Truth to tell, being hailed as just an economic superpower (ES) is slightly boring. After all, Singapore is an ES, so is South Korea, New Zealand.... For me, more than the booming Sensex or the bulging dollar reserves, India as a superpower in terms of talent, creativity and ideas is cause for celebration. There is hardly any area—from fiction to fashion—in which Indians are not excelling. Of course, we have a lot of catching up to do, but the aplomb and assurance with which people from an alleged area of darkness have embarked on this exciting journey is breathtaking to behold. I hope I am not indulging in the India Shining type of bogus rhetoric. India's shining mind courtesy its creative impulses is the achievement to note. Our rulers, nevertheless, need to be reminded that much of the newly accumulated wealth must be spent on the upliftment of the 350 million citizens who live on less than a dollar a day. India will truly shine the day no kid has to beg at the traffic lights.
The Manmohan Singh regime, meanwhile, has had an average year. Since the media loves to award grades, I would give the UPA 4.5 out of 10. It has survived, it has governed, it has brought down the communal temperature, it has forced the principal Opposition party to re-examine its ideology, it has had one or two good ideas which, alas, are yet to be implemented. In short, in its 19 months in power, its performance has been lacklustre and undistinguished. It has done nothing seriously wrong, but neither has it done anything seriously right. Not a single policy initiative of the UPA has caught the popular imagination. The electorate, and Congress supporters, might give the party an extended honeymoon, but next year Dr Singh must produce the goods.
