COMPARATIVE DEVELOPMENT EXPERIENCES OF INDIA

AND ITS NEIGHBOURS

INTRODUCTION
 SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation). It is an association of 8
countries of South areas.
 EU (European Union). It is a union of 25 independent states based on European
Communities.
 ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations). It is an association of 5 countries
in South East Asia
 G-8 (Group of Eight). It has 8 countries
 G-20 (Group of twenty). It consists of 19 world’s largest economies
DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES OF THE THREE COUNTRIES – INDIA, CHINA AND
PAKISTAN
The Similarities in the development strategies of India, China and Pakistan are:
1. All the three started towards their development path at the same time. While India and
Pakistan became independent nations in 1947, People’s Republic of China was
established in 1949.
2. All the three countries started planning their development strategies in similar ways.
While India announced its First Five Year Plan for 1951-56.
Pakistan announced its First Five Plan, Called the Medium Term Plan in 1956.
Pakistan is working on the basis of 12th Five Year Development Plan (2018–23),
China announced its First Five Year Plan in 1953.
At present India is having its 12th Five year Plan (2012-17)
3. Economic reforms took place in all the three countries. Reforms started in India in
1991, in China in 1978 and in Pakistan in 1988.
4. All the three countries have similar physical endowments
The difference in the development strategies of the three countries are:
1. India has the largest democracy of the world.
Pakistan has authoritarian militaries political power structure.
China has communist single party regime.
2. Both India and Pakistan followed a mixed economy approach. Both countries created
a large public sector and planned to raise public expenditure on social development.
 On the other hand china followed approach where the government has a central role
in all decisions that are made and the emphasis is on centralization. Decisions are
taken by planning boards and state-owned enterprises
Development Strategy
1. China
(a) Great Leap forward (GLF)
A programme called “The great Leap forward’ was launched in 1958. Its aim a way to
industrialize the country on a large scale and in as short a time as possible. For this,
People were even encouraged to set up industries in their backyards. In villages, village
Communes or cooperatives were set up. Communes mean collective cultivation of land.
Around 26000 communes covered almost all the farm population in 1958.
(b) Great proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966-76). In 1966, Mao Tse Tung started a
cultural revolution on a large scale. Its aim was to weed out people opposed to the
communist ideology. In this revolution, students and professionals were sent to work in the
countryside. This revolution students and professionals were sent to work in the countryside.
This revolution resulted in many hardships for the people.
(c) Reforms in 1978 Starting 1978 several reforms were introduced in Phases in China.
First agriculture, foreign trade and investment sectors were taken up. Commune lands were
divided into small plots. These were allotted to individual households for cultivation.
This kind of reform in China brought in the necessity of dual pricing. This meant the
farmers and industrial units were to buy and sell fixed quantities of raw material and
products on the basis of prices fixed by the government. Special Economic Zones were
set up in China to attract foreign investors
A special Economic Zone (SEZ) is a geographical region that has economic laws
different from country typical economic laws. Usually, the goal is to increase foreign
investment.
2. Pakistan
1) Pakistan follows a mixed economy system where both public and private sectors co-
existed.
2) In the late 1950s and 1960s, Pakistan introduced a variety of regulated policy
framework (for import substitution industrialization). The Policy combined tariff
protection for manufacturing of consumers goods to hater with direct import
controls on competing imports
3) The introduction of Green Revolution led to mechanization of agriculture. It finally led
to a rise in the production of food grains. This changed the agrarian structure
dramatically
4) In the 1970s, nationalization of capital goods industries took place.
5) In 1988, structural reforms were introduced. The thrust areas and remittances from
emigrants to the Middle East. It helped in raising economic growth of the country.
 Reforms were initiated in China in 1978, Pakistan in 1988 and India in 1991.
 The population of Pakistan is very small and accounts for roughly about one-
tenth of China or India.
 Scholars point out the one child norm introduced in China in the late 1970s as
 the major reason for low population growth.
 China has the second largest GDP (PPP) of $22.5 trillion in the world, whereas,
India’s GDP (PPP) is $9.03 trillion and Pakistan’s GDP is $ 0.94 trillion, roughly
about 11 per cent of India’s GDP. India’s GDP is about 41 per cent of China’s
GDP.
 In China, due to topographic and climatic conditions, the area suitable for
cultivation is relatively small — only about 10 per cent of its total land area. The
total cultivable area in China accounts for 40 per cent of the cultivable area in
India. Until the 1980s, more than 80 per cent of the people in China were
dependent on farming as their sole source of livelihood.
 In 2018 19, with 26 per cent of its workforce engaged in agriculture, its
contribution to the GVA in China is 7 per cent
 In both India and Pakistan, the contribution of agriculture to GVA were 16 and
24 per cent, respectively, but the proportion of workforce that works in this
sector is more in India. In Pakistan, about 41 per cent of people work in
agriculture, whereas, in India, it is 43 per cent. Twenty four per cent of Pakistan
workforce is engaged in industry but it produces 19 per cent of GVA.
 In India, industry workforce account for 25 per cent but produces goods worth
30 per cent of GVA. In China, industries contribute to GVA at 41, and employ
28 per cent of workforce. In all the three countries, service sector contributes
highest share of GVA.
Why china introduced reforms in 1978?

The new leadership at that time in China was not happy with the slow pace of growth and lack of
modernization in the Chinese economy under the Maoist rule. They felt that Maoist vision of economic
development based on decentralization, self-sufficiency and shunning of foreign technology, goods and
capital had failed. Despite extensive land reforms, collectivization, the Great Leap Forward and other
initiatives, the per capita grain output in 1978 was the same as it was in the mid-1950s.

Establishment of infrastructure in the areas of education and health, land reforms, long existence of
decentralized planning and existence of small enterprises had helped positively in improving the social
and income indicators in the post reform period.

Through the commune system, there was more equitable distribution of food grains.

Each reform was implemented at small level first.

Conclusion

China has used the market mechanism to ‘create additional social and economic opportunities. By
retaining collective ownership of land and allowing individuals to cultivate lands, China has ensured social
security in rural areas. Public intervention in providing social infrastructure even prior to reforms has
brought about positive results in human development indicators in China