India’s rise

A time to celebrate or to reflect?

A recent article by historian, William Dalrymple in a special isue of Time Magazine, to commemorate 60 years of the country’s independence mentions: “The idea that India is a poor country is a relatively recent one. South Asia was always famous as the richest region of the globe.”
Dalrymple mentions that at the height of the Mughal empire, our country was rivalled only by China. By the 17th Century, Lahore had grown larger and richer than Constantinople and with some two million inhabitants, dwarfed London and Paris.
In 1600, when the British East India company was founded, Britain was generating 1.8% of world’s GDP while India was producing as much as 22.5%. By 1870, Britain contributed 9.1% of the world’s GDP while India had been reduced to a third world nation. After this period of set back, Dalrymple argues that India is well on the way to making a strong comeback.
He concludes: “Extraordinary as it is, the rise of India and China is nothing more than a return to the ancient equilibrium of world trade, with Europeans no longer appearing as gunboat riding colonial masters but instead reverting to their traditional role: that of eager consumers of the much celebrated manufactures, luxuries and services of the East.”

I wish I could share Dalrymple’s optimism. Pardon me for my cynicism which it seems is also shared by a few others. A report in a recent issue of Newsweek,which covers global trends in education, mentions that the country’s educational system is in a mess. The report quotes opinion leaders like Kiran Karnik of Nasscom and TV Mohandas Pai of Infosys who mention that developing and growing India’s skilled workforce will be the biggest challenge the country faces in the years to come. Meanwhile, there seems to be a severe dilution of our basic values. Indiscipline, corruption, religious violence and child labour show no signs of declining. Our traditional strengths, thrift and saving for the rainy day are eroding rapidly in an age of consumerism, easy loans and credit cards. The manner in which the current president of India was elected or the way a high performer like Dayanidhi Maran was asked to quita few months back, reflects the lack of integrity, leave alone vision, in our political leaders. And the manner in which the Indian cricket team lost a golden opportunity to score a comprehensive 2 – 0 win over England in the recently concluded test series, is a strong indication that even for the people who are widely perceived as role models, self preservation triumphs over national pride.

There is an old English proverb: “One swallow does not make a summer.” Similarly, a few IT or pharma companies cannot be equated with a prosperous country. or for than matter an enlightened society.