Average life expectancy in India went up by 4.6 years in the decade upto 2008, according to the latest data released by the Registrar General of India. It was the heyday of economic reform. So it belies the idea that economic reform benefits only a small minority. Life expectancy of the average Indian was 66.1 years by 2008. This is very close to the Biblical saying, “Seventy years is all you have”. The gains have been inclusive. Women and the rural population made more substantial gains than the male counterparts in urban areas. Till the 1980s, women were behind men in this regard. The rise in life expectancy is attributed to greater availability of nutritious foods, better health care and hygiene. Women’s life expectancy has gone up because mortality rates of the girl child have dipped. The increase in longevity in rural areas proves that economic growth benefits village people as well.
This knocks the bottom out of the strident argument against reform, especially resistance to the entry of foreign companies and greater competition in domestic markets. Of course, the government must ensure that reform is for the greatest number. Business should be easier to carry out. Investment should go up spurring growth. Labour laws should be made more flexible. Skills development should forge ahead. Infrastructure should be expanded to generate more employment. However, the darker side cannot be ignored. One must think of the large BPL population, farmers’ suicides and callousness at health centres. And a long life is not necessarily a happy and prosperous life. India is low down in the United Nations Happiness Index, as Amartya Sen will bear out.