Introduction
The 2008/9 global financial crisis which originated from the macro-economic concepts of an unprecedented scale where more severe than anyone anticipated. The economic crisis have hit almost everyone country in the world. However, the crisis gave Africa and India the important platform to strengthen their relations economically as well as environmentally. Since the end of the crisis, relations between the two regions each with a population of more than 1 billion people have become more stronger. These relations have been strengthened through blocs such as IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa) as well as BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and other blocs.
African nations and India are emerging with a lot of similarities through the creation of strong relationships, which are beneficial to the two regions. Much of the economic activity between African countries and India is being led by the private sector and the businesses enterprises out of the two regions. This is unlike China’s relationship with Africa, where the government is leading the charge.
Despite the current status-quo of the existing relations between the two emerging regions which are the beneficiaries of the current global economic shift. The daring question that is the main purpose of this essay is: how can the two regions strengthen their relations through competition, collaboration and through the co-creation of the future on environmental issues.
- 1. Business Development Status-quo of the two regions
The region of Africa is slowly but surely experiencing effective small business enterprise development. The atmosphere created in the region is conducive to trade that is made by the entrepreneurs within the region. This also leads to efficiency as well as productivity. On the other hand most of the entrepreneurs who have established their own businesses within the different countries of this region often lack the survival instinct of running their businesses as well as facing the challenges.
The other thing is that many people living below the bread line in Africa want to start or expand their small businesses but simply do not have the resources to do so. They may not have the collateral demanded by banks and other lending institutions. This is one of the reasons why most of the people are self-sufficient.
Despite these circumstances small enterprise development agencies have been developed or established in order to provide advice, mentorship as well as microfinance services order to help existing as well as upcoming small businesses in the continent in order to tackle the problems of poverty, underdevelopment as well as other economic challenges like income inequality. Examples of such agencies is the Develop Africa Microfinance and Business Development Support that provides services such as mentorship and micro-financing and other business services to the small businesses in Africa. Despite the existence of the small medium and micro enterprises in the African region still income inequality remains worse and continues to be worse.
The Indian region on the other hand with a large federal structure and with a population of more than 1 billion people, with a vibrant economy and with a vibrant small medium and micro enterprises sector has reaped the benefits of this economic sector, 30 million people get employment in this sector, the sector contributes to approximately 50% of industrial production and the growth of this small businesses enterprises grows by 13% per annum and it creates 1.3 million jobs per annum.
On the other hand the Indian businesspeople have a survival instinct, good qualities of an entrepreneur, their businesses last and most importantly they are more exposed to the business development programmes which their Government have availed programmes such as: Awareness building on how to run the business, Micro-Finance Programme, Setting up of Associations by industry programmes, Quality upgradation in small scale sector, through incentive for ISO 9000 & 14001 Certification etc.
As result this gives the Indian region more dominance in terms of their competitive advantage on small business development, this is then detrimental to the trade relations which the two regions have because the dominance of the Indian small businesses is not conducive to the development of small African businesses.
These is also not healthy competition for the two regions but rather a creation of the gap between powerful Indian businesses and the poor performing African businesses.
Solution
The two regions need to create a competitive relationship that will lead to the creation of an atmosphere that would be conducive to the success as well as to the growth of the small businesses found within the two regions. This can be done through the creation of support programmes and schemes such as:
Assistance for Entrepreneurship Development
Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme for Small Industries
Micro Finance programme
Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme for Tech upgradation
Tool Rooms for Dies, Moulds, Jigs, Fixtures
Testing Stations for Calibration
Cluster Development Programme
Quality Upgradation in small scale sector, through
incentive that are conducive to instilling survival instinct of entrepreneurs to run their small businesses in the two regions
Trade Related Entrepreneurship Assistance for
women
Setting up of Testing Centres by Industries
Associations
The exchange of business skills between the two regions.
The implementations of the solutions mentioned above are of paramount importance to be implemented in the two regions in order to ensure that the small businesses in the two regions grow and become more effective in both the internal economic environments as well to the larger environment (global village). Most importantly the solutions will be conducive to ensuring that inasmuch as Indian businesses prosper within the African region, so will the African businesses prosper in India.
- 2. Strengthening collaboration between the two regions in order to attain the Great Transition
The two regions are currently classified as part of the Third World and are often used to calculate the Ginny coefficient secondly they are the ones that are worst hit by poverty, low standard of living as well as income inequality and other challenges. But despite all this circumstances the two regions have manoeuvred strategically in combating these ills. Collaboration on the two regions has become the order of the day.
The cultural cooperation between India and Africa is moving beyond traditional exchanges to focus on education and capacity building initiatives which can become a part of the national idiom for both the two regions. This strong collaboration presents an important milestone for both the two regions to tackle the economic, political as well as the other challenges that they face as a unit and to strengthen relations through their regional structures as well as through their foreign and economic policies.
Many events took place in the past that showed how important collaboration was for the two regions chairs have been set up to promote Indian studies in Africa in countries like Mauritius, Nigeria and South Africa, which has a chair of political studies sponsored by India.
The current global economic power shift as well as the current events that are taking place in the Arab world as well as in the international community require that both the two regions strengthen their collaboration not only for the purpose of trade or economic ties, but for the purpose of ensuring that the two regions occupy their rightful place in the international community as well as to ensure that they achieve the great transition.
The Great Transition describes a radical shift towards sustainable social justice and well-being for all. By sustainable social justice we mean the fair and equitable distribution of environmental, social, and economic resources between people, places, and generations. By well-being for all we mean what it takes to achieve a fulfilling and happy life for everyone: adequate opportunities to exercise one’s mental, physical, emotional, and aesthetic capacities, resulting in personal satisfaction, vitality, resilience, self-esteem, and sense of purpose and meaning, and combined with supportive relationships, and feelings of trust and belonging.
From where we stand now, a decade into the twenty-first century, this is a substantial challenge. Overall income inequality is now higher than at any time in the last thirty years.
Inequalities are not only unfair; they are a burden on the whole of society. Inequality in illness accounts for productivity losses of £31–33 billion per year, lost taxes and higher welfare payments in the range of £20–32 billion per year, and additional NHS healthcare costs associated with inequality are well in excess of £5.5 billion per year.7 There is a growing body of evidence that more equal societies are better for everyone, not just the poor, with lower levels of crime and disorder, and better health and wellbeing. Societies with strong traditions of social solidarity and low levels of inequality are better able to cope with shared risks such as climate change.
So all these challenges can be tackled through strong collaboration between the two regions as this would lead to ensuring that the solutions that the two regions come with bring speedy progress.
Now in order to achieve the great transition which is the important issue for the two regions, their collaboration can be made in the following ways:
Create effective policies in the IBSA and BRICS blocs that will be in line with the purpose that the two regions have in common in order to achieve the great transition.
`Create effective structures within the regions that will be instrumental in enforcing the policies for the two regions that will be conducive to collaboration, competition as well as strong partnership and trade relations between the two regions.\
To ensure the devolution of the IBSA and BRICS blocs mandate to be actively endorsed and supported by the two regions in order for the regions to have a shared future that will be beneficial to the present as well as to future generations.
- 3. Partnership on environmental issues
The natural regions of the earth developed millions of years ago, there was a balance between plants and animals, other living and non-living things. Humans are the newest creatures on the earth, yet they have the power to change the balance within a region forever. Today the world is faced with a new challenge, the battle of a new enemy, this is not a civil war or the possibilities of the Third World War, but it is the problem of environmental sustainability. Today the increasing number of humans is no longer signifying the rise of the human evolution, but it symbolises the chances of scarcity within the environment. Which is why it is so important that we come with ways of protecting the environment.
The 2000 8 Millennium Development Goals contains environmental sustainability as the 8th MDG goal of the Millennium Declaration that must be achieved by 2015 when the duration of the MDG’s comes to an end. Sadly, majority of the countries that made a commitment oif achieving the goals have recently conceited to the fact that they will not be able to .achieve the goals by 2015 with the goal of environmental sustainability being included.
Both India and Africa were among the regions/countries that committed themselves to the development of these goals. But despite the MDG commitments it is of paramount importance that the two regions collaborate and work hand in glove to solve the environmental issues and promote environmental sustainability beyond 2015.
Inasmuch as humans have the power to change the balance of life within a region forever despite being the newest creatures on the earth, they must be used by the two regions in order to solve the environmental issues that the world is facing.
The state of the world’s environment: An analysis
Half of the forests that originally covered 46% of the Earth's land surface are gone. Only one-fifth of the Earth's original forests remain pristine and undisturbed.
Between 10 and 20 percent of all species will be driven to extinction in the next 20 to 50 years. Based on current trends, an estimated 34,000 plant and 5,200 animal species - including one in eight of the world's bird species - face extinction. Almost a quarter of the world's mammal species will face extinction within 30 years. Up to 47% of the world's plant species are at risk of extinction.
60% of the world's coral reefs, which contain up to one-fourth of all marine species, could be lost in the next 20-40 years
Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles and marine mammals are entangled and drowned by irresponsible fishing practices every year.
More than 20 percent of the world's known 10,000 freshwater fish species have become extinct, been threatened, or endangered in recent decades. Sixty percent of the world's important fish stocks are threatened from overfishing.
Desertification and land degradation threaten nearly one-quarter of the land surface of the globe. Over 250 million people are directly affected by desertification, and one billion people are at risk.
Global warming is expected to increase the Earth's temperature by 3C (5.4F) in the next 100 years, resulting in multiple adverse effects on the environment and human society, including widespread species loss, ecosystem damage, flooding of populated human settlements, and increased natural disasters.
An estimated 40-80 million people have been forcibly evicted and displaced from their lands to make way for the construction of large dams, resulting in economic and social devastation for these people.
Solution
Since the two regions have strengthened collaboration, competition as well as trade relations, they can also strengthen their alliance on tackling the environmental issues. This can be done through:
The introduction of policies that are more binding as well as punishable on people who pose a threat to the state of the environment.
The creation of a think tank within BRICS and IBSA that will be coming with realistic viable policies that will be conducive to binding the people to protect the environment.
The creation of an agency that will administer and adjudicate environment perpetrators to pay the fine.
To introduce an environmental sustainability tax that will bind companies that cause carbon emissions to be more environmentally friendly and to save energy.
To introduce incentives that will be aimed at encouraging people to become environment activists.
Establishment of a propaganda department that will brainwash the future generations into protection the environment.
The two regions must set achievable realistic targets that will be aimed at motivating the two regions to achieve environmental sustainability.
All these solutions cannot be achieved overnight, this will require maximum effort of the two regions in achieving these solutions and addressing the environmental issues. To achieve this the two regions must get a buy in from all the stakeholders and role players within their governments as well as within the civil society.
- 4. Conclusion
The collaboration, the competition as well as the co-creation of solutions on environmental issues is not a possibility, it is not urgent but it is imperative.
As a way of showing how important it is for the two regions to work together, to collaborate to compete and to co create a show future, this three important factors can be emphasized by the words of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Nigerian author, Ben Okri who once said:
“If the things we face are more important than the things we refuse to face. Then at least we have begun the re-evaluation of our world, and then at least we have begun to see and live again. But if we refuse to face any of our deepest and awkward truths then sooner or later we are going to become deaf and blind, we silence our dreams and those of others. In other words we dies. We die in life.”
Building collaboration and strong relations between the two regions is key to the re-evaluation of our world. But ignoring these relations is silencing the dreams that the Indians and Africans have the dream of a just peaceful India and Africa. Building a shared future for India and Africa is imperative and it leads to peace, security, development and the betterment of humanity.
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