India on the world stage.

The land of snake charmers, tigers, elephants, Buddhas country, land of million Gods were epithets used to describe India not very long ago The worlds perception of India has certainly changed drastically in recent years !ilicon valley of the east, cradle of software industry, the fastest"growing economy, charging elephant, and the worlds outsourcing hub are titles now used for her This change has been brought about over the last few decades by a change in Indians mindset Till some time ago Indians were laid back people, content and fatalistic But now its different" Indians are hungry for recognition, power and progress and an#ious to see their dream take shape The world is moving fast but India is leaving it da$ed with its speed In the last %& years the G'( has grown at an average rate of )*, which is second only to +hina The prosperity of an average Indian has also grown over this period ,s India prospered, her diaspora spread to several countries, resulting in recognition of Indian talents and skills in fields of science, technology, finance, manufacturing and business Indira -ooyi, .ikram (andit, /ukesh ,mbani, -arayan /urthy, 0atan Tata are some of the key Indians leading this surge Giant companies such as Tata !teel, 0eliance, 1-G+, 2ipro and Infosys have transformed into world"class players The /ittals and Tatas have also bought stakes in big foreign companies 2ho knows, maybe in a few years, foreign companies may consider it a matter of pride to be taken over by Indian companies Indian presence in global arena has largely been the result of growing spread of education Indians, long known for mathematical skills, turned to software programming in the %34&s and now form a large chunk of employees at companies like IB/ and /icrosoft Indian faculty members in foreign universities are shaping world thought The growing si$e and prosperity of the middle class has drawn foreign companies that want to sell their products here 5ord, 6yundai, 6onda, +oke and others have set up base in India 7nlike the past, India is an important part of their future global strategies The foreign currencies flowing into India, with the force of the Ganges, has also strengthened the rupee, making other currencies cheaper Indians are therefore travelling to foreign shores and are welcomed for the business they bring Indians had been on the world stage a long time back, during the 6arappa civilisation 8#cavations show the e#istence of brick houses, developed drainage systems, dust bins and a highly comple# language while the -eanderthal"like men in 9ondon lived in caves, ate raw meat and could only grunt to communicate ,ncient Indians also traded with Greece and +hina It is no surprise that descendents of such a civilisation have once again taken centre stage In the last two decades India has surged forward in its ranking as an emerging economy It has achieved a status in the world, far beyond the imagination of our leaders who fought for its independence )& years ago 2e are not afraid of working hard to attain our special and rightful place on the stage of the world -eer:a Bakshi .III ,

India on the world stage.

The land of snake charmers, tigers, elephants, Buddhas country, land of million Gods were epithets used to describe India not very long ago The worlds perception of India has certainly changed drastically in recent years !ilicon valley of the east, cradle of software industry, the fastest"growing economy, charging elephant, and the worlds outsourcing hub are titles now used for her This change has been brought about over the last few decades by a change in the Indian mindset Till some time ago Indians were laid back people, content with what they had, fatalistic in their outlook But now its different" Indians are hungry for recognition, power and progress and are an#ious to see their dream take shape The world is moving fast but India is leaving it da$ed with its speed ,fter the country began reforming in the early %33&s, economic growth :umped to about ; percent It slowed in the late <3&s but since =&&= has proceeded at a blistering pace, surpassed only by +hina among the world<s large economies The prosperity of an average Indian has also grown over this period ,s India prospered, her diaspora spread to several countries, resulting in the recognition of Indian talents and skills in fields of science, technology, finance, manufacturing and business Indira -ooyi, .ikram (andit, /ukesh and ,nil ,mbani, -arayan /urthy, 0atan Tata are some of the key Indians leading this surge Giant companies such as Tata !teel, 0eliance, 1-G+, 2ipro and Infosys have been transformed into world"class players The Birlas and Tatas have also bought stakes in big foreign companies 2ho knows, maybe in a few years, foreign companies may consider it a matter of pride to be taken over by Indian companies Indian presence in the global arena has largely been the result of the growing spread of education 8ducation has helped in decreasing the differences between higher and lower classes Indians, long known for mathematical skills, turned to software programming in the %34&s and now form a large chunk of employees at companies like IB/ and /icrosoft 1ur home grown Infosys, T+! and 2ipro are a force to reckon with Indian faculty members in foreign universities are shaping the thoughts of the world 8nglish is understood, spoken and written by a large number of people in India, more than even the 7> and 7!, combined? !ince 8nglish is the key language used for sub:ects like biology, chemistry or even linguistics we Indians have had to take it up, not in order to ape the west but in order to progress ,fter all, what would you call the melampsora @rust diseaseA in 6indiB It is obvious that to understand the worlds knowledge one cannot do so in ones native language alone !o we need to adopt the universal base language, which is 8nglish Indians 8nglish skills are one of the most important reasons of growing employment ,ny student will tell you that it is important to know 8nglish if you take up a :ob in any IT services or management company It was a very common notion in the west @of ignorant peopleA to think that India was filled with poor magicians who did the rope trick for a living 2ith growing dismay they are reali$ing that if they call the customer service centre for the television set they own in +alifornia, chances are more than 4&* that they will be talking to an Indian in a B(1 in an Indian city miles away from +alifornia 2hat a day of enlightenment?

The growing si$e and prosperity of the middle class has drawn foreign companies to India to sell their products here The middle class currently numbers some C& million people, but by =&=C will have e#panded dramatically to C4D million peopleEsome F% percent of the population These households will see their incomes balloon to C% C trillion rupees @G% % billionAE%% times the level of today and C4 percent of total Indian income +itibank, 5ord, 6yundai, 6onda, +oca"cola and others have set up base in India 7nlike the past, India is an important part of their future global strategies The foreign currencies flowing into India, with the force of the Ganges, have also strengthened the rupee, making other currencies cheaper Indians are therefore traveling to foreign shores and are thoroughly welcomed for the business they bring Indian yoga and spiritualism have also reached all the corners of the world This again is mainly attributed to the ever"growing middle class Hoga forms a common place in the daily life of even an average ,merican? Though not many people know that this form was developed by sages and hermits who lived in Indian forests more than two thousand years ago India is not only renowned for this kind of spiritualistic and holistic treatment but is also known for the skills of its medical fraternity and hospitals 1ur doctors and surgeons are treating many patients flying in from the 2est These people used to the high standards of the 2est have found India matches those standards but at a very low price Indians had been on the world stage long ago, during the 6arappa civilisation 8#cavations show the e#istence of brick houses, developed drainage systems, dust bins and a highly comple# language while the -eanderthal"like men in 9ondon lived in caves, ate raw meat and could only grunt to communicate ,ncient Indians also traded with Greece and +hina It is no surprise that descendents of such a civilisation have once again taken centre stage In the last two decades India has surged forward in its ranking as an emerging economy It has achieved a status in the world, far beyond the imagination of our leaders who fought for its independence )& years ago The youth of todays India is not afraid of working hard to attain our special and rightful place on the stage of the world 1ur belief is our strength !trength is power and it is the same power that took humans to the moon This power can work wonders and it will surely take India to the highest pedestal of success -eer:a Bakshi .III ,