The "future" has already happened as we have entered the new Millennium with a reformed India demographically a large country with small economy. It is about five decades and a half after independence, and a decade and half after reforms, the story of India is the "saga of missed opportunities". However, it should not be misconstrued that there have been no achievements during the said period. The achievements are there, but they do not reflect the potential of the economy. They are not commensurate with the resource strength and opportunities that the country had in yesteryears and has today also. The small economy of the giant country presents a rather gloomy picture with an unacceptable gap between potential and performance. It is high time that we addressed the performance facet so as to assess what we have scaled, what we have missed, where we stand in relation to other countries, what are the threats that we face today, and what are the prospects for us. Therefore, the major emphasis of this paper is focused on the reformed Indian economy in a global context. This is intended to develop an understanding about the signals that are emanating from socioeconomic and infrastructure indicators. In a way, the paper attempts to juxtapose history and future in a strategic perspective of the current competitive global context.

The discussion in this section is aimed at highlighting the performance of the Indian economy during the "post-Independence pre-Reform" era of the 20th century. It covers a broad discussion on the economic circumstances of the economy at the dawn of independence, and takes a brief account of the broad achievements and failures of the economy during the period under consideration. Independence in India came with the soaring aspirations of the people to transform the sluggish agricultural economy into a rapidly developing industrial economy. Accordingly, India embarked on an ambitious task of planned economic growth aimed at moving the country out of the quagmire of stagnation of the pre-Independence era. The discussion in this section is aimed at highlighting the circumstances of the Indian economy at the dawn of Independence.

Indian Economy beyond 2005: A Strategic Perspective, global context, socioeconomic, infrastructure indicators, competitive global context, post-Independence pre-Reform, agricultural economy, industrial economy, pre-Independence era.