Title : INFRASTRUCTURE AND PLANNING
Authors : V. B. Gadgil
Publication : 23 - 26 October 2013
Volume :
Pages : 33-34
Price : 250
Abstract : As Indians, we all have a dream, which was given to us by our Ex-President, Honorable Abdul. J Kalam, that India should be a developed country by 2020. Usually, a developed country is recognized by the quality of life, prosperity and sustainable growth. Most of these are counted in terms of monetary numbers. However, to me this is only one-sided. If one really looks at those so called “Developed Countries”, what is impressive is their robust infrastructure. The infrastructure what presently they have was not built overnight, but over a long period of time in a phased manner. These developed countries have recognized the fundamental requirement of a robust infrastructure as the tool or catalyst for a healthy all-round growth. Expenditure in infrastructure is a multiplier to growth. If we look around at the condition of infrastructure prevailing in India, it is not very encouraging. For whatever reasons, which we do not want to go in detail, we have created a huge backlog in infrastructure, which is sadly affecting our growth. I really do not know if we have understood the difference between revenue expenses and investment or not to land into the present situation. Fortunately though, things are changing slowly but surely. No one doubts the paramount importance of infrastructure development in current situation. As said earlier, we have a large infrastructure deficit which forms one of the critical constraints on our ability to achieve a dream growth rate of 9 to 10 percent, which we are otherwise capable of achieving. Unfortunately many traditional definition of infrastructure miss the point that infrastructure services are generally in the nature of a non-tradable commodity. This clearly means that the required supply has to be generated domestically. For easy understanding, we can define infrastructure as one which cannot be substituted by imports. This will clarify many of the doubts in our mind.