How India will shape the new global order - Part I

PART-I

Professor Sarat Mahanta Memorial Lecture

By Jayant Sinha

Thank you very much for that kind introduction.

    Honourable Chief Minister of Assam, Shri SarbandaSonowal ji; Honourable Fince Minister of Assam, Dr.HimantaBiswaSarma ji; Chairman of Professor SaratMahanta Foundation; Trustees of the Foundation; Dignitaries; Members of the Media; Ladies and Gentlemen.

I am very honored that you have chosen me to give the Fourth Professor SaratMahanta Memorial Lecture.The three previous Memorial Lectures were given by eminent public intellectuals, and I am humbled to be in their distinguished company.  Before joining public life, I was a professiol investor and spent my time looking for great businesses to invest in.  So my intellectual credentials are quite suspect and thus it is indeed a special privilege to be with all of you on this, yourfourth Memorial Lecture.

It is also essential during these uncertain times for all of us toreflect on the core themes that engaged Professor Mahanta.  Humanistic principles, the pursuit of truth, and social equalityappear to be under siege around the world - as we just saw in the US and French elections, the Brexit Vote, the rise of extremist parties in Europe, and in the depredations of global terrorism.

It is also fitting that we gather today to discuss these themes, here in fast-growing Guwahati, the hub of the North East and the gateway to the East.  Guwahati itself is the amalgam of diverse communities, wide-open flow of ideas, and a cosmopolitan mindset. 

And at this juncture, during these uncertain times, it is India's turn to be the flag bearer, the vanguard of the new global order.  We are at a profound moment in India's history – a time more poignt with possibilities than any othertime in the last three decades.  It is a time, when we have a single party majority in the Lok Sabha with a mandate from the people to build a new India.  It is a time, when we have a decisive and visiory Prime Minister who is determined to forge a bright future for India. 

It is a time, when the world is looking to India, to India's leaders, to India's young and talented workforce, to all of us, to provide leadership for the next chapter of global growth.

If it is India's turn now, how do we provide this global leadership?  How do we become a Vishwa Guru? What do we do to drive sustaible growth in India and around the world? 

To answer these questions, I will touch on three themes.  First, I will describe how India's economic development is inherently frugal and sustaible.  Second, I will show that it is India's great (for-profit and non-profit) innovators and entrepreneurs that are actually driving our frugal development model.  And, filly, I will explain how our government, under the extraordiry leadership of the Honorable Prime Minister, Shri rendra Modi ji, has developed a new, pro-poor / pro-market role for the Indian state therebyhelping forge a new future for India and the world.

INDIA'S FRUGAL DEVELOPMENT MODEL CAN DRIVE SUSTAIBLE GLOBAL GROWTH

In a slowing global economy, India is ready to seize the baton and become a key contributor to global growth.In the next decade, India is likely to contribute almost as much as Chi and more thantwice as much as the US in terms of absolute economic growth.

Moreover, India's economic development model is frugal in its use of tural resources, carbon, and capital.

The products and services developed in India for Indians are likely to be used widely across the developing world, where the majority of humanity resides.  Thus the Indianfrugal development model is going to contribute to global growth not only in quantitative terms, but also in defining a more sustaible growth trajectory for the developing world.

(To be continued)

(Jayant Sinha is India's Minister of State for Civil Aviation and a Lok Sabha Member of Parliament from Hazaribagh, Jharkhand.These are his persol views.)