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India 2020: What will we be like?

in Britain. Mikhail Khodorkovsky was another oil billionaire who developed political ambitions, only to lose his company and his freedom. Russia itself has swung back to authoritarianism. The situation in India is not comparable, you would say and you might be right. But Indian tycoons like the Reddy brothers now risk being tagged as robber barons — a tag that links business success to political dealings, or to anti-competitive and/or unfair business practices. It is worth finding out, for instance, which mining interests were behind the installation of Mr Koda as hapless Jharkhand’s chief minister, and who arranged for the Congress party’s support. You could argue that all countries go through such phases — the United States saw it in the late 19th century, just as Russia did a century later — and that this is a stage through which India too is passing before market regulation, political oversight and the institutions of governance improve and become more effective. That positive outcome is possible, of course, but has to be worked for and will not happen automatically. Indian democracy has withstood the test of poverty. It now has to demonstrate that it can withstand the test of growing prosperity.

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