ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL
Despite a few lingering ethnic and religious conflicts and governance issues in some countries, the people of this vast region are demanding and successfully securing better governance, democracy, the rule of law and transparency like never before. Globalisation has propelled this formerly neglected part of the earth in its march forward. Most of Africa is experiencing moderate to healthy economic growth rates that are fuelling the growth of its middle class and demand for more goods and services. Poverty rates are also on the decline.
Historically, Africa was the cradle of humanity, and the Indian land mass was once joined at the hip with Africa till the two geographic entities drifted apart due to tectonic shifts. Apart from this millennial old connection to the continent, Indians have been there since the first sailing ships, perhaps manned by Arabian sailors who discovered the monsoon wind trials across the Indian Ocean, crisscrossed this vast water body whose waves link rather than separate us. In that sense, Africa is a close neighbour. Nowhere is this more evident than in the significant number of people of Indian origin who have, over two centuries of out-migration, made large parts of southern and eastern Africa their home. Like with any friendly neighbour, once India embarked on unshackling itself from its colonial embrace in the middle of the last century, it rapidly built up its political ties with the newly independent countries and freedom movements in sub-Saharan Africa, as also the countries in northern Africa. In the 1950s, 60s and 70s, apart from strong political and brotherly bonds, India was itself too heavily engrossed in salvaging its own colonial battered socio-economic status- battling poverty, disease and hunger- to be a major partner in Africa ' s rebuilding and rejuvenation programmes, following phase wise independence gained by countries in the continent. However, even in those resource crunch days, India did share with Africa whatever it could spare, particularly teachers and educational experts, doctors and medical staff and experts in varied fields like agriculture, water management, bank management, etc.
India ' s ties with Africa have been stepped up in the last two decades both bilaterally and with the regional economic communities, initially with the SADC and Team-9 and continentally through the African Union( AU). Structured engagement with Africa took shape in 2008 with the First India Africa Forum Summit( IAFS-I) held in New Delhi in April that year. IAFS-II was held in Addis Ababa in May 2011. However, both these events were limited to engagement with a few African leaders under the AU ' s Banjul format. IAFS-III was a ' great leap forward ' compared to our limited approach earlier. Why has India taken this major step, which requires the huge deployment of human and financial resources? Is it simply following the herd? In the following paragraphs, I have attempted to list some important reasons behind India ' s decision to substantially step up its engagement with Africa.
A FICCI study on ' The Rising Africa ' notes that,“ nowhere in the world is the impact of economic growth and development as visible
8 • Africa Day Special • 2018