PRIME Minister Mr. Narendra Modi has talked of India wanting to create ‘several Singapores’ of its own. He has insisted that Singapore offers a great model of development that India wishes to follow. There should be no contesting this vision of the Prime Minister -- since it gels well with the national developmental aspirations. In other words, the Prime Minister is actually leading the larger Indian society’s aspirational thought-process by talking of replication of Singapore’s model of development. This is certainly welcome. Of course, several provisos operate here to circumscribe the Prime Minister’s vision. The speciality of Singapore is that it has evolved over time as per a well-defined developmental thought over the past several decades. The Singaporean society has achieved certain unanimity of thought and action over time and followed those written and unwritten norms to the hilt -- without doubt, beyond doubt. That society also saw many a debate on the issues concerning the larger developmental picture that it evolved over time. Yet, even in that discourse of diverse opinions, the people of Singapore demonstrated a wonderful comprehension of common interest -- something that has become so rare in the highly politicised Indian society. Given this factual condition in India, the idea of replication of Singaporean model of development will unfortunately have more of a physical form than the spiritual unity (which should be in the core of the Indian thought). Singapore achieved that kind of unity as it pursued its developmental dream despite the diversity of international ethnicities that resided there for long. What needs to be studied in depth and detail is the spiritual unity that Singaporean society has often demonstrated even in times of extreme stress.

 

That is actually the secret of Singapore’s genuine growth and development. Of course, Singapore presents a highly urbanised model of development -- which is very fascinating for the average Indian people who happen to visit the place. When the Prime Minister talks of creating several Singapores in India, does he suggest that India would pick up that idea of urbanisation? If that is going to be the case, then there could be several intractable issues that India would not be able to sort out. Yes, replication of physical model is possible, though with certain compromises of sorts. But the question will be about its feasibility in the Indian conditions. The current model of urbanisation India is trying to create has proved to be disastrous on many counts.

 

Though it has not come prominently in the national discourse until now, it is sure to do so in the time to come when the larger country starts realising the negatives in the process. Though it has become a style and fashion of growing Indian cities currently, high-rise buildings, massive shopping malls and complexes and fully-paved urban spaces cannot be thought to be the final urban signatures of modern India. Unfortunately, Singapore is all this -- which generally impresses most Indians. Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi is sure to have a deeper understanding of the developmental vision Singapore followed in thought and action. If he really aims at creating ‘several Singapores’ in the country, then he will have to redefine the idea as per the Indian need. Of course, he will certainly follow such a path, all right. Yet, what matters most is that the Singapore-inspired developmental vision will need a lot of vetting to the Indian needs. Indian developmental experts, therefore, will have to do a lot of tearing down of components of the Singapore model and then pick up the right ones for use here.