India a Developed Nation by 2047? Indian Prime Minister, while addressing a post-Budget webinar on ‘Unleashing the Potential: Ease of Living Using Technology’, said the technology would play an important and decisive role in making India a developed country by 2047.
It is important to understand the definition of a developed nation, as given by the United Nations. Does India fulfil all the criteria? Technology does play an important role in the country’s performance, but whether only technology can make India a developed nation?
Definition of a developed country
According to the World Trade Organization (WTO), for a country to be defined as developing or developed, there are no set criteria. It further says that member countries announce themselves as developing or developed. However, other countries can challenge the decision which is mostly made to avail the provisions extended to the developing countries.
Although there are no criteria on which the status of the country is decided, certain factors, such as the gross domestic product (GDP), gross national product (GNP), quality of life, level of industrialization, dependency on agriculture, per capita income and spread of industrialization are considered along the technological infrastructure.
India’s dependency on agriculture
When a country is considered to be categorized as a developed nation, one of the important aspects considered is the dependency on agriculture. Countries with a higher dependency on the sector are not considered developed. According to the report, Achieving Aatmanirbharta in Agriculture, published by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, in November 2022, “Agriculture continues to be the prime pulse of the Indian economy and is at the core of the socio-economic development of the country. It accounts for around 19 per cent of the GDP and about two-thirds of the population is dependent on the sector.”
In developed countries, less than 5 per cent of the total population depends on the agriculture sector.
Where does India stand in terms of technology?
According to the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2022, India holds the 40th position among the top innovative economies of the world. India has come a long way, beginning with the telephone revolution in the late 1980s to the internet revolution in the early 2000s. Today, it has developed a dependable network of 5G communication that is competing with the world. The major driver for the communication industry is the wider population and its access to tech-savvy services. While more consumers are technologically aware, it is motivating various service providers and sellers to innovate.
India a Developed Nation by 2047?
While India is doing well in the technology sector, other indices and sections that denote a country’s category should also be taken into consideration. In the Quality of Life Index 2022 issued by the World Population Review, India ranks 60. According to the Human Development Index report 2022, issued by United Nations Development Programme, India ranks 132.
Taking into consideration the other indices, can the declaration of India as a developed nation be solely based on technological development?
