New Decade, Great Expectations
India from 2010-2020 (Written in 2010) (5-Feb-14)
Today we live in a world where what has been called the ‘battle of ideas’, as well as the clash of images, is a crucial terrain of action.
In international politics, decades, by far and large are the most important tools that help us understand and interpret history better. Now, as we bid adieu to the preceding decade, the following decade brings in with itself new challenges and greater expectations. Last ten years were trend setting for India, as during this period we have made significant progress as a Nation. We moved from developing country to potential powerhouse. We exhibited our ability to record consistent year on year GDP growth around 7 to 8%. There was a great transformation underway in India which has took the country’s potential to a level not foreseen even a decade ago.
India’s current economic dynamism has been acknowledged as one of the factors of global growth even as recession has affected large parts of the world. At the same time, India embraced the logic of globalization and accepted its challenges and opportunities with remarkable confidence. India is experiencing a ‘silent’ social revolution: democratic politics and now economic growth are producing new elites, with new aspirations and energies, who seek a new status for India in the world.
However, a titanic struggle lies ahead for the country, vast sections of which are moving at different speeds.
To cite only the most obvious challenges is the continuing one of still extensive though declining poverty, advancement in the basic social agenda of nutrition, health and literacy, job creation, position of women, lifting the agricultural potential, massive infrastructural up gradation, social equity and making advances in growth while preserving and strengthening social inclusiveness and participative politics. India has targeted a long term GDP growth rate of 8 percent and expects itself to be a world power by the end of this decade.
But, India’s place in the world will ultimately depend on something more than economic growth: its ability to nurture internal diversity and pluralism through the structures of liberal constitutional democracy.
If India is to maximize its international position, it should begin to operate with a more nuanced conception of power which today is a complicated, continuous strategic project, not a once and for all acquisition. An India which understands its power as lying with the talents and resources of its global population will pursue a different course than an India which conceives of power in terms of territory and exclusion.
But India’s rise will remain incomplete in the absence of a credible vision with a larger purpose.
India not only appears to be devoid of big ideas backed by assertive political conviction, but also continues to lack the intellectual infrastructure essential to debate and achieve clarity on what being a great power means for India. The problem, however, is India no longer has the luxury of time on its side and the issues that have gone unresolved since Independence, need a long-term resolution.
There are tough choices to be made under the best of circumstances, but India’s complicated coalition politics make these decisions even harder. One can only hope that the new decade will force India to make certain policy choices that are long overdue, eliminating the internal conflicts and sketching the road map for the new decade with persistent determination.
Disclaimer- This article was written by me in 2010. Consolidating all the work on Medium now.
