Another Independence Day is not far away (15 August 2010), and there will be another historic hoisting of the flag from the ramparts of the Red Fort, by Dr Manmohan Singh, for the 6th consecutive time, and another address couched in Cambridge Economic style of economic virtues, achievements attained and expected futuristic activities. Both Indian and foreign media will applaud, editorials will be written with a prediction that India is nearing to the super power tag which it will achieve by 2020.
It is worth recalling here, the ambitions and challenges that a triumphant nationalist spoke with incisiveness and passion on that midnight of 14th August 1947 addressing the Constituent Assembly (famously known as the ‘tryst with destiny speech of Shri Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister) “ …. At the stroke of midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes which comes rarely in history, when we step out from the old to new, an age ends….” Pandit Nehru was a great historian studied at Harrow, Cambridge, and authored the ‘Glimpses of the World History’. That great man’s usage that the whole world sleeps, how could it be true, even in England it was 6.30 p.m. and because of the time zones, more than half the world were awake, when India’s first Prime Minister made these memorable words. Pandit Nehru continued, “The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye…” Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the prime Minister of this Country until 1974 (23 years), followed by Shri Lal Bahadhur Shastri (1 year), Smt Indira Gandhi, Mr Nehru’s daughter ( 1966-67, 67-71,1971-76,1980-84), Mr Morarji Desai (1977-79), Mr Charan Singh (1979-80), Mr Rajiv Gandhi, Mr Nehru’s grandson ( 1984-85,1985-90), Mr Vishwanath Pratap Singh ( 1990), Shri Chandrasekhar (1991), Shri V P Narasihma Rao (1991-96), Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee(1997-13 days), Shri H D Dave Gowda (1997), I K Gujral (1998), Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1999-2004), Dr Manmohan Singh (2004-9, 2009-). The great man of our generation advised the then Congress leaders to disband the Congress Organization which they never did, his daughter promulgamated internal emergency, and two body guards shot her to death. Her son followed her footsteps. Shri P V Narasihma Rao reversed the Congress culture from the Socialistic Pattern of Society (Avadi Congress 1956) to globalization, liberalization. This change developed industrial growth, direct FDI inflow, Multinationals set up base in India, India went global. This economic trend continues.
But the bane of Indian economy has been high incidence of poverty, deplorable conditions of rural areas, lack of education for vast masses, high level of corruption, high disparity between the haves and have nots, high density in slums and the ambition of the greatest man of India remains unfulfilled.
There are economists who feel that India’s economic glitz is just artificial. Citing India and China as countries that are going ahead with an economic revamp, US president Barack Obama, in his State of the Union address, said the US cannot accept a “second place”, and should get serious about fixing its problems, since the worst of the financial crisis was over. “Washington has been telling us to wait for decades, even as the problems have grown worse. Meanwhile, China's not waiting to revamp its economy. Germany's not waiting. India's not waiting,” he said. Our growth is a typical pyramid of medulla oblongata, which has both the open and close parts. Demography of our country is opposite to that of Japan and other European nations, as 50% of India’s population of 1.2 billion is less than 25 years of age. Though we have huge exports of US $ 185 billion, we are not exclusively dependent on exports for our growth. 50% of GDP comes from Services with agriculture and manufacturing contributing 25% each. If we can maintain a growth rate of 10% in each of these sectors for the next 10 years, we can become a super power. In the pessimistic scenario, even if we can cap a growth of 6% Growth, we will be able to achieve our grandiose vision by 2020/2025. India produces technologically superior products which have competitive edge in developed economies, India’s expertise in IT, Pharma, heavy engineering, has been accepted globally. These sectors will drive future growth.
Octavio Paz, who got Nobel Prize in 1990 said in his acceptance speech, said that the market economy can not be simply a cause for joy. As a mechanism, the market is efficient, but like all mechanism, it lacks both conscience and compassion. We must find a way of integrating it into society so that it expresses the social contact and become an instrument for justice and fairness. India has to do that if it has to take care of its huge masses, whose tears have become dry due to hunger, poverty and wealth.
But to wipe out tear from every eye, which was a grandiose vision of our Father of the Nation, we have a long way to go, cross many milestones, and create a level playing field in education so that many rural poor folks can get higher education. Let the Prime Minister see the moist eyes of the people from all over India when he rises to the ramparts to deliver this year’s address. Let it be real, from his heart.
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