Problems Facing India
Emilie Bezler & Jordan Brockhouse
Population Growth
Rapid population growth has contributed to common, pressing issues for some of India's cities. 10 percent of the world's fatalities occur in India alone. A life is lost every 3.7 minutes due to traffic accidents. Crashes have a negative impact on the country because it costs the country approximately 3 percent of its GDP. As more and more people move into India's cities, these people will need safe places to live and work. There is already a shortage of 18.78 million households in India. Also, since there are more people and cities that keep getting larger, sprawling cities and reliance on automobiles have contributed to air pollution and poor public health.
Car Accident
A life is lost every 3.7 minutes due to traffic accidents.
In Need of a Job
People can't afford food, clothing, a house, etc. because they have no job to pay for what they need. There is a shortage of 18.78 million households in India.
Poor Public Health
The reliance on automobiles have contributed to air pollution and poor public health.
Inflation
Inflation is one of the biggest problems in India today. Property prices and food prices are inflating in India and is an increasing problem. For example in late 2013, Indian inflation reached 11%, despite growth falling to 4.8%. This proves that inflation is not due to just excess demand, but also related to the costs of things. For example, supply in agriculture have caused food prices to raise. This is inflation and causes the problem of the reducement in living standards of the poor people who are sensitive or cannot afford high food prices. The Central Bank of India is determined to have made inflation a top priority and have been willing to raise interest rates, but cost inflation is more difficult to solve and may cause a decrease ment in India's growth by trying to reduce the inflation.
Poor Educational Standards
There are two broad reasons why India has a poor educational system. With poor access and poor attendance, India's education is horrible condition. Poor access is a problem because a large number of school going children are not even able to access schools. Also, poor attendance is a problem because even if a child does get enrolled in a school, there is no guarantee that he or she will attend.
Inefficient Agriculture
Agriculture produces 17.4% of economic output, but over 51% of the work force are employed in agriculture. This is the most inefficient sector of the economy. Also, India cannot achieve sustained progress in agriculture unless and until more than half of the cropped area is brought under assured irrigation.
Older Citizens
As the young population in India starts to increase, the elderly population is decreasing. Indians never seem to "retire" and work very hard. The elderly needs more recognition because all the fame goes toward younger citizens of India. There are interesting opportunities and challenges of elderly parents remaining in India while their children have migrated. To tackle these challenges, India must develop policies to ensure that is is older citizens too have healthy and happy lives.