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The world's eyes are on India as it celebrates 50 years of
Independence. The world's eyes will be increasingly on India in
the coming century. Political and economic commentators in Britain
say that the whole economic balance of power in the world will
shift increasingly towards Asia during the next century. Lord Rees
Mogg, the former editor of The Times of London; Hemish McRae, the
respected economics commentator of The Independent,. and The
Economist have repeatedly said this in their columns. The
Economist said four years ago that India is "an economic miracle
waiting to happen".
I would hate to see my country, Britain, be interested in India now
solely because of its market-a chance to grab a slice of the
enormous cake-even though free trade and investment may be in
everyone's long term interest, especially if India is to create all
the jobs needed for a population of a billion people. Rajmohan
Gandhi, Research Fellow at New Delhi's Centre for Policy Research,
and a grandson of the Mahatma, said in Panchgani recently, that, in
his view, India needs to be a partner "on equal terms" with the
rest of the world, rather than being afraid of a new economic
colonisation similar to that of the East India Company.
We all need a vision of what India's role in the world is meant to
be. I was born in July 1947. So 1 was an imperialist for one month
of my life! But I was attracted to India as a student in the late
1960s. I heard Rajmohan Gandhi speak at a conference in Switzerland
about his vision for India's role. Could the world's largest free
democracy, he said, build a clean, strong, free and united nation,
under a democratic system, at a time when her northern neighbour
China was attempting to do so under totalitarianism? Could India
one day be an example for China? This vision inspired me then, and
has made me want to return to India, again and again.
Secondly, my observation is that Indian business and industry can
be an example to other developing economies, such as Russia,
through the care given to employees and through philanthropic
support to the rural poor. Tatas in Jamshedpur are renowned
world-wide for their record of social welfare, and there are other
examples in cities like Pune. This is thanks to the vision of
individual business leaders, from Jamshedji Tata onward. Without
that social commitment from industry, economic reforms will only
benefit the wealthy and middle classes. India could show the world
a moral basis for the market economy.
Thirdly, we in Europe may need to learn from the Indian experience,
if we have the grace to do so, when it comes to the integration of
languages and cultures. By January 1, 1999, Britain has to decide
whether or not to sign up to Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in
Europe. This will lead to a common currency, the Euro, by 2002.
The Deutchmark, Franc and Pound, if we all join, will cease to
exist. Interest rates and exchange rates will be set by a new
European Central Bank. Many European politicians see this as an
essential step towards the United States of Europe. The engine for
this change is coming from Germany and France, who see full
integration as a means of preventing war in Europe from ever
happening again. But it is a particularly emotive issue for us in
Britain. We pride ourselves on our 1,000 years of independence.
Britain has never been invaded since William the Conqueror in 1066,
though we have done plenty of invading. We successfully saw off
Hitler. Now we are being asked voluntarily to surrender our
monetary sovereignty to Brussels and it is a bitter pill to
swallow. The Tories are split over the issue and along with
Denmark, Britain negotiated an "opt out" clause in the Maastricht
Treaty which set the timetable for EMU. Britain's new Referendum
Party is dead against it, and wants the people of Britain to
decide. Most would vote against.
India can offer something
Yet even if EMU goes ahead with all 115 member-states, speaking 11
languages, the union will still be far smaller than India. The way
India has held together is a remarkable tribute to the strength of
its democracy and institutions. There may come a time when a
United States of Europe will want to learn from the Indian
experience. Everyone can have a part in building a clean, strong
and united nation. Everyone can decide how they conduct their
lives in a way that contributes to the common good. Much depends on
our love of country, our sense of "community" in the broadest
sense, rather than hi narrow ethnic, religious or nationalistic
sense. Take the issue of corruption. Britain has just had a
commission of enquiry, headed by a Law Lord, Nolan, following
growing public concern over sleaze in Parliament, including
"kickbacks" to MPs for tabling questions in Parliament of interest
to big business. Of course, when it comes to political
mismanagement, justice needs to be done and seen to be done. Yet
the only way I know of dealing drastically with corruption is to be
absolutely honest myself, rather than solely pointing the finger of
blame at the politicians. Am I as honest as I want our politicians
to be? Am I absolutely honest with my wife about the way I spend
money? Or with the accountants when I claim my expense accounts?
Only individuals can answer these questions for themselves in the
light of personal conscience, what Mahatma Gandhi called "the inner
voice" of truth.
A friend of mine is a respected feature writer on The Daily Mail.
He has been described as Britain's leading investigative
journalist. Recently his accountant told him that, through an
oversight, he had not repaid Value Added Tax on his business
expenses over several years. The VAT inspector had not noticed
"and might never have done so", said my friend, "but after some
grinding of teeth I decided to confess. That left me $7.000
poorer." My friend, who reported the experience in The Times, added
that he is "nothing more than a sinner in recovery".
Another friend, a senior manager in a Tata company in Jamshedpur,
tells how several years ago he took a Rs 10,000 loan from the
company to buy a car. But he never bought the car even though he
produced false documents to show that he had. Later he confessed
to the company, risking losing his job and career. Luckily for him
the accounts department took a lenient view, though they made sure
that he repaid the loan in 24 installments. The extraordinary
thing was that because he then had a free conscience he began
treating the employees under him with far greater respect. At
first they could not believe what had happened to him. This helped
to transform the industrial relations in the plant. My friend
called his experience "a living example of human relations at
work".
Finally, perhaps the biggest challenge all our nations face is how
to achieve economic prosperity without spiritual impoverishment.
Could India, with all her deep and rich spiritual and religious
traditions, show the world how to go about it? It means holding
onto the strength of sound family fife, which we in the West have
largely lost, and onto a sense of community a sense of serving one
another. It means caring for the poor. And it means ensuring that
material wealth remains our servant and not our master. If India
can achieve these it will have something to offer the whole world,
for which the world will be profoundly grateful.
Michael Smith is Managing Editor, 'For a Change' Magazine, London
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