
New Delhi:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing from the Red Fort on August 15, 2022, on the 77th anniversary of independence, had mentioned a big dream for the country. He had said- “My dream is that when we celebrate the 100th anniversary of independence, India will be a developed country.” India will complete 100 years of independence in 2047. Therefore, Modi Government has set the target of developed India by 2047. Whereas the target is to make India’s economy the third largest economy in the world by 2030-31. India has a long way to go to achieve both these dreams.
What should be the blueprint to achieve ‘Vision 2047’? What things should be focused on? What kind of reforms are needed in which areas? To know the answers to all these questions, NewsDeskReport Editor in Chief Sanjay Puglia has had an exclusive conversation with the current Chairman of the 16th Finance Commission, Dr. Arvind Panagariya and former Chairman NK Singh.
The tenure of Dr. Arvind Panagariya as Chairman of the 16th Finance Commission is till 31 October 2025. His book ‘The Nehru Development Model’ written on Indian economy has been released recently. In an interview with NewsDeskReport, Panagariya explained what should be the criteria to become a ‘developed India’. To achieve this goal, what 10 reforms does the government need to do in the coming 10 years?
1. Implementing Labor Law
Arvind Panagariya said, “The first reform can be done regarding labor law. This law was passed in 2019-2020. Implementing it will be a big reform. Its difficult task has been completed. This bill will be passed by the Parliament. It has been done, so there should be no problem in implementing it.”
2. Making GST a little easier in the field of tech
Panagariya said, “The government needs to simplify GST in the technology area.
The era before GST was filled with taxes like VAT, Service Tax and Excise Duty. This had a widespread impact and costs increased. GST tried to eliminate this by implementing a uniform tax. This made the tax structure somewhat easier in the IT sector, but it will have to be made simpler.
3. There is a need to simplify personal income tax also
According to Panagariya, the third reform is regarding personal income tax. Currently, there are many tax slabs, which can be confusing for taxpayers. The government can reduce the tax slabs and make them simpler. Along with this, personal income tax can also be simplified by increasing the tax exemption limit.
4. Privatization agenda
According to the Chairman of the 16th Finance Commission, the government will once again have to pick up the agenda of privatization to move towards achieving the goal of ‘Developed India’. In the second term of Modi government, Air India, Neelanchal and Steel etc. have been privatized. There is a need to move forward from this.
5. Boosting Public Enterprise Policy
Panagariya says, “To achieve the target of developed India, the public enterprise policy will have to be boosted. In the second term, the Modi government had issued the public enterprise policy. It has to be taken forward in the third term.”
6. Reform in Higher Education
He said, “There is a great need for reform in the existing structure of higher education. Till now the mechanism of higher education is running under the University Grants Commission (UGC) Act of 1956. However, the government has reformed the 1956 law of Medical Education. It has been replaced under the National Medical Commission Act. This reform has to be brought in higher education.”
7. There is a need for major reforms regarding land area also.
According to Arvind Panagariya, major reforms will have to be done regarding land area. Due to the Land Acquisition Act that we passed, the price of land has increased significantly. It causes problems in public projects. Private enterprises face problems for industrialization. Because they do not get land on a large scale. Therefore, there is a need for reform regarding land area also.”
8. Per capita income will have to be increased
He said, “To become a developed India, our per capita income should be around 12 thousand 800 or 12 thousand 900 US dollars. If we go by the per capita income figures of 2022-2023, then this It was 2 thousand 500 dollars. To take it to 13 thousand and above, we need about 7.6% GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth rate.
9. Around 8.2% GDP growth
Panagariya said, “India is thinking about the next 20-25 years. The increase in the country’s population is not going to be very much till 2047. The country’s population will increase by a maximum of 0.5% or 0.6% till 2047. If we want 7.6% per capita income growth, then including population growth we need GDP growth of about 7.9%. We have achieved growth in the last 20 years.”
10. Implementation of One Election One Election
Panagariya says, “One Nation One Election is very important. Its benefits are in the long term. If seen from the perspective of economic reforms, when elections will be held once in 5 years, then governments will have a bigger window and more time to reform. It is very difficult for the government to do such reform now.”
He said, “Modi government was elected in May 2024. After this, state elections are being held one after the other. Even if we take a window of one year, there are elections in Delhi and then there are elections in Bihar. In such a situation, reforms The government does not get enough time for this, so if we can conduct One Nation One Election for the Central and State Governments, we will get huge returns from it.”