India on New Trajectory

Barack Obama, US President, on his first term visit to India made a history
in Indian parliament marking a number of mile stones before backing India
for a seat in UNSC. He also strongly came down on Pakistan’s terror camps
and Mumbai attack of 26/11 and insisted that perpetrators of the crime be
brought to justice. As I said in my previous blog, he just fell short of calling
Pakistan a terrorist state in spite of the prodding by a student. But he called a
spade a spade. Earlier a section of Indian electronic media had criticized him
for not uttering either K word or P word on terror little realizing that Obama
could not have pre-empted himself before talks with Indian Prime Minister,
Dr. Man Mohan Singh and before his address to Indian Parliament on top
strategic issues. Obama was accused of pushing Pakistan line on terror. But
he proved the doubting Thomases wrong.

We have to give full credit to Dr. Man Mohan Singh and his team for
successfully managing this arduous journey to make things happen.
Otherwise not a very impressive speaker, the PM was very strong and
composed when he said “we are not in the business of stealing US jobs” and
“we can not have talks with Pakistan when terror machine is still working as
ever”. He did not mince the words and conveyed to Pakistan the Indian
position then and there. The long-pushed-for-US-mediation by Pakistan was
decently buried. Dr. Man Mohan Singh has earned wings to take India to
skies. But I suspect that Obama may have made some course corrections on
key policy and strategic issues after the electoral drubbing to accommodate
the Republican line to get easy passages in the Congress.

Obama did celebrate Diwali with few more important announcements like
export of dual use technology, withdrawal of Indian companies from
“Entities list”, shrugging off the “outsourcing” bug and yet creating jobs for
Americans. India gets invite for entry to constituents of exclusive N-Club.
Also India is no longer “emerging country”, it has already emerged!
As Obama said with ambition of UNSC seat comes responsibilities at global
level befitting a global power. With India’s emergence as a global power in
East Asia, the clear strategic position accorded to India is of bulwark against
China’s dominance. Though it is not said, I see Japan India axis emerging in
East Asia to counter influence of China. This is particularly important in
view of recent expansionist moves of China and unilateralism on global
scene. India has to continue calibrated moves, which were evident during
Prime Minister’s recent visit to East Asian countries.

But the most important responsibility I reckon for the country which has
‘emerged a global power’ is to pull out those people who are submerged
below the line of poverty and struggling for a square meal a day. The
technology drivers must be deployed to generate jobs here at home to
minimize the contrast and bridge the gap between the poorest of the poor
and Richie Rich. China can manage poverty behind the Iron Curtain while
growing at 10-11% but India is democracy and transparent. We have to have
inclusive growth. Infrastructure development could create lots of jobs across
the country.

Another important driver for growth would be to pull out the people who are
neck deep submerged in the ocean of corruption. This is the strongest
moment for UPA government if it is serious about doing something to break
from the past. It is time to act on the likes of Ashok Chavan, Gen. Deepak
Kapoor, Kalmadi & co to just name a few with ability to grab headlines for
wrong reasons. After all we are “a country with rule of law and civil society”
as Obama acknowledged. Are we? Transparency and power of RTI must be
used by the society to wring in the change. Media has a definite role to play
in continued sustained push against corruption in high places.

India is firmly placed on global launch pad. Next decade would define the
trajectory India will take for next fifty years. All the political parties have to
come to term with this reality and change the way they use or misuse the
power and redraw the roadmap to prosperity through inclusive growth. Or be
damned to be conferred the title of “global power submerged in corruption”.

Vijay M. Deshpande
Corporate Advisor,
Strategic Management Initiative,
Pune- 411021

November 8, 2010

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