INDIA became the first country to land a spacecraft near the moon’s south pole on Wednesday August 23rd, 2023. It was quite a historic voyage to unfamiliar territory that scientists believe could hold vital reserves of frozen water. It is a victory for India considering the fact that few days earlier, Russia’s attempt to return to the moon after many decades ended in an accident.
After a failed attempt in 2019, India now joins the United States, the Soviet Union and China as the fourth country to achieve this great feat. The victorious landing, spark off celebrations across India: “We are witnessing history,” Narendra Modi said, as he waved the Indian flag while watching the landing from South Africa, where he is participating in the BRICS nations summit.
Over the years, the Indian judiciary and other institutions of democracy have been made stronger by the steady and uninterrupted democratic experience. Today there is relative political peace in India and that is translating into development in nearly all areas of life. I won’t be surprised if tomorrow Nigerian youths and professionals start running to India for greener pastures.
India and Nigeria were colonised by Britain. While India is waxing progressively stronger, Nigeria is sharing palliative of 2kg of rice, and 2.5 kg of garri.
I remember a story that happened over Forty-five years ago. It was a Nigerian who visited India and he saw motorbikes and tricycles being used for transportation, he boasted to his Indian friend and host that tricycles and motorbikes cannot be accepted as a means of transport in Nigeria. As at that time, India had set off on a slow and steady technological voyage. The tricycles and motorbikes were produced in India. They were not imported. Forty-five years later, Nigeria is yet to get to where India was then. We now use tricycles and motorbike produced in India.
It will interest you to know that bicycle is a machine with network of pipes and no engine, but there is no company in Nigeria that can produce bicycle. Bicycles are produced in garages of people in India, China, Taiwan, etc.
The Nigerian delegation, led by Vice President Kashim Shettima to the BRICS summit in South Africa, watching the India prime minister rejoice will be dazed and stupefied. I can imagine our own Vice President looking at Narendra Modi like a dazed kindergarten pupil watching mathematical puzzle being solved on the blackboard.
After independence, India embraced technical education. Great emphasis was laid on the study of mathematics and the basic sciences. In most schools, academic instruction and lessons were taught in local languages. While African countries were training historians, lawyers, political scientists, etc, India was busy training artisan and technicians in all fields of technology. They have since gone into ICT, medicine, automobile, and many more.
India’s investment in human capital development is already yielding huge profits. Millions of dollars leave Africa every year to India for medical treatments. The country sends more ICT experts to the western world. Despite their population, they are producing enough food to feed their citizens. All these feats are possible because at independent, the founding fathers of modern India, separated the future and destiny of India from partisan politics. As a result, government policies do not get toppled by regime changes.
Though India has had her fair share of political violence, but its journey towards attaining a successful democratic culture has remained steady. Beyond the assassinations, elections violence and killings, corruption, rigging and internal party wrangling, the India army has never deemed it right to topple an democratic government in the country, giving the politicians enough latitude to make their mistakes, correct them, internalise the lessons and move on.
Over the years, the Indian judiciary and other institutions of democracy have been made stronger by the steady and uninterrupted democratic experience. Today there is relative political peace in India and that is translating into development in nearly all areas of life. I won’t be surprised if tomorrow Nigerian youths and professionals start running to India for greener pastures.
The report also said that India has overtaken China to become the most attractive destination for investing in emerging market debt due to trends such as “friend-shoring” and “near-shoring” of supply chains. These testimonies confirmed Drucker’s arguments several years back. India’s new feat is not a bolt from the blues. It is a result of careful and painstaking planning and patriotic execution of state project. The tortoise is indeed contesting effectively with the hare.
Peter Drucker, a famous American management consultant, in one of his essays years back titled. “See The Tortoise Overtake The Hare”, explained in serious empirical terms how India is better disposed to rule South East Asian economy.
He reasoned that though Indian economic development is slow, yet it is steadily growing. He talked about the Indian democratic culture that has been on a steady growth also and the fact that Western business men and investors will prefer India to China because India speaks English language. India has huge cheap labour that is skilled. Invesco’s 2023 Global Sovereign Asset Management Study, said that India was being “viewed increasingly positively for its improved business and political stability, favourable demographics, regulatory initiatives and a friendly environment for sovereign investors”.
The report also said that India has overtaken China to become the most attractive destination for investing in emerging market debt due to trends such as “friend-shoring” and “near-shoring” of supply chains. These testimonies confirmed Drucker’s arguments several years back. India’s new feat is not a bolt from the blues. It is a result of careful and painstaking planning and patriotic execution of state project. The tortoise is indeed contesting effectively with the hare.
