Dreams for India ; The potential to become a far more powerful and prosperous nation existed back then, and it exists now. What it requires, as management guru C.K. Prahalad writes so eloquently in our cover story, is not analysis but imagination.

Something profound happened to India over the past few years. Itcaught a glimpse of the greatness it could achieve. It was in therise of IT triumvirate (TCS, Infosys and Wipro) as the world'spreferred vendors, Tata Steel's acquisition of Corus, BhartiAirtel's radical new model in telecoms, ICICI Bank's success inretail banking and, perhaps, even in Lakshmi Niwas Mittal'sspectacular emergence as the world's unquestioned steel czar.Suddenly, a lumbering India gathered pace, the world took itseriously and, most importantly, Indians took themselves seriously.

Therefore, it's a little sad to see the pace at which India's new-found confidence is giving way. Since January this …