Looking At Economy As An Engine For Growth And Happiness

Culture, education, rule of law and a market economy are major factors in a nation's progress, according to Rajiv Bahl, founder of Fun Foods, and the author of a new book on India's economy.

Bahl believes the government should eliminate the "control rods" to ensure sustainable economic growth and happiness.

He launched his book The Economic Reactor: Creating Growth and Prosperity in New Delhi on Wednesday in the presence of Vinod Rai, former comptroller and auditor general (CAG) of India.

Bahl visualises the economy as an engine, which must work in all its parts if the country is to achieve sustained economic growth and generate prospect for social happiness.

"The functioning of an economic engine is very similar to that of a nuclear power plant. The energy of an economic engine is lighted up by human minds which cause a chain reaction to illicit further ideas. This chain reaction should not be retarded at any costs", said Bahl, referring to the dismal self-serving policies of today's policy makers that hamper innovation.

An important question during the panel discussion was on new technologies taking over human jobs.

Rai spoke about the government's sensitivity towards the issue and said people would be given opportunities to reskill themselves to counter the effect of rapid automation.

Anurag Batra, editor-in-chief of BW Businessworld, talked about the social aspect integrated with the framework of economic policy formation especially in terms of innovation.

"We are a culture that doesn't celebrate failure and if we do not celebrate failure, the society cannot create something out of the box," he said.

Rai said India's culture has become more citizen-centric over the years and people are more vocal about their issues.

"The spirit of innovation needs to break the shackles of traditional governance and mindsets, to unleash the greatest minds, especially the generation which is not afraid to take risks," he said.

The panellists felt it was imperative to align good governance and policy practices to unleash India's true potential.

Decoding the happiness and overall wellbeing of people, Rai advocated how it doesn't relate to the virtue of an economic policy but more importantly good governance and targeting a certain level of wellbeing via reforms.

"We need to target 3 very important aspects which includes firstly vocation and job creation, a situation where the citizen is not scared when it comes to dealing with the authorities, eliminating a 'we' and 'their' relation, less of regulation and policing".

He also highlighted the menace of air pollution and tackling the problem of environmental degradation.