Essay on “India is a Rich Country Inhabited By Poor People” Complete Essay for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

India is a Rich Country Inhabited By Poor People

India is a rich country inhabited by poor people. It is one of the ten poorest countries of the world. This is partly so because the resources of India have not been properly utilized and partly because per capita share of resources ‘is small. An assessment of India’s physical and human resources will make it evident to us.

Let us first consider India’s physical resources. There is plenty of water to be utilized for irrigation and for generation of hydroelectricity. But we have not been able to harness properly this resource to the required extent. Water is made available to us either from rain or from the underground. The rain water, most of it, flows down to sea. We do not have many reservoirs and dams to store it and use it in off-season to increase our food output. Some steps have been taken in this direction but still much more is needed to be done. India is passing through an economic crisis. Hydro-electricity and water can help us overcome it. The production of hydro-electricity will go a long way in softening miseries of the people.

The next physical resource is soil. The soils in India are quite productive and about 50 per cent of India’s total area is under cultivation. Steps are to be taken to bring under cultivation the remaining barren areas, such as deserts of Rajasthan and ravines in other States. In this field we can acquire know-how from foreign countries which faced similar problems. For instance, Israel most of whose land was a desert in 1948 now has green and blooming fields. We can benefit largely from the experience of such countries. Japan also can help much. Soil erosion has also to be checked. It causes lot of harm to the fertile layer of the land. Science can help us in this field as it has been already doing this in many respects.

Then we come to the mineral wealth of India. India is quite an affluent country in this regard. There are vast resources of iron ore, manganese, mica and bauxite, etc. We are exporting some of them at throw-away prices. This trend is to be checked. For example, the export of iron ore to Japan is not at all economical to India. We must curb this tendency by taking into consideration future needs and world market prices, etc. At the same time, we should try to export finished iron products and not the iron ore. In coal, we have self-sufficiency but the coal mines need mechanization for a better economy. Also transportation facilities are not upto the mark. No doubt, we are deficient in petroleum but search must continue for it. It is one of the vital needs of these days. The whole of life depends on energy of which oil forms the major chunk. So far as the forest wealth is concerned, about 20 per cent of India’s total area is covered by them. We are, thus, quite rich in our physical resources but the thing lacking is that we are not utilizing them properly. There lies the crux of the problem and it is for this that we continue to be poor.

Now let us undertake the survey of India’s human resources. To speak the truth, there is a population explosion in India. Our population is around hundred crore, and about 45 per cent of the total population is labour force. Unemployment is causing a big concern. It is becoming difficult to provide jobs to all the unemployed, whether educated or uneducated. Every year the army of the unemployed swells up. The growth rate of population is very rapid being 2.11 per cent per annum. About 68 per cent of the working force is ungainfully employed in agriculture. About 70 per cent of India’s population dwells in the villages. They are finding it hard to make their both ends meet. The per-hectare production is very low in comparison to other developing countries. Proper agriculture facilities are not there. People are, therefore, poverty-stricken. Another glaring feature of India’s population is that 48 per cent of the population is illiterate. This is really disgusting. Even after five decades of Independence, we have not made much of a breakthrough. Even those who are educated, are worse than uneducated in some ways, for the illiterate people can do manual labour and earn for themselves but the case with the educated unemployed is quite different. In a way they are helpless.

After knowing the physical and human resources one can realize how our present utilization of various resources is and where we lack and what steps we should take to improve the situation, their proper use and the avoidance of their misuse can only help the people out of their present misery. There is no lack of the potentialities of physical and human resources in India. Only thing we have failed so far is in our planning. If we want that the people of this land of plenty should not remain poor, it is necessary that we develop pragmatic attitude to our five-year plans and give priorities to those sectors which can mitigate the sufferings of the dumb millions of India.

We should avoid the misuse of our resources. There is need for conservation of natural resources. The solution to India’s various ills lies in the resource-oriented planning. It is a must for India. No one can deny it. Until the time India utilizes its resources, it will always be said that India is a rich country inhabited by the poor people. It is true; there is no doubt about it. Let us pledge today and make the people prosperous by dint of hard work, perseverance and dedication.