Closing of schools: What It Really Tells Us About Economics In India
News has come that 90000 schools will be closed in the country. On the surface this looks like a sad story. Many will blame the government of today. Many will blame poor planning. But this event is bigger than one government or one policy. It is the visible result of choices made long ago. It began right after independence.
A Planned Economy That Was Never Planned At Home
India adopted the model of a planned economy soon after independence. Five year plans were written in Delhi. Big numbers and big targets filled these plans. But real planning never reached the village. At the grassroot level a small group always gained the most. The common family was left as a passive receiver, not a real partner in the plan. This gap between paper and ground is still visible today.
When Universal Health Stays Only On Paper
Universal health care was one strong promise of independent India. It was supposed to reach every citizen without any discrimination. But this promise is still far from real life. Take the village of Chetan Tola Khutaha in PS Barahiya. This village has no primary health centre even today. A sick person here must travel a long distance for basic care. This is not a story from the past. It is the present condition of many villages.
Schools Exist But Students Do Not
Education shows a similar gap. Schools are present in most regions. But their number is not enough for real need in some pockets, while in other places schools stand almost empty. One big reason is migration. Families are moving from villages to cities in search of a better life. This search is changing the basic structure of the Indian family.
The Shrinking Family And Its Hidden Effect
The family is the basic unit of consumption and production in modern economics. When families shift to cities and become smaller, the number of children in villages naturally falls. Fewer children means fewer students. Fewer students means schools without enough enrollment. This is the direct and often ignored reason behind school closures. It is not only about bad teaching or bad management. It is about a demographic shift that few people talk about.
Ethics Inside And Outside Institutions
There is another layer to this story. It is the layer of ethics. Indian society carries a moral weakness. This weakness is not only inside institutions. It also lives inside individuals. And individual choices shape institutional behaviour over time.
A clear example comes from Uttar Pradesh. In 1992 the state government passed a strict law against cheating in board exams. Students caught using unfair means could face arrest. The law worked well on paper. Cheating fell sharply. But the pass percentage also fell sharply. Public anger grew fast. The government that pushed this reform did not stay long in power and the law itself was later withdrawn by the next government. The full political story of that time also includes other big events. But many still remember the backlash against this strict law. It shows a hard truth about Indian society. When a government tries real discipline it often loses public support because individual habits resist strict rules more than they resist slow decay.
Digital Addiction And The Death Of Critical Thinking
Today a new problem sits on top of the old ones. Digital addiction is spreading fast across the country. Many citizens spend hours every day inside their phones. Their mind slowly gets trapped inside the story told by their favourite political party. Independent thinking gets weaker every year. People stop asking hard questions. Critical thinking is going into the bin.
A Simple Test: Five Kilometre And Own Family
I want to offer a simple method here. I call it the theory of five kilometre and own family. This method needs no economic survey. It needs no NSSO data. Any citizen can use it at home today.
The first step looks inward. Count the people in your own family. Make a short list. Check how many of them are true beneficiaries of the current government's work. Ask two honest questions for each name on that list. Is this benefit really the result of the present government's action? Will this benefit last or will it disappear tomorrow?
The second step looks outward. Walk five kilometre from your home in all four directions. Go east. Go west. Go north. Go south. Look closely at the roads the schools the hospitals and the water supply. Ask one simple question. Has real infrastructure improved inside this circle? If the answer is clearly yes then development in that area is real. If the answer is no then big claims on paper carry very little weight.
Conclusion
This method is simple but it is honest. It does not depend on any official report or any big data set. It depends only on what a person can see and count with their own eyes. The closure of 90000 schools should push every citizen toward this small exercise. Look at your own family first. Walk your own five kilometre next. Only then judge the real state of development in this country.
© 2026 KS Anant. All rights reserved.
This article is an original work by the author. No part of it may be reproduced, copied, or republished without permission.
A Planned Economy That Was Never Planned At Home
India adopted the model of a planned economy soon after independence. Five year plans were written in Delhi. Big numbers and big targets filled these plans. But real planning never reached the village. At the grassroot level a small group always gained the most. The common family was left as a passive receiver, not a real partner in the plan. This gap between paper and ground is still visible today.
When Universal Health Stays Only On Paper
Universal health care was one strong promise of independent India. It was supposed to reach every citizen without any discrimination. But this promise is still far from real life. Take the village of Chetan Tola Khutaha in PS Barahiya. This village has no primary health centre even today. A sick person here must travel a long distance for basic care. This is not a story from the past. It is the present condition of many villages.
Schools Exist But Students Do Not
Education shows a similar gap. Schools are present in most regions. But their number is not enough for real need in some pockets, while in other places schools stand almost empty. One big reason is migration. Families are moving from villages to cities in search of a better life. This search is changing the basic structure of the Indian family.
The Shrinking Family And Its Hidden Effect
The family is the basic unit of consumption and production in modern economics. When families shift to cities and become smaller, the number of children in villages naturally falls. Fewer children means fewer students. Fewer students means schools without enough enrollment. This is the direct and often ignored reason behind school closures. It is not only about bad teaching or bad management. It is about a demographic shift that few people talk about.
Ethics Inside And Outside Institutions
There is another layer to this story. It is the layer of ethics. Indian society carries a moral weakness. This weakness is not only inside institutions. It also lives inside individuals. And individual choices shape institutional behaviour over time.
A clear example comes from Uttar Pradesh. In 1992 the state government passed a strict law against cheating in board exams. Students caught using unfair means could face arrest. The law worked well on paper. Cheating fell sharply. But the pass percentage also fell sharply. Public anger grew fast. The government that pushed this reform did not stay long in power and the law itself was later withdrawn by the next government. The full political story of that time also includes other big events. But many still remember the backlash against this strict law. It shows a hard truth about Indian society. When a government tries real discipline it often loses public support because individual habits resist strict rules more than they resist slow decay.
Digital Addiction And The Death Of Critical Thinking
Today a new problem sits on top of the old ones. Digital addiction is spreading fast across the country. Many citizens spend hours every day inside their phones. Their mind slowly gets trapped inside the story told by their favourite political party. Independent thinking gets weaker every year. People stop asking hard questions. Critical thinking is going into the bin.
A Simple Test: Five Kilometre And Own Family
I want to offer a simple method here. I call it the theory of five kilometre and own family. This method needs no economic survey. It needs no NSSO data. Any citizen can use it at home today.
The first step looks inward. Count the people in your own family. Make a short list. Check how many of them are true beneficiaries of the current government's work. Ask two honest questions for each name on that list. Is this benefit really the result of the present government's action? Will this benefit last or will it disappear tomorrow?
The second step looks outward. Walk five kilometre from your home in all four directions. Go east. Go west. Go north. Go south. Look closely at the roads the schools the hospitals and the water supply. Ask one simple question. Has real infrastructure improved inside this circle? If the answer is clearly yes then development in that area is real. If the answer is no then big claims on paper carry very little weight.
Conclusion
This method is simple but it is honest. It does not depend on any official report or any big data set. It depends only on what a person can see and count with their own eyes. The closure of 90000 schools should push every citizen toward this small exercise. Look at your own family first. Walk your own five kilometre next. Only then judge the real state of development in this country.
© 2026 KS Anant. All rights reserved.
This article is an original work by the author. No part of it may be reproduced, copied, or republished without permission.
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