An article of stray,unconnected thoughts:
• President Obama has been awarded the Nobel Prize not for what he has achieved but for what it is hoped he will achieve. His election has ended Bushs imperial presidency and this has engendered the hope that America will once again work within the framework of multilateralism based on respect for national sovereignty. It remains to be seen of course whether these hopes will be realised. The initial signals are not hopeful and paradoxically Obamas greatest foreign policy challenge today pivots around the question whether to send more troops into Afghanistan or not.
The thought that has crossed my mind is that if hope,more than achievement,has become the barometer for selecting Nobel Peace Prize winners,then the Indian electorate (and the Indian electoral commission) should be nominated. There are after all few more powerful beacons of hope for the millions of disenfranchised around the world than the sight of poor,presumably illiterate Indians queued up outside polling booths waiting to cast their votes for candidates that have time and time again disappointed them.
The justification for the nomination should not be the affirmation of the democratic spirit that such a sight conveys,but the hope that the resolve of the Indian voter to exercise their inalienable right to choose generates for those still bound by the shackles of authoritarianism. The nomination should include the electoral commission because notwithstanding the malevolent influence of muscle and money power,it has in the main ensured a free and fair vote.
I cannot discern from the statement issued by the Nobel Committee to explain the Obama award, whether they were honouring hope or achievement. It could legitimately be the latter for Obamas successful presidential campaign did pull America back from the path of militant adventurism,and to that extent it has contributed to peace. It might however be the former as the Obama presidency cannot take credit for any tangible peace achievement. If indeed it is the former then some one might wish to test the Nobel Committees definition of hope by proposing the Indian electorate for next years award.
• I spent Diwali with my father in Udaipur. It was a celebration no different in essence from the way millions of other families brought in the New Year. There were diyas,pujas and the house was filled with the sounds of ritual and tradition. Across the gate of the house however, I heard a very different noise. It was the cacophony of modernity the clamour of shopkeepers and shoppers; the din of traffic; the tumult of restaurants,internet cafes and chaotic consumerism. Sitting in the verandah of our old house,I wondered at the consequence of the interplay of two worlds one rooted in tradition and moulded by the prismatic heterogeneity of our diverse traditions and multiple identities and the other driven by the monochromatic homogeneity of the forces of globalisation and technology. I wondered how these two worlds could coexist. It seemed to me there was a fundamental disjunct between them. Those who sought material fulfillment in todays competitive world would perforce have to leave behind their local identities. And yet this was precisely what people did not want to do. They wanted somehow to live within the circles of economic well-being and growth and those of family,roots,culture and tradition. The thought ran through my mind that the essential challenge of sustainable development was to find a way of balancing the quadruple demands of economic growth,social justice,environmental protection and local identity. And that if even one of these planks of development were out of synch with the others,progress would be qualitatively and directionally compromised. Whenever I am within the four walls of our old home I feel comforted by the sense of belonging and identity that it imparts. Whenever I leave it I am alarmed and impressed at the freneticism of aspiration. I wonder then how the interplay of these two worlds will shape the future.
• Are we back to the future? Barely 12 months ago the global economy was reeling. There was worldwide concern of another great depression. Today however most people see green shoots of recovery.
I wonder: what has fundamentally changed over the past year? Have the banks cleansed their balance sheets of toxicity; have consumers fully deleveraged their debt; are the financial imbalances between creditor (China) and debtor (the US) headed towards correction; is growth creating new jobs,etc. I am no expert but from all that I have read I do not think the underlying triggers of last years crisis have been sustainably defused. I know that the massive injection of liquidity by governments has pulled the world economy back from the brink but I remain unconvinced that it has pushed them onto a pathway that does not allow for a retracing of steps. Greenpans phrase irrational exuberence has,alas,crept back into my mind.
The writer is chairman,Shell Group of Companies in India. Views expressed are personal
