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Ramesh Thakur Photo: www.tecklesphoto.com

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“In Canadian terms, it’s hard to understand that a growth rate of 5.1% would be described as a setback,” says Ramesh Thakur, describing the attitude of India’s government toward the country’s economic performance. During a lively public presentation at IDRC on February 5, Thakur compared India’s circumstances with those of other countries, especially China.

He spoke proudly of India’s secular, multicultural polity. Although Hindus constitute 80% of the population, “Just a few years ago the prime minster was a Sikh, the chief of the army was a Sikh, the president a Muslim, and the real power behind the throne a Roman Catholic Italian widow.”

He addressed the dismal economic legacy of British colonialism, the vigour of India’s private sector versus the lassitude of the state (“The economy in India grows during the night, when the government is asleep”), and contrasted India’s entrepreneurial culture with that of China (“India’s economic performance is rooted in indigenous funds and enterprise, and is therefore likely to prove the more resilient and self-sustaining”).

He argued that India’s healthy liberal democracy remains the best system of governance for promoting free markets and addressing India’s poverty. Nonetheless, the country needs to confront four “drags” on its development: poor infrastructure, the prevalence of minority governments, corruption, and the “reservation” system of preferential measures meant to mitigate the effects of caste identity. He concluded with lengthy and sober reflections on the November 2008 attacks on Mumbai and on India’s response to terrorism.

Thakur is the inaugural Director of the Balsillie School of International Affairs in Waterloo, Ontario. He is an international relations and peace scholar with a distinguished academic and public service career.

Thakur was one of the principal authors of The Responsibility to Protect (IDRC, 2001), a report on international humanitarian intervention in the case of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity. He has authored or edited over 30 books on international affairs, including War in Our Time: Reflections on Iraq, Terrorism and Weapons of Mass Destruction (2007). An incisive commentator on India’s current affairs and foreign relations, Thakur writes regularly for Canadian and international newspapers.

The event was the fifth installment in IDRC’s year-long series The India Lectures, which mark the 25^th anniversary of the opening of IDRC’s South Asia regional office in New Delhi. As part of the series, IDRC has also hosted journalist M.J. Akbar, leading political analyst Pratap Mehta, eminent political scientist Rajeev Bhargava, and distinguished sinologist Alka Acharya.

IDRC has supported research for development in India since its founding, nearly 40 years ago.

The opinions expressed here reflect those of the speaker alone, and not necessarily those of the International Development Research Centre.

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