I almost share a birthday with free India and Pakistan. I was born exactly a month before the two countries gained their freedom from British rule. Even more important than economic growth, can India, Pakistan and China become known as models of trust, integrity and good governance?

It wasn’t till 24 years later that I first set foot on the subcontinent, invited there by Indian colleagues. Since then I’ve travelled there at least nine times and Mumbai—glorious, crowded, chaotic, noisy, cheerful and dynamic Mumbai—became my second home, as I worked there for Initiatives of Change. So I have followed the 60th anniversaries of Independence with a full heart.

Since Independence, India in particular, along with its giant northern neighbour of China, has changed out of all recognition. Their economic development has not been as fast as some of the Asian tigers of the Far East. But nonetheless their economic progress, for the privileged minority at least, is astonishing if long overdue. Their growth rates of nearly 10 per cent, though much less in Pakistan, are outstripping the rest of the world.

They are returning to a position of pre-eminence. Two thousand years ago, the Indian subcontinent and China together represented 60 per cent of the global economy, and as recently as 1820 nearly 40 per cent, compared with Western Europe’s 24 per cent.

By 2050 India and China are predicted to be the world’s biggest economies again, knocking the USA of its perch. The world’s two most populous countries are in a tortoise and hare race to be the world’s number one economy. This doesn’t mean that they will be the world’s richest peoples, even accounting for the country-by-country comparisons known as purchasing power parity. Far from it; their volume of competitive exports, for instance, has depended on their low-wage workforces. But their sheer size will make it almost inevitable.

And what happens in India and China is crucially important if the world is going to meet the UN’s Millennium Development Goals, including halving the number of people living in absolute poverty by 2015.

China, under its authoritarian command economy, has had a head start. But India has a more youthful population, democratic elections and an independent judiciary on its side. And, unlike Pakistan, it has kept the military out of politics. Corruption has plagued all three countries. Their growth rates are dangerously uneven and while the rich in the cities enjoy unprecedented wealth, their rural economies lag seriously behind. Some Indian states, for instance, are far poorer than others and this could become explosive.

What are the implications for the rest of the world? What does the world expect of these great nations with their centuries of heritage?

* Can India, Pakistan and China develop in a way that meets the needs of all their peoples and not just a privileged minority?
* Can they achieve material prosperity without losing their spiritual heritages—their soul?
* Can they give to the world a capitalism with a conscience? Western capitalism leaves a lot to be desired. But India’s great entrepreneurs—including the founding fathers of the industrial houses of Tata and Birla to present day information technology pioneers—have all shown an obligation, a social conscience, towards the poor in the villages.
* Can they develop a vision of their role in the world, not just as manufacturers, service providers and exporters but also as peacemakers and reconcilers? Can they, for instance, play their rightful role in the corridors of the United Nations?
* Can they offer the hope of a world free from violence, hate, fear and greed, and retain their sense of family values—free from a self-absorbing sexual license that undermines the family?

Free India’s founding father, Mahatma Gandhi, with his insistence on non-violent satyagraha (the force of truth), remains an icon for the 21st century. And, according to his grandson, he would have welcomed the personal computer, as much as he advocated the use of the spinning wheel, because it empowers people.

Even more important than economic growth, can India, Pakistan and China become known as models of trust, integrity and good governance? If so, the rest of the world will be eternally grateful to them.