In its journey of 75 years, India has travelled from being a third world country to be one of the biggest economies across the globe. It is easy for everyone to complaint. India is still over populated, the roads are unclean, there are still people begging at traffic signals, but keeping all this complaints aside, India has positively transformed in the last 75 years.
There are a lot of countries who still think that India is a land of snake charmers, as the image was perpetuated over the decades. Today, India has emerged as a leader in a number of sectors. At present, India is one of the largest producers of food grains, jute and milk in the whole world. India has the third largest renewable energy capacity in the world. India recently crossed Brazil and became the largest producer of sugar. Indians are not only making a mark in agro products but also in manufacturing it.
Around 1960s India was dependent on the PL480 grain supply from the Western countries to provide food to its people. Food grains had to be rationed. India has come a long way since. With the Green Revolution introduced by the government, the whole scenario changed. Today, India exports number of food grains worldwide.
India has been one of the few countries to accept and adapt the technological update in comparision to others. Whether it is online banking, online shopping or holding shares in demat, the buy-in was unbelievable among the Indians. From landlines, we have seen the telecom industry's journey to 2G, 3G and 4G now, we are planning to launch 5G soon. Today, the broadband links are strong enough to connect people via video calls, attend online meetings and even work from home rather than going to office.
At the time of independence, the total foreign investment in India in 1949 stood at £25.6 million. In 2020-21, India received a record US$ 81.72 billion in Foreign Direct Investment. It is quite surprising that Indian companies invested in 99 projects and created 4,830 jobs in Britain to retain India's position as the second-largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) after the US in the last year, according to new UK government figures released.
India has world-class healthcare facilities which encourage medical tourists to come to India for treatment. However, the CovidD-19 pandemic highlighted the reality, which led to import things essential for medical purposes like beds, medicines, ventilators and oxygen to save lives. India is the pharmacy of the world but 70 per cent of APIs for manufacturing medicines are imported.
But there are hopes
There is hope that the demographic dividends of young crowd will translate into higher growth. There is a hope that India will finally break the wall of low per capita income as income levels expand. Above all, there is hope that the democratic structure of India will survive amidst all the chaos.
