Despite being a nation with a large young population, India has underperformed in sectors like education and healthcare, which is a matter of great concern, Mukesh Ambani, chairman of
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) said on Tuesday.
"Our health outlay today is at one per cent of GDP (gross domestic product). It will need to go up at least five times if we are to keep our young healthy. Health spending in India is already getting skewed. Given our demographics, the accent cannot be limited to combating the diseases of the affluent and managing the old," Ambani said.
"The young are largely unprotected and uncared for. We will need to radically transform healthcare delivery to all our people. We need an efficient regulated healthcare delivery system," Ambani said.
He was addressing the annual general meeting of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci). "We have grossly underperformed both in expanding access and improving the quality of education. In a fast moving world, we have not managed to make our education system contemporary," the RIL chairman lamented.
"We should aim to create universities as academic centres of excellence, which will feature in the top 100 in the world and achieving this will be one of the cornerstones of a New India that we will need to build," he said.
Agriculture is another area of opportunity in the present context, he pointed out. "Indian agriculture is still languishing in the low end of the agronomy value chain. It is a victim of the low-investment, low-yield, inefficient water use and shocking levels of waste of farm produce," Ambani said.
He said in the next ten years there is an opportunity to add $500 billion year-on-year (YoY) in this sector. "Current food prices justify heavy investment and job creation has to be through agriculture and rural economic growth," Ambani said.
Saying that it's better to find oil when oil is at $100 a barrel, he noted that rising food prices made this an opportune time for India to raise its agricultural productivity.
It was interesting to note that the richest Indian raised concerns over the two separate Indias, one that is growing at about nine per cent per year and the other that is underprivileged.
"There is a narrative one - 'India Rising' or 'India Emerging'. Along with it runs another narrative. This narrative imagines the growth engine as a heartless mechanical monster that scatters millions behind, not even allowing them the privilege of being spectators to this miracle of growth. This is the story of millions of Indians whose sustenance depends on family members employed in the informal, unorganised or agricultural sectors. Most of them reside in either urban slums or villages. They have limited or no access to sanitation, energy, water, health cover and 'relevant' education. It is also the story of the ones left behind," Ambani said.
Talking of the inclusive growth Ambani said these two separate Indias must be connected through inclusive growth.
"There can be no peace if a billion-plus people are discontented," said Ambani, adding that the India story is unsustainable without discovering policies and practical means of including these millions in the mainstream of the country's progress.
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