The year is 2040. In some strife-torn corner of the world, Indian citizens and assets are in danger. The Indian government has sent its largest aircraft carrier, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee, on the rescue mission. The aircraft and helicopters it carries are all made in India. India is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and the troops there are all under Indian command.
Even as the ABV heads for the war zone, the foreign minister in New Delhi issues a statement that India will not tolerate any attack on its people but, at the same time, it wants a peaceful resolution to the crisis.
This is the scenario drawn by old India hand Daniel Lak in his latest book, India Express: The Future of a New Superpower. In it, India clearly has all the trappings of a superpower: Military and political strength, economic muscle, top-end technical capabilities and the unmistakable moral high ground. Not to miss the aircraft carrier — it’s named after the man who gave India its first nuclear arsenal in 1998.
Lak feels India has what it takes to become Asia’s America, a liberal superpower. India, he says, is at the same take-off stage as the US some decades back. Both share the same democratic values. India’s advantages — a large young and trained workforce, proficiency in English etc — which can make it a superpower are well-known.
There are problems like poverty, infrastructure and the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS that India needs to tackle urgently. Yet, India, Lak says, is ready for the next big leap of destiny.
There is another similarity between the US of old and the India of present. Sociologists will tell you that the first Americans were all exceptional people. They left their comfortable homes in Europe in search of a new life. They took risks that were huge by then standards and made a success out of it. This genetic quality makes the US a country of special people.
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What works for Indians is not genetics but their demographic profile. Half the Indians are below 30 years of age. In other words, their appetite for risk is way ahead of the aging population of Europe or the original Asian tiger, Japan. The burst of Indian entrepreneurship that we have seen in the last few years — the Silicon Valley Internet bosses, the software companies of Bangalore and Hyderabad, the back-office operators in Gurgaon and Noida — are clear pointers in that direction.
Even now, India’s growing importance in the global pecking order is there for one and all to see. In spite of widespread scepticism, first the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group and then the US lawmakers cleared the Indo-US civilian nuclear energy deal. There was concern at various levels, given India’s nuclear armament programme. Still, gentle persuasion from the Bush administration prevailed and India will in a few short years be able to feed power generated from nuclear energy to its villages, towns, cities and factories.
It was the birth of a new world power, facilitated by the US. The reason is not far to seek. India, along with China, offers the last hope for large US corporations which are always on the lookout for big markets and cost-effective production centres. Indian techies power the information technology and pharmaceutical powerhouses of the US. Its concerns on terrorism are not very different from those of the US and some collaboration in this field is inevitable. The world has indeed come a full circle.
This is not how things were supposed to be at the beginning — we were the champions of non-alignment and almost a socialist country! India has moved at breakneck pace in the last few years. Not just the economy, mindsets, attitudes and values have undergone a transformation. A frugal life is neither desired nor promoted by any. Profiteering is no longer a dirty world. Elders no longer frown when you aspire for the best in the world. And this has placed India firmly on the world map.
Lak’s book captures this transition fairly well. Liberalisation unshackled middle-class dreams in the country. For the first time in India’s history, there was hope for the ordinary and the poor. Prosperity was no longer the preserve of the privileged and the well-connected.
Actually, there have been several books of late that try to capture India’s journey to the present. More are likely to follow, now that the unprecedented nuclear deal with the US is through. What makes Lak’s work stand out is that he tells the story through common people. Their aspirations and anxieties are truly the story of India. Some might call him overly optimistic, but Lak’s arguments are strong and his take on India will please all Indian readers.
INDIA EXPRESS
THE FUTURE OF A NEW SUPERPOWER
Daniel Lak
Penguin/Viking
314 pages: Rs 499
