Atmanirbhar and Viksit. These two qualifiers of Bharat are likely to feature prominently in any word cloud constructed on national narratives since the pandemic. In fact, the idea of an Atmanirbhar Bharat is very closely linked to the vision of a Viksit Bharat.
The conceptualisation of a developed country can be painted on the canvas of Amrit Kaal—the 25-year period from 2022 leading up to 2047, when the modern nation-state of India would have been free for 100 years—along several dimensions. An Atmanirbhar Bharat strengthens the foundations of each of these. The most common way to think about Viksit Bharat is the economic one, with international organisations like the World Bank prescribing the per-capita gross national income threshold to cross, to be labelled a developed country. The importance of aspiring for atmanirbharta for a strong economy cannot be overstated.
Looking back in history, a definitive lesson can be drawn from countries that developed on the back of distinctive competitive advantages. The ascent of the United States as an innovative, creative destruction-led economy or the rise Japan as the world’s electronics powerhouse, was a result of home-grown, fit-for-context economic and industrial policies. Strengths in specific sectors and the ability to shape the global business flows underpinned the economic rise of these countries.
In a world where any particular economic feature can be weaponised, it is critical to prioritise skills and capabilities that lead to reduced volatility and increased certainty. We will continue to live in a global workplace and we are not receding inward. An active pursuit of higher-order capacities aligned with global technological progress, which boosts the culture of designing, tinkering, and building is integral to the notion of atmanirbharta.
Another way to imagine a Viksit Bharat is to dream of a certain coverage and quality of hard infrastructure, usually associated with ease of life and ease of doing business in developed countries. In a huge landmass north of the great seas and south of the Himalayas, the infrastructure requirements are massive, diverse and multimodal.
The country needs simultaneous access to and advances in multiple technologies for connectivity, mass transportation and logistics. This presents an opportunity for us to devise indigenous solutions and technology stacks in a range of areas. Building value chain competencies in niche technologies at a scale that India offers to deployment is an unparalleled market opportunity as well.
In fact, this approach has already worked very well in the domain of financial inclusion. Population-scale, technology-driven innovation has altered the retail payments architecture and landscape in less than a decade. This lesson in atmanirbharta is a good reference for areas like infrastructure and telecommunications.
In the area of human capital, India’s scale requires custom approaches in education and healthcare to address specific outcomes and constraints. Our experience in researching, manufacturing and administering Covid-19 vaccines demonstrates that there is no substitute for localisation of capacities and processes to address emergencies.
Be it creating the safety net of single-payer healthcare for a large part of population or designing an educational policy that focuses on real-world learning outcomes, the best way is to absorb what works around the world but tailor the experiences for our requirements. As the world around us changes rapidly, the society and the workforce of tomorrow have to be visualised and designed without the baggage of histories and precedents.
Very importantly, there’s also the atmanirbharta of thought and inspiration, which ensures that the building blocks of our decisions are grounded in the strong foundation of our socio-cultural milieu and idioms. A Viksit Bharat is our own milestone and journey. As External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar notes in his book Why Bharat Matters, “India’s destiny is bigger than to be just a part of the future of others.” The richness of our civilisational ethos should be a source of strength in this journey.
For a long time, the phrase “developed country” in our national discourse almost always meant material comfort and consumerism in the mould of what global media and entertainment industry pushed our way. The Amrit Kaal presents an opportunity to reassess both the material as well as the metaphysical aspects of this next stepping stage for India.
Our proposition of Atmanirbhar is still evolving. When PM Narendra Modi spoke about it the first time in May 2020, the first reactions especially from the geopolitically agnostic votaries of globalisation were cautious. As the triple shock of Covid, conflict, and climate, which has unravelled since then, there has been greater appreciation and acceptance for the need to balance a pursuit of efficiency with surefootedness of national proficiencies.
Prime Minister Modi, speaking at an event in Solapur a few days ago, remarked: “It is important to build an Atmanirbhar Bharat to build a Viksit Bharat”. This will remain the defining link of our national evolution in the times to come.
(Views are personal)
Aashish Chandorkar
Counsellor, Permanent Mission of India to the World Trade Organization
Vivek Singh
Board member, IIM-Shillong and ex-Officer on Special Duty to Finance Minister