(Click on the photo to enlarge)
Interesting and surprising developments are taking place at a furious pace in the Indian subcontinent following economic liberalisation and globalization – as a result of fast changing geo-political and economic realities.
Take for example the opening today (Thursday) of the famed Silk Road, an ancient trading route that once connected China with India, West Asia and Europe, after more than 44 years. This development is described as a potent symbol of rapprochement between the two Asian giants who fought a bitter Himalayan war in 1962.
The Western world’s rediscovery of China and India has produced an important side effect: It has become a trigger for the two rising Asian superpowers to renew their own 2,000-year-old acquaintance, reports the IHT.
“It’s still early days in the courtship, though if it continues, 2050 may not look much different from 1750, when the two nations together controlled as much as 57 percent of the world’s manufacturing output.”
Today China and India have reopened the only all-weather overland trade route joining them through the Himalayas at 4,420 meters, or 14,500 feet, above sea level at the Nathula Pass. (This development comes within days of the opening of China-Tibet rail service.)
The Nathula Pass, sitting 4,545 meters above sea level, was once a pivotal point on the ancient Silk Road. The reopening of the Nathula Pass is expected to give a major boost to bilateral trade between the two countries, which totaled 18.7 billion U.S. dollars last year and is expected to top 20 billion U.S. dollars this year.
Located some 460 kilometers from Tibet’s capital Lhasa and 550 kilometers from the Indian coastal city of Calcutta, the Pass was an important trade route between China and India but was closed in 1962 following border conflicts. Today the world’s highest custom house, at 14,400ft above sea level, is back in business: the border is about to reopen.
“If the two contiguous regions were developed in sync, they could become an economic powerhouse together, trading not just with each other but also with Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and Nepal (in the Indian subcontinent).
A high-altitude bank automated teller machine is set to see better business with Chinese and Indian traders flocking to the border. (photo courtesy the BBC)
“China’s southwest and India’s northeast have 200 billion cubic meters, or 2.15 trillion cubic feet, of natural gas, 1.5 billion tons of crude oil and 900 million tons of coal reserves, according to the economists Biswa Bhattacharyay at the Asian Development Bank in Manila and Prabir De at the Research and Information System for Developing Countries in Delhi.
“The Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers, which flow through India’s east and northeast, have the potential to generate 90,000 megawatts of electricity annually. Only a fraction of this potential is being exploited because it is too expensive to transport the power to industrial centers in northern India. The economics can change with trade.”
From a bank to an internet café, a golf course to a telephone exchange, the small village of Sherathang perched at an altitude of about 14,500 feet in India’s eastern state of Sikkim boasts of having some of the world’s most high altitude modern facilities.
‘You are virtually at the roof of the world and yet you find modern amenities,’ said Saman Prasad Subba, Sikkim’s director of industries. Sherathang, about 47 km east of Sikkim’s capital Gangtok, will be the main business hub for trade between India and China.
A telephone exchange with 256-line capacity with international calling facilities, an Internet café, and a branch of the State Bank of India set up at Sherathang are hyped as some of world’s highest facilities.
China, India and Pakistan have begun to slowly open their borders for trade and human traffic. This may not end quickly the perceived decades-long suspicions but surely provide a glimpse into the dramatic changes that are now taking place in this region.
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.