WORLD NEEDS INDIA
It is a fact that today India is second fastest growing country of the world. But but our policy makers are still reeling under the psyche that India can develop only with the help of foreign investment or foreign help. We must not forget that we are a country which provides scientists to US for its scientific excellence, a country which is fast becoming a hub for medical tourism, a country which is a recognised nuclear power, a country with the largest youth population of the world, a country whose people have proved their intellegence, hard work and entrepreneurship par excellence wherever they have gone. This all indicate very clearly that nobody can stop India in becoming a super power. What we need is the confidence in ourselves.
After the disintegration of USSR, it was thought it is the rule of USA all over. But position is detoriating fast for US. Increasing budgetary deficit of US government, thanks to its extraordinary involvement in Iraq and other countries, erosion in its economic position due to detoriating competitive strength is leading to constantly depriciating dollar vis-a-vis other currencies. It is the time when India is showing a high rate of growth in its GDP. Exports especially of services are rising in leaps and bounds, our scientific community has established its supremacy in the so called developed countries. But those at the helm of the affairs in the government are still reeling under the psyche of white men’s supremacy. They are still desperate about FDI, FII and MNC’s. For them the development is possible only if we are able to maximise FDI and hand over the management of our economy to MNC’s.
It is true that in the beginning of 1990s, the country was reeling under foreign debt, foreign exchange reserves were at their lowest, such that the country was not able to afford even one week’s imports. That was the position which was a natural outcome of our overdependence upon foreign assistance and a development model based upon foreign technology. But our policy makers could not learn from their past mistakes of following an alien model of development. They once again decided to follow another alien model, that is American capitalist model of development. They thought for this purpose Foreign Direct Investment and entry of multinational corporations can only take us out from this position. Norms for foreign investment were relaxed. Foreign promoters of the multinational corporations were allowed to regain their holdings in the companies which had earlier been Indianised, more and more sectors were opened up for Foreign Direct Investment, foreign institutional investors were allowed to rule Indian stock and commodity markets. In other words we can say that the Stalin model of development was replaced by capitalist model in the changed scenario. In the process under the influence of USA, in the past 15 years governments of different regimes have followed similar kind of policies. Similar influence had been at work forcing India to sign unequal multilateral treaties with regard to International Trade.
Though government has failed the people by putting India into an unfavourable position, Indian people have marched ahead to demonstrate their strength, intelligence and entrepreneurship and has put India on the world map as a powerful country, striving hard to become a super power in a short span of time. In the analysis to follow an attempt has been made to underline this march of the nation to become a super power.
India One Of The Fastest Growing Nations
According to a report published by World Bank India is now one of the fastest growing countries in the world and in the years to follow it will not only continue to sustain its growth, it may surpass even the developed countries of today. In the last three years India’s nominal GDP has been rising at 16% per annum in dollar terms (as Rupee has strengthened against Dollar). If this rate can be sustained then India will equal to US GDP of $11 trillion by 2050. One may not be mistaken that this spurt in the growth rate has been caused by FDI or FII from developed countries like US, UK, Japan etc. This has been made possible by the hard work and intelligence of Indians themselves. Had US been behind this booming Indian economy they would have done it for themselves first. Let us have a look at the comparative rates of growth of different economies to make the picture clear.
Declining Human Resources In Developed World
In the prosperity of a country human resources play the most vital role. The whole of the West is facing an acute shortage of this human resources both in terms of number as well as quality. Future is still very bleak for them. Take Germany, still Europe’s largest economy and its benchmark. By 2030, German demographers project their country will have 7 million fewer people of working age than now. There are now four workers supporting each retiree. Within a generation there could be just two.
Some other countries are facing an even steeper demographic slide. By 2050, the United Nations projects, Italy will shrink from 57.5 million people to just 45 million, Hungary from 10 million to 7.5 million, Poland from 39 million to 33 million, while Russia will shrivel from 145 million to barely 100 million.
This scarcity is behind large scale immigrations to European countries from the third world especially from Asia. Europe’s rate of population growth is falling while the inhabitants are ageing. Data from the EU’s statistical office shows that between 1975 and 1995 the EU population grew by just over 6%. From 1995 to 2025 however, this growth is expected to almost half to roughly 3.7%.
The working-age population was 225 million in 1995, and is expected to remain fairly constant at around 223 million in 2025. They are facing an acute problem of sustainability of retired population. Immigration is being regarded as the ‘magic bullet’ to solve Europe’s labour market and welfare state problems. A 2002 United Nations report on ‘replacement migration’ suggested that immigration could help solve their population problems.
Rising Migration - The National Statistical Office estimates the UK population to rise by around 5 million people over the next 25 years, with immigrants accounting for around two thirds of this growth. Net migration in the UK over the next 25 years is projected to be around 135,000 a year.
This trend of migration is found in almost whole of the Europe, US, Canada and Australia. Bulk of the migration comes from India. Though this involves a lot of brain-drain from India, where many of our educated youths trained in different spheres of life migrate in search of riches of these countries, this also brings many indirect benefits to our economy by way of International linkages. Bulk of our trade deficit is filled by way of remittances from Non Resident Indians. Not only this, what we call FDI also comes to a great extent, from people of Indian origin.
With the emerging trends in population of the present day developed countries, whether they like it or not Indians are likely to support these countries by way of migration to these countries. Even today Indian community plays an important role in the politics of US, UK, Canada etc. This phenomenon will get strengthen further in future.
Sometimes we do find a reverse trend. Many of the people from different parts of the world are looking forward to work in India for different reasons including good business environment, low cost of living, low cost of health services etc. In other words who would not like to work in an emerging power center, that is India.
India A Technological Super Power
On January 10, 2007 India stunned the world by launching four satellites on a single rocket, including one that will be brought back to earth to set the stage for the country to send an astronaut into space. It not only carried two small Indian satellites but also two foreign satellites, one each for Indonesia and Argentina.
India is fast turning to become one of the few countries to possess a capacity to hit a target of 5000 kilometers. India has already successfully test fired Agni II ballastic missile, with a range of 2000 km in April 1999. Marching towards becoming an IT superpower Indian IT industry recorded 34.5% growth in exports from $12.8 billion in 2003-04 to $17.2 billion in 2004-05 and to $22.5 billion during 2005-06.
India Emerging As A Hub For Medical Tourism
On the one hand Indians are getting settled abroad, high cost of health care is attracting foreigners from almost all parts of the world including so called developed countries to India for solution of their health related problems. As health care costs skyrocket, patients in the developed world are looking overseas for medical treatment. India is capitalizing on its low costs and highly trained doctors to appeal to these “medical tourists.” Even with airfare, the cost of going to India for surgery can be markedly cheaper, and the quality of services is often better than that found in the United States and UK. Many countries have developed links for speedy treatments in India for their nationals on account of the fact that in these countries one has to wait for extended periods of time to undergo operations. In India, medical treatment is not only fast but also costs a fraction of what it costs in USA or Europe. Even tele-consultancy is available for expert opinion and transmission facilities. An annual medical checkup in India costs US $150, whereas in Germany it costs US $1,400.
Is It Because Of Globalisation?
If we are the fastest growing nations in the world it is not because of globalisation. If we have a look at the composition of GDP and its growth, it is clearly indicated that globalisation has practically no role in GDP growth. Rather globalisation has played a negative role in the growth of agriculture, as it has been completely neglected under the influence of foreign investment. Government has reduced its expenditure on agriculture.
Budgetary allocation for agriculture has been reduced from 27 percent in the pre globalisation era to only 6 percent now. Contribution of agriculture has come down from more than 25 percent to less than 20 percent. Sector which has grown fastest, that is service sector, is mainly due to growth in IT, BPO sector etc. This at best can be attributed to technological factors and Indian genius. If India has emerged as a hub for medical tourism it is because of the excellent human resource in the field of medicine, surgery and other related fields. India has pushed the established centers far behind and made its position on the top on the basis of excellent service at competetive prices.
No country whatsoever has ever willingly provided us with any technology with regard to space, nuclear sciences or others. It is our scientists who have made it possible. To conclude we can say nobody can stop India now to become a global superpower. What we require is a self confidence, consistent efforts to educate our people at all levels, build infrastructure and a true nationalist character. Our policy makers should also understand that world needs us more than we need them.