India’s moment!

Hussein Shobokshi EVERYONE knows me as a great fan of India and that I have great admiration for India and Indians. India’s development and progress in the past years cannot be described in words, but can certainly be called “spectacular.” A huge leap is reflected in the country’s various sectors, not only in the progress within the country but its achievements are reflected in the world in general. Many political and economic analysts believe that this moment and this decade belongs to India as the last decade was enjoyed by China. The difference between the two countries is that China has military ambitions and a large expansionist objective while India’s primary interests and focus lies in its economic and cultural issues. For many years, India has focused on creating a complete paradigm shift in its education system, especially at the level of university education and has already begun to reap its fruits. Today, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), which is considered as one among 20 most prestigious universities in the world in the field of administration and technical sciences, has graduated many of the most important leaders of the world. There are numerous important multinational companies which have assumed leadership position with Indian managers; companies that include Pepsi, Microsoft, Google, Citibank, MasterCard and others. Today, India’s illiteracy rate stands at 30 percent, still a noticeable challenge for India, a figure that is quite high and unacceptable for an industrial ambitious state. But today, India has a very good opportunity to make a great difference. The fall in energy prices, falling interest rates, abundant rainfall and falling inflation; all these crucial factors help in development of the Indian economy, both the urban and agricultural sectors, which clearly explain the remarkable growth in the middle-class in both qualitative and quantitative capabilities and the increase in their purchasing power. The population census in India, compared to China, is growing at a greater ratio and not bound by strict policies like China, which has limits in birth control and therefore is expected to lead China in the next decade to become the largest country in the world in terms of population. With old age that would afflict huge numbers of population in China, India will continue to add value with the presence of a greater number of young people in addition to its competitive advantage in the global open market as it has an enormous numbers of English-language speaking people, a language adopted in business world. All these promising indicators reflect confidence in the state of India and its citizens. Today there is a broad and large global demand for Indian varieties of food, restaurants, movies, music, novels, physiotherapy and alternative medicine, yoga and Gandhian values and other Indian symbols accepted by the world. There are also Indian brands that cannot be overlooked. The giant “Tata Group” for example, has industrial presence in many sectors and everyone is following with admiration it’s buying of the two automotive companies Jaguar and Land Rover, manufactured in Britain and how they were able to re-launch both the brands to make an impressive and successful comeback. Qualitative leap ahead will not be free of challenges. The country still has old and crumbling infrastructure, although the results of the features of change began to appear with the opening of new modern airports in New Delhi and Mumbai. It’s complex tax system, as well as the complexity in government departments to delay, disrupt projects and developments still exists. India has 22 “official” languages in the country in addition to at least 800 different languages and around 2,000 dialects that have been identified. Despite all these odds, it has maintained itself as the largest civilian democratic state in the world today. Comparing India with Pakistan (which was a single state before the independence) the issue of separation was a sad issue. India opted for normal, justice and scientific path and today the results are obvious. The Indian diaspora deployed around the world from Britain, Canada and Australia to the Arab world; they are all quite successful. In addition, there are almost two million successful Indian communities in America with least problems. It’s India’s moment and the world has to welcome its ascent.