In the run up to the General Election which looks like being in May this year, all the main political parties are currently sharpening their knives in order to see where cuts in public spending will need to be made in order to stem the increase in the UK's mountain of debt. And an easy target for cuts in public expenditure are quangoes.

I was having lunch earlier this week at Portculis House opposite the Palace of Westminster with Sally Muggeridge who's CEO of the Industry & Parliament Trust (IPT) and we were discussing what life would look like for many quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations (quite a mouthful!) after the General Election.

The largest democracy in the world celebrates its 60th birthday this week. For many of us, reaching this milestone may be a time to reflect on what we’ve achieved in our lives to this point and what lies ahead of us on our journey on this planet.

For India, it’s just getting going!

While independence was granted by the UK on 15 August 1947, it wasn’t until 26 January 1950 that India got its written constitution. On that day, six decades ago, India declared itself a secular, socialist democracy, promising equal rights to all its citizens regardless of religion, language, creed or culture.

India today is a beacon of hope for the rest of the world. It’s not perfect and of course has its fair share of problems such as grinding poverty as well as caste and communal tensions.

But whilst domestic markets in developed economies went into free fall as a result of the credit crunch started by the collapse of the banking system in the US and then the rest of Europe, India was experiencing 6.9 percent growth in GDP and consequently according to the influential Forbes magazine recorded the fastest growth in number of millionaires on the planet.

And the Indian Government hasn’t lost any time on pursuing its business-friendly agenda to support its phenomenal business growth.