An evening promoting India was organized by the Embassy of India and the Integral Zagreb travel agency a few days ago. Vikas Swarup, a renowned Indian diplomat and author of the Q&A book, was the special guest. Q&A is the book on which the multi-award-winning movie “Slumdog Millionaire” was based. The movie won more than 70 recognitions and awards, including 4 Golden Globes and 8 Oscars, including the one for the best movie. During his rich career in diplomacy, Vikas Swarup traveled all over the world, and during his tenure in London he wrote Q&A, his first book.
While introducing his guest, H.E. Ambassador of India in Croatia Mr. Raj Kumar Srivastava, heralded him as a great observer and storyteller. ‘This is exactly why Vikas Swarup writes great books’, concluded the Ambassador.
We can certainly agree with that statement. During the presentation of India, Vikas Swarup took us for a moment on an interesting journey to the land of spices, rich cultural heritage, natural beauty, festivals, and diversity. India is a country with 42 locations on the UNESCO World Heritage list and 22 ski resorts, which many may find surprising .
INDIA IN THE FUTURE
Particularly interesting was his answer on how he sees India in 2043, in which he highlighted several things. In his opinion, India will become the third largest economy in the world, even if it achieves a growth of only 6%. Another big change he predicts is that by 2043, India’s middle class will account for 55% of the total population, which will again bring growth with it. Also, by then, around 55-60% of the population will live in the city. Perhaps the most important prediction is that India will have a 25% share of the world labor market.
“The biggest advantage India has is its demographics. The average age of India’s population is 28.9 years, and 65% of the population is under the age of 35. Of course, the future brings challenges. They are present even now. For example, one million young people join the labor market in India, not every year, but every month. This means that the government has to create jobs, 12 million jobs every year just to absorb the youth who are coming to the job market. We all know that the biggest change that is going to happen in the world is that the manufacturing economy is going to be replaced by the artificial intelligence economy. How will the transition be managed? Can the people in the manufacturing jobs find jobs in the new economy? These are all the challenges in the world we have to face. Plus the climate change. ” concluded writer and diplomat Vikas Swarup.
Vikas Swarup is writing his fourth book, which he did not want to reveal much about except that it is set in India. The writer will be a special guest at Interliber, a book fair in Zagreb, on Tuesday, November 7, 2023.
RICH TRAVEL PROGRAM IN JANUARY
After this insight into the future India, it’s time to visit it in the present.
All the travel lovers have the chance to visit India in January 2024. The trip will be organized by the Integral Zagreb travel agency. Mislav Veselica from the travel agency announced a rich and interesting travel program. A nine-day trip to India, exploring cities like Delhi, Agra, Jaipur and Mumbai sounds like a great start of the new year. You can see all the details about this trip here.
This interesting evening ended with socializing and tasting Indian specialties. You can find out more about Indian cuisine here.
Thank you Embassy of India and the Integral Zagreb travel agency for a pleasant evening.
Jasminka Đaković
Photos: Putopis / Travelbook
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Cover photo: Pixabay