Poised for turnaround?

EMPOWERING INDIANS - With Economic, Business and Technology Strengths for the 21st Century: Y. S. Rajan; Har-Anand Publications Pvt. Ltd., D-9, Anand Niketan, New Delhi-110021. Price not mentioned.

THIS BOOK comes with an impressive title that prepares the reader for what the author is about to essay in this collection of papers, some of which were published or presented at seminars over a period of time. It also has a foreword from none other than A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who has praised the author for choosing a right title for the book and presenting in each chapter ``a doctrine, an experience and, above all, an integration of ideas of our civilisation to the modern times''. In fact, he was associated with Kalam for three decades and has gained vast experience in the ISRO, the DST, the TIFAC and the CII. What must have prompted him to write this book is the socio-economic scenario of our country with her human resources potential and rich biodiversity most of which is either not utilised or underutilised.

Even in the information technology sector where we are said to have made impressive progress, our share of the business volume worldwide is an abysmal one per cent or so. Often we get media reports about export promotion zones and information technology parks, but all these, in the global context, add up to very little. Can we expect the situation to change for the better in the coming decades? It is over five decades since the country became independent and the balance sheet of achievements makes a poor reading indeed. Nearly half the population is illiterate and lives below the poverty line. There seems to be no clear-cut policy in core areas like population control, poverty eradication, empowering women or reducing unemployment.

The author believes that by empowering Indians in the economics, business and technology sectors it is possible to make a turnaround. He refers to the role played by the Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), whose reports are keenly sought after by various agencies. The TIFAC has a ``vision'' of India becoming a major economic power by the year 2020. This book makes an in-depth study as to what needs to be done in order to make this ``vision'' become a reality. What is difficult in practical terms is not to identify what needs to be done but how to go about doing it! As can be expected, the narration includes such sectors as infrastructure development, transport, transformation of the rural scene by applying science and technology (S and T) based industries, foreign trade, national security, coping with the WTO diktat and its consequences to the local business, environment protection, so on and so forth. Starting in the early 1990s India entered an era of liberalistion. But the policies are not welcome to much big business who fear that liberalised imports will knock them out of the seller's market they have been exploiting all along. They squeal demanding a ``level playing field''. The policies also meet with opposition from unions who fear retrenchment and layoffs. While some solution to both the problems can be worked out, there can be no gain without pain. Empowering Indians also involves educating and re-orienting them to meet these challenges.

The ``vision'' that was referred to earlier has to be bold and goal-oriented as Kalam has pointed out in his foreword. The author has elaborated on this theme when he discusses S and T policies, business and trade relations, national security, linkage between research and development institutes and the industry where there is a perceptible hiatus, small and medium scale enterprises, Indian capital goods industry with its potential to benefit from CAD and CAM applications and so on.

Towards the end of the book he states that a long-term solution to India's problems (particularly in the area of a continued human skill generation to meet the challenges of rapidly changing technologies worldwide) is to make India a developed country in a short span of two decades. He says that in attempting this India should make full use of her core strength in two broad categories: natural resources in terms of mineral wealth and a rich biodiversity and the rich human resources base. The problem India faces is that she has to compress centuries of development into a few decades and this can cause its own problems. He has highlighted these problem areas but has not offered any solution as he feels they would call for a very detailed study.

Elsewhere in the book, however, he has addressed crucial issues relating to key areas like economic policies, national security, science and technology, business, several case studies of Indian experiences, human resource development and other issues.

He ends with a note on human happiness which, according to him, can be achieved, only by learning to master science and technology, economics and other related human activities. This conclusion, says the author, may appear to be a revisit of the past knowledge of basing emphasis on spirituality or ``inner space''.

The question still remains. Can India become a developed nation by the year 2020? Kalam seems confident that she will. But not many may be ready yet to share his optimism. The year, 2020, is not far away and time alone will tell. However, the book is worth reading. There are some printing mistakes and these should be taken care of in subsequent editions.

C. V. SUBRAMANIAM

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