India: Nation on the Move

India, a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-linguistic pluralistic free-market democracy of over one billion people, has come a long way since it jettisoned its quasi-socialistic economic policies in 1991. Japan saw explosive growth in 1950s and 1960s, South Korea excelled in 1970s, and China is having its best years since early 1980s. Many Indians feel that it is their turn now. It was a dramatic turn-around for a nation, which until 16 years ago was not known for its economy or trade but known for snake charmers, gurus, Taj Mahal and perhaps Gandhi. For its first forty-five years of existence as an independent country, India’s potential was largely unknown to the outside world. India celebrated its forty years of independence in 1987. At 40, India was still impoverished nation. The nation of 850 million people remained locked in enormous poverty, illiteracy, overpopulation, unemployment, economic inequality, strangling bureaucratic controls and corruption at all levels. Despite all the problems, India remained steadfast in its commitment to democracy, individual liberties and religious freedom and therefore earned the badge as “the most admired” third-world country in the world. By all accounts, the year 1991 will go down as the most significant year for India since independence. The day was June 21, 1991. On this day, P.V. Narasimha Rao was sworn-in as India’s new prime minister just a week short of his 70th birthday. At the time Rao took office, India was facing its worst economic situation in decades in the form of high internal public debt, high inflation, dwindling foreign exchange reserves, plunging credit rating, and GDP growth of less than one percent. Decades of financial mismanagement had begun to take toll. Rao and his financer minister Dr.Manmohan Singh ushered groundbreaking economic reforms, which brought India out of the economic mess and put on a path of growth. The success of Rao’s economic reforms is all too evident today. The GDP has grown at over 8 percent annually and set to continue at the same pace. The information technology sector is going gangbusters and the manufacturing sector has become a key engine of the economy. Four Indians (Lakshmi Mittal, Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani, and K.P.Singh) with a combined net worth of $160 billion are among the ten richest in the world according to Forbes 2008 annual list of world’s billionaires. In a sign of rising purchasing power of the middle class, six to eight million new cell phone users are added each month. Many foreign automakers have entered Indian market by way of joint ventures, collaborations or wholly owned subsidiaries. The number of airline passengers jumped from 8 million in 1996 to 60 million. The poverty levels have fallen by nearly a third in both rural and urban areas. Consumers benefited from improved quality, lower prices, better customer service, and a wider selection of products and services. While Mahatma Gandhi brought political independence for India, Rao brought economic freedom. Every newly rich Indian owes a debt of gratitude to Rao. Indians are shining both at home and abroad. The Asian Indian community, which crossed the two million mark in 2005, has emerged as one of the most successful immigrant groups in America. The median household income for Asian Indians in United States in 2006 was $78,315, highest for any ethnic group. There are around 40,000 Indian Americans physicians in America, accounting 1 in 20 doctors practicing medicine in the United States. They make up the largest non-Caucasian segment of the American medical community. Two women of Indian origin (Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams) made it to the space. India also has the unique distinction of sending highest number of students to United States to pursue advanced degrees in engineering, computer science and business. It is increasingly becoming easy to find Indians in the boardrooms of Fortune 500 companies. From Indra Nooyi (chairman & chief executive officer of PepsiCo) to Vikram Pandit (chief executive officer of Citigroup) and from Raj Gupta (chairman & chief executive of Rohm & Haas) to Rajat Gupta (former managing director of McKinsey & Company), Indians are making their presence felt in corporate America. People of Indian origin are also shining in other fields. India-born M.Night Shyamalan who created the blockbuster movie “The Sixth Sense” has earned the reputation of Hollywood’s “modern-day Hitchcock.” In October 2007, Indian-American Republican Congressman Bobby Jindal made history by winning the Louisiana gubernatorial race. India has several advantages. It has well established democratic institutions, which have survived the test of time. It is one of the few countries in south Asia where democracy has taken roots and thriving. India never had a military coup in its sixty years of existence as an independent country. Elections are held at regular intervals. It is also one of the freest societies in the world at par with United States and United Kingdom. India is a melting pot of various cultures and religious traditions. There is complete religious and political freedom. Predominantly Hindu India is now led by a Sikh prime minister and Italian-born Catholic woman who is the president of the powerful ruling Congress Party. India in the past had three Muslim presidents and a female prime minister. On the foreign policy front, India had remarkable successes over the past decade. India was able to forge a close relationship with United States without antagonizing its cold-war era ally Russia. Relations with China and Pakistan are also largely normalized. Is India an emerging super power? Perhaps. For starters, India is a regional power, nuclear power, space power, military power, and now, an economic power. It has all the ingredients necessary to be a major power in the 21st century. While India is forging ahead, many of the current world powers are losing their prominence or declining in stature. What does the rise of India and China mean to the world? The simple answer is that the world will have to make room for them, not out of magnanimity but due to necessity. When the United Nations is expanded, India will likely land a permanent seat on the Security Council. India’s nuclear status has now been formally acknowledged by the international community. For all its economic successes of the past decade, India will continue to be a developing nation for the foreseeable future. Poverty is the biggest challenges India faces today. If John Edwards (former U.S. presidential candidate) were Indian rather than American, he would have talked about at least six “Indias” ranging from acutely poor and poor to lower and upper middle-class to rich and super rich. India has the world’s largest number of poor people living in a single country. Closely tied to the poverty is India’s overflowing population. Even with a modest growth rate of 1.6 percent India adds about 18 million people (combined population of Norway, Sweden and Finland) to its tally, putting enormous strain on already scarce resources. India produces more engineers and college graduates than any other country in the world. Yet sixty-years after independence, one out of three Indians cannot read or write. India sends its own satellites, maintains one of the world’s largest armies, and has a well developed nuclear and missile programs. Yet, overwhelming number of its citizens does not have access to proper healthcare, sanitation or drinking water. More women die in India during childbirth than anywhere else in the world. India has more malnourished children than any country in the world. An estimated 2.5 million Indians are infected with HIV/AIDS virus, putting India in the third spot behind South Africa and Nigeria in the list of nations worst affected by the epidemic.