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By:

Abhijit Mulye

21 August 2024 at 11:29:11 am

‘Bharat Ratna to Savarkar will increase its prestige’

Mumbai: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Sarsanghachalak Dr. Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday threw his full weight behind the long-standing demand to confer the Bharat Ratna on Swatantryaveer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, asserting that the Hindutva ideologue’s inclusion would enhance the dignity of the country’s highest civilian honour. Bhagwat, who explained the genesis and growth of the RSS over past 100 years in two lectures at the Nehru Centre here on Saturday and Sunday, replied to several...

‘Bharat Ratna to Savarkar will increase its prestige’

Mumbai: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Sarsanghachalak Dr. Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday threw his full weight behind the long-standing demand to confer the Bharat Ratna on Swatantryaveer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, asserting that the Hindutva ideologue’s inclusion would enhance the dignity of the country’s highest civilian honour. Bhagwat, who explained the genesis and growth of the RSS over past 100 years in two lectures at the Nehru Centre here on Saturday and Sunday, replied to several questions. While replying to one of the questions, he remarked, “If Swatantraveer Savarkar is given the Bharat Ratna, the prestige of the Bharat Ratna itself will increase.” He was asked, why there has been a delay in conferring the Bharat Ratna on Savarkar, in reply to which, Bhagwat said, “I am not part of that committee. But if I meet someone, I will ask. Even without that honour, he rules the hearts of millions of people.” he added. Social Divisions Bhagwat replied to questions that were clubbed in 14 different groups ranging from national security to environment, social harmony, youth, arts and sports. Whenever the questions suggested or expressed expectations that the RSS should do certain things, Bhagwat stressed on the involvement of the society and initiative from the society in resolving the problems. While addressing the critical issue of Uniform Civil Code, Bhagwat stated that the UCC should be framed by taking everyone into confidence and must not lead to social divisions. In the same way while replying to the question related to illegal migrants in the country, Bhagwat urged people to “detect and report” the “illegal infiltrators” to the police. He also urged people not to give them any employment and to be more “vigilant.” Backing SIR He highlighted that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise has already revealed the “foreigners” living in the country. “The government has a lot to do regarding infiltration. They have to detect and deport. This wasn’t happening until now, but it has started little by little, and it will gradually increase. When the census or the SIR is conducted, many people come to light who are not citizens of this country; they are automatically excluded from the process,” he said. “But we can do one thing: we can work on detection. Their language gives them away. We should detect them and report them to the appropriate authorities. We should inform the police that we suspect these people are foreigners, and they should investigate and keep an eye on them, and we will also keep an eye on them. We will not give employment to any foreigner. If someone is from our country, we will give them employment, but not to foreigners. You should be a little more vigilant and aware,” he added. SC Chief Emphasising the inclusivity of the Sangh, he said that anyone can become ‘Sarsanghchalak’ (RSS chief), including the SC and STs, as the decision is solely dependent on the work that any individual put for the organisation. “Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra or Brahmin does not qualify for the Sarsanghchalak position (RSS Chief), a Hindu will become the one who works and is best available. A Hindu will become, and that can also be an SC or ST. Anyone can become it depends on the work. Today, if you see, all classes have representation in the Sangh. The decision is taken on the basis of one who works and is best available,” he said. He pointed out that when the RSS was founded, its work began in a Brahmin-dominated community and hence, most of its founders were Brahmins, which led to the organisation being labelled as a Brahmin outfit at the time. People always look for an organisation that has representatives from their community, he said. “If I were to choose a chief, I would go by the ‘best available candidate’ criterion. When I was appointed RSS chief, there were many best candidates, but they were not available. I was the one who could be relieved from duties and appointed,” he said. He said that to belong to the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe communities is not a disqualification, and neither is being a Brahmin a qualification to become the RSS chief. Ready to step down if Sangh asks for Dr. Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday said the Sangh had asked him to continue working despite his age, while stressing that he would step down from the post whenever the organisation directs him to do so. “There is no election to the post of RSS chief. Regional and divisional heads appoint the chief. Generally, it is said that after turning 75, one should work without holding any post,” Bhagwat said. “I have completed 75 years and informed the RSS, but the organisation asked me to continue working. Whenever the RSS asks me to step down, I will do so, but retirement from work will never happen,” he said.

Igniting India’s Orange Economy

The Union Budget places culture and creativity at the centre of the country’s next growth story.

India is attempting something unusual for an emerging economy by treating imagination as infrastructure. In the Union Budget for 2026–27, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman put a conspicuous emphasis on what is now fashionably called the ‘Orange Economy’ - a grab-bag of industries built on creativity, intellectual property and digital distribution. The ambition is explicit. By 2030 the sector is expected to employ 2 million professionals, generating jobs while projecting India as a global creative hub rather than merely a back office of the world.


Creative Surge

The Orange Economy covers activities where ideas are the raw material and intellectual property the final product. Film, music, design, fashion, advertising, architecture, software, gaming, animation, publishing and digital media all fall under its capacious umbrella. Digital platforms like YouTube, Instagram Reels and streaming services have amplified its reach, allowing culture to travel faster than cargo. In India, initiatives such as the WAVES summit have sought to turn this diffuse energy into a coherent economic strategy, arguing that art and ideas are not decorative add-ons but engines of growth.


Globally, the case is persuasive. Creative industries generate about $2 trillion a year and employ roughly 50 million people, around 3.1 percent of the world’s workforce, according to UN estimates. By 2030 their share of global employment could rise to 10 percent. The United States, Britain and China dominate the field, exporting films, music, games and intellectual property at scale. America alone commands more than 20 percent of the market, thanks to Hollywood and technology platforms. India has no neat global ranking, but it is widely seen as a fast climber, buoyed by its media, entertainment, animation, gaming, visual-effects and digital-content industries.


At home, the numbers are already sizeable. India’s media and entertainment sector is valued at about Rs. 2.5 lakh crore ($29.4 billion), while live entertainment exceeds Rs. 10,000 crore. Together with gaming, digital content and cultural industries, the Orange Economy accounts for roughly 8 percent of employment and has delivered export growth of around 20 percent, with a target of $50 billion by 2029. Its scope is sprawling, from AVGC and e-sports to fashion, publishing, cultural tourism and heritage industries.


Special Focus

Sitharaman’s budgetary pitch was to institutionalise this sprawl. She announced a special focus on strengthening the creative economy, anchored in education and infrastructure. Mumbai’s Indian Institute of Creative Technologies is to be supported in setting up AVGC content-creator laboratories in 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges. Funding includes Rs. 1.4 lakh crore for digital creators and creative ecosystems, alongside Rs. 250 crore for these labs, designed to funnel students into a national skills drive. Supporters argue that this will formalise what has until now been an informal, hustle-driven sector, accelerating innovation while giving young Indians a global stage.


The political framing has been set from the top. At the WAVES Summit in Mumbai in 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi cast the World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit as a declaration of creative intent. With representatives from 30 countries and creators from more than 100, the event was meant to showcase India’s artistic reach and technological ambition. Modi described WAVES as a confluence of global talent and pitched India as a natural home for creative start-ups, digital innovation, film and entertainment. His slogan - “create in India, create for the world” - was an invitation to collaborate as much as a claim to leadership.


Indian content already circulates in over 100 countries, carried by animation, music, gaming and streaming platforms. Modi’s larger hope is that WAVES becomes less an annual event than a permanent ecosystem, exporting twenty-first-century stories rooted in Indian culture but shaped by global technology.


The spillovers are tangible. The creative economy turbocharges tourism through culture- and heritage-led experiences. Revamping 15 historic sites with digital storytelling, interactive displays and modern infrastructure has drawn visitors and lifted local economies, from hotels to handicrafts. Live entertainment, music festivals and arts events have multiplied these effects, as noted in the Economic Survey for 2025–26. Cities, meanwhile, are discovering ‘concert economies,’ gaming hubs, design studios and AVGC labs, which generate cultural venues, digital infrastructure and start-ups. E-sports, streaming content and creative spaces now underpin urban services, accounting for about 8 percent of jobs and 20 percent of services exports. New institutions, such as the National Institute of Design (NID) in eastern India, are meant to deepen the skills pipeline.


None of this guarantees global dominance. Creative industries are fickle and tastes change quickly and intellectual-property protection remains uneven. But India’s strategic pivot is clear. If executed with care, India’s wager on creativity could yield dividends far beyond balance sheets. Unlike many growth strategies, the Orange Economy draws strength from assets the country already possesses in abundance including youthful talent, cultural depth and digital reach. It allows India to compete not by undercutting wages, but by shaping tastes.


By turning imagination into an industry, whether through Indian films dominating overseas streaming charts, indigenous games finding global audiences, or cultural festivals doubling as tourism magnets, India is positioning itself not merely as a producer for the world, but as one of its principal narrators.

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