You can't eat your viksit cake and...

'Nobody in India will tell you it's 5 o'clock. And certainly, no Indian will ever remind you it's the weekend.' While Piyush Goyal meant well to sell Indian work ethic at a gathering in the Netherlands on Oct 27, the unfortunate fact is that 3 days later, the pointless deaths of 4 workers in a Delhi shoe factory fire does sit uneasy with India's reputation of having 'attractive wage arbitrage', making it a competitive economic force globally.

Being 'viksit' is more than a GDP thing. It's also how you view your workforce, especially blue-collar, and treat it. AI can be 'slave-driven'. But one hopes that no one expects to gloat on citizens - humans - to compete on AI terms despite any 'Narayana Murthy school of cheerleading'. Accidents do happen. But even as the shoe factory fire in Mangolpuri Industrial Area is being investigated, a valid factory licence points to the level of inspection that authorities may be conducting before certifying such institutions as fit for business - and for workers. This is not about employees working overtime in a festival market. It's about whether corners being cut at the cost of employee safety to bump up productivity is par for the course or not.

Being 'viksit' is about having certain non-negotiable norms, regardless of whether those working are willing to forgo those norms or not. 'We are like this' is not a value system that cuts the ice. At least not if India wants to be considered by the developed world as a developed economy one day. In factories, this means safe shop floors; in offices, reasonable working hours. Enforcing rules and regulations that guarantee occupational safety and health is central to becoming viksit. One can't have one's 1st-world cake and eat a 3rd-world one too.