India’s challenges

THIS year’s Independence Day comes amid India’s grand preparations for the G20 Summit, which will be hosted by the country for the first time. India’s growing stature in the international arena is underscored by its current presidency of two prominent multilateral groupings — G20 and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. According to the government, the theme of the G20 presidency — One Earth, One Family, One Future — has received widespread support. But does a similarly worded but unwritten theme — One India, One Family, One Future — resonate across the country? Perhaps not, going by the violence and hatred that have kept Manipur on the boil for the past more than three months and scorched parts of Haryana in recent weeks.

The question arises: Can a country that aspires to become a global power and a developed nation afford to keep such devastating fires burning at home? Regarded as the world’s fastest-growing major economy, India simply cannot let divisiveness and discord stall its ambitious march. Peace and harmony are the prerequisites for sustaining India’s strides on the economic front. The world’s most populous nation has a huge demographic dividend to cash in on — around two-thirds of India’s population is under 35 years old. These young men and women are eagerly embracing modernity and are determined not to allow pre-modern resentments and rivalries to impede their individual and collective progress. Channelling the abundant energies of the 21st-century youth holds the key to India’s all-round growth.

Today also marks the formal end of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations. In PM Modi’s words, it was the festival of the nation’s awakening, of fulfilling the dream of good governance, and also of global peace and development. A truly awakened and well-governed India would be one where every festival is celebrated in the spirit of brotherhood and where the majority and minority communities coexist peacefully and amiably.