We always talk of counterbalancing, leveraging, deterrent etc; vis-à-vis another country but do not work for enhancing our capability. China has much bigger and better workforce than India and they have been very outgoing in setting up projects overseas. They have built a good facility at Djibouti for their naval fleet and helicopters etc at this very strategic location. Indian government also must acquire land in other countries and persuade our industrialists to set up plants overseas for promoting business and employment generation. Off Mumbai coast, we can build several structures through reclamation for various purposes involving Art, culture, swimming pools, cycling tracks, jogging tracks. However, there is lack of political will to achieve these objectives. By now India should have established good trade relations with its neighbouring counties like Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka etc; but the nation lags far behind in this aspect.
India is keen to offer millions of dollars to Vietnam and Cambodia but doesn’t have vehicles to carry our deceased persons. China has been constructing artificial islands on South China sea. Why can’t our government emulate them? We still do not have a decent sized passenger ship under Indian flag. Our ship building and repair facilities are yet to be developed and we have to depend on Chinese assistance. China is far more competent than India.
Training must be imparted to youth so that they can acquire skills which will enable them to find employment and set up their own workshops. India is facing shortage of electricians therefore training must be offered to youth for addressing this issue. Such enhanced training modules can be arranged with the participation of experts drawn from foreign countries. In our country, we must focus on the work of enhancing electric power generation and distribution.
It is equally important to provide clean drinking water to our citizens. Millions of Indians currently lack access to clean drinking water, and the situation is only getting worse. India’s demand for water is growing at an alarming rate. Meanwhile, the nation’s supply of water is rapidly dwindling primarily due to mismanagement of water resources, although over-pumping and pollution are also significant contributors. People residing in rural India have to go miles to fetch water. In most of the villages a tanker comes and people fight for their turn to get water as they are actually fighting for life.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)