consequences of eco growth

CONSEQUENCES OF ECONOMIC GROWTH ? WHETHER INDIAN ECONOMY GIVE UP AGRICULTURE GROWTH FOR INDUSTRIAL GROWTH ? A STUDY? professor DR. G BALAKRISHNAN, PhD (Economics)., M.L., DMS (NY) sr. Advocate /Counsel SUPREME COURT of India- a faculty in Management studies
(Story in American English)

Benjamin Friedman in his book ?the moral consequences of Economic growth? wrote ?.we realizes the advantages of higher standard of living?moral thinking is in practical terms every culture enjoins us to not to place in the pedestal of undue emphasis on our material concerns alone.

Economic development - say industrialization, in particular in globalization often brings undesirable side most UNDESIRABLE side effects ? like damages to the environment, or the homogenization of what used to be distinctive cultures (e.g. India an agricultural economy). We have come to regard these matters too in moral terms (time immemorial, agriculture provided enough agricultural jobs in all villages and hence more and more villages, came to life leading to village communities, never ventured to urban areas in preference to villages and so there were a several self contained villages, with least quarrels between people as they needed more and more hands in agriculture, as agriculture invariably lead by hand workers(skilled hands) unlike machine driven (inanimate) exercises at the fields, watering, sowing, tilling, harvesting?and so on., augmented by monsoon rains, and during its vagaries watered by rivers ( both perennial and non perennial), some times by village tanks, big wells provided perennial sources of water)

On both counts, we think economic growth in terms of material considerations, verses moral concerns. We weigh material positives against moral negatives (machines).

When one seriously considers this, in some circumstances is it not incomplete perception?

He values of rising standard of living, lies not in just in concrete improvements it brings to how individuals live but in how it shapes the social, political and ultimately the morality of a people.


Economic growth , a rising standard of living for a clear majority of people, more often than not, fosters greater opportunity, tolerance of diversity, social mobility, commitment to fairness, and dedication to democratic living?when living standards decline, most societies make little progress if any progress is there, and all in all too many instances they plainly retrogress.


Recently When I was going through Washington Post, India?s economic times articles, perceptions of Nobel Laureates, Financial times London, Economist of London, in the last few days, I could see all excessively optimistic economists, journalists of leading news papers, in the year 2008, including government economists were touting that there is no big problem around economically, but now there is a lurking fear psychosis in all of them, economy is slowing down, brought lot of job losses, winding of companies, restructuring, and re-engineering, cost cutting exercises belatedly, permitting excessive consumerism which in fact brought too much pressure, adding fuel to the fire is failures of monsoons, now ?El Nino? is to increase global warming, environmental damages, meaningless excessive infrastructures, irrational bank lending for higher end buildings, and what not. ( I wrote an paper and read in Bangalore university in UGC staff college, impending problems of Indian consumerist economy in June 2007 and the said article was published in a tabloid / posted in a blog rapidanalysts.blogspot.com) but all incorrigible optimists did not agree with my premise but in 2009 similar things focused even by Paul Krugmann, Joseph Stigler)

Problem of consumerism and our inability to correctly predict future climate changes, even monsoons conspire what man proposes, after all God only disposes things in the world of chaos). To a large extent Indian economy was saved by then RBI Governor Dr. YV Reddy, when P. Chidambaram was swinging and reeling like a top in June 2008, not realizing implications of economy reeling under uncontrolled consumerism. Bane of economy world over was the dogma of consumerism, and credit card culture, making people to spend their future earnings in advance but pay as and when you earn, within a reasonable period, tied with ?anaconda like interest rates squeezing one to die in the loop.