My vision of India is an Inclusive, and Entrepreneurial, Democracy.
My vision is a Deep, and Inclusive, democracy.
We have the largest electoral democracy in the world. But we do not have the deepest, nor most inclusive, democracy.
An elected government is a Government Of the People. It is also expected to be For the People and therefore must be accountable to the People always.
But deep democracy is more than that. It is Government By the People too.
A democracy where citizenship is not merely the right to vote members of assemblies.
But a democracy in which citizenship is also the active management by people of their own affairs in their communities and local bodies.
Not an election time democracy, but a deliberative democracy in which citizenship is the right to understand the rules, and to shape the rules by which citizens govern themselves.
My vision of India is an Inclusive Economy.
Real Inclusion in the economy is not obtained by Handouts and Redistribution.
It is achieved by inclusion in opportunities for all citizens to contribute to the creation of growth.
Therefore my vision is a country of Businesses For the People, By the People, and Of the People too.
Businesses must meet the needs of people. Especially those at the bottom of the economic pyramid. Therefore, for inclusion, we need innovations to provide affordable and accessible goods and services. Not just luxury goods for those at the top in which there is a lot of profit no doubt.
More public health services, not five star hospitals. More schools for the poor, not ivy league universities.
There is a business opportunity for profit at the bottom of the pyramid that many entrepreneurs are recognizing. Their Businesses produce For the People.
But this does not address the root cause of poverty.
People are poor, and cannot afford to pay much, because they do not have incomes,
They need jobs and incomes to lift themselves out of poverty.
Therefore they must be engaged in the processes of producing goods and services for themselves and others.
And therefore we need innovations in production models that provide more jobs, so that Business is By the People too.
Less investment of scarce capital in automation. More engagement of human beings in enterprises, because India has the greatest abundance of human beings on Earth.
Employees in enterprises owned by others have incomes, but they do not share in the creation of wealth, the fruits of which go entirely to the owners. Most of whom care only for the growth of their own wealth, and not the condition of those who work to create it for them.
For a fuller inclusion in the benefits of growth, we need more enterprises in which the producers and workers share the wealth creation too. This requires innovations in enterprise design and governance models to shape Businesses which are Of the People too, by being owned by the producers.
In my vision of India, India, which is a country of over a billion democrats, will also be a country of hundreds of millions of entrepreneurs.
Indeed this was Mahatma Gandhi’s vision. His charkha was a symbol. In his vision for India, all people would be producers of goods and services that the community and the market need. They would be earners and also owners of their enterprises, even if tiny.
Also, in his vision, local communities, in villages and towns, would govern themselves, and not be governed from capital cities.
Another piece of my vision for India has become imperative today. It is a vision of the country Gurudev Tagore prayed for.
“A country not broken into fragments by narrow domestic walls”.
My fellow Indians, let us be less divisive and more cooperative. Let us respect the differences in our ethnicities, our histories, and our religions.
In my vision of beautiful, diverse, incredible India, no mind will be without fear and every head will be held high, whether covered by a turban, a fez, shaved bare, or covered in a burqa if that be the individual’s choice.
My fellow Indians, let us strive together towards a heaven of freedom: a country in which every citizen has all three freedoms: political, social, and economic freedom.
We have a long way to go to meet with our collective tryst with destiny to which we awoke at the midnight hour on 15th August 1947, 73 years ago, when I was just 4 years old.
We have a long way to go. As a nation we have miles to go before we sleep.
In my vision, the country will be transformed by hundreds of millions of young Indians, with a renewed ambition to create the country of our collective aspiration.
They will be the billion and more democrats who respect each other.
As well as the hundreds of millions of entrepreneurs in all walks of life.
Older generations must hand over the baton to another generation of younger Indians.
May you be “fireflies” (lovely jugnus). Each lit up with your own light from within.
And may you all rise together, and we with you, to turn the shadows into light for everyone in India.
Jai Hind!