India the Superpower? Not so Fast!
Welcome to the new India!! India has posted four straight years of 8 percent growth and everyone is taking about the rising India. In a short time, India emerged as the other major power in the Asia. There is mounting support for India to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. But, is it the time to give superpower status to India. I say - not so fast.
While there is no doubt about the potential of the India and it's economy, severe structural and institutional problems will hobble it for years to come. Lets take a reality check. For all its Billionaires, Nobel Prizes and brilliant scholars and professionals, India is still a very poor country and it is the largest single-country contributor to the pool of illiterate people in the world. Also, India has to be a major player in world trade. As of today, India is just contributing less than one percent of world exports. As people are pointing out, India's growth is messy, chaotic and largely unplanned. Indian growth story is widening the gap between the rich and poor. I call it "The Great Divide". The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. The middle class is disappearing fast. India needs to find a way to bridge this gap. You find this great divide as soon as you enter India. On one side, you notice the dilapidated airports, vast slums and impoverished villages and on the other side, there are the vibrant modern cities, magnificent IT parks and so on.
There are three legs in the development triangle - free trade, education and infrastructure. India embraced free trade and it is the one of the main reasons for the development of India. But, the other two legs are still badly broken. First and foremost, India should improve its infrastructure. Even today, many poor people/villages are lacking water, electricity, proper roads and hospitals. For all its IT might, India is still a Farmers country and the agriculture sector is facing many problems. Then comes the education, which is still a problem in just the same way as it used to be. There's excellent education for the elite and some poor, but no education at all for some people at the base of the pyramid, particularly women.
On the brighter side, India is now poised to reach a higher position on the world scene than at any previous time. India's nuclear power and space program has given it an elite status. India is the world's fastest growing free market democracy. Inspite of its population and the poverty issues, India is still delivering real progress. India has a much younger population and it is into the right things, the modern, skill-intensive service sectors like IT. The overall outlook is fairly good and optimistic for India. "Our Time is Now," asserts The Times of India. It is definitely India's moment. It can grasp it and forge a new path for itself.
All in all, India has many reasons to be proud of, but there is a still a long way to go before we can call ourselves a 'Superpower'.
While there is no doubt about the potential of the India and it's economy, severe structural and institutional problems will hobble it for years to come. Lets take a reality check. For all its Billionaires, Nobel Prizes and brilliant scholars and professionals, India is still a very poor country and it is the largest single-country contributor to the pool of illiterate people in the world. Also, India has to be a major player in world trade. As of today, India is just contributing less than one percent of world exports. As people are pointing out, India's growth is messy, chaotic and largely unplanned. Indian growth story is widening the gap between the rich and poor. I call it "The Great Divide". The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. The middle class is disappearing fast. India needs to find a way to bridge this gap. You find this great divide as soon as you enter India. On one side, you notice the dilapidated airports, vast slums and impoverished villages and on the other side, there are the vibrant modern cities, magnificent IT parks and so on.
There are three legs in the development triangle - free trade, education and infrastructure. India embraced free trade and it is the one of the main reasons for the development of India. But, the other two legs are still badly broken. First and foremost, India should improve its infrastructure. Even today, many poor people/villages are lacking water, electricity, proper roads and hospitals. For all its IT might, India is still a Farmers country and the agriculture sector is facing many problems. Then comes the education, which is still a problem in just the same way as it used to be. There's excellent education for the elite and some poor, but no education at all for some people at the base of the pyramid, particularly women.
On the brighter side, India is now poised to reach a higher position on the world scene than at any previous time. India's nuclear power and space program has given it an elite status. India is the world's fastest growing free market democracy. Inspite of its population and the poverty issues, India is still delivering real progress. India has a much younger population and it is into the right things, the modern, skill-intensive service sectors like IT. The overall outlook is fairly good and optimistic for India. "Our Time is Now," asserts The Times of India. It is definitely India's moment. It can grasp it and forge a new path for itself.
All in all, India has many reasons to be proud of, but there is a still a long way to go before we can call ourselves a 'Superpower'.
Labels: Opinions
posted by Harish at 1:07 PM
3 Comments:
I do agree with Harish quite a bit on this topic.
We do need a better infrastructure to sustain the high rate of growth; otherwise, we will just not be able to keep up. I mean right from sanitation, water supply, airports, transportation etc, all need improvement.
The poor will also need to see the benefits of this rise. Otherwise, the difference between the lives in the urban and rural areas will be glaring.
But what is happening currently is still million times better then nothing happening at all. Last week, when I was abroad, I was watching CNN international and they had this whole week on an INDIA special. Ppl were discussing about arranged marriages, politics etc. Was nice to see India so prominently on international networks.
Despite all the positive growth etc, let us not count our chickens a bit too soon. A lot of work is to be done before that.
. Vision and Unity
2. Education and Awareness
3. Priorities of the Nation
4. Wealth and Resources
5. Population and its pros/cons
6. Ethics and People's Attitudes
7. Leadership and its influence
1. Vision and Unity
----->> We have to consider our strengths and weaknesses and unless we first feel unified in our vision, I dont see India becoming a super power anytime soon....
All that we talk is still getting divided among ourselves, fighting with our neighbor countries but no stong feeling of patriotism....(except for feeling patriotic during cricket matches etc..!!)
2. Education and Awareness
----->> Education ....still only affordable......to people with money...and for lots of people with money but of no interest .....There are millions of people living there with no basic
education due to lack of money but who could make a magnificent difference once provided. With education comes awareness and with it comes good changes in economy....
3. Priorities of the Nation
------>> Now is the time to realize the priorites that we have ahead of us in general.....are they population control, providing education and basic needs, building nuclear weapons and
getting ready for a war, bringing in worthy investments and many more to ponder and think about......
4. Wealth and Resources
------>> Wealth.....are we wealthy enough with resources....??? This is the question that I sometimes think about....Does our Nation has enough of wealth to be called self
sufficient....Definitely NO ...I guess.....Where do the profits go...where do all the foriegn investments go ?? hmm.....unless we put an end to the mice that eats the cheese we all save by
working hard ...we will be left with no cheese for the future.....no good things to give for our future generations.....
5. Population and its pros/cons
------>> Population......The day we can use our Greatest stength---OUR PEOPLE!!!!!!! to the fullest extent......that day we can say we have achieved something....
As of now, we are only seeing the adverse affects due to our over population but are not able to turn it around...........
6. Ethics and People's Attitudes
------>> With people come their attitudes, emotions...behaviours.....and they should all be in the right direction....People with corrupted minds....deceiving personalities...we cannot step
forward....there is so much of work that need to be done in these lines before our country can emerge as a rising power.....
7. Leaders............Rulers....................Trendsetters!!
------->> Last but not the least......Leaders......True Leaders......It is definitely time to see some great leaders of all time......Having 1/6th of Worls's population in the 7th largest country.......we
have/had very few leaders who have lasted an impression on the rest of the world...It is high time we see people with great visionaries to lead the nation to reach its goals and re-write histore and leave GOLDEN WRITINGS in Worlds HISTORY BOOKS..............................("Suvarnaksharaalu wrayalani aaasistunanu" )
I agree with you, i wanted to add my thoughts ..... according to me from the sumerians to america a healthy economy is where the wealth of the country travels to most population segments of the country and back to the lawmakers in the form of taxes. GDP is not neccesarily the measure for this process. Indian economy reminds me of pre-1997 Indonesia, Indonesia's GDP increased by 300% from 1965-1995, and average annual growth rate was 5.5%, which is an impressive figure.
The similarity between Indonesia and India is their majority workforce is in agricultural scetor, young poulation, society with deep cultural differences and most important of all an economy strongly resting on foreign markets.
India's rise was fuelled by its fearlessness after pokhran-2, and its vast human resources. We need not worry about war, but we have the nastiest neighbors on the planet.
Thats exactly what china is set to do with their economy, they have national projects funding the building of ingenious and indigenous operating systems, cell phones, computing processors, and aircrafts !!, i see India getting nowhere in this respect this makes our task even more diffcult. Our workforce is getting dumber and dumber by generation, we have huge credit card bills waiting every month, i see a constant increase in the percent of GDP which will be spent on national defence.
India is just at the equilibrium now, all the wealth is amassed, it needs to flow or circulate, or it could take a u-turn.
Indonesia was destroyed in 1998, houses were burnt and people were ravaged, till today people find it hard to survive, inflation is at its peak they pay 500,000 per month for a cell phone. I hope our leaders are smart enough to make a note this, this reminds of this quote
Give me my robe, put on my crown; I have Immortal longings in me. - Cleopatra, Antony and Cleopatra
and i wish the much awaited and the much deserved success for the great nation.
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