Budget 2020: India's dream of $5 Trillion economy

By Manek Daruvala

"Last year, the goal that the government has set for itself is to make our country a $5 Trillion economy in five years, by 2024. This is surely ambitious but also a much-needed directional goal. It has the potential to galvanise all our resources towards this challenging task and to revive many sectors that need a helping hand.

GDP growth is a vital input into the critical task of job creation. If India’s demographic dividend has to pay off, we will have to create adequate job opportunities for the youth. Coming to the expectations from the government, being in the education sector, I would say that the government needs to increase allocations to the maximum extent possible in all spheres of education, with a special focus on primary education. It is not just about the quantum of money deployed, it is also about how it is utilised.

Aggressive and effective ways to improve the quality of teaching, particularly in schools, need to be formulated. Teaching, as a profession, needs to be made worthwhile for those with academic excellence. Today, unfortunately, teaching – particularly at the primary level - is often seen as a line for those who could not get into anything else. Only if the quality of teaching at the school level improves, will the students going in for higher studies have the necessary skills to meet the requirements of the industry.

Towards this end the government needs to not just invest in education itself, but create an enabling environment for the private sector. This is essential for attracting both financial capital and quality brain-power that our education sector so badly needs."

(Manek Daruvala, Founder and Director, T.I.M.E)