May 19, 2004 01:12 AM
1990 Views
(Updated May 19, 2004 01:12 AM)
You would have never thought of such a glorious future for India. But there is no reason to believe that India cannot be one of the top 5 developed countries of the world in the near future. Think of that day when every Indian will have the economic status that an American or European is enjoying today.
The main hurdle to achieve that goal is not the shortage of anything but the ATTITUDE of Indians that result in corrupt and self seeking politicians getting elected to rule us.
All the evils that we see in India today like corruption, leadership without vision, public sector inefficiency, religious tensions are all originating from these elected leaders directly or indirectly. India can definitely become a very prosperous country one day if we can elect a good leadership to rule us. Our country has all the human and material resources that are required to become such a country. The natural ingredients necessary to become a leading country are:
Adequate geographical size,
Adequate population, having a good level of natural intelligence,
Reasonable level of natural resources,
Will of the population to be superior ( you must be ambitious; you must have desires).
India is pretty strong on the first three requirements and that is why India can be one of the top 5 countries. India has an immense resource of experienced, high calibre professionals in all spheres of knowledge and technology. There is no goal that these professionals cannot achieve, if the right conditions are provided, because they are as good as anyone else in the developed countries. The achievements of India and Indians worldwide in areas of space technology, nuclear technology, agricultural research, and software development gives a glimpse of what this sleeping tiger is capable of.
India has economically and industrially advanced to a level from where further development can be much more accelerated. It is the right time to take off to greater heights. India has immense capital that is lying dormant with individuals due to lack of awareness about investment instruments as well as trustworthy avenues for investments. Gold in the possession of individual families is an example as well a result of this situation. The Indian market is very huge and it can support any degree of growth. The country has much more natural resources in comparison to many other developed countries.
What India or Indians lack is the ambition to be richer as individuals and as a nation. The majority of the people have no desire or ambition to become richer. Most people including the poor are generally satisfied with the quality of life they have. One reason is that they are unaware of the quality of life of the people in developed countries. Another reason is the belief that India is destined to remain poor. The evils in the society especially corruption and the self seeking nature of political leaders and parties strengthens the belief that there is no escape from this quagmire.
These negative attitudes and traits in the thinking of the people is something that can be changed by us Indians ourselves. Once that attitude changes, people will expect more from political leaderships. As a result, the strong democratic process in India will then evolve able and honest political leadership that is free from self seeking elements. Such a leadership will take the country to the peaks of richness and glory.
In summary, the handicaps that we have today can be removed by good political leaderships and by 2025 India could be among the richest countries of the world, no matter which countries would be occupying the top slots in 2025.
WHY INDIA IS NOT A DEVELOPED COUNTRY YET ?
The slavery 52 years ago is no excuse for the backwardness today.
Indians lack the ambition to become richer, and to be superior to the people of other countries in contrast to the attitude of Americans who are undoubtedly the number one citizens of the world today. No other citizen in the world gets as much respect as an American citizen.If an American citizen is killed somewhere in the world, missiles will fly in all directions.
In philosophical terms, the absence of such a desire to be richer or be number one is the root cause as to why India is not yet a developed country. This philosophical cause of backwardness is manifested as visible physical causes like unstable and corrupt governments, narrow minded and short sighted leaderships, illiteracy, caste and religious divisions and so on.
ATTITUDES AND MENTALITY OF INDIANS HINDER DEVELOPMENT
As far as human intelligence is concerned, Indians are equal to the most intelligent people of the world. But our attitudes and approaches make all that completely fruitless. We can boast of our ancient civilization, but do we behave in a civilized manner ?
We argue and fight too much in an uncivilized manner on silly matters and non issues while the important issues recede to the background and are not taken up at all. The heavens will not fall down if we keep quiet and do not vehemently register our disagreement on something of very little consequence to us. If we behave in that manner it will create a tension free atmosphere which is essential for development.
The society is too sensitive about everything except the economic well being of individuals. We are too jealous of our neighbours, colleagues and fellow societies who come up economically. We are keen to listen and talk about the bad news relating to our neighbours and any good news about them whips up our jealousy. People spend more time thinking how to harm some one than thinking how to improve their own economic status. The life of an Indian is full of fears and fights as a result of these traits in their personalities. Therefore even the economically well to do people in India end up with a miserable life.
These social evils are much less predominant in the lives of the people in the developed countries. People in developed countries do not even know the neighbours living next door and has no time to envy or to pick up quarrels with them. They spend their time fruitfully and that is one of the reasons behind their progress.
THE FINAL OUTCOME
All these changes in the agricultural, industrial, administration, transportation, tourism, energy, education, defense, financial, foreign affairs, population control and communications sectors will make India the richest nation on earth. Still not convinced that this miracle is possible? Imagine what the sensible people of the developed countries will be thinking of India. '' India is a country of intelligent fools. If India becomes a rich nation , there is nothing unusual about it. It is quite natural for a country having so much capabilities and resources to be the richest nation. On the contrary if continues to remain backward, it will be a miracle. ''
