JOURNEY TOWARDS SELF-RELIANCE – A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE J2SR COUNTRY ROAD MAPS OF ASEAN COUNTRIES WITH INDIA

Received: 19.06.2021; Revised: 28.07.2021, Accepted: 21.09.2021, Published Online: 26.10.2021

Dr. Nalini Krishnan

Professor, Chetana’s Institute of Management and Research

Dr. Ruchika Agarwal

Assistant Professor, Chetana’s Institute of Management and Research

Abstract

Self-Reliance is a country’s capacity to plan, finance, and implement solutions to local development challenges, as well as the commitment to see these through effectively, inclusively, and with accountability (USAID). The USAID and its partner organizations have created a road map of the Journey to Self-Reliance (J2SR) using metrics such as country commitment and capacity.

Based on the theory of Change,  the Capacity measures the extent to which a country has progressed in terms of social, political and economic development. These include the conditions that a country has in terms of health, education, safety and security. It also takes into consideration the role of the civil society and the private sector in a country’s development. Commitment is primarily the extent to which the choices that a country makes supports its self-reliance journey such as policy choices, formal government structures and many others which might help or hinder a country’s journey towards self-reliance.

The study analyses India’s journey towards self-reliance through this lens and also compares her progress in relation to some ASEAN countries using the metrics developed by USAID.Capacity and commitment metrics has been calculated based on the primary raw data. The results helped to understand the movement of metrics along either the commitment, capacity or both the metrics and hence to assess the developmental challenges and the roadmap towards becoming self-reliant.

Keywords: Self-reliance, USAID, ASEAN, Business and investment environment, Liberal Democracy