India Against the World

There was time when a term was coined "The hindu rate of growth" considering the sluggish growth rate of India just after independence owing to the then over-cautious and thrifty government. But slowly, like a maturing plant, the Indian economy started reaping fruits out of it. Since India’s independence, ancient traditions have increasingly converged with modern influences, and India has become progressively more internationally integrated.

The reforms of the mid 1980s and early 1990s sharpened the pace of change and, as globalization has advanced, prompted by rapid technological developments, India has become more significant in international  markets. Now many analysts are predicting India’s emergence as a global player, set to follow the blazing economic success of another giant, China. It is not difficult to see the rationale behind such optimism. Some of the main reasons for such optimistic prediction are:
1. Emergence of Indian population as an asset rather than a liability
2. Growing importance and reach of technology
3. Constant Economic reforms opening gateways for Foreign investments
4. Increasing importance of Entrepreneurship and Global Integration.

But these aspirations are marred by various hurdles limiting this optimism to mere stargaze. To start the unending list of difficulties in rapid expansion and development of the economy is the effectiveness and the ease of completion of the developmental projects undertaken in public and private sector. As an illustration,
the need of rapid metro transit was identified in India in 1968. Though the project started off soon, due to lack of proper resources and red tape, the project was postponed for almost decades after which finally, the operations started in Delhi in 2003. Apart from this, other problems like corruption, illiteracy and a weak
democracy pose an enormous threat to the vision of India's emergence as a World Leader.

Though steps, both by the government and many other organizations are being taken continuously, their effectiveness is often limited or unsustainable. If India wants to emerge as a World leader, it must compete not with its own past but the present and future of its western counterparts. Only then can India ever achieve the vision that is now associated with it.