As of April 24th last year, India's population has exceeded 1,425,775,850 billion individuals, surpassing China in terms of population priority. Does this indicate a significant advantage? No. Numbers do not make a difference anywhere and can even become a burden to many countries. The ten most populous countries in the world are not necessarily the most important. The rest do not make a significant impact in terms of size or number on the indicators scale. India's greatest achievement lies in knowledge.
Since gaining independence, India has achieved remarkable progress away from superstitions, myths, and primitive tribes that practiced marital life in the open. It had a set of beliefs, myths, and rituals similar to our own during the days of ignorance, including female infanticide and burning of the dead, as Rajiv Gandhi did when he cremated his mother Indira's body to embody her spirit in 40 million butterflies. Cows are still considered sacred, yet, today there are tens or hundreds of millions in the technology field. Regrettably, as both China and India progress, their animosity and the threat of war between them intensify, as seen in recent days.
Alexander the Great wanted to conquer India because it was the largest kingdom on earth. He led his armies in pursuit of its natural wealth, just as the British would do later. In both instances, it was defeated. When India gained its ultimate independence, it was not through the power of arms, but through the power of peace, which an elderly, almost naked, man practiced while weaving his cloth outside his home for days. The triumph of Mahatma Gandhi represents another mysterious secret of this continent, where millions of people travel on trains. Many of them still uphold their ancient traditions despite their progress in knowledge, paying homage to their heritage.
To reiterate, does this new figure make India more important than China or Germany? Does it elevate an individual in India to the level of a citizen in Singapore? India entered the global stage when it embraced the era of science, or rather, education. In past years, Indian immigrants would come to the Gulf region as laborers from the lower class, today they arrive as doctors, scientific engineers, and skilled craftsmen.
The ongoing experience of social integration remains the most astonishing. Thousands of ethnicities, hundreds of languages, and millions of people have been fused together into a single democracy that now constitutes one-sixth of the world's population. For thousands of years, India has been the most populous nation, but it was never a remarkable event. It was a land of dense populations, rampant poverty, and destitution. In fact, India’s independence did not begin with the departure of the British but with its march towards progress. The same can be said for China, where ancient empires awaken, rise, and continue to progress relentlessly.
