Last night I witnessed a fascinating debate on this topic between Nandan Nilekani, author, Imagining India, and Co-Chairman, Infosys and Tom Friedman, celebrated journalist and author of the international bestseller The world is flat and the more recent Hot, Flat and Crowded world. 

It is not often that you get two people with such breadth of perspective and a passion for ideas on the same platform. Add to that, ability to think on their feet, and a great sense of humor ( especially Tom), the hour long discussion was really interesting.

Nandan spoke about the central idea of his book- the demographic dividend – and how India will be the only country in the world that will have a population profile that will have a larger proportion of productive people than those that need to be supported ( hence the concept of divdend)- interestingly, the rest of the world, including China, will have an aging population. This happens once in a life time for a nation, and this opportunity is ours to make the best of. Thus, 26/11 and the Satyam episode notwithstanding, we ( India) are poised to take the world by storm, provided we set our house in order. It was in this context that he explained why gloablization would be good for India- it will give our youthful workforce opportunities to fulfill their aspirations.

Likewise, Friedman continues to believe in the flattening world- he argued that globalization has its good and bad sides, and what we are witnessing now is perhaps the “bad side”. But, whether we like it or not, countries are interconnected like we never imagined- he quoted the case of Iceland, a country that is seldom in our thoughts when we think of global interlinkages,  but which has borne the brunt of the financial crisis resulting in the fall of its government in January 2009- once upon a time a wealthy nation, its leading banks went bust late last year, having succumbed to the lure of high risk investments!

Friedman also explained why he believed that Energy Technology (ET) would soon overtake Information Technology ( IT) as the driver of change across the globe. He also pointed out that countries like India and China could give the developed nations a stiff fight by leapfrogging ahead and embracing clean technologies ( similar to the way they have revolutionized the use of mobile technology).

Overall, the lively and engaging discussion between two die-hard optimists, ably moderated by Barkha Dutt ( of NDTV) was like a breath of fresh air and also left us, the audience, with a lot to ponder over

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