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    The Indian Eye
             COVER STORY                                                               AUGUST 21, 2026                                       5

            capacity and faster improvements in
            living standards. Growth has to be-
            come more employment-intensive
            and more evenly distributed.
                India at 80 is therefore no longer
            asking whether it can grow. It is ask-
            ing whether growth can become suffi-
            ciently broad, productive and inclusive
            to transform the lives of all Indians.
                    A modern reach
               ndia’s cultural influence has per-
               haps expanded in ways few could
            Ihave predicted in 1947.
                Bollywood has become a global
            cultural industry. Indian music, cui-
            sine, fashion and television have trav-      India’s economy is now driven not only by agriculture and manufacturing but increasingly by services, technology,
            elled across continents. Yoga, Ayurve-
            da and Indian spiritual traditions have                         finance and a huge domestic consumer market (ANI photo)
            acquired international audiences,
            while Indian festivals are increasingly   frontiers of space science.  pionship victory, reflects a new gener-  The Ministry of External Affairs
            celebrated outside the country.       Chandrayaan-3’s    successful  ation growing up in a more competi-  estimates the  overseas  Indian pop-
                The global recognition of Indi-  landing in 2023 made India the first   tive sporting ecosystem.  ulation at more than 35.4 million,
            an  cultural  traditions  is  reflected  in   country to land near the lunar south   Cricket, meanwhile, has become a   comprising NRIs and people of In-
            UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Her-  pole.  Aditya-L1,  India’s  first  dedi-  global Indian asset. India’s 2024 men’s   dian origin. The community is spread
            itage list. India’s entries include yoga,   cated solar mission, is studying the   T20 World Cup victory reinforced its   across virtually every major region of
            Kumbh  Mela, Durga  Puja,  Garba,   Sun from the Sun-Earth L1 point. Its   dominance in the sport, while the   the world, from North America and
            Vedic chanting and, most recently,   observations have already produced   growth of the Indian Premier League   Europe to the Gulf, Africa, Southeast
            Deepavali. UNESCO lists 16 Indian   new insights into solar phenomena,   transformed cricket into a major en-  Asia and the Caribbean.
            elements on the Representative List.  including coronal mass ejections and   tertainment and business industry.  Their  economic  importance  is
                Yoga is an especially powerful ex-  geomagnetic storms.             The transformation is increasingly   enormous. India remained the world’s
            ample of India’s cultural reach. UN-  India’s technology transforma-  visible in women’s sport. India’s wom-  largest recipient of remittances, with
            ESCO inscribed it on the Represen-  tion is equally visible on Earth. Dig-  en athletes and teams have challenged   inflows reaching $135.4 billion in FY25.
            tative List in 2016, noting its spread   ital public infrastructure, online pay-  old assumptions about who represents   But the diaspora’s importance ex-
            and practice across societies around   ments, Aadhaar, mobile connectivity   the country on the sporting stage.  tends beyond money.
            the world.                        and India’s expanding startup ecosys-  India beyond its borders         Indian-origin political leaders
                But India’s cultural story is not   tem have created a model that is at-                          have reached the highest levels of
            simply about exporting tradition. It   tracting international attention.  erhaps the most remarkable   government in several countries. In-
            is also about negotiating the relation-  The country’s innovation rank-  change in India’s relationship   dian-origin scientists and technology
            ship between tradition and modernity.  ing has also improved. The Economic  Pwith the outside world is the   professionals have played prominent
                India’s  film  industry  has  moved   Survey notes that India’s Global Inno-  transformation of its diaspora.  roles in global companies and uni-
            from black-and-white social dramas   vation Index ranking rose from 66th   Indians and people of Indian or-  versities. Diaspora communities have
            to  streaming  platforms  and global   in 2019 to 38th in 2025. Ten semicon-  igin are no longer viewed primarily   also helped deepen India’s diplomatic,
            productions. Indian authors write for   ductor manufacturing and packaging   as migrants seeking economic oppor-  commercial and cultural connections.
            international audiences. Indian de-  projects had been approved across six   tunity. They have become business   India at 80 is difficult to define in
            signers and chefs have become global   states, involving around ₹1.60 lakh   leaders, scientists, academics, doctors,   a single sentence. That is why the 80th
            figures. Regional cinema has acquired   crore of investment.        politicians, entrepreneurs and cultur-  Independence Day should be viewed
            unprecedented visibility.                A sporting ambition        al ambassadors.                   less as a finish line than as a milestone.
                At the same time, India’s cultural
            bilities. The challenge is to preserve  F or decades, Indian sport was
            diversity remains its greatest asset and
            one of its most complicated responsi-
                                                   synonymous
                                                                 with
                                                                       cricket.
                                                   Cricket remains enormously
            hundreds of languages, traditions, art   important, but the sporting landscape
            forms and local identities while allow-  has changed.
            ing culture to evolve.                India’s athletes have increasingly
             From the margins to the frontier  demonstrated that excellence is pos-
                                              sible across disciplines. At the Paris
                 ew areas better illustrate In-  Olympics, Manu Bhaker became a
                 dia’s transformation than sci-  major national sporting figure, while
            Fence and technology.             Neeraj Chopra continued India’s rise
                In  the early years after indepen-  in athletics. Indian badminton, wres-
            dence, science was associated primarily   tling,  shooting, boxing  and hockey
            with nation-building — dams, labora-  have also expanded their internation-
            tories, atomic energy, agricultural re-  al presence.
            search and space exploration. Institu-  Chess has become another sym-
            tions created during those decades laid   bol of India’s sporting transformation.
            the foundations for later breakthroughs.  The rise of young players, culminating   Cricket has become a global Indian asset (ANI photo)
                Today, India is operating at the   in Gukesh Dommaraju’s world cham-

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