The historian Ramachandra Guha noticed with dismay that few books had been published on India’s democracy; the same, however, cannot be said about its economy, the world’s fourth largest. In fact, the rising importance of India as a consumer market, is triggering huge interest and much is being written on India’s meteoric transformation into a world power.
In “Planet India”, Mira Kamdar tells us how the fastest growing democracy is transforming America and the world: “I wrote this book because I believe that India matters as never before to the future of a world in crisis.”
The author remembers how India in the 1960s was in a world of its own. Her grandparents’ flat had no television, no air conditioning and every morning, the milkman came around with his cow. Forty years later, her aunt lives with air-conditioning and pasteurized milk, sold in sealed plastic bags, is kept in the fridge.
The pace of change in India has been exhilarating: “It took Europe and the United States more than three centuries to go through three successive industrial revolutions, manufacturing, services, and digital... India is going through all three industrial revolutions at once. At the velocity of the information age, the country is being transformed from an ancient agrarian society into a modern manufacturing hub and a global services provider,” says Kamdar.
Many doubted that after its first election in 1951, India would retain its democratic rule but thanks to Nehru’s extraordinary influence, government by the consent of the governed prevailed. However, the very constitution which proclaimed equality of caste, religion, gender and language has failed to provide a decent life to a population which is expected to reach 1.6 billion by 2034.
India is currently facing social inequality, lack of jobs, water shortages, global warming and a drastic increase of AIDS. Its biggest challenge, according to Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industry, India’s largest company, is the challenge nobody anywhere has yet solved — how to grow equity. India, like China, has embraced a market economy spurred by communication and information technologies. But so far globalization has benefited corporate interests at the expense of average citizens, small businesses and the environment.
The only country with a Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy, India is not only set to find clean energy solutions but it is also using technology to bring health and education services to remote rural areas and to produce cheaper basic goods such as generic drugs, computers, and a $2,000 car. India’s visionary leaders are backing the idea of a new capitalism. Narayana Murthy, the retired cofounder of Infosys, calls it: “Compassionate capitalism,” an innovative capitalist notion that generates wealth and promotes social inclusion and environmental sustainability.
Signs of India’s meteoric rise are highly visible. Shopping malls are mushrooming as the country witnesses the growth of a consumer class spearheaded by the country’s affluent youth. Three Indians were included on the Forbes billionaire list in 1996; today, twenty-three are on the list including Azim Premji ($11 billion) of IT outsourcing giant Wipro, Tulsi Tanti ($3.7 billion) of wind-energy company Suzlon, Mukesh and Anil Ambani of Reliance and the richest, Lakshmi Mittal.
Most of the country’s new spending is on household goods which are appreciated by the whole family and are even included in dowries. However, eagerly sought home appliances are also causing unemployment. Washing machines are threatening the livelihood of the professional clothes washers, known as dhobis.
In the near future, small shops are also bound to disappear if Western-style big retail and agribusiness take over. But who will benefit from this wealth: A selected few? Millions of Indian farmers are struggling and industrial farming will only cause further distress.
Dr. Swaminathan (who set up the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation) strongly believes that only a sustainable “evergreen” revolution can save Indian agriculture, and by extension, Indian society. He is committed to eradicating rural poverty and fighting for natural resource conservation.
Agriculture generates only 24 percent of India’s economy yet some 850 million people depend on agriculture to survive.
“There is a real risk that India’s vast agricultural sector will be looted for the profit of powerful corporations focused on exporting and on producing for the growing demand on India’s emerging higher-income market. If that happens, India’s 21 century farmers will find themselves in a situation not unlike India’s 18th century weavers did when the East India Company took away their agency as independent producers and turned them into piecework laborers turning out products for the European luxury market,” says Kamdar.
A constant flow of poor farmers are moving to the cities, lured by prospects of a better life. India has 42 cities with populations over 1 billion. Water shortages are common and affect rich and poor alike but the more affluent citizens have their water delivered by tankers. Luxurious malls and gated communities coexist with sprawling slums. According to its most recent census, 40 million people in India’s cities live in slums and only 51 percent of the population lives in good housing. There is an acute housing shortage and the economic boom is not providing low-cost housing desperately needed by so many Indians.
Despite all the problems and challenges, Indians are taking pride in their country’s renaissance sparked by its information-technology industry and its role as a global services provider. Manufacturing is enjoying an unprecedented boom as retail spending is just beginning. Indian companies are also acquiring companies around the world, including Europe and the United States. Mittal’s takeover of Arcelor in June 2006 symbolized the breakthrough of Indian business on the world stage. Consequently, the need for foreign-educated Indians as well as Indians with experience in the world of international business is growing. Attracted by high salaries, a growing number of Indians are returning from the United States and the United Kingdom, using their entrepreneurial skills to set up new businesses in India.
The country’s renaissance is highly energized by its youth. India is the world’s youngest country and it will remain a young country long after the populations in Europe, the United States and even China have grown old.
“India’s youth is filled with fresh confidence, fueled by high expectations. They believe the future belongs to them. The nation has been swept by a can-do spirit that has set India’s imagination on fire,” says Kamdar.
“We must pay attention to where India is heading: We are all likely to end up there, sooner or later. If India can create a knowledge economy that is an economy attuned to the challenges it faces, if it can change the information age into an age of wisdom, it will save itself and the rest of us as well,” she concludes.
