The quicker you grow, the quicker you can fail. Ask any overextended business.
With the dismantling of the socialist state, India has seen phenomenal growth for the last 25 years. Much of that growth has been due to European and North American investment pouring in. But money flies and can go faster than it came. It was a good time to reflect on the changes that needed to be put in place to sustain that growth. A lot of the evils that plagued the country for very long, needed to be dismantled too. The people needed to be taught that discipline and respect for the law was as essential managing one's expectations. But instead, everyone's expectations ballooned. Luxury cars replaced bicycles, marble floors replaced mud and cowdung and buying flats in cities at prices that could buy you a sprawling house in a developed country became a common phenomenon. There was no end in sight to the cancer of bribery and corruption that eats into the very lymph nodes and organs of Indian society. All this TNT needed was a fuse. And that is on the horizon. Europe is getting nationalistic and insular, a trend that started before Brexit and Trump and will hasten after him. If Trump does what he promised in the USA, there will be a huge sucking sound of money and jobs vacuumed from the Indian economy. No Modi-made butter can change that. What he really needs to do is change his country's domestic affairs to accommodate such an impending disaster. I sincerely wish that the danger to India does not come to pass. Roland Francis Toronto.
