From a Self Sustaining Buddhist Economy to an Emerging Indigo Economy - A Case Study on India's Development Process

Abstract

It is projected that the shares of gross domestic product (GDP) of the developed and transition economies are likely to fall in next two decades and the share of GDP of the developing economies would rise. Along with GDP, pollution will also increase. India’s recent economic performance and rising pollution level substantiate this observation. For centuries; most of the people of Indian subcontinent followed a Buddhist way of life- relying on small means to lead an extraordinarily satisfactory existence. During last two hundred years, this self sustaining economic philosophy has been pushed to the back seat, first, by the colonial forces and subsequently by ‘development’ economists of the last century. Currently, the climate change issue has divided the global economy into two broad categories - namely ‘green’ and ‘indigo’ economies. Capital, for its own survival, has become very aggressive and all the economic space, however small and informal it might be, is being invaded by it. After industry and agriculture, the process of integration of local informal economies, like the hawker economy, with the global monopoly capital has been started. Though the Indian state is least concerned with the safety of its larger section of population and is collaborating with the global capital to turn India into a manufacturing hub, poor farmers and indigenous people are organizing themselves, against such move, in various parts of India.