OUR TRYST WITH DESTINY: Building a Circular Economy for More Inclusive Growth 

Independent India is at a turning point. Will it turn off the path to the destiny it set out to at the midnight hour of 15thAugust 1947? Will it provide poorna swaraj—full freedom (political, social, and economic)—to all its citizens? Or it will be a nation in which some citizens are more equal than others: the rich more equal than the poor; Hindus more equal than Muslims; upper castes more equal than others. 

We must rediscover who we are and agree on who we want to be. The Indian economy is in a crisis. The people know it is, but its’ leaders deny it. Like ostriches, they try to bury their heads in sands of statistics hoping the storm will pass. They believe more GDP will produce good lives for citizens and try to convince them that India is on the right path because the size of its economy is growing faster and becoming larger than other nations. 

Here are seven radical ideas emerging as pathways to build a more resilient economy and a more just society, published in the India Development Review on 15thAugust 2025, the 78th anniversary of India’s Independence. 

https://idronline.org/article/perspectives/our-tryst-with-destiny-building-a-circular-economy-for-inclusive-growth/