A good society is not completely based on the wealth in it. Jeffrey Sach’s theory suggests that a good society has a bigger picture, beyond economics – social inclusion, environmental stewardship and government functioning.
The Indian economy has grown at a rapid speed these past few years, becoming the world’s fastest-growing economy in 2015. The GDP%, the employment rate has increased, thus slowing economic growth. The education and health services have also been improving over time as people are able to make beneficial investments and are able to save money for the long term. There are opportunities being provided to people mow, at least for certain people. Even though these facts give the country a good reputation in the world, not all of it determines if it has a good society. A good society, as mentioned by Sachs requires social inclusion, environmental stewardship and how a government works. I know that India has grown a lot over time, situations for social inclusion have improved, environmentally people have started taking better measures, and the government has been struggling to fight corruption, amongst themselves as well. Women Rights in India have increased, at least in urban cities, women are facing less discrimination, getting equal opportunities for jobs, education and healthcare. However, the same cannot be said for the rural parts of the country. With so much population in the country it is hard to manage so many people, thus, some women have to face feeling like a minority as the men are given preferences in villages. Other than this, religious aspects also affect the well-being of a society. All religions should be able to feel included and have a respectful relationship with each other. This situation has also improved over time in India as people from different religions struggled to stay in harmony earlier. The country has been seeing fewer situations where some religions feel discriminated against but the issue hasn’t completely dissolved just yet. Religious festivals like ‘Ganesh Chaturthi’ require submerging an idol into the river, this can be problematic for the environment if the idol is not biodegradable, but changing these customs completely for such a big population would be very difficult since they hold very sentimental values and beliefs.
The government has also been struggling to fight corruption, measures like demonetization in 2016 are being taken and while such measures have been a struggle for many and could be deemed controversial, have really made a difference and development can be seen. But of course, there are still miles to go in terms of improvement.