india

Question 1

what is the largest democracy in the world and ehy is it a rare example of a democracy?

Answer 1

india, it is a poor country that has managed to maintain its democracy since its independence which is unlike the sub saharan african countries

Question 2

what is the key export sector in india?

Answer 2

service sector exports

Question 3

what is an example of a economist as a politician in india?

Answer 3

Dr manmohan singh who was prime minsister from 2004-2014, he got a first class honours degree in economics at the university of cambridge

Question 4

what was jawaharlal nehru’s economic and political philosophy?

Answer 4

he was influenced by marx and admired the rapid industrialisation of the soviet union. he was a committed fabian socialist and wanted a secular democratic socialist india. his target for indias economy was to initate rapid industrialisation and favoured a government led economic strategy

Question 5

what was the partition of british india in august 1947?

Answer 5

india and pakistan was created due to the partition. there was a migration of 15 million people. 500,000 to 1 million killed in religious/ethnic violence

Question 6

what were the indian intellectuals and the cambridge university connection?

Answer 6

a lot of famous indian intellectuals studied at cambridge university during the 50s and 60s where there was a radical keynsian tradition developed by the disciples of keynes. this tradition emphasised market failure and the need for state intervention

Question 7

what was the political/ intellectual climate in 1947?

Answer 7

there was a post colonial view of capitalism
there was the shadow of the great depression
assumption of endemic market failures
influence of soviet model - faith in top down planning
anti-global integration - import substitution industrialisation policies endorsed - comparative advantage development

Question 8

what was the focus of indias first five year plan?

Answer 8

the first plan of 1951-56 focused on agriculture

Question 9

what was the focus on indias second five year plan?

Answer 9

the secon plan 1956-61 focused on heavy industry

Question 10

what was the twelve plan of india focused on?

Answer 10

faster, more inclusive and sustainable growth

Question 11

what was indias new philosphy ?

Answer 11

it focused on a bottom up rather than top down approach

Question 12

how many deaths were caused by the bengal famine in 1943?

Answer 12

4 million deaths

Question 13

what was the green revolution?

Answer 13

it was an attempt to transform agriculture with new seeds, new fertlisers, new methods such as double cropping, irrigation improvements. however agricultre in india was still underperforming with low productivity

Question 14

what was a demographic factor affected economic growth>

Answer 14

the rapid population growth constrained indias economic growth via creating a high dependency ratio. this will lower savings ratio and capital accumulation therefore lowering economic growth

Question 15

what was the permit Raj and the government failure in india?

Answer 15

it was an incomprehensible web of:
1. Quantitative controls
2. Import quotas
3. Tariffs
4. Industrial permits
5. Bureaucracy
6. Product & labour market regulations
it resulted in inefficiency, corruption and a relatively poor rate of growth

Question 16

what did india suffer from and what was the effect of this?

Answer 16

a severe financial cirsis and a balance of payment crisis. it provided a opportunity for radical change as it had a pro competivieness technocracy

Question 17

what influenced Raos reforms?

Answer 17

1. Failure of ‘Permit Raj’ model
2. The collapse of the Soviet style economies in 1989-91
3. Success of outward oriented East Asian economies
4. Success of China’s reforms after 1979

Question 18

what were the policies adopted by Rao?

Answer 18

Deregulation, tariff reductions, reduced public sector monopoly power

Question 19

what were the pro market strategy economic reforms by india in 1991?

Answer 19

1. End of investment licensing system
2. End of import quota regime except for final consumer goods
3. Opened India to foreign trade and FDI
4. Privatizations and competition policies

Question 20

what was the source of indias comparative advantage in services?

Answer 20

there was a supply of educated graduates
english language spoken ( high returns in labour market to speaking english)
reduced cost of telecommunication

Question 21

what are the reasons for optimism for sustaining indias growth?

Answer 21

Higher rates of capital accumulation
Favorable demography— ‘demographic dividend’
TFP improving
Increasing international integration
Democracy well established - but underlying tensions remain between religious groups

Question 22

what are the main challenges ahead for india?

Answer 22

agricultural transformation - 55% of workforce in agriculture but only 15% of GDP there is a need for second green revolution and structural shift of employment
expansion of labour intensive manufacturing - currently indias exports are capital or skilled labour intensive (hecksher ohlin) , manyfacturing share remained relatively low
education - south asia contains half the worlds illiterate population
corruption
poverty reduction and inequality - huge proportion of the worlds poor live in india
need to reform labour laws - trade union aristiocraty only 10% of work force
very poor infrastructure - transportation, telecommunications and power
gender inequality -growth needs to be more inclusive

Question 23

what are the enviromental problems of india?

Answer 23

air pollution
groundwater depletion
soil pollution
climate change
use of plastics
garbage and waste disposal
loss of biodiversity
traffic congestion