Great Bharat, Miserable India!

India, not long ago,about a thousand years ago,was a world leader not just in the art and science of living-Philosophy(vedas including upanishads)-but also in science and technology,medicine and agriculture,trade and commerce,art and literature and, education and rural development as well.Aryabhatta, Brahmagupta, Bhaskaracharya, Varahamira are the big names of those period, known to the world, in physical sciences and mathematics.Even today, counting exist in Greek only up to 106, in the West it is 10 to the power of 12 and in India we have up to 10 to the power of 53! Nalanda and Takshashila were the great universities which attracted students from all over the world.Alberuni from Iran came to study sanskrit,science and technology, astronomy and mathematics.Yi Ching from China came to study rural health scheme and ayurveda.We were world trade leader not only in spices but on various other goods as well. A popular joke at that time was "if you buy from Jew to sell it to Scott and still make ten percent profit he must be an Indian"! We were hugely tolerant and encouraged divergence with all respect.Panini a great grammarian and scholar in sanskrit was from Afganistan.Gandhari, wife of king Dritarashtra of Mahabharata was from Khandahar.

Yet, the last thousand years or so has been a dismal show for India which is often attributed to foreign rulers, first by Mughals and later by British,ruling India resulting in loss of initiative and creativity among the ruled.The independent India since 1947 did see rapid strides taken towards developing India.Industrialisation,green revolution(Punjab),white revolution(Gujarat), space technology was indeed firmly rooted in the soil and reaping good dividends.Globalisation,Liberation and Privatisation Policy of the early nineties ushered in a huge thrust to our quest towards modernisation and growth.License Raj was relaxed and the deregulation has brought goods to the market cutting down the ques and scarcity, promoting productivity and competition, all contributing to the growth rate of up to 9%.We are a power to reckon with in the global scenario.We have some of the best educational institutions such as Indian Institute of Science, Indian Institute of Technologies, Indian Institute of Managements.We are now one of the world leaders in Information Technology and moving towards e-governance.Our Forex is rising.Yet there is a terrible darker side too.

On a global comparison India fairs very poorly even after 60 years of Independence. On Human Development Index,India occupies one of the lowest rank, 127th among 177 countries studied.On Corruption Perception Index India is ranked down to 71st out of 102 countries(Transparency International Survey).The World Economic Survey ranked India 45th among 49 countries on honesty of its officials.Global Competitiveness Report puts India in the 45th rank, out of 53 countries; USA tops in competitive spirit, Taiwan 3rd,Singapore 4th and even China is 33rd,much better than India.On the use of Professional Managers in Administration India is down again with 50th rank among 53 countries studied.

Transparency International also reports that India is one of the most corrupt country.An estimated sum of 26,768 crores of rupees is extracted by officials at various levels from citizens in the sectors of education, health,power,telephones,railways,land and building administration, judiciary and the public distribution system.

In India today 28% of people go to bed each day hungry,52% living on less than Rs.45 a day.Job growth in the organised sector fell from 0.11% to minus figure now.Unemployment increased from 8.87% to 9.11%.Increase in food production is offset by increase in population by 1/2%over the former. The software exports is less than 2% of the global market; IT sector as a whole(including hardware)represent less than 3% of the GDP.Trade deficit is widening:exports being 314.05 billion,imports being 471.56 billion,there is a deficit of 157.51 billion rupees.Even Forex reserve of 140+ billion dollars is worrisome as it is mostly "hot money"(portfolio investments and NRI deposits)and is a volatile situation, a slightest disturbance/uncertainty,it would be withdrawn.

In the educational field only 10% 0f the school finisher will go to higher education and only 10% of those 10% get into professional courses.There are too few universities and most of the colleges under it suffer from poor infrastructure and quality of education

The bane of development is the glaring inequality and imbalance; the best and the rich coexist with huge majority of worse and the poor.There is a neglect of education,health and social sectors and generally planning has failed to recognise that every activity has its human and social face also.The growth model need to be more inclusive of all section of divergent people that is India.