Four years ago, during his 76th Independence Day address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi invoked the idea of Viksit Bharat for the first time. He gave a call for pancha prana — five pledges for the citizens of India, the first among which was the building of a developed India by the time the nation completes 100 years of its Independence in 2047. He called the 25-year road map amrit kaal. For the amrit kaal to succeed, citizens were called upon to take the other four pledges, too — freedom from the colonial mindset, pride in their own heritage, strengthening national integrity, and upholding civic responsibility.

The PM’s vision was tall and daunting. NITI Aayog projected Viksit Bharat’s economic targets as achieving $15,000-18,000 per capita, five to six times the present levels, and taking the country’s GDP to $30 trillion, more than seven times the present level. For these targets to be achieved, the economy has to register a year-on-year GDP growth rate of at least 7 per cent for a long time. Only a few countries, such as China and Singapore, have been able to maintain such high growth rates for longer durations. But the Prime Minister is not a leader with empty dreams. Despite........

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