HOW DO YOU foresee India in the future? It is predicted to be among the strongest economies in the world by 2050. If it attains what is foreseen, there won’t be hopefully the problems of illiteracy, poverty, unemployment and communalism that plague it now.

 

Today, Tata, Wipro, Infosys, Reliance, Aditya Birla, ONGC and other corporates are helping India find a foothold outside India. The most recent acquisition of Anglo-Dutch steel company Corus by Tata for staggering $12.1 billion is symbolic of the big stride corporate India has taken and gives credence to the predictions of India’s emergence as an economic power.

 

Tata took over Corus by beating its Brazilian rival Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN). With this biggest-ever Indian company acquisition, Tata became the world’s fifth-largest steelmaker. UK-based Laxmi Narayan Mittal bought Arcelor for $32 billion last year and became the world’s biggest steel producer. While addressing the media, Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata said, “It is a moment of fulfilment for India. Tata Steel will not change any principal locations of Corus group’s business and its headquarters will be in India.”

 

If we leave inhuman incidents like Nithari, Godhra, Mumbai bomb blast, Babri and Masjid demolition, we find a glimpse of progressive India. Take any field — software, management or medicine — Indians are neck and neck with world competitors and their influence is increasing every day. Over the years, our countrymen have migrated to the US, the UK and several other countries and made their mark in their respective fields.

 

But the question is: Can the country sustain and improve upon the recent attainments to fulfill the 2050 economic prediction? I have no doubt India will make it provided the government remains sincerely focused on solving the multitude of problems its faces on numerous fronts and ensure uniform growth of all regions of the country. Currently, India is developing only in the metros and big cities. Remote areas and villages are still where they were decades ago.

 

Even 60 years after independence, the government has failed to fulfil the basic needs of villagers like proper meal, clean drinking water, electricity, communication, education, and so on. It is true, the central as well as state government is trying hard to overcome these problems, but due to financial and many other reasons the conditions are unchanged.

 

For reaching the 2050 milestone, we need to think about rural India and languishing regions like Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal and North East.