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 Several
decades ago, historian Arnold Toynbee predicted that the western
predominance of the past few centuries would be supplanted by an
eastern renaissance in the new millennium, when “India would
conquer her conquerors.” Toynbee alluded to India’s spiritual
and cultural revival. In the temple of India’s reawakening,
however, it is the growth of services and markets that form the
basic framework of this metaphorical edifice, while the
country’s cultural and spiritual energies lend the
embellishments that enrich the soul. In an engaging book, titled
“Planet India”- published by Scribner in 2007- New York based
author Mira Kamdar, outlines India’s emerging status as a global
economic engine whose growth strategy, if reconciled with the
global exigencies of our times, could provide the blueprint for
an inclusive socioeconomic transformation grafted with an
environmentally responsible policy for the 21st century, and
serve as the model for democratic, pluralistic societies in
other parts of the world. In the regard of the author, the scale
of this transformation in a country like India, merits
employment of the term, “planet,” because “India is the world in
microcosm” with the goal of metamorphosing from a growing
economy and democratic society of over a billion people, into a
developed nation within the next couple of decades; a
constricted window of time compared to the much longer time span
in the development annals of the advanced nations. “The world
has to cheer India on,” exhorts Kamdar because the country’s
“gambit is truly the venture of the century.”
India’s pursuit of global preeminence is a
composite of many different goals, most urgently those of
reducing the glaring economic and social disparities among its
people, while enabling the rapid economic growth of the country
in an environmentally sustainable way, writes the author. In
contrast, Kamdar believes that as an advanced nation, the United
States has acquired its wealth in both an economically, as well
as, environmentally unsustainable way, by allowing corporate
interests to rule over the welfare of ordinary citizens and
widening the chasm between the affluent and the poor. She adds
that “America’s prosperity is dependent on overconsumption of
the world’s resources,” in which a country with 6% of the world
population expends 30% of the planet’s resources and produces
25% of the world’s greenhouse gases. The world watches as India
fashions a new paradigm for progress, avers Kamdar.
Descriptions of the salient features of the
country’s launch into a new era of growth are interspersed with
vignettes on prominent Indians and Indian Americans who express
their views on pertinent issues, to the author. Kamdar
identifies areas of India’s potential and promise, as also the
pitfalls and challenges, substantiating her analysis with
relevant data and research. The underlying fervour in presenting
the theme of a resurgent India is unmistakable and compelling.
The Indian American community, as Kamdar
notes, has played a commendable role in investing in India’s
economic revival, in the form of private investment capital,
including the channeling of funds in the areas of microfinance,
fighting diseases and primary education, to enumerate a few.
Prominent Indian American organizations cited by Kamdar include
a few Silicon Valley based venture capital firms and an
entrepreneurial mentoring organization, The Indus Enterprise(TIE)-
many of whose members have gone to India to start new ventures
and transfer the entrepreneurial culture into the country- as
well as other aid organizations, such as The American India
Foundation (AIF) incepted at the behest of President Clinton,
under the leadership of Rajat Gupta- worldwide managing partner
and former CEO of McKinsey & Co., and Victor Menezes- former
senior Vice Chairman of Citigroup, following the devastating
earthquake in Gujarat in 2001 . Among many well known Indian
American entrepreneurs and academicians including Vinod Khosla
cofounder of Sun Microsystems and C.K. Prahlad- management guru
at the University of Michigan, Kamdar notes that the investment
leitmotif is social responsibility for the generation of maximum
benefit to society rather than profit maximization. The author
also observes the growing influence of Indian American political
lobbying groups that emulate similar Jewish organizations in the
U.S. Much of the change in the perceptions of India among U.S.
lawmakers and the administration, have been cited as indications
of the growing clout of Indian Americans in articulating and
shaping U.S. policies toward India.
The burgeoning size and scope of the IT
sector and the country’s success in business processes
outsourcing (BPOs) have become familiar examples of India’s use
of its cost advantage in skilled manpower to generate wealth and
stimulate a culture of consumerism among its enormous middle
class whose size far exceeds the population of most other
countries in the world. Kamdar cites examples of ordinary Indian
citizens who exude a new optimism and confidence about the
country’s economic prospects and its place in the world. As
signs of a new self assurance in the country’s corporate
community, the author cites examples of Indian-owned businesses
making bold and unprecedented acquisitions on the international
stage, such as Mittal Steel’s purchase of Arcelor- the European
steel company in June 2006, to form Mittal Arcelor, and Tata
Steel’s purchase of the Anglo Dutch steel company- Corus in
October 2006, to form Tata-Corus, among others. Indian companies
have also established offices and subsidiaries in other
countries. The author also mentions several well known
multinational companies that are investing heavily in the Indian
market, particularly in the IT sector, consumer products and
retailing, among others. Yet, Kamdar points out, for all the
successes of the IT sector in creating opportunities and
generating growth, it only accounts for a small percentage of
the total employment requirements of the country. Employment
generation needs to be focused in the rural sector, with credit
schemes such as microfinancing in agriculture and small
businesses, in the towns and smaller cities where the vast
majority of the population still lives. The ICICI Bank, working
in partnership with other institutions and the government, has
been cited as a leading microcredit institution in the country
with a targeted reach of 25 million households and $10 billion
in assets, as projected by the bank’s deputy managing director,
Nachiket Mor, who spoke to the author.
The new investment ethos favoured by Indian
corporate leaders, is a synergism of the profit motive with an
enlightened approach. In substantiating this view, the author
cites Infosys cofounder, Narayana Murthy’s philosophy of
“compassionate capitalism,” which he elucidates as a
corporation’s responsibility to “create wealth legally and
ethically,” and in the Indian context, to also generate
“goodwill” in society. The e-Choupal program developed by ITC’s
Shiv Sivakumar, facilitating the communication of farmers with
markets, through kiosks linked by computers with internet
connections, has been cited as yet another example of the
philosophy of “doing well by doing good,” as propagated by him.
Among India’s corporate leaders, the author avers that Mukesh
Ambani, the Reliance Chairman, is effecting his vision for
“radically transforming” the country. Ambani’s blueprint for
change, based on the axiom of “share and prosper,” as expressed
by the corporate leader, includes a multi-scale integration of
farming and retail, thereby enabling development of the rural
areas; the creation and growth of new cities, specifically
southeast of Mumbai and another near Delhi, and of making India
energy secure by developing the use of bio-fuels and increasing
the company’s refinery capacity in Jamnagar, Gujarat, by making
it the world’s largest. At this juncture of change in India,
Ambani mused that, “This generation will be the one to make or
mar India…These twenty five years will determine whether we sink
or swim. This is such an exciting time. We are lucky to be
participating in it.”
Following the success in making cell phones
widely available and affordable, Indian companies are working
with multinational corporations and the government, in
developing the use of wireless broadband technology in
agriculture, rural development, and primary education writes
Kamdar. India was also one of the first countries in the world
to set up a Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy with the
objective of developing clean, alternative sources of energy to
account for 25% of the country’s total energy needs and become
energy independent by 2020, as envisaged by former Indian
president Abdul Kalam. The author cites the Indian company,
Suzlon, as the leading example of a wind energy company with a
global presence.
Kamdar notes the growth rate of the
automobile industry in India, as one of the highest in Asia.
Despite the increasing choices in the models and sizes of
automobiles available to the Indian consumer, the author
observes that the highest demand remains for cars that cost less
that $15,000, as well as for two-wheelers, and that, “Necessity
is driving India toward a global leadership role in low cost,
highly efficient, and low polluting vehicles.” The country is
exploring flex fuel cars that run on biofuels such as ethanol,
as well as electric cars, such as the model developed by Reva, a
Bangalore based company, as cited by the author. The world’s
most affordable car priced at $2500-the Nano- recently launched
by Tata Motors has been cited as another example of India’s
ability to scale down production costs through innovation and
its comparative advantages. Although the Nano undoubtedly
represents a triumph in automotive engineering for the country,
it is debatable whether production of the cheapest car powered
by fossil fuels-notwithstanding its impressive fuel efficiency -
that only augments the levels of greenhouse gases being released
into the already polluted air of Indian cities, in addition to
exacerbating their traffic snarls, exemplifies an
environmentally sustainable product.
In writing about the building of mass transit
rail systems as part of India’s urban development, Kamdar
observes that the Delhi Metro is “truly the jewel” in the
collection, owing chiefly to the efforts of its impresario, E.
Sridharan, who not only ensured that its construction was
completed ahead of schedule and within budget, but has made it
the model of efficiency in the running of a public asset.
Of the many growth areas in India, noted by
the author, the airline industry has been another rising
phenomenon, drawing from the economic growth of the country,
along with the increase in tourism, both internationally and
domestically. However, the growth of India’s airports, now being
refurbished in a public-private effort has fallen behind the
requirements for handling the increased air traffic, as Kamdar
observes and “like other badly needed infrastructure upgrades,
has been a reactive response to a crisis.”
Another emerging opportunity for India,
identified by the author, relates to the entertainment industry,
particularly in digital animation with a current global worth of
$75 billion, where the country’s many animation studios such as
Toonz Animation in Kerala, and UTV Toons and Maya Entertainment
in Bombay, hope to capitalize on the country’s advantages in
generating “high volume low price animation,” in contracts with
global entertainment companies, as well as in “moving up the
value chain” and developing animated films with original
content, drawing on the rich reserve of themes and ideas from
the country’s heritage. Kamdar cites the animated full length
feature, “Hanuman” as an example of such a debut.
One of the most promising areas of growth
identified by the author, and already noted by the international
media, is India’s potential in the production of low cost drugs
and therapies against major diseases, as well as the country’s
appeal as a destination for medical tourism, where high quality
medical care and surgery are offered at a fraction of the cost
of such services in the more economically advanced countries.
However, Kamdar notes that unless the cost of health care is
brought down by revenues generated from “medical outsourcing,”
affordable medical care will continue to remain an urgent issue
for the country, among the vast majority of Indians.
The author portrays Devi Shetty, founder of
the Narayana Hridayalaya Institute of Medical Sciences and
Hospital in Bangalore, as one of the most dedicated and
altruistic people in India, who has been successfully using
cutting edge technology to drive down the cost of cardiac
treatment and making it accessible to those in need, through
“telemedicine and distance diagnosis” in the rural areas of the
state of Karnataka. The pricing of these services is set on a
graduated basis, depending on the patient’s ability to pay, and
offered free to those too poor to afford it. The rationale and
viability of this approach, as explained by Devi Shetty, was “to
dissociate health care from affluence. People may continue to be
poor, but they will have access to high-tech health care with
dignity…As individuals, the poor are weak, but as a group they
are strong. You put five rupees in one hand, it does nothing.
You put it in two hundred million hands, it can do a lot.” The
author also spotlights Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, founder of Biocon,
the country’s “leading biotech pharmaceutical company,” and
notes the “interesting symbiosis between Biocon and Narayana
Hridayalaya.” Mazumdar Shaw believes that the country is
“addressing the medical needs of the world. When you can bring a
drug to market for a much lower cost, you can get it out to many
more people.”
The polemics over a suitable agricultural
policy for a resurgent India makes compelling reading; balancing
the interests of the small farmer- who typically owns between 1
to 5 acres of land- in sustaining himself and maintaining
ownership of his land, with allowing the development of
agribusinesses where the focus is on very large farms that are
each hundreds of acres in size, growing cash crops for export,
along with the liberal use of fertilizers and pesticides. Kamdar
provides poignant first hand accounts of the struggle among
India’s rural poor – such as the small farmers in the dry areas
of Vidarbha in Maharashtra who were driven to suicides by a
terrible combination of crushing debts with bad harvests of cash
crops like Bt cotton, leaving behind despairing young families.
The increased planting of genetically modified crops that are
disease resistant-or genetically modified organisms(GMOs)-
patented by multinational companies like Monsanto and Syngenta,
in developing countries like India has generated controversy,
with its opponents in India contending that the government is
selling out the interests of the small farmer and the future of
the country’s large variety of plant species, to these
multinational companies.
The author quotes M.S. Swaminathan, the well
known Indian agricultural scientist, on his concept of an
“evergreen” revolution, with its “emphasis on a bottom-up
participatory approach, which places people before technology,”
and observes that the scientist favours the middle ground on an
agricultural policy for India, and that he is not vehemently
against GMOs, but advocates a credible regulatory body for
agricultural biotechnology in India.
In contrast to the robust growth of many
sectors of the Indian economy, the author observes that there
are many challenges that could seriously impede such progress. A
very significant hurdle to India’s progress is seen in the
abysmally poor state of primary education in the country, with
millions of children who attend government run primary schools
still unable to decipher the letters and numbers. This issue has
been receiving attention in the international press
periodically, and the problem has been blamed on a slew of
factors, ranging from the poor training given to teachers and
the high rate of absenteeism among them in government run
schools, the prevalence of child labour, the endemic corruption
involved in the disbursement of government resources and in the
appointment of teachers, as well as the lack of oversight in the
functioning of these schools. Kamdar cites several private
organizations and individuals, as well as NGOs, that have been
working with the government in developing a new model for
primary education in the country. The organizations cited by the
author include, the Azim Premji Educational Foundation started
by Wipro, the NGO- Pratham- that works in the area of primary
education and publishes an Annual Survey of Education Report (ASER),
and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) that provides distance
learning opportunities in rural areas via computers and the
internet, to name a few. Needless to add, there are many more
dedicated groups and private individuals engaged in this effort.
The other significant challenges to the
country’s growth as noted by the author, include the threat of
terrorism, the divisive forces of communalism and caste politics
in the country, and the disquieting reality of displaced farmers
from the rural areas moving into urban areas as migrant workers
and living in squalor and deprivation, while India’s middle
class and the affluent thrive in a bubble of consumerism. The
other egregious threats to India’s progress identified by the
author include, the scourge of HIV/AIDS, and rampant gender
discrimination against the female in Indian society, which
manifests itself in the forms of female infanticide and
sex-selective abortions, lower literacy rates for girls, dowry
deaths and human trafficking- with the country believed to have
one of the highest numbers in the latter. Kamdar cites a report
by UNAIDS that more people in India were infected by AIDS than
anywhere else in the world and that the figures ranged between
about 6 million to 10 million in 2006. Some of the most
prominent organizations cited, working in India to combat AIDS
include, the Gates Foundation, The Clinton Foundation that works
with the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), and the AIF
that works with the Gates Foundation in this cause.
The book presents an interesting collage of
facts and observations about India and its future prospects,
which, notwithstanding its sometimes rambling style, impresses
the reader with its sweeping view and insights, and the author’s
skills as a raconteur.
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