S Nataraj
India is a fastest developing country in the world. India, with its diversified culture, civilization, natural resources, technology and huge skilled human resources, is also a fastest growing economy in the world. But at the same time there are several problems plaquing our Modern India which is affecting the growth and development.
These problems can be broadly classified as:
Socio-economic Problems Other major Problems
1. Socio-economic Problems
The major socio-economic problem being faced by India is ‘Poverty’. Even after six decades of independence, the country is still fighting against this social evil of poverty.
It is estimated that nearly one third of Indian population of 1.21 Billion, i.e., nearly 426 millions of people are living below poverty line. Many go without a meal a day.
Though Governments are struggling hard to eradicate poverty, the increasing population and mismanagement of government schemes, have fueled the growth of poverty. The population is growing at an alarming rate.
In last ten years the population has grown by 0.20 billion. The positive effects of development are nullified by increase in population. Hence there is an urgent need to curtail population growth, by adopting strict family planning programmes by government.
Apart from this there is also a need to increase rural and urban employment, by better management of Government Schemes like Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGREGS), Jawaharlal Nehru Rojagar Yojana (JNRY), etc. By strict implementation of these schemes poverty can be reduced to a substantial extent.
The second most burning socio-economic problem of India is ‘Unemployment’. Nearly 9.4% of Indian population is unemployed. i.e., around 120 million people are either unemployed or underemployed. This large number of unemployment is of great concern and governments are devising new and effective schemes to curb