Diversity Kills

India's a stunningly diverse country — a currency note has its value printed on it in 17 different languages. In other multicultural states (Singapore, US) there is nevertheless one language commonly recognised by their institutions — that of merit. In India, however, merit is taken to be an elitist affectation, to be trumped by considerations of caste, kin, community and regional affiliation.

Two things held India together till recently: That it was uniformly poor and lacked connection with the outside world, and that Congress dominated politics across the country. But both of these are changing. One of the effects of liberalisation has been that India's forward states (Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, southern states) have been growing at rates much faster than backward states (UP, Bihar, MP).

But even within forward states, growth is remarkably uneven. If this pattern of development continues, 20 years down the line Delhi will have more in common with London than with Meerut, and Chennai with Singapore than with Patna. This will inevitably lead to demands that, say, revenue generated within Tamil Nadu be invested in Tamil Nadu rather than redistributed to Assam, while Delhi and Mumbai close their doors to migrants coming from UP and Bihar.

In 2004, Punjab unilaterally annulled all the agreements it had for sharing river water with Rajasthan, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. In this case, chief minister Amarinder Singh acted as head of a sovereign state. This is the wrong sort of diversity that unfortunately will be increasingly emulated in the future — making India's present problems in Kashmir look like a picnic.

On modernisation of airports, for example, a small group of airport workers held the entire country to ransom, for no discernible reason other than elections coming up in Kerala and Bengal, and the Left needing to shore up its identity. This is possible because in fragile governing coalitions it is usually the tail that wags the dog. Mustering enough political will to do what is in the country's long-term interest is a Herculean job.

The "idea of India", much feted in 2006, could die a natural death by 2026. Unless Bollywood, or the English language, comes to the rescue.