Count the Indians, count India

For those who govern India — and since 2014 the prime minister has been Narendra Modi, who as chief minister of Gujarat had already distinguished himself as competent in managing the economy —, the youth of Indians, associated with numbers, is a competitiveness factor. But it also brings great responsibilities: there are many millions of children to go to school, many millions of young adults to enter the job market. And the need to assure the electorate that economic policies, and beyond, are fair, whether the affected population is Hindu, Muslim, sikh or Christian, and live in Kashmir, Kerala or West Bengal, or in the great metropolis that is Mumbai, formerly Bombay, which remains the economic capital. Investing in Education is vital.

Modi’s Hindu Nationalist Party has traditionally been in favor of a more open economy, but the Congress Party itself, which has ruled for a long time since independence in 1947, also realized long ago that exaggerated protectionism undermines the ability to create wealth in a country that still has many poor people.

There is still a long way for India to bridge the economic divide with neighboring China, an important trading partner but also a competitor, and the average income of a Chinese person is still well above that of an Indian (just as that of an American is much higher than that of a Chinese). But the Indian economy is aiming for growth of 7%, the most significant among major economies, while China’s, in official forecasts, will be below 5%.

Just to highlight the demographic gigantism of India, and the colossal effort to carry out a census, Uttar Pradesh, the largest of the Indian states, has around 240 million inhabitants. If it were a country, it would be the sixth largest in the world (it has more people than, for example, Brazil.) In other words, do not forget that India is an increasingly important power in the international context and, in a growing scenario of multipolarity, cooperation with it must be reinforced, something that Portugal, with old historical ties, has already realized, and the European Union itself as well, just think about the free trade agreement signed this year.