COLUMN / Patriotism Redefined

“We have an outstanding ability to cope with and
solve problems”

I seek only two identities: one as a citizen of India, and the other as a citizen of the world.
I am proud of my Indian identity for I believe that, as of today, no other country in the world has the natural, human, man-made and socio-historical assets that we have. Let me list them.

Our natural assets

• Somewhere or the other in India, you would find a climate that you may find at some other place in the world. We are perceived to be a warm country but we have the second coldest place (Dras in Jammu & Kashmir) in the world.
• We have an extremely rich coast-line that stretches over 8000 kms.
• We have an enviable network of rivers and lakes (and ponds) throughout the entire length and breadth of the country.
• We receive a very substantial rainfall, with the rainiest place in the world (Mawsynram in Meghalaya) being in our country.
• We receive plenty of sunlight, and have places in the country (for example, on the coast near Tiruchendur) where there are more than 330 days of uninterrupted sunshine in a year.
• We are working towards having one-third of the area in the country covered by forests.
• We are one of the countries with the richest deposits of minerals. Our deposits of coal (including low-grade coal for the use of which we have developed processes), iron ore, mica, thorium, zinc, aluminium and oil, are substantial.
• We have a large land mass which is not being fully utilised
• l We are one of the five regions of the largest biodiversity on our planet.

Our human assets

• We have the third largest scientific and technological manpower in the world.
• There is hardly any area of technology where we do not have experts available. In areas such as custom-made software in information technology, we are amongst the world leaders.
• We have over 40,000 distinct formulations of plant-based drugs that have come to us through five indigenous systems of medicine: the documented Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, and Tibetian systems and the undocumented tribal systems. Even if 10 per cent of these were proven to be valid, it may exceed the equivalent number we have in modern medicine today. We have a tradition of highly innovative and useful agricultural practices, our agriculture having been contemporary with the rest of the world at the end of the 19th century, even according to a report of the British Crown at that time. As carriers of traditional knowledge in a vast variety of areas, we have no peers.
• Our human biodiversity perhaps matches the human diversity in the rest of the world: we have over 450 minor ethnic groups and nearly 40 major ones.
• We have, as a nation, one of the largest number (and proportion) of young people in the world today.

Our man-made assets

• Our scientific and technological infrastructure is among the best in the world; we have some of the finest scientific and technological institutions in the world.
• The ten revolutions that have taken place in country based on science and technology could be the envy of any developing country.

These are: the green revolution; the white revolution (we are the largest producers of milk in the world); the information technology revolution; the space revolution; the atomic energy revolution; the DNA technology revolution (we were the second country in the world to develop our own technology of DNA fingerprinting which has revolutionised, among other areas, forensic medicine); the defence technology revolution; the institution-building revolution; the drug revolution (we being the cheapest producers of medicines in the world, the average cost of common medicines being one per cent of that in the USA); and the development of infrastructure in every sector. (For a detailed description of our successes in science and technology since Independence, and the background of these successes, may we refer the reader to our book, The Saga of Indian Science Since Independence – In a Nutshell, published in 2003 by the Universities Press.)

Our socio-historical assets

• We are an ancient country with documented history of nearly 5000 years.
• Our variety is unparallelled – be it in respect of religion or customs. Thus, we are the second largest Muslim country in the world, and we have more Christians than all of Australia has. Buddhism was born here, as were Sikhism and Jainism, and we have the largest number of Parsis in the world. Yet there is a common thread that weaves them all together in a beautiful mosaic of fabric.
• We have an unbroken and uninterrupted tradition of art and aesthetics, going back to 5000 years.
• Our handicrafts are unmatched anywhere.
• We have two systems (the Hindustani and the Carnatic) of classical music that go back to 2000 years, as does our tradition of dance where we have some seven (Bharatnatyam, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Kathak, Kathakali, Manipuri and Mohini Attam) classical forms of dance, all highly developed.
• We greatly value family ties and social relations, and our social bonding is strong.
• Our traditional values, including that of hospitality, are something which the entire world looks up to.

The challenges
We have problems too – in fact many, the most important being lack of adequate education; inadequate supply of water and energy; faulty and unsatisfactory governance; and corruption everywhere. Intelligent use of the assets I have mentioned above, to solve these problems in a way that there is largest gain to the largest number of people, poses unparalleled challenges to all of us. I like such challenges and I believe they can be met. We, as perhaps, have an outstanding ability to cope with and solve problems. That’s why India is my home even though I have lived in four other countries and travelled through some sixty others.

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