In my book, I say that when someone like me hears or sees these cover stories in Time magazine saying that the next century belongs to India and China, I am reminded of how for most of our career as an independent nation, the Western press has written us off. I feel that those obituaries were premature and the despair and pessimism about India was unwarranted.
Likewise, the unprecedented hope and optimism in the media and in business circles is also unwarranted. The celebration and anticipation of India's imminent greatness is also premature. From that point of view, the jury is out on whether economic liberalisation is really going to vanquish endemic poverty.
The fact that India has remained united and democratic for 60 years should compel our deeper attention. India is both an unnatural nation and an unlikely democracy. By the canons of political science of common sense or conventional wisdom, India is not supposed to be a united nation because it is too culturally diverse.
While we do not know yet whether the software boom will lead to a more general prosperity, we do know that India is still a single nation after 60 years of independence and that it is still democratic. These facts should compel our deeper attention.
Image: Actor Neha Dhupia poses with a mobile phone. India is one of the fastest growing cellular phone markets in the world, with over 160 million mobile phone users; the country adds six million cellphone users each month. Photograph: Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: The Crisis of Civilization
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