India is one of those few countries that has changed completely from the time of its first settlement to the present day. The story of India can be divided into four main phases, each of which gave rise to civilizations. In the past two and half centuries, India has been among the most densely populated places in the world, giving birth to some of its oldest and most developed societies. The scope and the pace at which the developing world is progressing have inspired many Indian philosophies, and religions to take shape.
According to one eminent scholar, “Culture, civilization and economy are deeply intertwined in India and are bound together forever.” According to the Oxford dictionary, “Culture” means the general quality of prevailing customs, beliefs, arts, habits, and systems of education and conduct, including social organization and political economy; “archy” means authority, rule, superiors, and power; “economy” means exchange, commerce, industry, and production; and “growth” is the tendency for things to go on improving or becoming better. Thus, economics is considered as one of the important aspects of culture. According to economists Amra Padamsee, Economics is the study of how costs and prices relate to the satisfaction of consumers for different goods and services. Economics offers systematic methods to determine the optimum supply and demand of selected raw materials, manufactured products, and energy sources. The scope of economics is greatly affected by institutional arrangements and policies such as macro-pricing, flexible pricing, and non-pricing.
Economists and other social scientists believe that economic growth is the key to societal progress and well-being. They believe that the key to economic growth is to maximize the value of human effort in optimizing consumption, production, investment, distribution, and financing. The key to increasing social mobility is to understand and deal with the data limitations existing in economics. Economics helps us to understand, evaluate, minimize, or avoid tradeoffs between efficiency and equity, between growth and welfare, between equity and prosperity, and between distribution and returns.
Economics and the Global South have been a continuing challenge for many decades, with new issues arising in the Global South and in developing countries at the regional level. For instance, increased trade integration and globalization, changes in policies and institutions, and changes in social structures have resulted in greater levels of income inequality and increased poverty and hunger risks. Economics is an important element in the solutions for these problems. India and the East are experiencing significant changes, with higher levels of inequality and poverty, and policies and institutions that are either being neglected or compromised.
In India and the East, policies that focus on empowering the lower classes are required in order to deal with stagnating economies, increasing poverty, and increased unemployment. Policy efforts should also aim at promoting social mobility, particularly in rural areas, through improved infrastructure, improved access to basic services, and improved social protections, including decent work and employment, the right to secure property and freedom from abuse, and better opportunities for educational advancement. These will reduce social protections gaps and improve quality of life.
Economic policies can also address issues like caste and reservation-led discrimination, xenon-genic divide, unequal access to basic resources, and exclusion from decision-making at the national level. The impact of these policies on economic development, on caste and reservation, and on gender and ethnicity, as well as on mobility are massive, and often very poorly understood. Policy frameworks need to be developed that provide for access, participation, and success of people belonging to different castes and ethnicities. Decisions regarding caste and reservation need to be framed as decisions about economic growth and social prosperity.
Economic growth can be significantly improved through governmental policies that enhance economic opportunity, provide jobs, expand business, increase business capacity, improve quality of life, reduce poverty and protect the environment. Policy frameworks addressing issues of unequal access to basic resources, increasing social mobility, and enhancing job opportunity and wages need to be developed, especially in developing countries. Policy frameworks addressing issues of economic development, occupational mobility, and the promotion of economic growth need to be advanced. India and the World cannot continue to ignore the issues of race and caste. Policy makers must actively participate with affected communities and ensure that policies promote fair representation of people from various castes and communities.
A future without employment will reduce consumption growth by three to four percent, reduce per capita income by seven to eight percent, and reduce gross domestic product by two to three percent. Eliminating poverty and promoting economic growth and employment will increase poverty reduction by seven to eight percent, increase per capita income by five to six percent, and decrease market capitalization by one to two percent. Policies that provide stable occupation mobility and job creation will mitigate poverty and improve quality of life. Policies must be advanced to ensure that women and men have equal opportunity to access occupations.