New Delhi: There was a time “Vision 2020” was much talked about, but now we are almost there. The title of the book, Whither India in 2022?, edited by Surendra Kumar, is a fascinating read as the book covers many subjects—from commerce to national security to energy to Indo-US relations, written by experts in their fields. The title is futuristic, as many of the contributors have dealt with the subject through their vision. Why the year 2022? Former Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu spells out the reason as that is the deadline Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set for himself to make India great again.
Kudos to the editor, Surendra Kumar, who has managed to get hold of so many VIP contributors in various areas of policymaking, including ministers, civil servants and defence stalwarts. For Kumar, who has 12 books to his credit—seven of his own and the rest he has edited—this book is his latest effort.
Are the essays quite frank in their assessments and practical in their solutions? The point is that these civil servants, when they are in service, do not talk about the evils in the system, but once they retire they are quite frank and critical. Some of the contributors like Lt Gen Nambiar have been critical of the system, while some others are vague in their respective subjects. Some like former Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu and Minister of State Hardeep Puri have been more than ambitious in their projections of their respective ministries.
Suresh Prabhu underlines the important steps the ministry was taking to reach this goal. He has listed many measures the government has undertaken, including increasing the scale and scope of Indian trade, agricultural export, export-oriented job generation and more importantly, attracting investment in the future. The targets are really ambitious, like taking the country’s exports to $60 billion by 2022. As the clock is ticking and the global economy as well as the Indian economy is on the slide, the target might be difficult to achieve.
Hardeep Puri discusses the increasing trend of urbanisation, as about 40% of Indians (530 million) will live in the urban areas in 2030. What is required is jobs for them and also the required infrastructure. The minister lists a number of schemes announced by the Modi government, including small cities mission, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, etc. Swachh Bharat Mission is the most ambitious of them all involving construction of ten million household toilets and 500,000 community toilets. Though Puri talks of the need for huge funds from government and private-public participation, the targets are very ambitious and difficult to achieve.
Former Governor B.P. Singh notes about India’s grammar of democratic governance, calling it a “work in progress”. His insight into contemporary history is quite interesting. He sounds optimistic about the country despite numerous challenges in various areas, including economic, military and culture. His hope depends on the creditable performance of India in the field of space, computer, automobile, new drugs, healthcare, etc. His solution to complex issues like politician-civil servant-business is to follow the “Bahuda” approach, which he has explained in his earlier book.
Yogendra Narain, another bureaucrat, is frank about his disappointment in the politicisation of civil service, dent in the image of judiciary, sorry state of affairs in agriculture, health, education and also the Naxalite problem. He is right about his diagnosis about what the root cause is.
Sushil Tripathi, yet another retired IAS officer, dwells in depth on energy security, which is very vital for the progress of the country. As he points out, India is the third largest consumer of energy. The challenges are many, including single fuel dominance, and disproportionate share of biomass in meeting the energy requirements. His solution is to emulate the Japan model, which is successful on efficient use of energy. There is no doubt that energy security is important for the country if India wants to progress.
Ajay Shankar, yet another experienced retired IAS officer, deals with the issue of pollution control and environment. Year after year, pollution is becoming a big issue. Pointing out that air pollution has become a death trap, particularly for children, he suggests a national mission to address pollution. He suggests use of electric vehicles and tax exemption for buying new electric cars to control pollution.
Prof Chintamani Mahopatra’s thoughts on India-US relations are on the familiar route. The balancing act of New Delhi with the United States, Russia and China is an old issue in a changing global situation. New players have emerged and new situations are developing in a world which is moving towards the right-wing just as India, US, Turkey, UK and Israel do.
Satish Nambiar is admirably frank when he says India’s political leadership and civilian bureaucracy have been reluctant to recognise the contribution of military to the making of the modern world and today’s India. The military has always been peeved about the role of bureaucracy in sabotaging military purchases. The government should take note of his views on the restructuring of the defence ministry. On his Independence Day speech, PM Modi has announced the Chief of Defence Staff, a suggestion made by Kanwal.
Brigadier Kurmeet Kanwal visualises that future wars would be under the nuclear shadow. But there is also another important area like the cyber technology, which also needs to be taken into account. He has obvious solutions like modernisation of the military and enhancement of defence budget.
Mahendra Kumawat has dwelt on national security and particularly Kashmir. However, national security has gained importance on which PM Modi has come back to power. Also, after the abrogation of Article 370, the Kashmir issue has changed now.
Chandrajit Banerjee’s medicine for economy, education and healthcare, is indeed optimistic and ambitious. These are important areas which need urgent attention.
The editor of the book, Surendra Kumar, in his concluding chapter, is eloquent about PM Modi’s “Sabka saath, sabka vikas”. In his second term, the Prime Minister has added another concept “Sabka viswas”. No doubt these are lofty concepts, but what is important is how they are implemented on the ground. The liberal thinkers in India complain about intolerance. Kumar dwells extensively on PM Modi’s concepts with a fascinating insight.
On the whole, the book offers a mature perspective of various issues of the maturing Indian democracy and gives a cafeteria approach for the readers to choose the subject of their choice.