If you are an Indian citizen, ask yourself how many countries require you get a visa before you can visit them. Compare this with the number of countries that will waive the visa requirement if you hold a US passport. India needs to do better if it wishes to command the respect of others
Today, one of the major challenges regarding planning processes in India is the interfacing of contextual concerns with national perspective especially as disagreements centre more on the instruments needed to achieve certain objectives rather than the objectives themselves. And even within that debate on instruments, the focus is on questions of shade and emphasis, rather than ideological divides. It is, therefore, natural that the debate on the future of the nation is becoming increasingly personality based rather than issue based.
Whether X becomes the Prime Minister or Y is a moot point. The core issue is that the nation become more prosperous and happier one. As far as one can tell at this point, almost everyone in the country is swearing by secularism. The question is whose secularism is more resonant. Similarly, everyone is swearing by democracy and nobody is saying they are opposed to socialism. Also, no one debunks the ‘planning’ of development or raises any great debate on foreign policy. That leaves us to argue about personality issues.
There are various approaches which are being discussed at different levels but everyone seems to agree that there is a need for good governance. The delivery channels are clogged and the intended beneficiaries are often not the groups which actually gain. The instruments of the state often work for powerful rather than provide justice for all. But perhaps the most tragic of all is this: It is the honest man who is left to answer the largest number of questions. This is not a happy situation because it means there has been a corrosion of creditability and faith. No nation can be on the road to ‘greatness’ if there is a crisis of creditability and faith.
India and China may differ on many scores but the difference really stands out in two instances. First, their economic philosophy notwithstanding, the Chinese are proud of their heritage and tenaciously preserve, showcase and market it wherever and however possible. Just compare the marketing of Chinese traditional medicines with that of Indian traditional medicines.
The second score on which the Chinese and the Indian experiment differ is that the former conduct themselves with conviction and self-respect at the policy level. The Indian approach towards policy-making, however, is ambivalent, ambiguous and apologetic.
We seem to put much weightage on the approval that our action would merit from others. We do so in our individual lives where social approval plays a large part in our feeling of well-being. And, we also do so at the collective level where caste and religious conformity matter significantly to such a large number of people.
Keeping this in mind, let us now analyse our national policy. It is obvious that we are swayed by the kind of approval we want our actions to receive from the nations who, we believe, affect our interests the most. This is a dubious tribute to ‘greatness’.
One of the simplest indicators of the ‘greatness’ of a nation is the value of that nation’s passport. Illustratively, how many countries expect Indian passport holders to get a visa before entering that country and how many expect, say, a US passport holder to get a visaIJ Yet another indicator of national strength is in how many places abroad is the currency of one nation accepted. To put it simply, where in the world is the Indian rupee accepted as compared to the US Dollar, a British Pound or the Japanese YenIJ
India has to reinforce those developmental processes which lend strength to the Indian passport, the Indian currency and indeed, Indian citizenship. These are the outcomes of strength. That we are an open country and have freedom of speech is surely a matter of joy. But happiness will come out of social well-being, security and the respect we can command from others. This will require, above everything else, our ability to carry ourselves with utmost self-respect.