If we look at American history, we realise that industrialisation has been its major asset. Should India too not concentrate on industrialising itselfIJ

One of the newest civilisations, the United States has, like India, systems of segregation and discrimination although it might be worse because of the barbaric system of slavery where Blacks were treated worse than cattle. India’s caste order and its socio-cultural schemes of humiliation and segregation can shame even the White slave owner. Despite all that, America emerged as a superpower and a Black man occupies the White House.

Consider a few hard facts. When the East India Company was formed in 1600 AD, the US (except for the native Americans) didn’t exist. The first batch of Britons landed in the present day State of Virginia and established the first permanent settlement in 1607.The East India Company ships landed at a Surat port in 1608. India was already a civilisation with a number of cities and and its economy connected to many parts of the world.244 years since the first batch of Blacks reached the US in 1619, the 16th US President Abraham lincoln, made the emancipation declaration abolishing slavery on January 1, 1863.

The second greatest milestone in the Blacks’ emancipation is the Civil Rights Movement that was triggered when a Black woman named  Rosa Parks refused to vacate a seat in a bus in the American city of Montgomery on December 1, 1955. As per the law, Black people would use seats in buses only when White passengers were not there. Rosa Parks was arrested and thus the Bus Boycott movement was born. Ultimately, the law was scrapped. It is in this movement that Martin luther King Jr shined. Delivered on August 28, 1963 during the March On Washington, his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech is considered one of the greatest speeches in human history. The civil rights movements resulted in a series of Affirmative Action policies that led to the rise of a Black middle-class.

If you look back at the journey, watch how Blacks enter the US as slaves in 1619 and then after 390 years, a Black enters the White House in 2009.Now think of India — 3000 years of caste discrimination and still ongoing. In America’s total GDP, share of agriculture is just 01.10 per cent. In India’s total GDP, agriculture contributes 16.9 per cent. Basically, when the US started with agriculture 400 years back, India had industry and traded with different countries.

In the 20th century, southern parts of the US — louisiana, Mississippi and Texas were primarily rural and agriculturist. The north, mid-west and west were industrialising. Most Blacks lived in the American south and worked on White men's farms.

When World War I started in 1914, two developments impacted Blacks decisively. Because of the War and Europe’s involvement, migration of European workers to the US halted. Earlier five million workers from Europe were reaching the US every year. Industrial development accelerated creating shortage of workers. That’s the opportunity Blacks grabbed for their freedom.

According to www.history.com — “The Great Migration, or the relocation of more than six million African Americans from the rural South to the cities of the North, Midwest and West from 1916 to 1970, had a huge impact on urban life in the United States. Driven from their homes by unsatisfactory economic opportunities and harsh segregationist laws, many Blacks headed north, where they took advantage of the need for industrial workers that first arose during the First World War.”

The website adds, “In the decade between 1910 and 1920, the black population of major Northern cities grew by large percentages, including New York (66 per cent) Chicago (148 per cent), Philadelphia (500 per cent) and Detroit (611 percent)”. American libraries too promote literature highlighting role of industrialisation in the rise of the American Blacks.

In India, educated Dalits are liberated by the States which give them jobs and the uneducated Dalits by the industries’ jobs. So, given industrialisation’s importance, why is no political party then promising faster industrialisation of IndiaIJ