So I can see the contours of the future we all hope for. But we are not there yet. The road is currently strewn with some large obstacles. I want to concentrate on just three of them, but perhaps the three that are most critical.
One: I cannot imagine a successful India which is not spreading its wealth and which is not educating a far greater portion of its population than it is today.
Two: I cannot imagine a successful India which has not developed its infrastructure, from roads and ports to energy supply and distribution.
And three: I cannot imagine a successful India unless its agricultural practices have improved markedly with the application of new technologies and techniques.
The first issue is that India must ensure that a greater share of its growing wealth reaches the broader population. That will require policies which encourage investment in rural areas, which provide vocational skill-building and training and greater market access for local industries.
While investment in education has been doubled in the Eleventh Plan, it needs to be radically stepped up. I am talking about increasing the capacity of the entire system, from primary schools to colleges and postgraduate institutions. I am a product of the outstanding educational system that existed in India in the 1960s and 1970s. But demand for this education is far outstripping supply — and diluting the quality of that supply.
The National Knowledge Commission, appointed by Prime Minister (Manmohan) Singh, has made very valuable recommendations for reforms in education. Urgent, urgent action is needed now to implement those reforms.
The people of India are its greatest strength. India could have the largest pool of skilled labour in the world. But we need to start a great campaign for universal literacy.
From that base, India can become an economic superstar. But it cannot without it.
Image: People gather on a railway platform in Agartala as the first engine enters a recently constructed railway station, June 29, 2008, during a trial run of a new railway line. Tripura in India's north-east is set to be connected with India's huge rail network more than six decades after the country attained independence. Officials say some 105 rail staff died of disease and militant attacks in the five years that the track has taken to be laid through Tripura's dense forests, steep hills and terrain. Parthajit Datta/AFP/Getty Images
Also see: The 6 things that changed India
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