Why India's Rise Matters

Yashwanth Dhakshana *

A map of India showing the population over regions (the key)

Amid all the hysteria surrounding India's slowing GDP growth rate, mounting government deficit and the inability of our politicians to pass key reforms such as FDI on multi-brand retail, one key significant aspect begins to stand out; made ever more clear as more and more people angrily lash out at India for not going forward and achieving its full potential: India really matters.

Whether it's for people like Hilary Clinton for whom a more prosperous India means a bigger market for American companies to sell their goods to (one can't make money off poor people). For others like Jim O. Neill (the man who coined the term BRIC) a more prosperous India equates to a legitimate counterweight to an increasingly assertive China and a replacement to the U.S. as the world's leading democracy. India has the potential to do all those things and more but can a more prosperous India not have innovative and cultural benefits as well?

Before the British invasion of 1740, India was the wealthiest civilization on Earth trailed only by China and the Middle East. During that time great leaps and advances in human thinking were founded within the minds of our countrymen.

Whether it was the number system (0-9) without which no technological advancement could have been possible (try programming a computer without 0 or 1) or the game of chess which revolutionized the way battles were strategized by military generals (as well as becoming the most popular board game on Earth). Surely influential nations such as Canada, Brazil and the United States would have never been established had our people not taught the world the art of navigation which allowed explorers to overcome the ravenous ocean and travel to - what is now - North and South America.

What of our many religions that one fourth of the human race practices? Notions such as karma, reincarnation and enlightenment resonate harmoniously throughout the world and offer people a sense of peace and calmness simply through the use of meditation and the performance of a few good deeds. Algebra, trigonometry, calculus, pi and the Pythagorean Theorem made it possible for the Egyptians to built their Great Pyramids, the Chinese to construct guns, canons and rockets and America to erect oil wells (which drove their industrial revolution and helped that country become the wealthiest nation on Earth), invent the internet and construct the atomic bomb (which ended its war with Japan).

Though India today stands as one of the wealthiest nations in the world, 3rd wealthiest in GDP PPP terms and 9th wealthiest in GDP nominal terms, it can surely be wealthier and must be. Think of all the innovations or ideas that are just waiting to be tapped within the minds of our countrymen? If India is a wealthier nation then more money can be invested in eliminating our country of poverty, malnutrition and poor infrastructure.

Healthier, happier and wealthier Indians - that would result from those investments - who have access to better facilities such as research intensive universities, science and technology labs, a well funded space program and institutes devoted to the arts and literature could help usher in a new age of human thinking and development.

Cures for diseases, the water and energy crisis and how to establish colonies on Mars, Mercury and beyond could become realities. We could find ways to alter peoples' genes so that they could breathe underwater, become resistant to extreme temperatures and maybe even fly (for a while). Technology that could enable a person to enter their own dreams or another's could become possible; perhaps even the ability to teleport from one place to another.

Imagine not having to sit in another dilapidated train or fly in an overly crammed airplane for hours on end to see relatives in India or abroad. Our people once again have the chance to shape the course of human history for the better, put an end to age old ailments and lift tens of millions out of poverty. But this can only happen if India continues to rise. More wealth does lead to greater prosperity after all.

Wouldn't it be grand if we Indians were the first to set foot upon Mars?