By Justice Markandey Katju-
(Justice Markandey Katju is a former Judge, Supreme Court of India, and former Chairman of Press Council of India. The views expressed are his own)
I have visualised the emergence of India as a modern industrial giant, like the US or China, in the next 10-15 years or so after a historical revolutionary struggle.
This event will change world history. Let me explain
The world is largely ruled by a small group of powerful nations which dominate over others. After the end of the Second World War in 1945 the United Nations was set up, which reflected upon this situation. A Security Council was created making five powerful nations its permanent members with veto powers, relegating other countries to inferior status.
India too, despite its huge population, was treated as one of such inferiors, and so it will remain as long as it is poor and relatively backward.
But the earth shaking transformation of India, which I foresee, into a modern industrial giant, despite stiff opposition of the powerful countries, will radically alter all this. Now India will no longer be largely irrelevant on the world stage, and instead will become a frontline player.
This will change the course of world history in the following ways:
- Presently two alliances of powerful nations exist in the world–the US-Europe alliance, and the China-Russia alliance. Though they are restrained from direct conflict by the existence of nuclear weapons, which all have, their hostility to each other is nevertheless a great potential danger to world peace.
In this situation the historical rise of India as a mighty industrial nation will play a crucial role in preserving world peace. India will not ally itself with either of these two alliances, but will stand as a buffer between them, cooling down the situation, and working for world peace.
- While the countries of the present two alliances care only for their own interests, and not for the interests of the underdeveloped countries, the new modern highly industrialized India will do the opposite. It will take it as among its historical tasks not only abolishing poverty, unemployment, and hunger in India, but also helping underdeveloped countries becoming developed and prosperous, realizing that unless that happens there can be no peace in the world.
The new India will not use its massive industry to exploit poor countries like an imperialist power, but instead use it to help them in every way.
For instance, it will not patent its medical discoveries for making profits (as all rich countries do), but will make them freely available all over the world, realizing that medical care is the right of all human beings, and cannot be made a business.
- Presently, the developed countries oppose tooth and nail the transformation of underdeveloped countries into developed countries, fearing that with their cheap labour the latter will destroy the former’s industries if they too get industrialized, throwing tens of millions of people of the developed countries out of employment.
But the new modern highly industrialized India will want the whole world to become highly industrialized and prosperous, and not keep people of the underdeveloped countries as ”hewers of wood and drawers of water” as they were in colonial times.
To attain this end, it will exert all its newly found might
