Bengaluru: Renowned author, thinker and president of the India Foundation, Dr Ram Madhav has urged India’s intellectuals, policymakers and youth to shed “romantic lethargy” and embrace hard work, technological leadership and civilisational confidence to ensure that India takes its rightful place in the rapidly transforming 21st century world order.
Speaking at the launch of his latest book ‘The New World: 21st Century Global Order and India’ at a packed event hosted by the Thinkers Forum Bengaluru, Madhav delivered a wide-ranging address that touched upon geopolitics, technology, historical missed opportunities and what India must do to avoid falling behind once again.
In his keynote speech, Madhav stressed that the world is moving from a Western-dominated unipolar or bipolar order to what he termed a ‘multipolar and heteropolar reality’, where not only nation-states but non-state actors like technocrats, investors and even NGOs hold enormous power. He cited Elon Musk’s Starlink intervention in Ukraine’s war effort as an example of how private technological power can challenge or support sovereign states.
“This is not a time to remain romantic or complacent,” Madhav said, addressing the gathering that included academics, entrepreneurs, students and policy thinkers. “History sometimes moves painfully slowly, but at other times, decades happen in weeks. We are living in such a time. If India fails to act, we will again miss the bus like we did when the post-colonial world order was shaped.”
Tracing India’s historical journey from the colonial era to its emergence as the world’s fifth-largest economy, Madhav warned that size alone is not enough. He noted that despite India’s economic growth, its per capita income remains half that of China’s, and its research and development investment lags far behind.
“Today China invests 6.5 percent of its GDP in R&D, while India spends less than one percent,” Madhav pointed out. “Even our best supercomputer ranks only 72nd in the world. In areas like semiconductors, quantum computing, and deep tech, we are dependent on imported technology. This must change.”
He called on universities and corporates to invest significantly in original research and innovation rather than “mere imitation.” Referring to India’s talent working for global tech giants, he remarked, “We have many Sundar Pichais here too — but they need an ecosystem that rewards risk-taking, invests in core R&D, and retains our brightest minds.”
Ram Madhav also linked India’s geopolitical ambitions to its cultural and civilizational ethos, emphasising that Bharat must rise on its own terms. “We must not become a carbon copy of Europe. Building Bharat is as important as building Brand Bharat,” he said. “It is our responsibility to take our own value system to the world — one that respects unity, duty, and harmony.”
Madhav cited historical examples like Gandhi’s reply to the UN’s drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, where Gandhi said rights must flow from duties, a principle still relevant today as India aspires to offer the world an alternative to Western models.
He also touched on the urgent need for skilling and reskilling India’s vast youth population. “Every year, two crore young people enter the employable age bracket. But are they job-ready? Our education system is not producing the skills needed for this new technological age. We must transform our universities into genuine centres of cutting-edge research, not just degree factories,” he said.
Madhav urged the audience not to expect the government alone to carry this burden. “If government does everything — R&D, job creation, innovation — then let’s call ourselves socialist. A nation becomes great when its people, businesses and institutions work with the same spirit of nation first,” he said.
The event was attended by Dr. MK Ramesh, former Vice Chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, who praised Madhav’s book for its timely insights into how India must navigate the complex challenges of the future. “The 21st century will be the most exciting and disruptive yet, and this book is a wake-up call for India to be ready,” Dr. Ramesh said.
As the evening concluded, Madhav urged everyone to read and discuss the ideas in the book, warning that India’s window to act is small but significant. “We have achieved much in the last decade, but to shape the new world order, we must dream bigger and work harder — not in the next century, but now.”
Copies of ‘The New World: 21st Century Global Order and India’ were made available to the audience at a discounted rate, with the author personally urging readers: “Buy it, read it, think about it — and then act on it.”
