India Constitution

Although we are aspiring to become a super power as early as possible, the country is best with corruption, financial indiscipline, over population and power struggle which hinders the real path of progress.

India, the largest democracy with nearly 140 crore population lacks in many aspects like housing, electricity supply, drinking water and off course unemployment is one of the main problem.

Financial indiscipline

The financial indiscipline is proved by the fact that bad debts worth over Rs 16.25 lakh crore have been written off by Indian banks in the last one decade. The country has long history of  scams in banking and other sectors.  The list of financial frauds include a Rs 13000 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam orchestrated by fugitive Jeweller Nirav Modi, his uncle Mehul Choksi and others. The scam relates to siphoning of money using fraudulent letter of undertakings issued by the bank.

A Rs 6000 crore involving business tycoon Vijay Mallya who alleged obtained a loan from a consortium of 17 banks, including State Bank of India (SBI) and diverted the funds, purportedly meant for operational expenses, to offshore accounts/personal accounts, is another fraud. The SBI consortium led by SBI, included PNB, Bank of Baroda, and Canara Bank among others. All the three scamsters- Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya fled the country and are yet to be deported to India although extradition process is on. These scams expose irregularities in security transaction of banks and financial companies. They also expose the collusion of certain bank officials who abated the crime, despite drawing good pay package.

A Rs 30,000 crore 1992 Harshad Mehta securities scam is termed as the biggest Indian financial fraud. The stock broker Mehta began circular trading, where shares were bought and resold by a group of investors to build stock prices artificially. He used the loopholes in the banking system, especially the ready forward (RF) deals for government securities. He exploited the practice of banks issuing Bank Receipts (BRs) as collateral for short-term loans (RF). He convinced banks to issue fake BRs, which were then used to obtain funds from other banks. Then the funds obtained were diverted into the stock market, causing artificial inflation in stock prices.

To curb such manipulations the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) was set up in 1988 as a non-statutory body to regulating the Indian securities market, much before the Harshad Mehta scam broke out in 1992. However it gained statutory status in the same year, with the enactment of the SEBI Act. The act empowered SEBI to protect the interests of investors, promote the development of the market, and regulate its operations. However despite the act, the investor frauds continue to occur even in cooperative banks, the reason being that certain bank officers collude with scamsters for selfish gains.

 Investment frauds

A Rs. 49,100 crore investment fraud, by the Pearls Agrotech Corporation Limited (PACL), in which nearly 5.50 over people were duped by late Nirmal Singh Bhangoo, by promising them land at cheaper rates, although he did not own even an inch of land, has been the biggest fraud. Now the process of selling his properties under the supervision of the  Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is going on at very slow pace.

 The Saradha scheme

The Saradha investment fraud (2013) involving over Rs 2,500 crore collected from nearly 1.7 million investors, by promising them handsome interest is yet another example of financial irregularity. The investors hailed mainly from North Eastern states including Odisha, Assam and Tripura.

 UCO Bank

In yet another case a Rs. 6210.72 crore fraud involving former UCO Bank CMD Subodh Kumar Goel recently surfaced in Kolkata, West Bengal. He sanctioned credit facilities to M/s Concast Steel & Power Ltd. (CSPL) and siphoned of loan funds.

New India Coop Bank

In yet another case Hitesh Mehta, GM of New India Coop Bank was arrested by Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai Police on charges of embezzling Rs 122 crore from the bank’s funds.

Torres investment fraud

Then are frauds like Torres Investment fraud with relatively small amount of Rs 57 crore involving nearly 3,700 investors, which broke out a few months ago in Mumbai.

Corruption

The deep routed corruption is the biggest hindrance in the path of progress. While there is a quid pro quo in Government offices to expedite the work, there is no accountability for timely completion of projects. Abundant number of cases of corruption are being handled by the Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation and other investigating agencies across the country. The cases include the cases of bribes in awarding public works contracts.

Projects

With money changing hands there is heavy cost escalation and hardly any project is completed in time.  Besides the work is of inferior quality due to lack of supervision while implementing the projects. In Maharashtra crores of rupees have been invested in various Irrigation projects ever since the state was formed in 1960. However no summer passes by without compulsion to provide the water by tankers to certain districts every year. No one is able to answer why the dams get dried up and why there is no proper water conservation. Such situation occurs despite a plenty of water supply schemes announced by the state and central government.

Populist Measures

While financial indiscipline is reflected in Government work during normal time, the economy goes topsy turvy, during elections due to the soaps offered before elections to lure the voters. The recent example is that of the “Mukhyamantri – Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana” scheme launched by the  Maharashtra Government to give a financial benefit of Rs.1,500/- per month through direct benefit transfer (DBT), to women in the age group of 21 to 65 years, to improve their health and nutrition and to strengthen their decisive role in the family. However it has put a financial burden of nearly Rs 36,000 crore on the state exchequer. Besides a promise has been given to increase this amount up to Rs 2100. In that case the burden will increase up to Rs 55,000 crore.

Besides the ruling “Mahayuti” Government, a three party combine-BJP-Shinde Sena-NCP (Ajit Pawar), announced a stipend for HSC pass students, according to which the  students who have passed their 12^th class examination will receive a monthly stipend of rupees 6000, the students pursuing the diploma will receive a stipend of rupees 8000, and the students at the graduation level will receive a monthly stipend of rupees 10000. The total cost is around Rs. 24,600 crore.

The state is already reeling under the debt burden of Rs. 8,39,275 crore. Due to various schemes, now the debt is expected to rise upto Rs 9.32 lakh crore, which is 18.87 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product. Ironically all these soaps were announced a little before Assembly elections held in November 2024.  All such soaps are nothing but allurements given to voters before the elections and amount to nothing but corruption.

Court Intervention

A lopsided administration and indecision by bureaucracy leads to pending decisions and in  several cases the court intervention is sought by the affected parties. In the last few years, the courts across the country are over burdened with a plenty of litigations and they courts have to give decisions even in the matters supposed to be handled by the administration/bureaucracy.

 

Floor crossing

Among this there is a growing tendency to defect leaders, elected representatives from other parties to strengthen own political party. This despite Anti-Defection Law (91 st Constitutional Amendment Act (2003) which stipulates that at least two-thirds of the members of a party must be in favor of a “merger” with another party. However going by the records of the last few years, a poaching has been rampant and the leaders switch on from one party to another to cling to power or seek favors.  Of late there have also been several attempts, using investigating agencies to coerce leaders, using investigating agencies to change the party.

Education

Even the field of education is not free from shortcomings and students find it difficult to get admission in the desired stream due to limited number of educational institutes. The leakage of question papers of competitive and other professional examinations also occasionally raises its head in some parts of the country or another. The competition to seek admission in medical colleges is cut-throat. There are nearly one lakh seats in 706 medical colleges of which 55 per cent colleges are private.

Uttar Pradesh-85, Maharashtra-68(30 Govt, 24 private, 01 AIIMS, 01 Central University, 12 autonomous Universities), Tamil Nadu-64, Karnataka-61, Bihar-19, Odisha- 15, Assam-13, Chhatisgarh, Punjab and Delhi-10 each, Puducherry-09, Uttarakhand-06, Himachal Pradesh and Jharkhand-07 each,  Andaman Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Goa, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim-one college each. The limited number of seats compel students to migrate to other states,

The strength of moderate size college is 200 to 500, while the strength of bigger size college is 500 to 800. Out of nearly 24 lakh, over 11 lakh students pass out the NEET examination very year. Since private medical colleges charge exorbitant fees the Parliament Sub Committee of Union Health and Family Welfare in its 163 rd report has asked private medical colleges to reduce the cost of the 5 year course, by half.

According to Dr Pravin Shingare, former Director of the Directorate of Medical Education and Research, it is the lack of planning by the Govt which leads to the shortage of colleges. A medical college can be set up in a budget of Rs 600 crore within 03 years. Considering annual recurring expenses of Rs 150 crore, it is not difficult to set up 2 to 3 medical colleges in every district. Compared to huge expenditure incurred for public projects these expenses are negligible.

NEP

The country has been unable to devise proper education policy as yet. Although National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) has been formulated certain states have objected to it since the education falls in concurrent list, under which both the centre and states are equal say. The literacy rate projected by the NEP 2020 is 80-85% for 2025. It was around 80.3% among people aged 7 and above in 2022-23. However if the country has to progress from Kashmir to Kanyakumari on equal lines, then the curricula followed in Kendriya Vidyalayas should be adopted by all schools across the country.

Health

There are 43000 private and 27000 Govt hospitals, having 20 lakh (12 lakh private and 08 lakh Govt) beds in the country.  As per WHO norms the beds in the ratio of 1000:03 are desirable. Nearly 13.86 lakh doctors in the ratio of 1:811 are working across the country today. However going by burgeoning population by 2030 the services of over 21 lakhs doctors would be required. The break up of registered doctors is: Maharashtra-209540, Tamil Nadu-149399 and Karnataka- 141155 and Rajasthan-49049.

Disputes

A host of issues including caste conflicts, demand for more and more reservations, disputes over state boundaries, disputes of over water sharing and  regional chauvinism continue to raise their head time and again. Instead of feeling proud in making progress with work, the people are eager to seek reservations in jobs, college admissions claiming backwardness. For example the Maratha community in Maharashtra is considered strongest since it was associated with 17 th century ruler Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the founder of Hindvi Swarajya. However of late there has been clamor for Maratha reservation. Besides although 52 per cent is the limit for reservations, the attempts are repeatedly made by the rulers to promise more reservations to please electorates, since the success in elections is the yardstick.

The vexed Maharashtra-Karnataka boundary row also continues to smolder intermittently. The dispute is over inclusion of the cities including Belgum, Karwar and Nippani in Karnataka by the M Mahajan Commission way back in early seventies. The Maharashtra is oppose to this saying that the division should have been geographical contiguity and village as a unit.

 

Similarly the dispute over sharing the water of the river Cauvery also flares up particularly during times of water scarcity, between the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. While the Cauvery basin also includes portions of Kerala and the Union Territory of Puducherry, the most significant and longstanding conflict is between these two states.

A final award was made in 2007, after the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) was formed in 1990. A final award was made in 2007. The Supreme Court also intervened, declaring the Cauvery River a national resource and issuing orders regarding water allocation.

 

Chauvinism

Regional disputes accompanied by chauvinism is another aspect. The Hindi language is considered as most commonly understood language as evident from the popularity of Hindi films and music across the country. However some of the Southern states are feel that the Hindi  language is being imposed on them and it is not a national language.

 

Spiritualism

India is considered a land of spiritualism and thus has hundreds of deities and festivals associated with them. Basically most of the festivals are based on seasons like spring season, harvesting season etc. The people live with history, as such there are plenty of festivals celebrated with gusto and jubilation. With festivals come holidays during which offices are closed and industrial production is down. The list of holidays associated with festivals is much longer compared to two National Holidays. The strikes, agitations are other issues. No one bothers how many man hours are lost due to the holidays..

There is no fear of law among people and there are thousands of ways to bypass the rule to avoid punishment. What India needs is a set up common rules for the citizens irrespective of caste, community and religion and their strict implementation. The control of population which has surpassed even China, is most essential. The avowed slogan Unity in Diversity comes alive only during a war and a cricket match against its traditional enemy…Pakistan.

NPA

The country’s Non-Performing Asset (NPA) of public banks is in the region of Rs 5,29 lakh crore. The NPA is a loan or advance where a borrower has defaulted on payments, typically for 90 days or more. These assets no longer generate revenue for the bank or financial institution and can negatively impact their financial health and credit risk. These are also referred to as “bad assets” and can reduce a bank’s profitability and liquidity.

Unemployment

In April 2025, India’s unemployment rate was 5.1%. This figure represents the first-ever monthly unemployment data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI). The unemployment rate for men was slightly higher at 5.2%, while for women it was 5.0%. This data spearheaded a significant shift in monitoring employment, as compared to the quarterly and annual reports published earlier. A Period Labour Force Survey (PLFS) has been launched by the ministry. Offering real time insights, this body has contributed towards gauging the proportion of unemployed people. Based on the Current Weekly Status (CWS) this survey uses the previous seven days as a reference.