Musings on Aug 15th

As a country how far have we come since 1947? Have we achieved as a nation what we could have? From my perspective we surely are not a failure, atleast not yet, but that isn't a reason to not see the silver lining too. Despite our little to nothing progress on the alleviation of poverty, social mobility and illiteracy, there are a few things to cheer about in India (no, i am not going to carp about our "democratic credentials"). For all the faults within our system, we have produced a decent Industrial base, scientific community, self-reliant in food (achieved with the first green revolution). We also had a decent land re-distribution reform done early after Independence and thanks to it, the feudal zamindari system was broken down. But whether all these are enough is still to be seen. If the recent Moaist attacks are any indication there is a lot of work to be done to reduce the inequality that persists. So, on this day, what are the challenges and opportunities that we Indians are faced with?

Let me start with the challenges.

Water Resource

This is probably the biggest problem that India would face in next 10 to 15 years. This problem is exacerbated by an exploding population, rapid industrialization, rapid groundwater depletion and changing weather patterns. If the current trends continue and due to global warming, the Himalayan Glaciers disappear making Ganges and other perennial rivers seasonal, it could have devastating results for our country's food security and survival of huge sections of our people.

Unemployment and Dissatisfied Youth

India has the youngest population of any country at this time. There would be a huge bump, in an already hugely competitive job market, in the number of people entering the job market. A significant portion of this population would be illiterate or with bare minimum education. Keeping this section employed, providing them with access to education (and retraining) is going to be huge challenge. This is going to be the biggest issue that would determine the political stability and internal peace (including law and order situation) over the next decade and beyond. The Moaists and Naxalite problem that is spreading over large swathes of our country will only get worse if we don't find a solution to keep our youth employed and the inequality in our society is worked on.

Pandemics

Swineflu, currently scaring most of our cities just shows how vulnerable we are to such outbreaks. Given our population density, poor sanitation, dependence on public transportation, such outbreaks are going to be ever more difficult to control. Added to this, a majority of our kids are malnourished would only make them that much more vulnerable.

Opportunities

Most of the risks listed above are not unique to India. Most developing and under-developed countries have the very same problems. Any solution (technological or otherwise) is going to be a huge revenue and job generator for us.

Resource Management

Water, Food, Minerals, forest cover, wildlife, fisheries - all of these resources would become evermore precious in the days to come. We should be developing newer technologies that are cheap enough for developing and poor countries.

Bio-tech and Micro-biology

We should be pioneering in the development of new technologies in food production, storage and distribution. Though we are pretty big in the generic drug market, India should be working on becoming the hub for coming up with and producing drugs for diseases that afflict poor, tropical countries.

Engineering

Don't be afraid, I am not talking about IT. If Tato Nano and Simputer (though commercially not successful) are examples, we know that we are good at engineering and in coming up with solutions that are specific to our needs. We should use our immense industrial base with our engineering talent to come up with designs and processes that help our lot, instead of just waiting for the west to come up with newer designs that we simply absorb.

Wish everyone a very happy Independence Day!!!!