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INDIA TO BECOME THIRD LARGEST ECONOMY

19/12/2023 17:24:00 Sabelo Gabs Nxumalo

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The Indian Government, through their Ministry of External Affairs, must be appreciated for hosting media outlets from a few countries in the African continent to learn about the culture of the Indian people, and their fast-growing economy.

As a way of introducing this long exposure to Africa and India relations, I have chosen to look briefly into the African and Indian shared past and our different paths as people, into the different futures we are both facing. The current population of Africa is 1 476 275 995 as of October 2023, based on the latest United Nations estimates. Africa’s population is equivalent to 17.89 per cent of the total world population. Africans are just as numerous as Indians ,with 1 425 775 850 at the end of April 2023, but are highly divided. We also share a common past, which includes the unpleasant history of oppression, exploitation, marginalisation and displacement of our peoples by colonial masters. The two groups have dealt with circumstances in different ways, given that these unfortunate circumstances had different adverse effects, as they found both peoples with different cultures and traditions.

What can Africa learn from India? Our different ethnic diversity has played a vital role in how Africans and Indians were able to develop and industrialise post-colonial dispensation. The reality is that, the African continent has remained behind in development, because of the effect of the reality that it is a highly ethnically diversified continent without a common link, such as religion and language. There are over 3 000 languages spoken in Africa, many of which have roots in the major language families: Afro-Asianic includes Arabic ancestrally native to East and North Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula. Nilo-Saharan, Nilo-Congo is comprised of Niger-Congo’s non-Bantu branches. Scholars say Africa has highly diverse cultures, and no one indigenous language, which is more dominant than another, such as Hindi in India, hence communication for development becomes difficult. The biblical account of Babel cannot be more accurate when describing Africa.

While India has 22 separate official languages, it is home to a total of 121 languages and 270 mother tongues. It is also home to the world’s oldest language, Hindi. The major religion in India is Hinduism. Almost 80 per cent Indians consider themselves Hindu. Hinduism can be found in many aspects of Indian culture, including in film and television. As in the case of Africa, foreign languages, and religions such as Arabic, Christianity, and all the colonial languages were the only means by which Africans could communicate with each other. Ultimately, because Africans were highly divided people, without a common religion of their own, they were rendered weak and have not been able to unite and find common synergies to foster great development within themselves. The ancient kingdoms and empires which had held the people together were all gone with time. The Arab invasions and internal civil wars saw all these great kingdoms and empires disappear with time, until the arrival of the colonialists in more recent times.

Age of democracy

As Africans were traditional people ruled by kings and emperors, the arrival of the age of democracy and multi-political party democracy did not help in the unity of Africa, as it did to India. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was a national leader and social reformist, who was known as the ‘father of our nation’ in India. Gandhi introduced a non-violent form of socio-political protest called satyagraha, which ultimately led to the liberation of the Indian people from the British. Yes, there was political violence in India but unity and peace returned. The African original liberators became dictators, and all that was bad about colonialists. The struggle to liberate Africans from the liberators would cost more lives, than the colonial wars. When the Africans differed in ideology, they started new political parties, took their tribes and went to war. There was very little consideration or room for religion, as everyone has and practiced different religions. The scramble for Africa by colonial masters had a devastating effect on the continent, such that for over fifty years, they fought one another even after the colonialists had left. This is because of the highly artificial borders that divided families and ethnic groups.

Largest democracy

Though India became a free nation on August 15, 1947, it declared itself a sovereign, democratic and republic State, with the adoption of the Constitution on January 26, 1950. It would not be wrong to say the principle of democracy originated from the Vedas. The Sabha and Samiti are mentioned in both Rig Veda and Atharva Veda. Rigveda, (Sanskrit: ‘The Knowledge of Verses’) is one of the oldest of the sacred books of Hinduism, composed in an ancient form of Sanskrit. In many meetings, a decision was made after a discussion with the king, ministers, and scholars at that time. What are the key features of Indian democracy?
* Respect for basic human rights,
* A multi-party political system paired with political tolerance,
* A democratic voting system,
* Respect for the rule of law,
* Democratic governance, and.
* Citizen participation.

There is a deep dharma root in Indian democracy. While liberal democracies of the west, exclusively focus on achieving good governance, Indian democracy also focuses on developing a sense of universal responsibility, the well-being of all creatures, concern for nature and mankind, and avoiding abridging the freedom of others. It is both a constitutional republic and a representative democracy, which means that ‘majority rule is balanced by the rights recognised by law’ for the various minority groups. There are a total of 28 States, and eight union territories that make up India, which is a federal system.

It might be wrong to compare India with Africa, as Africa is a vast continent and several Indias can fit into Africa, however, the population of India is similar. If Africa is to develop as India has done, Africans must be willing to learn from India, and other parts of the world, and try to use it to improve our situation. The African media delegates who were invited to India were exposed to the various State organs, which included the Elections Commission of India, which is responsible for 850 million Indian eligible votes. We will go through the lessons that we were able to learn from India, as we present various articles through this publication. Comment septembereswatini@gmail.com