In today's fast-paced society, an entity's knowledge base is quickly becoming it's only sustainable competitive advantage. As such, this resource must be protected, cultivated and shared among entity members. Until recently, such entities could succeed based upon the individual knowledge of a handful of strategically positioned individuals. However, when competition has become global and economies of different countries tend to integrate, it needs widespread and dispersed effort based on knowledge and talent. Why? Because organizational knowledge does not replace individual knowledge; it complements individual knowledge, making it stronger and broader. Thus, the full utilization of an entity's knowledge base, coupled with the potential of individual skills, competencies, thoughts, innovations and ideas will enable an entity to compete more effectively in the future.

It needs proper leadership to tap human capital resources. The subject is called Knowledge Management(KM). Knowledge Management is the collection of processes that govern the creation, dissemination, and utilization of knowledge. In one form or another, knowledge management has been around for a very long time. Practitioners have included philosophers, priests, teachers, politicians, scribes, Liberians, etc.

Knowledge Management is a planned process within a corporate organization, but in a country to tap the total potential, the government should follow a promotional and regulatory policy, instead of over-governing or duplicating effort in such areas, where the people left to themselves can do better. Government operates through bureaucratic system of management, where accountability, initiative and enterprise will be subject to departmental rules and regulations. Primary responsibility of the Government is promotion of physical infrastructure, and equally important development of human resources, through sustained investments in education, health and other recreational programmes intended to boost human creativity and effort.

The 21st century has heralded a new revolution. Gone are the days of the "industrial age". We live today in the "information age", where knowledge is deemed as the greatest and priceless asset.

It needs the knowledge base and combined efforts of a thousand scientist under the able command of Shri Abdul Kalam, to produce the Agni Missile. The value of Agni Missile is several times the value of the hardware used to fabricate it. It is equal to the knowledge value of 1000 eminent scientists of the country. Here it is the example of the integrated and aggregate knowledge of a vast of Team of people working for a single mission and cause. They could succeed only after devoted working for some years. Every country in the world cannot produce an Agni Missile. But there are several richer countries with more wealth and resources than India. Here the human capital that comes into significance is the knowledge resources of the team of our defence scientists.

1. Population 1027 million (2001 Census):

   India began the century with a population of 269 million. The census of 1991 placed the population at 847 million; according to a 1996 UN estimate, India's population was 953 million. India is the home of 16% of the world's population; the country however accounts for 2.4% of world's land area. Uttar Pradesh state in north India in 1991 registered a population of 139.1 million making it the most populous state in India; and the city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) with a population of 12.6 million remains the most populous city in India. The problem faced by India is not only over population, but a continuous and recurring growth in its population. The problem is identified as population explosion.

2. Sex Ratio: (the number of females per 1000 males)

   This is one of the most worrying and tragic aspects of life in India. In 1901 the census recorded a ratio of 972; by 1951 the ratio was 946 and by 1991 the ratio had declined to 927. These statistics reflect the continually declining status of women and the female child in Indian society... and are the reasons why an increasing number of programmes, both of the government and the voluntary sector, pay special attention to women and the girl child.

3. Literacy and education:

   Literacy levels are rising. In 1951 the literacy rate was 18.3%. The 1991 census gives a level of 52.21% for the whole country (64.13% for males, 39.29% for females). There is considerable variation at state level. Kerala recorded the highest at 89.81% and Bihar the lowest at 38.48%; Female literacy was the lowest in Rajasthan at 20.44%. School enrolment is also rising, increasing from about 24 million in 1950-51 to about 167 million in 1992-93. Student enrolment in universities has increased from about 0.2 million at the time of independence to about 5 million in 1992-93.

4. Rural and Urban Populations:

   In 1901 the urban population was 10.8% of the overall population. By 1991 the urban population of 218 million had become 25.7% of the total population. (Urban population defined as people living in towns and cities with a population greater than 100,000.)

5. Religious Communities:

   Hindus (in 1991) were 82.8% of the population; Muslims 11.7%; Christians 2.3%; Sikhs 2.0%; Buddhists, Jains and others form the rest. The population representing sizeable minority communities of different religions represent India as a plural society or multi-ethic State, where the Hindus form the absolute majority. The well-being and provision of equal opportunities of minorities assume significance and importance in this context. The country has accepted "secularism" as its State-policy, but religious extremism surfaces and the Government faces severe problems now and then from religious fundamentalists.

6. Principal Languages:

   India now has 18 official languages. Hindi is the official language; English is recognised as the authoritative legislative and judicial language. But the dialects spoken in the country are around 800.

   Amidst all these diversity there is an underlying unity, but the unity in the people asserts only in times, when major crisis confronts the country, while at other times the differences on account of diversities frequently manifest. This to some extent retards our progress. The democratic government is accountable to every section of the society and have to function on a broad consensus. The problem is severely felt when prudent economic considerations are outweighed by narrow social or political obsessions.

7. Area: 3.3 million square kilometers

8. Coastline: length 7,600 km

9. Inflation Rate : 7% (1997). It is now brought within 5% since 1999 and rules presently(2002) below 2%

10. Gross domestic product: (total value of goods and services produced annually) $1.5 trillion (1997 est.)

11. Budget: $61.0 billion

12. Debt: $90.7 billion (1997)

13. Exports: $33.9 billion (1997 est.), primarily gems and jewelry, clothing, engineering goods, chemicals, leather manufactures, cotton yarn, and fabric

14. Imports: $39.7 billion (1997 est.), primarily crude oil and petroleum products, machinery, gems, fertilizer, chemicals

15. Defence spending: 2.7% of GDP (1997 est.)

16. Highways: 2,060,000 km (1996)

The major problem facing India today is poverty, especially in rural areas, where 75 per cent of the population currently live. The method that many voluntary organizations use to address poverty is encouraging community development - helping the poor to understand the causes of their poverty, designing strategies for addressing these, and implementing action programmes.

Alongside the rural poor, there is emerging another substantial underclass: the burgeoning numbers of the poor and the homeless who are migrating to the major cities in search of opportunity. This is creating strains on the urban infrastructure, and an urgent need to find solutions.

Most of the problems of poverty are interrelated; much of the development work seeks to improve education and health, raise incomes and create economic opportunities, as well as addressing the structural barriers to change. Special provisions for the scheduled class, scheduled tribes and backward classes of the society provide them reservations for employment in Government and Government bodies and for admission to courses in educational institutions controlled by the Government.

While India contains a large share of the world's poor, it also has a rapidly growing economy with pockets of great wealth and an increasingly affluent middle class (now estimated at between 200 million and 300 million people).

1. Poverty and illiteracy of the masses

2. Disparity in development, several like Bihar, Assam, Rajasthan, U.P., Orissa and Madhya Pradesh lag far behind the other States, lack basic infrastructure and social services

3. After independence India opted for State controlled economy and made huge investments in Public Sector Projects. This has proved to be unproductive. India had a growth rate of 2 and less during the decades before the nineties. Presently it is 5 to 6% after initiation of economic reforms in the early Nineties. The government is now disinvesting and making these public enterprises into Private ventures

4. Political, bureaucratic corruption is widespread in India. There is nexus between criminals and politicians. It is estimated that our growth rate is down by 4% on account of such corruption. This web portal has highlighted this in several appropriate contexts.

5. Another major problem faced by the Government is Terrorism and Insurgency widespread in many States

6. Hostile neighbours. India has to fight 4 wars after independence. Still our defence budget is moderate.

7. Uncontroled growth of population. This has the effect outpacing development efforts, especially in States like U.P., Bihar, Orissa, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Poverty goes with widespread illiteracy and social backwardness.

A balanced view of the achievements and failures of the country made at the time of the 50th anniversary of the country's independence in 1997 by a web portal is quoted below. The Home page of the web site is titled "MANAS" and it is created by Shri Vinay Lal, Asst. Professor of History, UCLA.(University of California, Los Angels)

"In the popular representations of India, the country has been torn by strife from the moment of its emergence as a modern nation, and at every moment India appears to be falling apart at the seams. The overwhelming image of India is of a country stricken with poverty, consumed by religious hatred, burdened by an excessive population that shows no signs of diminishing, and divided by distinctions of class, caste, ethnicity, and language. Few people, particularly in the West, thought that India would outlive the assassination of Indira Gandhi, and at the death of Rajiv Gandhi there was talk once again of the disintegration of India. Now it is widely recognized that India, which has been holding elections on the basis of an universal adult franchise regularly since 1951, has assumed something of a democratic stability unusual for the times, more unusual still in a 'Third World' country, and that its electorate has a sophistication and maturity that is purportedly to be found only in the older democracies of the West.

India's achievements have by no means been insignificant, and a great deal of stock-taking is occurring as the fiftieth anniversary of Indian independence has passed. The most frequently cited figure as an index of India's advancement is the figure of 200 million people who are now said to have catapulted into India's middle class; consumerism, which has already wrought havoc in the West, is now being placed before Indians as the new doorway to paradise. The Indian state, which proudly trumpets its achievements, has frequently called attention to India's burgeoning industrial sector, India's accomplishments in space, the phenomenal rise in food production (said to have resulted in self-sufficiency in food, a claim that scarcely squares with the allegation that well over half of the population is severely malnourished), and the well-known contributions of its scientists, engineers, and technicians.

No recognition of Indian achievements in a country bedeviled by heterogeneity can, however, mask the brutalities of everyday life for the vast majority of Indians. The people have been grossly ill-served by the state in such critical domains as health, nutrition, public safety, assurance of employment, and education. The abuse of women continues virtually unchecked, despite the emergence of women's movements, and daily newspapers abound in stories of the abduction and molestation of women, their sexual exploitation, and dowry deaths. Caste oppression, particularly in rural areas, remains acute; infringements of caste rules of moral and sexual conduct have been known to lead to the death of those who dare to transgress. Living conditions in cities and particularly towns remain appalling, and the problems of pollution, the disposal of sewage, and the provision of public facilities remain almost insuperable".

Our country has the potential. It has the natural resources. It does possess the human capital. It has an enlightened overseas population of Indians settled and thriving in several countries. It hopes to catch the most advanced nations before 2025. Present efforts of Nation are towards this goal. All political parties are united in the indispensability of the Economic Reforms. In fact the process was started by the Congress Government, and followed thereafter by the United Front Government of secular parties and presently by the NDF Government.