India and Israel – A partnership in Development and Reforms

Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi with Prime Minister of Israel, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu.

In a continent (read Asia) where democracy is ridiculed, human rights are abused, homosexuals are persecuted, women are stoned, important reforms are denied for several decades, rights of self-expression are denied, Israel is different. This country has given much freedom to its own people with lots of responsibility and accountability. An English writer of the 18th Century, George Eliot, once predicted over a century ago that, “Once established, the Jewish state will shine like a bright star of freedom amid the despotisms of the East.” Well, she was absolutely right.

India itself needs countless reforms on all fronts right now than ever before. Several countries in the world face water crisis, its one crisis that will grow more severe in the coming decade. Indias problem is different. Its nothing but bad water management. Most of usable water in India is wasted.  Indian cities and towns suffer from destruction of natural habitat for trees and lack of  strict implementation of laws that help prevent such destruction. Indian cities do not have enough ground water as a result of mass destruction of plant life and forest areas in and around these cities.

Today Israel leads in solving problems related to water supply by improving its efficiency in dealing with water leakage, improvising their farming efficiency, creating plans to recycling waste water, exploring and effectively working on the option of desalination, supporting a rigid pricing policy and above all creating awareness. All this might not be possible in India due to its overpopulation but yes most of it can be done. It must be done.

Israels efforts with water dont end there. It is now working on creating a dense forest in a region  that hardly recieves any rainfall. Unlike India where theres enough rain, Israel has to plan its forests and wildlife. “To grow a forest in an area with annual rainfall of 270 mm. is magic” says Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael – Jewish National Fund’s chief forester, Dr. David Brand.

Indias forests, especially in the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Jharkhand, are vulnerable to illegal logging by timber mafias. Now this is a problem that needs to be solved before its too late. Indian cities suffer from lack of planing. Most of its natural resources are destoyed illegally and theres no control to protect those. Indias afforestation effort in cities is miserable if compared to several other nations which are doing their best to maintain a balance. This is where Israel can support India.

Israel is a powerhouse in medical innovation. Israel is first in the world for medical device patents per capita. About 1,000 Israeli companies are in healthcare or life-science products, including 700 in medical devices. Israels has made commendable efforts in regenerative medicine, development of stem-cell technology to treat blood cancers, solid tumors and non-malignant blood diseases, development of disposable colorectal cancer screening device, removal of benign breast lumps through ultra-sound technology, creation of MRI-guided focused ultrasound to destroy tumors and uterine fibroid cysts without surgery and usage of cold plasma technology to bond surgical incisions instead of painful stitches, staples or glue. All India needs is a model to make this technology affordable. This might not happen overnight and planing is much required. Planing also means a stark reduction of Indian population in the next two to three decades.

India now needs Cybersecurity, as it moves forward to make things digital. Israel has evolved into worlds headquarters for Internet security, anti-virus software, and other cyber defense technologies. This is yet another area where both the countries need to collaborate.

India on the other hand is known for the export of its precious metals, stones, textiles, chemical products, minerals and products based on fresh vegetables, fruits and spices. Israel could benefit much from this trade. An India Israel collaboration, especially in the time of Artificial Intelligence and Automation is much required for the common interests of both the countries and of course with a hope for better tomorrow for its people.