Jaipur: India and China followed two different models of governance. India runs on constitutional democracy, elections, and individual freedoms. China, though a one-party state, is increasingly described as practising performance-based democracy, said speakers at a JLF session Thursday.Drawing the contrast, Arun Maira, former Planning Commission member and author of ‘Reimagining India’s Economy’, said, “The Chinese politician is very good at the politics of implementation. Our politicians are very good at the politics of elections.” Maira argued that India’s political competition often fuels short-term populism. Long-term institution building suffers. Decision-making remains highly centralised. Weak contract enforcement, land acquisition hurdles, poor urban infrastructure, and limited local govt autonomy continue to deter industrial expansion. China’s success, he noted, lies in effective local governance. Privatisation was another flashpoint. Maira said China did not dismantle its public sector banks or strategic industries. Instead, it reformed and strengthened them, ensuring accountability and competition. Fellow panellist and senior journalist A K Bhattacharya said, “In India, privatisation has often been driven by fiscal pressures rather than a strategy to build capabilities.” The divergence between the two nations became sharp after the 1990s. China scaled up manufacturing, exports, and empowered local govts. India’s manufacturing share stagnated at 15–17% of GDP, too low to absorb surplus agricultural labour. The speakers said nearly half of India’s workforce remains tied to agriculture, which contributes only 16% to the economy. Manufacturing is concentrated in a few states, leaving large regions underdeveloped. China, by contrast, moved millions from farms to factories. “I think we failed to focus adequately on primary education. We failed to focus adequately on skilling and re-skilling,” said Bhattacharya, explaining why the surplus workers in agriculture could not be absorbed in manufacturing. Speakers also flagged India’s rising dependence on imports of industrial goods, especially electronics and machinery from China. Despite initiatives like Make in India, the country still lacks deep manufacturing ecosystems and component-level strength.
