India vs China

Dr R A Mashelkar now gives us India's advantageous position in comparison with China. He says :

With regard to China Vs India, it is true that India will finally win for the simple reason that India is not a sprinter but a long distance runner.

 

India has three things which will stand for it in good stead. They all have to do with innovation and creativity because only those nations will survive and succeed in the 21^st century which are great in innovation and creativity. So, what are those three things?

 

These are  three Ds: Democracy, Demography and Diversity. Democracy gives us the  ability to think free, act free. And we have a great democracy in the country, somewhat chaotic, but still we are democratic and that is going to make a huge difference. The second is "Demography".  I just mentioned that almost half of our population is less than 25 years. In Shanghai, within the next five years, one third of the population will be more than 60 years because of the one child policy that they followed at some point in time. Innovation is the business of the young.  Therefore being a nation of the young is going to make a lot of difference. And the third is "Diversity". Look at the diversity from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, in our culture, in our language and so on. And when there is diversity, innovation thrives.

 

So these three factors, believe me,  that are going to stand us in good stead but what is very important is that the democracy we have, has to be an enlightened democracy and not "chaotic". Our demography has to be one where these young people have to be given an opportunity to grow, opportunity to reach their potential otherwise it will become a liability. And the diversity that we have, we have to always make sure that we manage the "unity in diversity" as we have managed over a period of time without factions. So Democracy, Demography and Diversity are India's three great advantages over China.