A country of contradictions, it is booming in key areas but poverty is rife. Its rise is not inevitable, but few would bet against it
At 18:03 Indian Standard Time on Wednesday, Aug 23, after twice pausing rather coyly in the final few feet of descent, the Chandrayaan-3 gently touched down near the lunar south pole. In that moment, India became only the fourth (and third extant) country to achieve a “soft” landing on the Moon – following the US, the Soviet Union and China.
The fact that Russia’s attempt to land in the same previously unexplored region had ended in ignominious failure a few days earlier further accentuated the achievement, which, rather deliciously, coincided with the Brics international relations summit in Johannesburg.
India’s successful lunar mission was met by wild celebrations across the subcontinent and was hailed as “another one of the many straws in the wind” illustrating the country’s ascendancy, according to Ray Dalio, a billionaire hedge fund manager.
A far from comprehensive selection of the veritable blizzard of recent indicators might include the fact that India’s population recently overtook that of China’s: the International Monetary Fund’s forecast that it will be one of the fastest growing large economies in 2023 and for the next five years; the sheer acreage of red carpet rolled out in foreign capitals around the world to welcome Narendra Modi, the prime minister; and Air India’s recent world record order of 470 planes from Airbus and Boeing.