Welcome to my new blog. This blog is dedicated to the next hundred years. I know many of us may not be alive when this 100 year period will be over, but we all know that India will be around. A hundred years ago, too, India was around. Just that it was not Free. Today, we live in a Free India. A hundred years ago, Great Leaders like Gandhiji and Nehruji and RajgopalaChari and Madan Mohan Malaviya came together to build the foundation for rejuvenating India and restoring its greatness.
A brief look at the last hundred years. After looking within ourselves, we found that we need to do many things to recover. Most notably, we needed investment in new forms of development in our people, in science and in the public development works for the good of our country, and yes defense. This was to provide the basis of the first 40 years after Independence.
But first a few words on Partition. When "Muslim India" became Pakistan it was a bruising loss for us and felt most by the Father of our Nation, Gandhiji. With great sorrow he watched as brothers killed each other and what was one nation became two(and eventually three). Bharath, as we know it, might always be three nations. But we must take British India at the time and rebuild a Free Trade Area, allowing investment and longer term visas, so that trade and friendship return. While, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, believed that Hindus will be politically dominant in a United India, he did wish for "Great Friendship" between the two nations. Uniting the subcontinent economically and politically is extremely important. Pakistan today is as much in need of this cooperation and friendship as India is. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif gallant gesture of attending the Modi Inauguration shows his commitment to that relationship. Yet, the thorn of Kashmiri separatism remains. Kashmir today has special status as an autonomous province under India. It is our NWFP. Economic cooperation between the two sides of Kashmir can be on the Agenda as the two nations rediscover their friendship. Prime Minister Sharif, please talk to our leaders, not to separatists. I would suggest sending an economic envoy to talk to Omar Abdullah. More importantly, your closest neighbor is Rajastan and Punjab, send economic envoys to discover cooperation to meet the Chief Ministers of Rajastan and Punjab.
Returning to my main discourse, how to rebuild India, perhaps the best use of our precious water and land resource is very important. An open discussion is required here. Linking the Netravati to the Kaveri and bringing water to parched Southern Regions in Tamil Nadu as Madam Jayalalithaa has requested has to be part of the discussion in tristate talks between TN, AP and Karnataka. Investment in such projects should be bundled into to produce three distinct goals - Power for Karnataka, Water for Tamil Nadu and Rayalaseema and the growth of new cities in and around the industrial belt between Bangalore and Chennai. Only Win-Win projects produce strong returns. Today Bangalore is too congested and Chennai has no water. Satellite development centers in Rayalaseema can help both metropoli and act as a conduit for new business. But for this infrastructural development is necessary.
In the North, we also have differences in development. Growth in Mumbai and Ahmedabad while there is relative weakness in MP and Rajastan. Modi Sarkar needs to reward these states. Rajastan and MP have BJP govt. There should be no reason to avoid industrial projects and solid development in both states. Very soon Maharashtra too will be in BJP hands. What Keshubhai Patel did by building a broad coalition to produce a win with SSP has to produce results with infrastructural projects that benefit the Four States. MP
and Rajastan have mineral resources but they also need Industrial development. This might mean building development centers in the border of these two states as a bridge between Delhi and Mumbai. This area can
be a strong manufacturing hub with relatively low priced labor, proximity to the strong coal basin in MP
and oil resources in Rajastan as well as the entrepreneurial capital in Gujarat and Maharashtra. Push for a private-public partnership in this corridor.
Further East, it is important for Modi Sarkar to worry about Northern AP, Orissa and West Bengal. This corner is again mineral rich and people rich. Exports from here into Bangladesh and pipelines and sea links into Myanmar and Singapore are required. We have to build strong linkages via rail and pipe into the East.
A fast rail link from Kolkota, Dhaka to Yangon, Bangkok, Phnom Penh and HoChi Minh City can be extremely vital in the decades to come. The 2000 mile rail line can be a vital link into the east and goods loaded in HoChi Minh could reach Kolkota within a day. If Modi Sarkar worked with Myanmar in a Kolkota-Yangon line there could be steps by the other countries in laying the rest of the line in a few years.
Our Southern Neighbor, Sri Lanka has tended to be more isolated from us and this has created a difficult situation for the Tamil Minority. Stronger ties with Lanka might have helped forge a more peaceful settlement in that Civil War. Going forward, it is important to ensure that there is no recurrence of such conflict and also build a stronger economic relationship with our southern neighbor.
A brief look at the last hundred years. After looking within ourselves, we found that we need to do many things to recover. Most notably, we needed investment in new forms of development in our people, in science and in the public development works for the good of our country, and yes defense. This was to provide the basis of the first 40 years after Independence.
But first a few words on Partition. When "Muslim India" became Pakistan it was a bruising loss for us and felt most by the Father of our Nation, Gandhiji. With great sorrow he watched as brothers killed each other and what was one nation became two(and eventually three). Bharath, as we know it, might always be three nations. But we must take British India at the time and rebuild a Free Trade Area, allowing investment and longer term visas, so that trade and friendship return. While, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, believed that Hindus will be politically dominant in a United India, he did wish for "Great Friendship" between the two nations. Uniting the subcontinent economically and politically is extremely important. Pakistan today is as much in need of this cooperation and friendship as India is. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif gallant gesture of attending the Modi Inauguration shows his commitment to that relationship. Yet, the thorn of Kashmiri separatism remains. Kashmir today has special status as an autonomous province under India. It is our NWFP. Economic cooperation between the two sides of Kashmir can be on the Agenda as the two nations rediscover their friendship. Prime Minister Sharif, please talk to our leaders, not to separatists. I would suggest sending an economic envoy to talk to Omar Abdullah. More importantly, your closest neighbor is Rajastan and Punjab, send economic envoys to discover cooperation to meet the Chief Ministers of Rajastan and Punjab.
Returning to my main discourse, how to rebuild India, perhaps the best use of our precious water and land resource is very important. An open discussion is required here. Linking the Netravati to the Kaveri and bringing water to parched Southern Regions in Tamil Nadu as Madam Jayalalithaa has requested has to be part of the discussion in tristate talks between TN, AP and Karnataka. Investment in such projects should be bundled into to produce three distinct goals - Power for Karnataka, Water for Tamil Nadu and Rayalaseema and the growth of new cities in and around the industrial belt between Bangalore and Chennai. Only Win-Win projects produce strong returns. Today Bangalore is too congested and Chennai has no water. Satellite development centers in Rayalaseema can help both metropoli and act as a conduit for new business. But for this infrastructural development is necessary.
In the North, we also have differences in development. Growth in Mumbai and Ahmedabad while there is relative weakness in MP and Rajastan. Modi Sarkar needs to reward these states. Rajastan and MP have BJP govt. There should be no reason to avoid industrial projects and solid development in both states. Very soon Maharashtra too will be in BJP hands. What Keshubhai Patel did by building a broad coalition to produce a win with SSP has to produce results with infrastructural projects that benefit the Four States. MP
and Rajastan have mineral resources but they also need Industrial development. This might mean building development centers in the border of these two states as a bridge between Delhi and Mumbai. This area can
be a strong manufacturing hub with relatively low priced labor, proximity to the strong coal basin in MP
and oil resources in Rajastan as well as the entrepreneurial capital in Gujarat and Maharashtra. Push for a private-public partnership in this corridor.
Further East, it is important for Modi Sarkar to worry about Northern AP, Orissa and West Bengal. This corner is again mineral rich and people rich. Exports from here into Bangladesh and pipelines and sea links into Myanmar and Singapore are required. We have to build strong linkages via rail and pipe into the East.
A fast rail link from Kolkota, Dhaka to Yangon, Bangkok, Phnom Penh and HoChi Minh City can be extremely vital in the decades to come. The 2000 mile rail line can be a vital link into the east and goods loaded in HoChi Minh could reach Kolkota within a day. If Modi Sarkar worked with Myanmar in a Kolkota-Yangon line there could be steps by the other countries in laying the rest of the line in a few years.
Our Southern Neighbor, Sri Lanka has tended to be more isolated from us and this has created a difficult situation for the Tamil Minority. Stronger ties with Lanka might have helped forge a more peaceful settlement in that Civil War. Going forward, it is important to ensure that there is no recurrence of such conflict and also build a stronger economic relationship with our southern neighbor.
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