Once seen in this perspective, ‘poverty’ becomes very easy to understand: ‘Poverty’ is now seen as a situation where people lack the most basic capabilities to lead a reasonable life.

People’s capability to function effectively is what matters the most, and that depends upon many things overlooked in the GDP calculations. Here development is seen as a process of enhancing people’s capabilities by expanding their real freedoms. His ‘capability approach’ puts people in the center of the process of development, replacing the GDP numbers. In light of Modi’s multiple initiatives that reportedly aim to improve the life of the everyday individual, Sen believes that these “innovative-sounding schemes” cannot take away the fact that it is extremely difficult to generate income from an uneducated and unhealthy labour-force, a definite hindrance in Modi’s plans for development growth.Economist Amartya Sen exposed the flaws of the over simplistic GDP centered development model and presented very forceful pragmatic arguments to make it people centric. In an interview with The Hindu, Sen stated that “the NDA government had been slow to move on key reforms and even failed to deliver on the reforms it had promised, thus hampering the successful functioning of a market economy.” He believes that despite the fact the NDA government has fared better than the UPA government, India faces a setback in that we are one of the only countries in the world which is “trying to get universally educated and universal healthcare through the private sector.”On the other hand, Japan, US, Europe, China and even Cuba understood the importance of making education and healthcare widespread and universal. Citing Adam Smith’s 1776 prediction that separating economic growth from the quality of the labour forcewasa mistake that the British government was making, Sen says that decades down the line, history seems to be repeating itself.This is considering the fact that the current government seems to prioritise economic growth over tackling the greater and proportionate issue of unqualified labour.

However, he believes that unless the government focuseson improving and developing the terrible social conditions and infrastructure that plagues the majority of the Indian population, there can be no rapid economic growth. In a report published by Quartz, Amartya Sen states that he has always been a firm believer in democracy and applauds its vast progress since Independence.He has always maintained that it is the most stable way of governance. On his 83 rd birthday, we want to applaud his legendary prowess in the world of economics by reflecting in-depth about his major predictions regarding the various facets of the Indian economy.

Development according to amartya sen