Shiban Khaibri
Our economy has inbuilt mechanism and the versatility to absorb shocks and emerge vibrant unlike most of other economies, even the developed ones. While the basic parameters are the same, for example, the GDP , Employment, Education, Health, Quality of life, Economic equality etc between all economies of the world, the question arises as to how is this country with a population of just 36 crore in 1950 coping up with satisfactory growth rate when we have around 125 crore of people, as on date, to take care of. Do we calculate our economic growth with the yard stick of the Western model? What should be the happiness index in relation to economy in our country and what is it like with the Western countries? Is Indian Economic model Women centric and to what extent ? Is our economic grammar different from the Western “developed” world ? Have we realized the tremendous contribution made by Indian women towards sustaining our economy and making it withstand the pulls and pressures of the world economies slowing down at times and suffering from dormancies and acute financial crises? What influence does the intangible “spiritualism” or an austere way of Indian life have on the tangible side of the materialistic side of computing economic prosperity? Let it be analyzed this time, without taking refuge under the usual set economic theories of development with emphasis on non set theories, in purely Indian scenario.
It is an agreed view that India was an economic power till 1700 AD and earlier, when GDP is said to have been the highest, ranging between 21% to 24% and our trade , rather our exports used to be to the tune of 35% of our total produce both in agriculture and other economic activities. The economy , more or less, used to be less individualistic and more of family centric. In which category, for example, can we place a housewife and her contribution towards generating economic activities right from her home starting from early hours till late in the night and in between attending to farming activities including dairy and other activities like horticulture, floriculture and maintaining one full family. If these activities right from heavy domestic chorus to farming, weaving, manufacturing, cottage and village level activities do not contribute to the building up of economy then what else could be said about it? Female labour force participation at a phenomenal level and in varied forms contribute to building up of the economy in a massive way. Let us look at the concept of investments apart from the usual one in our minds and in modern parlance. Have we discovered the quantum of women centric economy in as much as the level of their investment in Human Capital , for example their role in bringing up and teaching their children or getting them imparted trainings in various skills. That is the human capital which is used for generating incomes and production in agriculture and industry.
That our economy is fast growing post independence despite such a huge population explosion is for the world to know that the success is far from new. India used to be called as the golden sparrow and even now, domestic holdings of gold are the highest in the world and the yellow metal is still accepted in all world markets as assets and medium of exchange. That provides to our economy an element of tangible sustainability. If we recollect post Chinese aggression 1962 scenario , huge wealth in the form of yellow gold from domestic household sources contributed in an acute burst of patriotism towards facing the challenge to our hard earned independence and sovereignty and we could hurriedly purchase necessary equipment including weaponry to meet the challenges with that gold to a larger extent. The traditional investment in small and even petty investments in gold in the form of ornaments promoted by the Indian women is unparalleled in the world and that provides a cushion even if on temporary basis in times of economic hardships to families and the societies at large and strengthens our economy. We emerged as one of the world’s best performing economies for more than a quarter century if we look at the figures right from 1980 and if not from earlier years prior to eighties. Our middle class has quadrupled with on an average 1% of the people crossing the poverty line every year. Our per capita income has trebled since 1980 which stands at Rs.187500 in terms of purchasing power parity. We are the World’s fourth largest economy and within a few years, might be the third – largest. The women contribution to building the economy cannot be underestimated and Economists must explore means to build up the data base in this regard. Our domestic markets are fast developing and with a shift in our approach of exporting items produced from labour intensive units , we are now expanding more in services and more in industries with latest technologies , we stress on more consumption domestically to generate demand for more production and ancillary activities promoted by women groups are supplementing the market demand.
While maximization of utility has been the Western economic trend, the maximization of contentment with quite little, has been the Indian individual and family approach. In this, the Indian women have been playing a greater part in individual families. That perhaps speaks for our economy having been affected quite less moderately by international economies plunging into growth crisis and occasional slowdowns. We remember when we were fighting the treacherous enemy in 1965, we had one more enemy in the form of food shortage to confront and the exhortation to the nation by that strong Prime Minister Lal Bhadur Shastri to “Miss a meal” in a week, did wonders chiefly because the women took the initiative and most of the households did not cook evening meals and to a larger extent, the problem was resolved.
The other part of the matter is about domestic investments at the national level. We know that western economies like the American system is stock market centric as nearly 55% of the population invest in stocks as against just 2.5% population of India which is investing in stocks. Likewise, the Japanese model too is different and has similarities in this respect because just 9% of the population is investing in stocks. Volatility in stocks and a slight crashing of the market sends great shivers to the economic system. Take our country’s case, Indians save in whatever mode, whether through Banking channels or otherwise, which are not subjected to the stock market like fluctuations and in that, Indian women play a great part. Out of our average national savings of 32%, family savings with women initiative are to the tune of 75%. These savings at the micro level contribute to a larger extent in the sustainability of our economy as these could be spent more for the social good and provide as a cushion towards maintenance of that strength.
Last year, we witnessed an unprecedented economic collapse in Greece which the people there had never expected nor experienced. The pessimism is still looming large there with more than 30% rise in unemployment and incomes crashing to over net 25%. The economic analysts predict that hardest is yet to come. On the other hand, despite droughts, floods and other difficulties, which this country has been witnessing, the telling effects on our economy has not been to the extent we could not bear , at least not as much as witnessed in Greece.
Why the contribution of Indian women towards achieving tremendous progress has not been highlighted so far, finds its reason of the prevalence of gender bias existing at every social stratum, even in the most educated and developed pockets of our society. Their contribution to the economy from the rural areas by direct engagement in direct and allied agricultural activities is notable. They , mostly in rural and semi urban areas run small retail shops, selling by- products , marketing milk and allied dairy items, all contribute in generating additional incomes for the family , a portion of which goes into savings. A study shows that more than 40% of the rural women directly or indirectly contribute in uplifting of their families and thus bring about much desired social change. Even in Urban and Metropolitan areas, their active participation as a labour force is responsible to a larger extent in creating national assets. Not only that, their contribution in building roads, canals, bridges, water bodies in addition to their engagement in various domestic and community services cannot be sidelined. After achieving independence, the critical role played by women in India to work together and forge unity within the families , frustrate fragmentation of land holdings and with the passage of time, their role in Panchayats in taking vital developmental decisions have all shown their capability as well as their contribution towards economic development. Their contribution at the grass root level , apart from Panchayats, in cooperatives like Gujarat’s Dairy revolution thus contributing towards socio- economic development and generating incomes, cannot be underestimated. This has undoubtedly paved the way for sustainable development and economic growth of the country. With the spread of education and with doing away with gender bias under schemes like “Beti bachao, Beti Padhao”, the role of Indian women in building the economy has limitless scope.
feedbackexcelsior@gmail.com
Follow our WhatsApp channel