The last few years of economic growth in India have been remarkable.World over there is acknowledgment of its stature as a force to reckon with. There is also great deal of appreciation of the foundational strengths of the India story i.e. democracy, freedom of press, vibrant private sector, domestic consumption, a knowledge/service competence etc. All this, coupled with the fact that literacy and productivity have been on the rise along with a slowing population growth, there have been few contrarian voices to the Indian fairy tale. However, in this euphoria, one may have lost sight of some of the harsher realities that lie beneath this gloss. Like our cricket team, we may not be present to the real gap that will prevent us from becoming a world-beater.
Besides areas like primary education, stunting & undernourishment and infrastructure which have been discussed ad-nauseaum, India also stares at a growing HIV epidemic, crumbling institutions like judiciary and police, archaic labor and agricultural policies, and massive shortfalls in power availability. Moreover, the gap between the haves and the havenots represents a potential show-stopper as bulk of the Indian growth has come through sectors which require skilled manpower like IT. In purely numerical terms private sector only accounts for less than 5 percent of our labor pool. How do we expect the other 95% of ordinary, unskilled people to move up the chain? Where are the poverty busting ideas that will provide them a piece of the action?
By not acknowledging this aspect of India, we may be headed for a socio-political revolution of the kind we do not want. Even if that were not a case, how do we hope to sustain the growth momentum without deepening the foundations on which it rests?
The vibrant, rapidly upgrading, almost globally competitive private sector has an opportunity to play a much bigger role in this context. It has an opportunity to articulate a unique point of view to world about what progress and development really mean.
We have an opportunity to articulate and execute a vision for India that leverages the best of the Oriental and Occidental wisdom. Can the Indian story be about creating a model society which preserves all the affection, social support, compassion associated with it and yet delivers globally competitive performance withing a liberal, democratic, secular framework?
Identifying what needs to be done is the easier part. Breaking through our old paradigms to do things differently will be often tough, awkward, annoying and sometimes even frightening and completely unpleasant. It will cause a lot of disruption and discomfort in the short-run and will require enormous discipline.
The worst we can do is to underestimate the challenge. Given some of our cultural tendencies of celebrating early, hypocrisy and complacency, we may need much more than hope and optimism to create the resolve internally to see this thing through. We will have to look at ourselves in the mirror and ask whether we have the will to change as a nation in an atmosphere of relative calm, or should we wait for another crisis of the 1991 kind to get us off the chair?
Do we have the courage to stick to new ways of doing things and resist the short-term temptations? Many fine-lines will have to be walked simultaneously-- How do we preserve the democratic, inclusive traditions and yet instill a strong bias for action?
How do we maintain the affection and compassion in our society yet set deliver demanding standards? How do we create the small victories that keep frustrations at bay and yet remain aligned to the goal?
For India to achieve things that the world never thought were possible, it will have to be extremely demanding and unreasonable with itself. To reach the zenith called Incredible India, it will have to deal with a brutal and tortuous climb that begins at a base-camp called Unreasonable India. Are we up to it?
Besides areas like primary education, stunting & undernourishment and infrastructure which have been discussed ad-nauseaum, India also stares at a growing HIV epidemic, crumbling institutions like judiciary and police, archaic labor and agricultural policies, and massive shortfalls in power availability. Moreover, the gap between the haves and the havenots represents a potential show-stopper as bulk of the Indian growth has come through sectors which require skilled manpower like IT. In purely numerical terms private sector only accounts for less than 5 percent of our labor pool. How do we expect the other 95% of ordinary, unskilled people to move up the chain? Where are the poverty busting ideas that will provide them a piece of the action?
By not acknowledging this aspect of India, we may be headed for a socio-political revolution of the kind we do not want. Even if that were not a case, how do we hope to sustain the growth momentum without deepening the foundations on which it rests?
The vibrant, rapidly upgrading, almost globally competitive private sector has an opportunity to play a much bigger role in this context. It has an opportunity to articulate a unique point of view to world about what progress and development really mean.
We have an opportunity to articulate and execute a vision for India that leverages the best of the Oriental and Occidental wisdom. Can the Indian story be about creating a model society which preserves all the affection, social support, compassion associated with it and yet delivers globally competitive performance withing a liberal, democratic, secular framework?
Identifying what needs to be done is the easier part. Breaking through our old paradigms to do things differently will be often tough, awkward, annoying and sometimes even frightening and completely unpleasant. It will cause a lot of disruption and discomfort in the short-run and will require enormous discipline.
The worst we can do is to underestimate the challenge. Given some of our cultural tendencies of celebrating early, hypocrisy and complacency, we may need much more than hope and optimism to create the resolve internally to see this thing through. We will have to look at ourselves in the mirror and ask whether we have the will to change as a nation in an atmosphere of relative calm, or should we wait for another crisis of the 1991 kind to get us off the chair?
Do we have the courage to stick to new ways of doing things and resist the short-term temptations? Many fine-lines will have to be walked simultaneously-- How do we preserve the democratic, inclusive traditions and yet instill a strong bias for action?
How do we maintain the affection and compassion in our society yet set deliver demanding standards? How do we create the small victories that keep frustrations at bay and yet remain aligned to the goal?
For India to achieve things that the world never thought were possible, it will have to be extremely demanding and unreasonable with itself. To reach the zenith called Incredible India, it will have to deal with a brutal and tortuous climb that begins at a base-camp called Unreasonable India. Are we up to it?
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