Why the World needs India to Succeed?

These are revolutionary times, these are exciting times. As noted by numerous leaders and great thinkers across eras, it suits today’s times very aptly. A world plagued by issues ranging from Economic meltdown to radical change in the political landscape, the fall of capitalism and the rise of communist china; growing civil movements on issues such as corruption, greed, dictatorships(and that too as in case of Libya and Egypt which have had regimes running into 4 decades). There is little doubt that the world is going through so to say a mid life crisis. But in all this one idea rather a philosophy which has emerged as a real winner is well simply Democracy. Be it the Arab states, the US, our very own “Main Anna Hun” campaign, the emphatic undertone to each revolution or rather more aptly movement is the simple philosophy of For the people, By the people and of the People.
When discussing democracy, we need not go too far since we boast the rather ignominious and exceptionally difficult to handle title of being the largest democracy in the world, boasting of over 1.3 Billion people, practicing every religion and faith practised by humans all over the world, home to over 122 different dialects, a great many cultures. No other matches India in terms of diversity and the success of democracy is one of the greatest successes of the 20th century and it continues to flourish as we move forward. A case in point is China, a population of 1.4 billion, more or less a single dimensional cultural background(maybe the biggest and most debatable statement of this statement, but I would still stick with this and move ahead in making my point). Getting back to China, the most populous country in the world, the manufacturing goliath, the largest lender to the biggest economy in the world, the largest exporter in the world, the fastest growing economy of the world, the country with a whopping $ 5000 Bn forex reserves; there is no doubt that China is the poster boy for Big. Well, one thing that China is not is Democratic.
A communist single party nation state, China is a model for growth in economy coupled with ever depreciating human values and human rights. The income divide is growing, basic human rights (we refer them as fundamental rights; remember 8th class civics) are deteriorating, dissenters are not tolerated, a letter happy government, a crippled media all pointing towards a dysfunctional society. One the other hand is all the economic progress, the growth in all major Human Development indicators atleast income wise. All these point towards a flourishing society. An irony of sorts, China is scripting history, never before has a society achieved such levels of success on economic front with such social conditions, which raises the question that whether Chinese are happy and rather more importantly is China the right leader for the world?
This question assumes great importance in the post 2006 era, two major developments have undermined the US’s role in world stage; the first being the suicidal all out war against terror in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Economic Meltdown. One’s loss is another’s gain when China slowly but steadily has gained control of the entire world economy. The day is not far when China officially topples the US as the ‘Superpower’. In such times, the question of China’s leadership makes a lot of sense. I would leave you lingering with this recent news from China and would like you to make your own judgement on this. (well I do appreciate that one data point such as this should not be used to determine a judgement, but if the data point is so extreme in character and still represents to the best of our understanding a representative of the society it can be considered).

On Friday October 21 two-year-old Wang Yue, from China’s industrial heartland Guangdong, died. This in itself is hardly any news and in a country like China, as in India, where infant mortality is a daily reality, a fact we have to swallow. Now as more details are added about Wang Yue’s death, check where it touches a chord or if there is a lump in the throat — Wang Yue was run over by a van in a Foshan market on October 13; after the driver noticed that the front wheel had gone over her, he stopped, deliberated what to do next (in China compensation for death is limited while medical costs for the injured can be ongoing) and ran the rear types over her and sped away; 18 people (including women) passed by but avoided attending to her; in between another van ran over her. All this happened while the market was in full swing. If not for a 58-year-old street cleaner, Yueyue, as Wang Yue’s parents called her, would have been left unattended for who knows how long.

Now, lets focus a little on what is expected of India or rather the other developing world nations in the midst of all this change. India is a democracy, a functioning democracy with a history of 60 successful years marred only by a single emergency which has otherwise been civil and constitutional. We boast of a strong, honest and evolving Judicial System, a rather dysfunctional and corrupt crop of politicians, a lot of vote bank appeasements, a system marked with exceptional laws with incompetent and downright pathetic implementation of policies, an income divide which is the highest in the world, a sort of unity in diversity which is unique in its own way, a strong and functional media, an existent human rights regime and a respect to fundamental rights of the human being. All these in a wholesome represent what India stands for, a flawed but potentially great democracy, a leader which the world needs.
This raises the question that can we be more than a flawed democracy which holds a lot of promise for the world? India and its 1.1 billion strong populace could not bother themselves more with such absurd questions today, rising prices, slowing economy has taken a toll on the common man in the country. A sort of cleansing of the society is not the answer, its the cognizance of this increased responsibility on the average Indian that is the need of the hour. The world could use our brand of democracy and the ideas on which the nation was found; the guiding principles of the Mahatma. And we need to rise to this situation.
The challenges are a great many. We have economic and social issues which we would need to figure out even before we start considering our leadership potential to the world. But, its the attitude and the cognizance of the responsibility that’s upon us that is of utmost importance.
As once noted by the great revolutionary: When the time of an Idea has come no force on earth can stop it, and democracy is that idea and India is the vehicle of dissemination of that Idea, it’s upto us to determine whether we succeed or not.