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On the plane to Sofia (Bulgaria) last
week, I sat next to an Indian who lives in California. He was born in
Gujarat (India) and who left home twenty five years ago as a young
graduate to work in the USA.
I asked him what he did. He said: “I
seek outsourcing opportunity in India and Sri Lanka, contract
manufacture in China, real estate development in Eastern Europe,
financial services of tax heavens and enjoy the use of holiday homes in
Cayman Islands and Aspen, Colorado. As a unit of the Indian diaspora, I
have roots in cultural plurality. I enrich my identity in a borderless
world where I am presented as a ‘worldling’ promoting free-market global
capitalism”.
He was indeed a floating entrepreneur
and citizen of the world. These worldlings have spread across the USA,
Canada, UK, Australia and Europe where they generate an annual income of
around €400 billion, comparing well to India’s GDP of €500 billion.
Their entrepreneurial spirit, soluble culture and adaptable identity
allow them to establish easily wherever they work and live. They have
spawned mini-Indias from San Jose to London/Dubai/Singapore/Melbourne
and inspired investment in Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad and Gurgaon where
high-tech and Information Technology drive economic engines making India
a significant player in these fields.
In contrast to professional
politicians, worldlings can transform the political ethos of India and
stimulate its rural economy without any cost to the taxpayer! Some have
been elected to US Congress, Canadian and EU Parliaments and others have
been appointed captains of Industry and Commerce to manage large
corporations. India must provide political participation in its
Parliament for these worldlings. With political influence and financial
clout, men like US Congressman Bobby Jindal and the international steel
tycoon Laxmi Mittal based in London can oil the wheels of multi-lateral
trade and help India focus on investment in processing basic commodities
to yield high value-added products. Mr. Mittal’s recent joint venture
with India’s state owned Oil and Gas Corporation is a classic example of
how the best of the worldlings can be powerful catalysts for change and
prosperity.
India is a patchwork of nation states
and its linguistic, cultural and religious diversity makes it invisible
internationally. Diversity creates economic dynamism, promotes social
goodwill and sustains peace. India should perceive itself as borderless,
palpable and poignant if it wishes to liberalise and privatize its
economy so that the consumer is king and the bureaucrat only a cog in
the wheel of progress. The Indian Civil Service needs urgent reform and
the air/rail/ road network is crying out for private investment to
modernize and improve safety. Civil service reform and privatization of
state owned enterprises can allow India’s economic engine to fire on all
cylinders. India’s linguistic and cultural advantages over China will
attract substantial direct foreign investment in its industry and
commerce.
Indian agricultural subsidies for
fertilizers, pesticides, seed and water benefit the chemical industry
and seed companies. Whilst subsidized inputs encourage good harvests,
low food prices do not enable the millions of Indian farmers to break
out of their debt and poverty. Recent budget proposals to fund
infra-structure development will help rural areas but not necessarily
enrich peasant farmers who need higher personal disposable incomes.
Domestic and foreign investment in food processing can yield higher
incomes for these farmers and make India a significant exporter of food.
A thriving rural economy will stem the exodus of the poor to Indian
cities or the industrial heartlands of the west.
Whilst innovation based manufacture of
high tech products, development of aeronautic/space/defence products and
quality financial services will continue to flourish in the west, the
USA and the EU need a growing market for their products in India and
China. Direct investment in Indian industries will create a larger
middle class eager to soak up goods and services from the west. The EU
must take a lead by initiating a Joint Parliamentary Assembly of the
European Parliament and the Lok Sabha (Indian Parliament) to create a
platform where trade and diplomacy can develop and flourish.
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