Bharat 2047: 100 years after independence, technology powered vibrant Bharat

The soul of Bharat

It always amazes me how as a nation with 140 cr people living in a country with ONENESS with 1000s of languages, cultures, traditions, attires, and cuisines. Yet, it is incredible, with this much diversity; the oneness differentiates us from the rest of the world. 

For 1000s of years, the living philosophy of Bharat is not to harm others, and happiness is within the human and not outside; the people in Bharat respect and devote Nature, a living ecosystem of birds, animals, forests, soil, water, air, and fire, as the creator. This is the only nation that considers the human body a temple and does not need to go to temples separately. That means this nation advocates for each human to see their inside and enhance their consciousness (awareness) so that they never harm others, become kind, speak only the truth, and work hard in a very structured manner. 

Bharat was known for many inventions and scientific discoveries like Agriculture, Astronomy, Architecture, Metallurgy, Mathematics, and Medicine. Moreover, the Indus Valley Civilization has many magical creations like healers curing tooth disorders with bow drills, water-flushed toilets, sophisticated sewage system, all this in 7000 BC. But, not limited to this, our Bharat invented yoga, a tool to transform humans for global good, the first cataract surgery, chess, snakes, and ladders (An excellent learning tool that teaches the ups and downs of life), Cashmere Wool and others. Bharat's GDP in 1000 AD was around 29% of Global GDP. 

Bharat, in the past, never documented its inventions and discoveries. This may be because learning and teaching philosophy in those times differed fundamentally. Teachers/gurus/experts speak, and students listen and enhance their knowledge. There were no documents to refer to; hence, students in the class required hyper attention and active listening. All the past discoveries were in the brains of the inventor others know when the inventor shares them. This may be one of the reasons we fail to prove to the world our past inventions, as science today expects documented proofs.  

I also believe that our gurus did their teaching with the voice of some rhythm that delivered sound frequency that profoundly impacted the human brain. As there was nothing to refer to after class, students must focus on the guru and his voice to learn the new knowledge or skill and remember it. Listening with sound frequency and remembering were considered the best instruments to unlock the human brain's true potential! Even today, scientists are working to fight wildfires with sound waves. Does that mean there is some magical power in the sound waves?!

Hence, I always admire Bharat, not India, which is still working hard to become the developed nation today!!!

INDIA TODAY - 2022

After the greatest glory of Bharat, we were invaded by foreigners. For more than 1000 years, we were under the rule of foreigners, who have tried to change the soul of Bharat and succeeded partially in a few areas and significantly in others. However, it negatively impacted us. 

Finally, we achieved independence from the British on Aug 15th, 1947, after sacrifices and fights by leaders like Mahatama Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (Maulana Azad), Sarojini Naidu, Savitribai Phule, Alluri Sitarama Raju, Komaram Bheem, and others. Many Indians got insulted, treated like slaves, and lost their lives fighting against the British. Now we are celebrating the completion of 75 years of our independence. We all must be thankful to our past generations for liberating us from the nasty foreigners' rule. 

I was curious to know India's performance today; It is very heartening that we have progressed from a mere USD 30 million GDP in 1947 to a near USD 3 trillion GDP today. Moreover, we have established world-class academic institutions and safeguarded democracy, invested in many projects in defense, IT, Pharma, irrigation, automotive, and others. 

We also have significant innovations to celebrate, like Mangalyaan, built just with USD 74 million, which may cost ten times more in the USA and other countries. Great leaders like JRD Tata, Homi J. Bhabha, Vikram Sarabhai, Satish Dhawan, APJ Abul Kalam, Ghanshyam Das Birla, FC Kohli, Narayana Murthy, Azim Premji, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, and others changed the face of India and contributed considerably. 

But I firmly believe we have not yet unlocked India's true potential (Bharat potential). By observing around 50+ Global indices released by WEF, UN, World Bank, and other renowned organizations, we need to go a long way to become one of the top developed nations in the world. Examples include Human Development Index 2020 (131st), Global Network Readiness Index (67th), and Corruption Perception Index (86th). 

Hence, we must transition from India to Bharat. We must go back to our future which is Bharat.

BACK TO THE FUTURE - THE BLUEPRINT FOR BHARAT 2047 

We can't afford to continue with the current performance of India to build a New Bharat by 2047, and we must improve manifold to give a better Bharat to our next generations by 2047 (100 years after our independence from the British).

But the rules of the game are changed. We are now in the 4th Industrial Revolution and missed the bus to becoming the global leader. We must start preparing for the 5th, 6th, and 7th Industrial revolutions now which are driven by technologies.

Technology today has become the driving force for shaping human lives, society, environment, health, industries, and governance. Therefore, we must unlock the power of new technologies to build a New Bharat with unimaginable new capabilities. What we could do with new technologies is mentioned below as an example. 

Reimagining Bharat 2047

I believe that the past four industrial revolutions have empowered humans with excellent living conditions but at the cost of the environment and ecology. Hence, we must aim at building a wealthy, healthy, blue, green, and compassionate Bharat by 2047 that enhances the blissfulness of people.

BHARAT 2047 BLUEPRINT  

Bharat must invest in building new capabilities (People, Processes, Policies, Patents, Infrastructure) leveraging the power of fusion of technologies to prepare for the 2047 mission. The innovation lies in the intersection of technologies.  

I dream that Bharat must become a Global Leader, Inventor, and Economic and defense Superpower by 2047

Dream without action is a paper tiger. Hence, we must create a blueprint for New Bharat and then bring the institutional effort to translate the blueprint to reality. In this article, I am sharing my first cut thoughts that would help us to start discussing, debating, reimagining, reinventing, and innovating our own Bharat. 

The blueprint that I conceptualized for Bharat 2047 is mentioned below.

GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY FORUM (GTF)

Having said this, we also must establish an institution that motivates, inspires, and ignite the spark in the minds of people to create aspirations and passion for building a New Bharat. Like the World Economic Forum (WEF), I believe that we must establish a Global Technology Forum (GTF), a not-for-profit organization to bring the collective intelligence and energies of Indians to work towards realizing the Bharat 2047 mission. 

Transformational programs in India today like UIDAI, Gaganyaan, Golden Quadrilateral, ONDC, and others are not enough to build Bharat 2047. We need 100s of such types of transformational programs derived, which could be from 5-18-160 Bharat 2047 Blueprint. 

GTF must play the role of catalyst in synergizing the scattered efforts being spent by people on various initiatives. GTF could become a navigator for Bharat 2047 and could aim at supporting the other needy nations, and become the true Viswa Guru, which Bharat used to be.  

In my view, the Core Purpose, Vision, and Core Values of GTF could be as mentioned below: 

Today we are celebrating 75 years of our independence. Let all of us gear up to design and build Bharat 2047, which will be Wealthy, Healthy, Blue, Green, and Compassionate and become a true Viswa Guru.

Jai Hind, Jai Bharat

The article has been written by By V Srinivasa Rao, VSR Chairman & MD, BT&BT Author – Lean Digital Thinking – Digitalizing Businesses in a World Order and Chairman – Open Digital Innovation, IET Future Tech Panel