What is the easiest solution to resolving India's simmering problems?
Get rid of the old ones and start with the new, according to Aroon Purie, chief editor of India's premier publishing house - the India Today Group - which brings out the hugely successful weekly by the same name.
"India does not resolve crises - they linger on. The key is to get rid of all the old ones. We have to learn to bring things to a close, or else all our visions will remain unrealistic," said Purie.
Of the latter, there are many - festering disputes between states on borders, sharing water resources, religion and insurgency. Some of these have been going on even before India gained independence in 1947.
However, one has to live with the fact that in India, politics, and politicians, cannot be divorced from anything.
The other "home truth" that Purie threw light on is that even when irregularities are detected, nobody ever seems to get caught for the omissions and commissions. Over the last decade or so, financial irregularities cost the government and citizens Rs120 billion. For these infractions, there has been just two convictions.
"The Indian system continues to get derailed. And nothing is ever implemented as it's meant to be," added Purie, while delivering a speech on 'India Inc.: - The Next Big Leap - New Vision for 2010' in Dubai on Sunday. The event was jointly organised by the India Today Group and the Indian Business Council.
The key to resolving most of the problems weighing down the Indian polity would be to adopt the "three Ds" - democratise, decentralise and debureaucratise.
"Often, in India, the government is not the solution, but the problem. But there is a shift in power from the West to the East," said Purie.
"India will remain central to any power shift and in the 21st century will be one of the most exciting places to be in."
Meanwhile, Sunil Mittal, chairman and managing director of Bharti Enterprises, one of India's leading mobile phone service providers which has a market capitalisation of $1.5 billion, opined that the current revolution based on knowledge will see India achieve its long unrealised potential.
"This revolution belongs to the minds and is not based on capital, of which there is no over-abundance in India. One thing the government should do when negotiating for the WTO is not to compromise on the human resources aspect that is in favour of India.
"We are not doing a good job of selling India. There will not be another chance for the country. If we miss this, we can never forgive our leadership."
Jairam Ramesh, a leading economist and senior member of Congress Party, was the third speaker, and called upon the Indian diaspora to do more when it comes to investing in their country of origin.
Gulf News 2003
