Prof K S Chandrasekar
Indian economy has increased tenfold in the last three decades and is projected to be the third largest, with an estimated GDP of $7.3 trillion by 2030. Jostling for the same, the economic growth has also led to an unprecedented increase in its annual material consumption, which grew from 1.18 billion tonnes in 1970 to 7 billion tonnes in 2015 and is projected to reach 14.2 billion tonnes by 2030. UN has given SDG long back for nations to follow so that they achieve the objectives by 2030. As India strives to become a Vikasit Bharat, a developed economy, by 2047, it must restructure its growth model to a more resource-efficient one by embedding circular strategies. This shift is not an environmental but an economic imperative that boosts jobs, growth, and sustainability. Sustainability is a dynamic process which enables all people to realize their potential and to improve their quality of life in ways that simultaneously protect and enhance the Earth’s life support systems. Indigenous communities, who have lived sustainability on Earth for centuries, typically define sustainability around principles of relationality, community-based governance, quality of life and health, and communal recognition of nature and external, non-human entities as life-givers and enablers.
Sustainability clearly exists to find balance between economic, societal, and environmental needs, both now and in the future. It’s also a form of systems thinking which recognizes everything is connected, actions cannot be compartmentalized, and no individual, organization, or nation operates by itself.The World Institute of Sustainable Energy has developed an action plan to capture at least 60 percent of the electronic waste generated in the city of Pune, one of the largest metropolitan areas in India. Their approach is based on circular economy principles and has been embraced in stakeholder meetings with city officials as well as local residents and non-governmental organizations. PRICE in their research have shown that the middle class is the fastest-growing major segment of the Indian population in both percentage and absolute terms, rising at 6.3 percent per year and 338 million between 1995 and 2021. It now represents 31 percent of the population and is expected to be 38 percent by 2031 and 60 percent in 2047. By 2030, India will add about 75 million middle-class and 25 million rich households, the total share of these segments will be 56 percent.
Growth in income will transform India from an aspirers-led economy to a truly middle-class driven one — growing from $2.2T in 2021 to $7.1T in 2031 — and consumer spending rising from $1.9 trillion to nearly $5.2 trillion by 2031. Urbanisation is key to prosperity. Mumbai and Delhi have a high concentration of rich households, but rich households are growing at a more hectic pace in growing towns such as Surat, Indore, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, and Pune. This middle class will drive the Indian economy to the developed country by 2047. Above 60% of India’s gross domestic product (GDP) is driven by consumption, similar to the United States. In China, it is around 40%. The country’s economic growth over the years has moved largely in tandem with the trend in consumption.Since we have more people in the bottom of the pyramid, UGC, DST etc., needs to accept and promote research for inclusive growth and sustainable development and fund such research. Indian knowledge systems including promoting the GI tagged products and produces can actually increase awareness.World is finite and people have infinite ambitions. What is good for a person need not be for another. Technology should focus on ensuring products and services to be compatible and accessible as compared to large scale usage.
Now there are developments in technology which replaces many products. Mobile phones come with accessories including charges which one has to carry. Technology has now enabled small adopters smaller than power banks which once charged using Bluetooth or other devices can replace the big chargers. Always what is being planned as advances should address the difficulties of consumers. Hope everyone still remembers the antennas, dishes used for televisions which now are almost extinct. Sooner the electricity poles and wires will become obsolete with the advances in technology. Pod sleeping will replace the lodges and hotels, and they will be technically efficient.Emergence of major new fields like Biotechnology, IT & Communication technology, New Materials and Micro machines / Nano technologies will usher in the great leap for mankind.
As per MIT, we now live in the age of AI. Hundreds of millions of people have interacted directly with generative tools like ChatGPT that produce text, images, videos, and more from prompts. Their popularity has reshaped the tech industry, making OpenAI a household name and compelling Google, Meta, and Microsoft to invest heavily in technology. Solar power is being rapidly deployed around the world, and its key to global efforts to reduce carbon emissions.Techno MBAs would be adept in converting a business from cost improvement to process improvement to the ultimate business transformation which organizations are looking at. Goldman Sachs has predicted that India will be the third largest economy by 2050 which requires us to be competitive in manufacturing, services and agriculture. For this adoption of technology is of paramount importance. In the Global innovation index launched in 2024, where in the yardsticks were innovation eco system based on 78 indicators spanning 133 countries, Switzerland ranked first. Among the lower middle-income countries, India stood first, but the index score is half of that of Switzerland. This shows there is plenty in this area to improve.
The War with Pakistan showed us the technology prowess through Make in India initiatives, public-private partnerships. Now India will be one of the top exporters of defense technologies and its values are very high which will propel the growth of the economy.If all stakeholders come together as a community of solvers to put their might behind it, India@2047 will be firmly gliding through the expressway of a developed economy.
“Let’s be a Bhartiya and make Bharat the great developed nation by 2047”.
(The author is Vice Chancellor, Cluster University of Jammu)
