In 2006 the Indian Express claimed in its editorial that India is sleep walking in Africa. The reference to this editorial since it was published has been overused and in some cases overstated by many commentators and scholars in their reflections on India’s footprint in Africa.
Yet in the five years following the editorial, India’s presence in Africa seems to be growing incrementally with the hosting of 2 India-Africa Forum Summits, a plethora of India-Africa investment forums under the banner of the Conclave Meetings driven by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and the Federation of Indian chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and notwithstanding the unveiling of various development initiatives to enhance Africa’s human resource capacities.
In short the last five years has witnessed an India that is anything but sleep walking in Africa.
And this is best reflected in the recent publication
Two Billion Dreams: Celebrating India-Africa Friendship (edited by Manish Chand, the longtime Editor of Africa Quarterly)
.
Set to capture the saliency of and celebrate India’s friendship with Africa, this book, packed with rare and elegant photographs that capture the vibrancy of a resurgent continent, offers the reader glimpses into how India can assist Africa in achieving its development dream. It provides the reader with tangible but significant insights into areas of cooperation that will be vital for both Africa and India to claim the 21st Century as their own.
Weaving together a tapestry of historical and contemporary issues the collection of essays explores areas where India and Africa can define a comparative advantage in their partnership. In particular the chapters on technology transfer, skills development and ICT exchanges are instructive for Africa to actually be able to own the wealth of its resources instead of being a primary exporter of its minerals.
There are valuable lessons to be learnt from the Indian experience which does not mean that Africa must import the New Delhi model.
Instead 2 Billion Dreams opens up an avenue for further research exploration and knowledge production around cooperation between India and Africa as complementary partners who are in a symbiotic relationship.
In other words the engagement is interdependent.
Yet the one weakness of the publication is that it does not capture the voice of civil society from both sides on their impressions of the engagement. And nor does it illuminate the role that these actors can play in shaping and strengthening the engagement between the two sides.
As much as the voice of government and business is important for taking the engagement forward, the inclusion of civil society in this regard cannot be ignored. The role that civil society organisations play on the ground is vital as they provide an important channel in gauging the mood and impact of India’s footprint in improving the livelihoods of African people and enabling better lives.
And so the publication could have been strengthened with the inclusion of a civil society perspective on how the relationship could be shaped in the future.
Nevertheless, the publication does offer some incisive views about the India-Africa engagement in the 21st Century. It provides a useful framework for readers (scholars and the general public) who are interested in getting a snapshot of diverse and variegated India-Africa engagement.
In light of China’s growing shadow, 2 Billion Dreams is a polite reminder that India cannot be considered a lightweight in Africa’s iInternational Relations or in the continent’s development revival.
This publication is well written and captures the essence of Africa’s pivotal status to India’s national interests and vice versa. Two Billion Dreams is an important publication since it inspires conversations that extend beyond the scholarly debates.
(Author and academic Sanusha Naidu is Senior Researcher in the South African Foreign Policy Initiative (SAFPI) based at the Open Society Foundation for South Africa (OSF-SA) in Cape Town).
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Africa InsightsFebruary 1, 2013Unleashing 2 billion dreams of India & Africa
