Leaders

The Hunger Project Online Briefing Program  The People and Nations of South Asia  Page 16 of 30

Images of India

The Indian economy is a complex mix of high-level growth and industrial and agricultural productivity, coupled with a struggling rural economy of families barely subsisting below the poverty line.

• The Indian economy has made remarkable progress since independence. In 1947, India hardly had any industries. Some say India was unable to even manufacture a paper clip.

• India today is the 10^th largest industrial power in the world.

• The southern city of Bangalore is known as India's "Silicon Valley." India is the world's second largest exporter of computer software.

• Agricultural production has increased from 55 million tons in 1950-1 to more than 200 million tons today.

• India is the world's number one producers of commodities such as tea, pulses, jute, fruit, spices, and cattle. It is second in the world in irrigated and arable land, in rice, wheat, vegetable, and milk production.

• After years of socialist economic policy, India took steps in 1991 to liberalize its economy and to promote free trade.

• Its highly competitive private sector accounts for over 75% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product, and is increasingly appealing to investors.

• The visible economic progress and growing wealth in India’s urban areas often overshadows the persistent hunger and poverty of rural India.

• Although poverty rates have declined by 18 percentage points since 1970, more than 40% of the population is currently estimated to be living in poverty.

• While India's agricultural production is among the highest in the world, many rural people—India’s farmers—have insufficient purchasing power and access to nutritious, appropriate food.

India is home to the world’s third largest educated population in science and technology. The middle class has grown to such an extent that it now exceeds the population of the USA or the European Union. In rural India, village people make significant contributions to the rural economy, despite severely limited opportunities. Village industries such as fish farming, vegetable gardens, and handicrafts are income-generating activities for many rural people. In villages across the country, rural women in particular have banded together in cooperative organizations to make money for their families.

A woman and her daughter grinding grain.

Leaders

The Hunger Project Online Briefing Program  The People and Nations of South Asia  Page 16 of 30

Images of India