India Has Potential To Change World Beyond Politics: Dr Kiran Karnik
In his book, "Decisive Decade: India 2030 Gazelle or Hippo," Dr. Kiran Karnik, author, columnist, and former president of NASSCOM, defines how a decade can bring immense change to the country in every aspect.
Dr. Karnik called the years following 1991 a "watershed year" while speaking at the Gurugram chapter of the 4th edition of the India Business Literature Festival (IBLF), citing radical economic and business changes that transformed India into a true shining star.
While talking about the decade of 2004 to 2015, Dr Karnik said, “271 million people were lifted up from multi-dimensional poverty, which is not just measured by income but by other poverty criteria as well.”
He went on to say that after a bit of a global slowdown and demonetisation, 2019 was the year of high optimism that was expected to put us back on a high growth path.
Dr. Karnik also mentioned influential global changes such as Brexit, saying, "Even though Britain was the natural entry point into Europe, Britain's exit provided an opportunity to India as it is the UK's largest trading partner."
He also explained how geopolitical happenings influenced his writing and the topic of his book including the trade war between China and the US and episodes taking place in the South China Sea and Taiwan.
Dr. Karnik identified the 3Cs as covid, conflict, and climate. He stated that for India, the opportunity and challenges intersected at a point where we needed to look up to the geopolitical stances that we had already begun to take.
He appreciated India’s position to occupy the space apart from power politics whether it was a vaccination drive or surpassing China in growth rate.
In the book, Karnik discusses the nine fields—from technology to politics, health, and education—where we may influence India.
Shobit Arya, the founder and publisher of Wisdom Tree, and Dr. Karnik discussed ways to help more people escape poverty.
