A Golden Decade Signs Off

The first decade of the 21st century is signing off today. Signing off with grace. With pride. With dignity. As it leaves the world a better place.

For technology, especially computing technology, this millennium had begun with a threat - the Y2K threat. The world spent humongous amount of wealth to be well prepared to tackle the millennium bug - cost estimates ranging from a few hundreds of billions of dollars to a trillion dollars and more - surely a big number even if we make the most skeptical estimates - of the order of India's GDP at that time. The famous Y2K debate "money well spent versus problem over estimated", has never been put to rest; nevertheless, what is of relevance for our world is that the threat was well mitigated - and that qualifies as a victory to celebrate.

Speaking of technology again, the internet revolution continued to gain grounds and made unprecedented leaps during this decade. Google evolved to become synonymous to the internet, establishing itself as the undisputed gateway to the internet, making unlimited and more importantly "most relevant" information available on your computer monitors at the stroke of a button. The adage "the world is a global village" gained momentum, thanks to unprecedented advances in e-Networking, fuelled by mushrooming of social networking technology read as orkut, facebook, linkedin, twitter. The famous debate "information overload versus bridging the geographic gap" continues; nevertheless, what is of relevance for our world is that the freedom of speech has been resurrected and Maslow's social need for "a sense of belonging" has been well served - and that qualifies as a victory to celebrate.

The other remarkable episode of this decade is undoubtedly the global economic slowdown of recent times. Argued to be the worst ever slowdown after the Great Depression of the 30's, the recent global economic meltdown has allegedly marked the end of rational economics. World economy has been shrinking since 2007. The last part of this decade has been tough for the world economy. But let us take a holistic view od the decade. While world population grew by 11% during the decade - i.e. from 6 billion people in the beginning of the decade to 6.7 billion people at the end of the decade - the world economy grew from around 40 trillion dollars in 2000 to more than 60 trillion dollars in 2009. Adjusting for time value of money at around 3% a year marks an overall growth in economy in excess of 20% over the decade. If per capita income is an indicator of well being, then it can be argued that well being of world population has grown in excess of 10% during the decade. That despite the recession during the last three years - which by the way is said to have been arrested as we speak. At this rate, well being of the average world citizen can be expected to double over 6-7 decades. This surely is a matter to rejoice and celebrate.

Speaking of India in particular, India's GDP crossed the trillion dollar mark during this decade (in 2007 to be specific) putting India in the elite group of 14-odd nations with trillion dollar economies. More recently in 2009, India gifted itself a political mandate perhaps for the first time, based more on performance & merit and not just based on grounds of religion & region. This clearly is a sign of maturity of the Indian electorate, which hopefully would grow stronger in the time to come. The debate "an overheating economy that is difficult to sustain versus an inevitable superpower of the 21st century" continues; nevertheless, what is of relevance for India is that in the corridors of world diplomacy, "China and India" has become a popular phrase and not China alone, and this is crucial - and surely a reason to celebrate.


On the other hand, Global Terrorism climbed newer heights during this decade. The world saw 9/11 and 26/11. Lives were lost, sovereignty was ridiculed. But on the other hand, symbolic answers to the perpetrators of crime have been relentlessly sent out. An Iraqi leader who had managed to strongly influence global geopolitics in the previous two decades - allegedly tyrannically - was found guilty of crimes against humanity and was put to rest forever in this decade. The debate "The US's big brother attitude hurting global interests versus the merits of a US-led global war against terrorism" continues; nevertheless, on an optimistic note, it is important to recognize the fact that in case of matters of security, we tend to comfortably ignore recognizing the contributions of the administration and security forces that help prevent so many acts of terror in an otherwise vulnerable landscape, but any lapse whatsoever, gets highlighted so easily and we never fall short of showering brickbats on the administration and security forces. As we stand on the threshold of a new decade, it is our duty to salute the relentless sacrifices made by our security forces and their families, so that the rest of the world can celebrate.

The decade 2000-09 can be written off as a remarkable decade in the pages of world history as it leaves the world with ample reasons to celebrate and to eagerly embrace the remaining part of this millennium. A golden decade it was. A harbinger of a golden millennium.