India as 'developed country' by 2047: Attainable goal, or chimera?

Even as India strives to climb the development mountain, the fact is that the mountaintop is already crowded. If it got there in 2047, India would be very much a late-comer, notes T N Ninan

The Narendra Modi government has set before the country the goal of attaining “developed country” status by 2047. On an initial reckoning, this seems a tall order, and one might justifiably wonder whether this is just another chimera -- like doubling farmers’ incomes by 2022, or getting manufacturing to account for 25 per cent of GDP, also by 2022, or becoming a $5-trillion economy next year. Besides, the government has not defined what being a “developed” country might mean, and there is no one international benchmark to apply.

However, various development indicators exist, focusing on income level, health and education