By S. Sivathasan –

S. Sivathasan

In recent days Prime Minister Modi declared that the Indian Diaspora was a part of India and deserved to be apprised of political developments and economic changes in their home country. In response to his wish, Annamalai left for UK on a six-day mission. True to the directive he presented a picture of the unprecedented growth of India in Modi’s nine-year tenure. In London he delivered his remarkable hour-long speech on 25^th June. While this was his first, others followed in locations having a good presence of Diaspora Indians and Sri Lankans.

China and India

In the few centuries preceding the Industrial Revolution in the West, China and India were the foremost two in the world. The two civilizations shared between them 53% of the global GDP. Huntington made this point in his Clash of Civilizations. Yet by mid eighteenth century, both countries were on a lengthy decline. Protracted struggles however brought both nations to the highroad of development. It is forecast that China in 2030, will be the largest economy at a GDP of $ 60 Trillion. India will be the second in 2048 with a GDP of $ 50.9 Trillion.

Post 1750 India

To reach such a level of development, strenuous effort with a comprehensive sweep is called for. Annamalai speaking before a distinguished audience placed the diverse challenges in perspective. An outline of success in recent times, highlighted the imminent demands of the present. Quite correctly, advance of the West and stagnation of India were explained by the Industrial Revolution in Europe and the United States. India missed out on it, becoming a spectator and a market. For the steam engine to enter India it took 81 years after its invention. Electricity took 78 years and motor cars 72 years to enter. The benefits of the Industrial Revolution spread fast in the West while India which had 23% of global GDP previously declined rapidly. India became a mere supplier of raw materials and a meek purchaser of finished products.

Interregnum of 250 Years

Glossing over unspectacular times, attention is now on an era of hyper activity which commenced in 2014. Exponential growth and diversification up to now are the signals. Polio vaccine was invented in 1955. India got it in 1978. In contrast, year 2020 became the time when India ceased to look to foreign countries. As of June 2022, made in India covid vaccine totaling 220 crores were sent to all parts of India. Logistics and several other ramifications of various climatic zones, refrigeration for the vaccines, usage before expiry etc. had to be attended to. Efficiency at execution was greatly facilitated by the kind of digitization that India had developed to complete the process from manufacture to delivery.  WHO called the accomplishment “India’s very best management of covid”. India gave 235 million doses to 92 countries. India thereby demonstrated her civilizational obligation of treating the ’Whole World as One’.

Nehru’s 400 million Problems and Modi’s 1.4 billion

Independence itself was far too tortuous; multi religious, multi ethnic, multi lingual, multi cultural, all in a sub-continent. Partition riots had deaths exceeding a million. Hindu Muslim displacement was 15 million if not more. Mountbatten described India’s predicament as “a ship on fire in mid-ocean with munition in the hold”. Churchill preferring to be patronizing said; India is but a geographical expression, she can’t remain independent for more than ten or fifteen years. In India erudition of the learned leadership drawing from millennia of ancient wisdom provided the ballast for stability. Around 1960 Nehru was asked, how many problems he had. His answer was, 400 million. Everyone had to be fed, clothed, educated, employed and sheltered he said. Now these are 350 percent more in number and their complexity is no less.

Modi is the Watchword

Having battled against and triumphed over intractable odds for more than half a century, if we skip over to 2014, India has seen a hand at the helm bold, strong, adroit and wise. A cabinet where intellectuality is more the rule, supports the Prime Minister. “Even after protracted deliberations the Ministers in King Dasaratha’s (Rama’s Father) cabinet would speak with one voice and present their unanimous conclusion”. So wrote Kamban the author of Ramayanam. After more than a millenium we see this norm replicated in Modi’s cabinet.

Premier services such as IAS, very competent IITs, Forces in Defence, Medical Services, leaders in Information Technology, Contractors who are world class and several other specialists too numerous to mention are leading the country to great heights. A well- earned niche now is the 7.2 % growth rate, the highest for major economies. As of now it is noted that the Sensitivity Index has reached 65,785 points on 6^th July 2023, the highest ever and going up from 24,716 on May 26,2014. A clear index of a vibrant economy, where policies are well synchronized and timely delivery is assured.

Amirtha Kaala

Countries are now joining India in the growth story. The next quarter century will see a miraculous transformation of India. In the wings are ‘sweet times’ prophesies Modi. India has become a world leader in digitization. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google said with the kind of digitization, India is well ahead of 90 % of the world’s globalized companies.

In the period 2022 to ’23, almost 40% of digital transactions in the world was carried out in a single country – India. The volume was 1.05 billion individual transactions. India has invented a method of her own which is copied by other countries. As President of G20 in 2023, India has begun to show the world that she is a master in digitization.

Crucial to internet use is growth in Broad Band (BB) expansion. In 2014, BB connections were available to 50.9 million internet users. In 2023, connections were available to771.3 million. 

Infra Development

The world sees in India, stable governance and its tenth year of sustained growth. As much visible are an ever-enlarging population which has reached 1.420 billion, the highest in the world. The needs are expanding and wants are multiplying. The pressure they exert, is felt most in the sphere of infrastructure. In our student days, the three essentials were, food, clothing and shelter. Today the indispensables are, education, health services, transport, communications, energy, environment, defence, inventions and more. All of them exert immense compulsions for road development, railway network, airports, harbours, waterways transport and internet connections.

Highways and roads have seen exponential development in the last nine years and would need the same tempo for the next decade or two. There is certainly no end or slowing as can be seen in US and China. India has seen in Europe, USA, Canada, China, South Korea and other developed countries the part played by roads in the growth process and is doing the same. The period 1947 to 2014 saw India constructing roads at an average of 7 km per day. Between 2014 and 2023, performance averaged 37 km per day!. 

Railways is seeing multi-faceted development to transform the transport scene. If the most salient is picked up, it is electrification of Broad Gauge lines. By 2023, the length was 91 % in 9 years as contrasted to 6.3% in 67 years. As astonishing are dedicated freight corridors with emphasis on double stacked containers.

Modi’s vision and ambition have been to extend the benefits of plane travel to the less advantaged as well. With such a laudable intent he has doubled the number of airports in 2014 of 74 to 148 in 9 years. No better index of the nation’s economic health than the entry of private airlines into this area. For expansion, Air India has placed fresh orders for 470 aircraft. Super ceding this order is Indigo’s single order for 500. The total   of 970 planes at one stroke is reputed to strike the greatest notch in world airline history.

Not to miss in this context is inland waterways transport. Modi was the pioneer in addressing the wisdom of utilizing inland waterways for freight and passenger transport. India has 111 national waterways, of which only 13 are operational. Freight movement In India is .5 % of all transport, China 8.7 %, USA 8.3 % and Europe is 7 %. Waterways transport is cheapest. A litre of fuel can move 24 tonnes by road, 85 by rail and 105 by water. This mode being the cheapest promises high hopes for accelerated development.

Human Resources

Human resources are as valuable as precious stones. They however gain value only when cut by experts and polished by specialized hands. Annamalai emphasized the need to add value to the young through appropriate training to all the well endowed children. He drew attention to what has been done and urged  for more of the  same. What are they? Good schools, more universities, many more IITs, more and better AIIMS and expansion of every institution committed to   perfecting the quality of secondary, tertiary and post graduate level education.                      

Inspired and Inspiring

Tireless striving in Karnataka, remarkable results for his efforts and back in the saddle in Tamil Nadu. In the first three weeks of June, as Annamalai himself had said there were 40 mass meetings in 20 days. A good enough challenge to test the toughness of his physical fibre. A week in UK was a further test. Return demanded more strenuous labour, addressing extremely large audiences of 50,000 plus. Their attentive listening alone was inspiring enough to make the speaker inspired. More significantly, articles, reports and very positive, complimentary comments have raised Annamalai to exalted heights. Listening to the meticulous arrangements as outlined by a thondar (volunteer), it is clear for the March to churn up the more potent emotions among all citizens of Tamil Nadu.

The ‘Long March’ a caption I used for easy communication is officially called ‘En Mann En Makkal’ in Tamil; meaning ‘My Land My People’. The elaborately planned mammoth stir will commence on July 29^th from Rameshwaram. It will be inaugurated by Hon. Amit Shah, Union Home Minister. Before April 2024, it shall have enveloped all 234 electorates. Tamil Nadu knows in what exalted position BJP will be placed in May 2024. The adversary too knows its predicament.