Ancient India most probably was the richest country in the world as its fabulous riches were well known and brought outsiders who were interested in her wealth. People like Mohammed Ghazni came several times to plunder the palaces and temples. The more than two thousand year old Somnath temple in Gujarat was his special target.
The foreigners were also interested in the Golconda mines (near Hyderabad) the gems of which were world famous. Even Shakespeare made a mention of it. The Kohinoor from Golconda still adorns the British crown.
In 1835 Lord Macaulay made a mention of India’s wealth in the British Parliament: “I have travelled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief, such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values…”. Unfortunately the British were able to change this in a few decades of colonial rule.
By the time Swami Vivekananda started his two year journey in 1891 through the whole of India, from the Himalayas to Kanyakumari, Swamiji was saddened to see the degeneration of his motherland. Swamiji, however, was the embodiment of strength and his message brought new hope to a sinking nation. Swamiji was a spiritual leader and so he kept away from politics of any sort. But he was able to give strength to a whole generation of Indians in whom he instilled the love of their motherland and gave them the courage to stand up against colonialism.
It was another half century before the British left. By then India had become a poor country. Indian government after Independence tried to revive the economy. Gandhiji had already given emphasis to cottage industries by giving importance to spinning his own cloth. Now the government established the Khadi Gramodyog Bhavan to market the things produced at these home and village based centres.
Among the objectives in establishing the Bhavan were alleviating rural poverty and working towards a non-exploitative social order. The government gave importance to all handicrafts and apart from the Khadi clothing/fabric other things like incense, spices, henna, natural soaps, handmade paper etc. are also sold there. Handicraft centres were established in all the states for producing and marketing these items which are unique to India. (Some of the things are unique to the particular states.)
Indian handicrafts slowly gained popularity at home and abroad. Indian families used to use the brass and bronze ware and other items for prayers. Now they also became decorative items while Indian fabrics and clothes made with them gained popularity. In recent years Tirupur in Tamil Nadu has become a major export centre for clothing manufactured there.
At the same time India established heavy industries like steel plants in Bhilai, Rourkela etc. so there was no dependence on foreign countries for steel. There were already industries like Tata Steel Industries.
India became a world leader in Information Technology. After six decades of independence, India progressed from a developing country firmly on the path of a developed country. A lot of Indians who had gone abroad looking for better opportunities are now coming back to India to spend their retired life there.
But even today there is poverty in India. We used to hear of Mother Teresa and her work with the homeless people in Kolkata. Recently we had the academy award-winning movie ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ which again dwelt on the poverty in India. Meanwhile India has the fastest growing number of dollar millionaires and billionaires.
The problem is the unequal distribution of wealth. Then there is also the problem of corruption, which has recently been highlighted by the likes of Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazare.
It will be a while before India is able to regain its past glory. But what needs to be celebrated is that despite all the poverty and the chaos that western eyes see in Indian society, it has remained stable, largely peaceful and most importantly a functioning democracy blessed with an extremely talented population that is hard working, young and ready to take on the world.
There is little doubt that India is on the fast track to development and the eradication of poverty within the next one generation.