Passionate About India

With all due respect to the reports published by United Nations and other similar global bodies, there are certain anomalies that nobody points out, at least publicly. These anomalies have been going on for years, if not decades, falling in line with Western interests. Even if we track global history in the post-World War II period, these irregularities are vivid and clear. For example, Japan was for long considered an emerging economy, rather than a fully developed one, despite its per capita income being higher than the many so-called developed nations. The same pattern still persists with other nations, like South Korea, which is even now considered an emerging country, although its per capita income (in PPP terms) is higher than Spain’s and at par with Italy’s (both Spain and Italy are recognized as developed nations). The G-7 club was formed on the basis of the seven biggest economies among developed nations coming together. Now, with South Korea’s GDP size in PPP terms becoming ...

While I am jotting down my thoughts for this week's editorial, someone thousands of kilometers away in another nation would be surfing the internet at a speed nothing less than 1 Gbit/second – the highest in the world – at a price that is affordable to 95 per cent of the population of their country. The evolving knowledge economy is perhaps the second most important economic milestone in the world after the industrial revolution. The platform of this knowledge economy is primarily based on internet and internet based applications. This economy is the most appropriate indicator of globalization and how people belonging to different nationalities, cultures and linguistics can be brought into a common domain with mutually beneficial experiences. Millions of people in India have built their careers based on internet related services and applications. Online transactions too have increased at the speed of light. The spread of knowledge, education, healthcare, banking and agriculture th...

Right at the start, let me take up the example of Canada, which is celebrating the 250th anniversary of The Royal Proclamation of 1763, issued by King George III – a landmark document which is considered by Canada’s aboriginal leaders as the bedrock of their rights. Shawn Atleo, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations (a body of leaders of First Nations in Canada, which aims to protect the rights of aboriginals in Canada) said on this occasion, “We need a robust agenda of change. Now is the era of action… We set out the priorities that will lift us up and carry the country forward.” While reading this, I got thinking about the dismal picture of our very own aboriginals – or should I say tribals – as the term “aboriginals” is not used in the Indian context. The tribes living in India can be traced back to the primitive times, satisfying the similar condition of genesis, as has been the case in Australia, Canada and United States. Tribal communities in India make up 8 per cent o...