globalised world, where geographical
boundaries are slowly becoming meaningless, it
is important for neighbouring countries in the
developing world to understand the development
strategies being pursued by their neighbours. This
is more so because they share the relatively limited
economic space in world markets. In this unit, we
will compare Indias developmental experiences
with two of its important and strategic neighbours
Pakistan and China.
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10
COMPARATIVE
DEVELOPMENT EXPERIENCES OF INDIA
AND ITS NEIGHBOURS
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Geography has made us neighbours. History has made us friends. Economics
has made us partners, and necessity has made us allies. Those whom God has
so joined together, let no man put asunder.
John F. Kennedy
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Jawaharlal Nehru had said, these new campaign initiated in 1958 aimed at
and revolutionary changes in China industrialising the country on a
and India, even though they differ in massive scale. People were encouraged
content, symbolise the new spirit of to set up industries in their backyards.
Asia and new vitality which is finding In rural areas, communes were
expression in the countries in Asia. started. Under the Commune system,
All the three countries had started people collectively cultivated lands. In
planning their development strategies 1958, there were 26,000 communes
in similar ways. While India covering almost all the farm
announced its first Five Year Plan for population.
1951-56, Pakistan announced its first GLF campaign met with many
five year plan, now called the Medium problems. A severe drought caused
Term Development Plan, in 1956. havoc in China killing about 30 million
China announced its First Five Year people. When Russia had conflicts with
Plan in 1953. In 2013, Pakistan began China, it withdrew its professionals
working on 11th Five Year Development who had earlier been sent to China to
Plan (2013-18) whereas Chinas twelfth help in the industrialisation process.
five year period is 2011-15. The In 1965, Mao introduced the Great
current planning in India is based on Proletarian Cultural Revolution
Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-17). India
(1966-76) under which students and
and Pakistan adopted similar professionals were sent to work and
strategies such as creating a large
learn from the countryside.
public sector and raising public
The present-day fast industrial
expenditure on social development.
Till the 1980s, all the three countries growth in China can be traced back to
the reforms introduced in 1978. China
had similar growth rates and per capita
incomes. Where do they stand today introduced reforms in phases. In the
in comparison to one another? Before initial phase, reforms were initiated in
we answer this question let us trace agriculture, foreign trade and
the historical path of developmental investment sectors. In agriculture, for
policies in China and Pakistan. After instance, commune lands were divided
studying the last three units, we into small plots which were allocated
already know what policies India has (for use not ownership) to individual
been adopting since its independence. households. They were allowed to keep
all income from the land after paying
China: After the establishment of stipulated taxes. In the later phase,
Peoples Republic of China under one- reforms were initiated in the industrial
party rule, all the critical sectors of the sector. Private sector firms, in general,
economy, enterprises and lands owned and township and village enterprises,
and operated by individuals were i.e. those enterprises which were owned
brought under government control. and operated by local collectives, in
The Great Leap Forward (GLF) particular, were allowed to produce
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Fig. 10.1 Wagah Border is not only a tourist place but also used for
trade between India and Pakistan
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continuously increasing outflow of highest in Pakistan, followed by India
emigrants to the Middle-east. This and China. Scholars point out the one-
helped the country in stimulating child norm introduced in China in the
economic growth. The then government late 1970s as the major reason for low
also offered incentives to the private population growth. They also state that
sector. All this created a conducive this measure led to a decline in the sex
climate for new investments. In 1988, ratio, the proportion of females per
reforms were initiated in the country. 1000 males. However, from the table,
Having studied a brief outline of you will notice that the sex ratio is low
the developmental strategies of China and biased against females in all the
and Pakistan, let us now compare three countries. Scholars cite son-
some of the developmental indicators preference prevailing in all these
of India, China and Pakistan. countries as the reason. In recent times,
all the three countries are adopting
10.3 DEMOGRAPHIC INDICATORS various measures to improve the
If we look at the global population, out situation. One-child norm and the
of every six persons living in this resultant arrest in the growth of
world, one is an Indian and another population also have other
Chinese. We shall compare some implications. For instance, after a few
demographic indicators of India, decades, in China, there will be more
China and Pakistan. The population elderly people in proportion to young
of Pakistan is very small and accounts people. This will force China to take
for roughly about one-tenth of China steps to provide social security
or India. measures with fewer workers.
Though China is the largest nation The fertility rate is also low in
and geographically occupies the largest China and very high in Pakistan.
area among the three nations, its Urbanisation is high in both Pakistan
density is the lowest. Table 10.1 also and China with India having 32 per
shows the population growth as being cent of its people living in urban areas.
TABLE 10.1
Select Demographic Indicators, 2013
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10.4 G ROSS DOMESTIC (Not to scale)
P RODUCT AND
S ECTORS
One of the much-talked
issues around the world
about China is its growth
of Gross Domestic
Product. China has the
second largest GDP (PPP)
of $15.6 trillion whereas
Indias GDP (PPP) is
$6.6 trillion and
Pakistans GDP is $ 0.83
trillion, roughly about
13 per cent of Indias
GDP.
When many
developed countries Fig. 10.2 Land use and agriculture in India, China and Pakistan
were finding it difficult to
maintain a growth rate of even 5 per TABLE 10.2
cent, China was able to maintain near Annual Growth of Gross Domestic
double-digit growth for more than two Product (%), 1980-2013
decades as can be seen from Table Country 1980-90 2005-2013
10.2. Also notice that in the 1980s India 5.7 7.6
Pakistan was ahead of India; China China 10.3 10.2
was having double-digit growth and Pakistan 6.3 4.4
India was at the bottom. In 2005-13, Source: Key Indicators for Asia and Pacific 2011,
there is a marginal decline in India and Asian Development Bank, Phillipines.
Does India follow any population stabilisation measures? If so, collect the
details and discuss in the classroom. You may refer to the latest Economic
Survey, annual reports or websites of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
(http://mohfw.nic.in).
Scholars find son-preference as a common phenomenon in many developing
countries including India, China and Pakistan. Do you find this phenomenon
in your family or neighbourhood? Why do people practice discrimination between
male and female children? What do you think about it? Discuss in the
classroom.
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due to topographic and
(Not to scale)
climatic conditions,
the area suitable for
cultivation is relatively
small only about 10
per cent of its total land
area. The total cultivable
area in China accounts
for 40 per cent of the
cultivable area in India.
Until the 1980s, more
than 80 per cent of the
people in China were
dependent on farming
as their sole source
of livelihood. Since
then, the government
encouraged people
to leave their fields
and pursue other
activities such as
handicrafts, commerce
and transport. In 2013,
with 30 per cent of
Fig. 10.3 Industry in India, China and Pakistan. its workforce engaged
in agriculture, its
Chinas growth rates whereas Pakistan contribution to GDP in China is 10 per
met with drastic decline at 4.4 per cent. cent (see Table 10.3).
Some scholars hold the reform In both India and Pakistan, the
processes introduced in 1988 in contribution of agriculture to GDP were
Pakistan and political instability as at 18 and 25 per cent, respectively, but
reasons behind this trend. We will the proportion of workforce that works
study in a later section which sector in this sector is more in India. In
contributed to this trend in these Pakistan, about 44 per cent of people
countries. work in agriculture whereas in India it
First, look at how people engaged in is 47 per cent. The sectoral share of
different sectors contribute to Gross output and employment also shows
Domestic Product. It was pointed out in that in all the three economies, the
the previous section that China and industry and service sectors have less
Pakistan have more proportion of proportion of workforce but contribute
urban people than India. In China, more in terms of output. In China,
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TABLE 10.3
Sectoral Share of Employment and GDP (%) in 2013
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TABLE 10.4
Trends in Output Growth in Different Sectors, 1980-2013
TABLE 10.5
Some Selected Indicators of Human Development, 2012-13
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Table 10.5 shows that China is decision-making but it has not been
moving ahead of India and Pakistan. given any extra weight. Some obvious
This is true for many indicators liberty indicators like measures of the
income indicator such as GDP per extent of Constitutional protection
capita, or proportion of population given to rights of citizens or the extent
below poverty line or health of constitutional protection of
indicators such as mortality rates, the Independence of the Judiciary and
access to sanitation, literacy, life the Rule of Law have not even
expectancy or malnourishment. been introduced so far. Without
Pakistan is ahead of India in including these (and perhaps some
reducing proportion of people below more) and giving them overriding
the poverty line and also its importance in the list, the construction
performance in education, sanitation of a human development index may
and access to water is better than
be said to be incomplete and its
I ndia. But neither of these two
usefulness limited.
countries have been able to save
women from maternal mortality. In
10.6 DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES AN
China, for one lakh births, only 32
APPRAISAL
women die whereas in India and
Pakistan, about 190 and 170 women It is common to find developmental
die respectively. Surprisingly all the strategies of a country as a model to
three countries report providing others for lessons and guidance for
improved drinking water sources for their own development. It is particularly
most of its population. You will notice evident after the introduction of the
that for the proportion of people below reform process in different parts of the
the international poverty rate of $ 2 a world. In order to learn from economic
day, India has the largest share of poor performance of our neighbouring
among the three countries. Find out countries, it is necessary to have an
for yourself how these differences occur. understanding of the roots of their
In dealing with or making successes and failures. It is also
judgements on such questions, necessary to distinguish between, and
however, we should also note a problem
contrast, the different phases of their
while using the human development
strategies. Though countries go
indicators given above with conviction.
through their development phases
This occurs because these are all
differently, let us take the initiation of
extremely important indicators; but
reforms as a point of reference. We
these are not sufficient. Along with
these, we also need what may be called know that reforms were initiated in
liberty indicators. One such indicator China in 1978, Pakistan in 1988 and
has actually been added as a measure India in 1991. Let us briefly assess their
of the extent of democratic achievements and failures in pre- and
participation in social and political post-reform periods.
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Why did China introduce in agriculture, as pointed out earlier
structural reforms in 1978? China did by handing over plots of land to
not have any compulsion to introduce individuals for cultivation, it brought
reforms as dictated by the World Bank prosperity to a vast number of poor
and International Monetary Fund to people. It created conditions for the
India and Pakistan. The new subsequent phenomenal growth in
leadership at that time in China was rural industries and built up a strong
not happy with the slow pace of growth support base for more reforms.
and lack of modernisation in the Scholars quote many such examples
Chinese economy under the Maoist on how reform measures led to rapid
rule. They felt that Maoist vision of growth in China.
economic development based on Scholars argue that in Pakistan
decentralisation, self sufficiency and the reform process led to worsening of
shunning of foreign technology, goods all the economic indicators. We have
and capital had failed. Despite seen in an earlier section that
extensive land reforms, collectivisation, compared to 1980s, the growth rate
the Great Leap Forward and other of GDP and its sectoral constituents
initiatives, the per capita grain output have fallen in the 1990s.
in 1978 was the same as it was in the Though the data on international
mid-1950s. poverty line for Pakistan is quite
It was found that establishment of healthy, scholars using the official
infrastructure in the areas of data of Pakistan indicate rising
education and health, land reforms, poverty there. The proportion of poor
long existence of decentralised in 1960s was more than 40 per cent
planning and existence of small which declined to 25 per cent in 1980s
enterprises had helped positively in and started rising again in 1990s. The
improving the social and income reasons for the slow-down of growth
indicators in the post reform period. and re-emergence of poverty in
Before the introduction of reforms, Pakistans economy, as scholars put
there had already been massive it, are agricultural growth and food
extension of basic health services in supply situation were based not on
rural areas. Through the commune an institutionalised process of
system, there was more equitable technical change but on good harvest.
distribution of food grains. Experts When there was a good harvest, the
also point out that each reform economy was in good condition, when
measure was first implemented at a it was not, the economic indicators
smaller level and then extended on a showed stagnation or negative trends.
massive scale. The experimentation You will recall that India had to borrow
under decentralised government from the IMF and World Bank to
enabled to assess the economic, social set right its balance of payments
and political costs of success or failure. crisis; foreign exchange is an essential
For instance, when reforms were made component for any country and it is
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Work These Out
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important to know how it can be earned. development. The last three decades
If a country is able to build up its foreign have taken these countries to different
exchange earnings by sustainable export levels. India, with democratic
of manufactured goods, it need not institutions, performed moderately, but
worry. In Pakistan most foreign exchange a majority of its people still depend on
earnings came from remittances from agriculture. Infrastructure is lacking in
Pakistani workers in the Middle-east and many parts of the country. It is yet to
the exports of highly volatile agricultural raise the level of living of more than one-
products; there was also growing fourth of its population that lives below
dependence on foreign loans on the one the poverty line. Scholars are of the
hand and increasing difficulty in paying opinion that political instability, over-
back the loans on the other. dependence on remittances and foreign
As reported in the Pakistan Annual aid along with volatile performance of
Plan for the year 2011-12, various agriculture sector are the reasons for the
factors contribute to slow growth of the slowdown of the Pakistan economy. Yet,
Pakistan economy. To quote, the in the recent past, it is hoping to improve
economy is under stress as the floods, the situation by maintaining high rates
delays in implementation of economic of GDP growth. It was also a great
reforms; dilapidated security situation challenge for Pakistan to recover from
and low foreign direct investment inflows the devastating earthquake in 2005,
are hampering growth in all major which took the lives of nearly 75,000
sectors. Massive floods took a heavy toll people and also resulted in enormous
on agriculture and infrastructure while loss to property. In China, the lack of
energy crisis coupled with steep decline political freedom and its implications for
in foreign direct investment is soaking up human rights are major concerns; yet,
business activity during 2010-11. in the last three decades, it used the
Pakistan's economy is provisionally market system without losing political
expected to grow by 2.4 per cent during commitment and succeeded in raising
2010-11 over previous year against the the level of growth alongwith alleviation
target of 4.5 per cent. Besides facing high of poverty. You will also notice that
rates of inflation and rapid privatisation, unlike India and Pakistan, which are
the government is increasing the attempting to privatise their public
expenditure on various areas that can sector enterprises, China has used the
reduce poverty. market mechanism to create additional
social and economic opportunities. By
10.7 CONCLUSION retaining collective ownership of land and
What are we learning from the allowing individuals to cultivate lands,
developmental experiences of our China has ensured social security in
neighbours? India, China and Pakistan rural areas. Public intervention in
have travelled more than five decades providing social infrastructure even prior
of developmental path with varied to reforms has brought about positive
results. Till the late 1970s, all of them results in human development indicators
were maintaining the same level of low in China.
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Recap
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EXERCISES
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14. Give reasons for the slow growth and re-emergence of poverty in
Pakistan.
15. Compare and contrast the development of India, China and Pakistan
with respect to some salient human development indicators.
16. Comment on the growth rate trends witnessed in China and India
in the last two decades.
17. Fill in the blanks
(a) First Five Year Plan of ________________ commenced in the
year 1956. (Pakistan/China)
(b) Maternal mortality rate is high in _____________. (China/
Pakistan)
(c) Proportion of people below poverty line is more in __________.
(India/Pakistan)
(d) Reforms in ______________ were introduced in 1978. (China/
Pakistan)
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REFERENCES
Books
D REZE, JEAN AND AMARTYA SEN. 1996. India: Economic Development and Social
Opportunity. Oxford University Press, Delhi.
Articles
Government Reports
Webs ites
www.stats.gov.cn
www.statpak.gov.pk
www.un.org
www.ilo.org
www.planningcommission.nic.in
www.dgft.delhi.nic.in
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