India's Dream of Becoming an Industrial Hub necessitates the opening of Pandora's Box?

The Indian economy was expected to lose over ₹32,000 crores every day for the first 21-days of lockdown. On 26 May, CRISIL announced that this will perhaps be India's worst recession since independence. When faced with such drastic statistics, we all prefer to be optimistic and focus only on the hope left inside Pandora's box. However, in my opinion, it is crucial to focus on all the evils that were first released. Without the dark, there can never be the light, and without repercussions, development is just an abstract dream.

Today I, Tamanna Sharma, will be expressing my thoughts for the motion, "India's dream of becoming an industrial hub necessitates the opening of Pandora's Box."

In a nation that is home to such a massively diverse population, disparities are already prevalent in the form of various distinctions such as the rich and the poor, the inopportune, and the favored. In rural areas where the reach of industrialization won't be as widespread, it will prove to be a dividing factor. Also, industrialization contributes to negative environmental externalities, such as pollution, increased greenhouse gas emission, and global warming. Air and water pollution arises from coal-burning as well as most stages in the production of metals and basic chemicals. The impact on the health of people from water-borne diseases like cholera and typhoid, from air pollution, and occupational exposure to hazardous materials is devastating and particularly affects working families housed close to the industrial sources.

A significant step towards Atmanirbhar Bharat is Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's announcement of a negative import list of 101 defense items. While in theory, this is the foundation stone required for industrial growth in India, the biggest challenge for the government will be to sustain this commitment. The promise of contracts worth Rs 4 lakh crore to the domestic industry over the next 5-7 years does appear impressive – but so was the figure of Rs 3.5 lakh crore for projects under the Make in India scheme, all of which got stuck in the pipeline. Given the declining trend in manufacturing seen across many Indian states, it is a tall order to attempt to reverse this within a plausible time frame.

In conclusion, I quote Isaac Asimov: "No sensible decision can be taken without taking into account not only the world as it is, but as it will be." To say that India will never prosper or fully achieve its industrial potential would be to undermine the effort of a nation so truly valiant in its efforts to recover from a recession post-independence. But now is not the time to be diverted from the main objective of building a stable economy first- one which will not crumble under the weight of harnessing 1.3 billion people and ensuring the development of each individual.