A wonderful article article on India. by Masood Hasan.
(The writer is a Lahore-based columnist and a well-known journalist
, his contact email address is masood_news@hotmail.com)
THE NEWS INTERNATIONAL (Pakistani Newspaper)
The sight of Indian actress Urmilla on the rooftops of the old city of Lahore is a sight for sore eyes any time of the day. This week another 270 delegates from India among which are Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi, are expected to cross over into Pakistan. As both
countries take a series of steps, gingerly to start with, there is just that little light at the end of the dark and endless tunnel that has held us prisoners of our own device - as The Eagles put it in the famous number Hotel California. Will these measures lead to peace is a question for which even Tauqir Zia has no answers. All we can do is hope, pray and contribute in whatever way we can to normalise relations and bury the many hatchets that we have brandished for the last half-century.
Travelling last week on the Wazirabad-Sambrial road towards Sialkot, the potholes and bumps on that narrow ribbon strip road began to revive memories of long forgotten journeys made on that same road. I could have, after a few violent and rib-shaking miles, sworn these holes and craters were the same when one was in Kindergarten. Nothing seemed to have changed except that the dust was thicker, the pollution dismal and the
people in numbers too large to comprehend. Perhaps in most of India the situation is not very much different and our much-touted smirking observations that India has huge problems might have given us years of self-induced smugness, but things across the divide are changing at a speed that baffles the mind. Some years ago, an Indian said to a Pakistani, It is true we are both in the gutter. The difference is, we are looking at the stars. You are looking at the gutter Many of us associate India's new progress with its IT revolution and it is partly true. Indian companies like Moser-Baer located in an equally unknown Noida are now the world's third
largest optical media manufacturer and the lowest-cost producer of CD-Recorders.
Exports?
Only Rs 1,000 crore - Indian rupees I might add. This firm sells data-storage products to seven of the world's top 10 CD-R producers.
There is another unknown. Tandon Electronics. Its hardware exports are Rs 4,000 crore.
There is more depressing data, all of it quite true and impartial. 15 of the world's major automobile makers are obtaining components from Indian companies. This business fetched India $375 million last year and in 2003 the number will be $1.5 billion. In half a decade, they will reach $15 billion. Hero Honda with 17 lakh motorcycles a year is now the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world. The prestigious UK automaker, Rover is marketing 1 lakh Indica cars made by Tata in Europe, under, wait a minute, its own name.
Bharat Forge has the world's largest single-location forging facility. It produces 1.2 lakh tonnes per annum and its clients include Honda, Toyota and Volvo among others.
Asian Paints now owns 22 production facilities over 5 continents and is the market leader in 11 of these countries. Hindustan Inks has the world's largest single stream fully integrated ink plant of 1-lakh tones per annum capacity and 100% owned subsidiaries in USA and Austria. EsselPropack is the world's largest laminated tube manufacturer with presence in 11 countries and a global marketing share of 25% already. Ford has just
presented its Gold World Excellence Award to India's Cooper Tyres.
Other industries are winning equally prestigious awards all the time.While on cars, Aston Martin has contracted prototyping its latest luxury sports car to an Indian-based designer and is set to produce thecheapest Aston Martin ever. Suzuki, which makes Maruti in India has decided to make India its manufacturing, export and research hub outside Japan. Hyundai India is set to become the global small car the Korean giant and will produce 25,000 Santros to start with. By 2010 it is set to supply half a million cars to Hyundai Korea. HMI and Ford.
India are leaping ahead, posting astonishing results in the global markets from Brazil to China. The Indian pharmaceutical industry is blazing ahead too. At $6.5 billion and growing at 8-10% annually, it is the 4th largest pharmaceutical industry in the world. Its exports are over $2 billion. India is among the top five bulk drug makers and at home, the local industry has edged out the MNCs whose share of 75% in the market is down to 35%. Trade of medicinal plants has crossed Rs 4,000 crore already. As for technology, India is among the three countries that have built supercomputers on their own. The other two are USA and Japan. Not a bad club to be in, is it?
India is among six countries that launch satellites and do so even for Germany and Belgium. India's INSAT is among the world's largest domestic satellite communication systems. Here are more depressing facts. India is one of the world's largest diamond cutting and polishing centres. About 9 out of 10 stones sold anywhere in the world, pass through India. With China, India's arch enemy, trade has grown by 104% in the past year and in the first 5 months of 2003,