Comparing India and Pakistan is a clichéd topic given the fact that both countries started their journey as independent nations, some six decades ago. However today, the economies of the two countries stand at completely different levels. At the time of partition India gained almost 90 per cent of the total industry of the sub continent with a large taxable income base. India also benefited from the large metropolitan cities including Calcutta, Delhi and Mumbai. Pakistan on the contrary gained only 17.5 per cent of the combined assets. Once the army had been paid for, little was left for the purposes of economic development. Pakistan’s economy was primarily based on agriculture while India possessed more diversity. Therefore, Pakistan’s was a few steps behind, right from the beginning.
India, today is expected to become the third largest economy in the world right after China and America. Pakistan on the other hand is struggling to keep pace with even the small economies of South Asia. The statistics augment this argument in its entirety.
Economic Indicators:
India’s GDP growth rate in 2011 was 8.6 per cent while Pakistan’s GDP growth rate in 2011 stood at 2.4 per cent and real GDP growth rate of Pakistan was negligible at 0.6 per cent. India’s currency which was once weaker than Pakistan has gained strength and the Indian Rupee is now almost doubled against the Pakistani Rupee. India received 23.7 billion dollars as foreign direct investment last year while Pakistan managed to get a meager amount of only 1.232 billion dollars. India’s annual inflation was around 8.43 per cent last fiscal, almost half of Pakistan’s inflation rate of 15.46 per cent. India and Pakistan however match up on their nominal per capita income at just over 1200$ a year however given the fact that India is home to more than 1.2 billion people, Pakistan lags behind greatly in this regard as well. The foreign exchange reserve of India are twice the size of Pakistan’s GDP.
Therefore without mincing words it would be prudent to state that Pakistan has struggled over the years to bring about sustained economic growth. The reasons behind the dismal state of affairs are not very hard to comprehend. India spends where it is required. The difference in the motorcades of Indian and Pakistani Prime Minister’s paint the complete story. Although un-educated, Lalu Parshad Yadev has managed to transform Indian Railways (which was at the brink of collapse) into one of the most highly earning departments in India, while Pakistan Railways is still struggling to cope with the gargantuan amount of taxes. A major reason for this discrepancy is that the parliamentary process over the years has worked to crease out deficiencies in their system as a result the Parliamentarians in India are aware of the fact that they cannot be absolved of their failure to deliver when the time comes. Lack of accountability across the board in Pakistan has ensured that the leaders continue to repeat the fallacies of the past. It is these deficiencies in our democracy that leads people to prefer dictatorship when the time comes.
Development of the education and tourism sectors:
India has right from the beginning paid immense attention to the development of education in their country. As a result of their continued efforts, today 36 per cent of NASA employees are Indians 34 per cent of Microsoft employees are Indians 28 per cent of IBM employees are Indians 17 per cent of Intel employees are Indians 13 per cent of Xerox employees are Indians. Instead of solely depending on foreign aid India has over the years developed their human resource to the extent that they are now indispensable for the world. India is now competing with global economies on the technological and scientific level. This has only been possible because of the immense importance that they have given to education. Pakistan has continued to neglect the education sector with a paltry amount of GDP allocated to the education sector. As a result India has developed its manufacturing capacity to the extent that they have started to export technology while Pakistan continues to rely on imports.
Not only has India been successful in working towards sustained economic development, they have worked hard to project themselves across the worlds through media. “Incredible India” as is one such tagline they have used with great affect throughout the world. Using their rich culture as a tool for marketing they have been able to attract enormous amounts of foreign exchange as a result. Coupled with the fact that it is relatively cheaper than other tourist destinations they have made it into a profitable industry. This has resulted in the services sector of Indian growing exponentially. Moreover, their film industry Bollywood has also played a major role in projecting India as a peaceful, progressive state which has made India a land of opportunities for foreign investors. In contrast, Pakistan with its image as a terrorist country has been labeled the most dangerous country in the world. Thus the difference in the economies is all but evident.
In conclusion it can be said that while both the countries continue to face similar problems India has collectively turned their weaknesses into their strengths. Instead of relying on foreign aid they have worked towards expanding the capacity of their own industry. Instead of choking the business community, they have provided them with opportunities to grow globally. Instead of bickering on issues of little importance, the policy makers in Pakistan need to take a leaf out of India’s book and to develop policies that aid in economic growth, equitable allocation of funds along with a will to bring about a change in the state of affairs of the country.
Pak-india quest for Asian supremacy
