Artwork by Cleo Scott
India in the 21st Century – On its way to a post-industrial economy is part of a series, “Economies and societies in transition”, which aims to shed some light on why societies and economies transform in the way they do. I am following up equivalent volumes on Germany and China.
I am a European. And I’m aware that, on the surface, Europe and India could not appear more dissimilar: culturally, historically, and demographically. But the book is in part a plea for understanding different perspectives. In some ways, India and Europe are not so different. Both, for example, have had to respond to China’s changing role on the global stage.
The book is itself an example of different cultural perspectives and co-operation. We have 20 contributions, from both Indian, American and German authors (writing in English and German). These contributions are divided into three sections.
In the first section, we look at the social and cultural foundations of India and their implications for economic development. Rafael Walthert, for example, considers religion and India’s social order (Religion und die soziale Ordnung Indiens, “Religion and the Social Order of India”). Other contributions look in particular at different aspects of the notion of “culture”: how can it join together the ideas, beliefs and behaviour of people in this very diverse society? As is argued, culture can give not only a sense of social belonging but also of social exclusion, and we discuss the implications of social exclusion for socio-economic inequality and development.
The second section takes a closer look at the economic and political outcomes of these social and cultural foundations. A contribution from me starts this section with an overview of the socio-economic development of modern India (Skizze zur sozioökonomischen Entwicklung des modernen Indiens, “Sketch of the socio-economic development of modern India”) before we move on to essays considering specific issues such as the development of India’s financial system. We also look in more detail at India’s self-image, particularly in relation to how it manages existing geopolitical issues and develops its global and regional role. Herbert Wulf, for example, considers India’s foreign policy and foreign trade (Die Außenpolitik und Außenwirtschaft Indiens, “India's Foreign Policy and Foreign Trade”) and Philip Gieg considers India’s foreign development cooperation (Indien und seine Entwicklungszusammenarbeit, “India and its development cooperation”).
The third section deals with global concerns of long-term relevance to India and other countries. These include urbanisation and sustainability, two issues which are closely interlinked as Jagan Shah highlights in his contribution, Getting a Grip on Green – Indian Cities and the Promise of Sustainability. The broader implications of this for India and elsewhere are considered by Ashish Kothari in his piece on Radical Well-Being Approaches for the Global South.
Digitalisation, the final topic of the third section, promises not only to boost the Indian economy and generate jobs, but also to improve public services. This is an area where India has already been able to achieve significant improvements in its technological infrastructure and Charru Malhotra provides a roadmap for this subject with his essay on “Digital India: Past, Present and Future”.
Where will India go from here? India clearly has the potential to be a leading world power, given its population of nearly 1.4 billion, its continued economic development and its proximity to China. India is now the fastest growing economy in the world, ahead of China, and its rapid industrialisation and service sector growth have already made it a global investment hub. India also remains heavily dependent on agriculture, still struggles with poverty and faces serious environmental concerns.
For me it was important that the various contributions in the book - thought and argumentation - were in the original language. This dual-language approach has allowed us to bring some many experts from around the world on one topic: the transformation of India.
Assembling the book, I was struck by how differently the contributors could interpret the same topic – based on culture, language and personal history. But what I learned from all my authors is that trying to understand why an interpretation is different gives you more insights into areas you didn’t know before: differences in opinion are a strength, not a weakness.
As the book’s editor, I made a conscious decision not to interfere with the style and structure of the individual contributions in an attempt to standardise them. The contributors’ expert opinions are too important to standardise and I hope that their very different approaches will stimulate discussion about this topic.
Markus Müller is an economist and Chief Investment Officer, ESG, at Deutsche Bank Private Bank.
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