happy new year to you and yours. "fareed zakaria gps" is next for our viewers here in the united states. ♪ >> welcome to this "gps" special report. i'm fareed zakaria. 2014 will be a year of surprises, events that no one can predict. there will be one great expe spectacle in the spring. one that never fails to move me deeply. india will hold its national elections. the largest democratic process in human history. more than 700 million people at 800,000 voting booths using 1.3 million machines will cast their ballots. aside from the extraordinary

affirmation of democracy, this election is turning into a pivotal contest. a clash between a rising controversial figure and the sign of an old dynasty. the issues at stake are crucial, not just for india but the entire world. will india push forward to become the next china? the next big global growth engine or will it relapse into its old confused ways? india has been growing impressively for 15 years. it's a different place from the stagnant country i grew up in in the 1970s. the numbers don't look so good anymore. democracy led to deadlock and dismay. can india right itself? will a democracy make the hard choices? this hour, one-sixth of humanity

at a crossroads. while it matters for america and the world. we'll show you what some have called the country's arab spring. a grassroots movement against corruption. we'll visit an indian state that is growing faster than china. the man who runs that state is gunning for a bigger job, prime minister. and then where you will meet india's tom cruise. this guy is now using his celebrity to solve india's toughest problems. first, you think washington is gridlocked? you haven't seen new delhi. let's get started. >> india is a country that lives in several centuries

simultaneously. >> a country of profound contradictions. >> at any given time and place incapsulate the contradictions that come from being multi-cultural society. >> so with all of those contradictions, how on earth is the country moving forward? when foreigners come to india, they see visible manifestations of the state, the infrastructure and such as being terrible and yet the economy by in large continues to do well. how does that happen? >> well, india grows at night when the government sleeps. liberty, equality. >> a renowned author and former ceo of procter & gamble india says that india has grown despite its broken government. broken because if you think the united states congress is chaotic and dysfunctional, take

a look at india's parliament. >> the government is not obliged to implement a law passed by parliament which sounds ridiculous. >> there was one expectation ten years ago. >> a member of the lower house of parliament maintains that democracy has been good for india but says there have been too many logjams in recent years. >> in the u.s. the congress and senate have rules for how you set agendas. now, our rules go back to before independence and there are no rules. it just says that agenda is set by consensus. >> if you think conse enensus i hard to reach in america, imagine how hard in india's lower house of parliament which has 37 parties. in 2011, parliament was adjourned 102 times. it was only in session for about

15 weeks out of the year. so the work of governance often happens at the local level. that means regularly opening his home to constituents from his state of odisha. people like these lecturers who threaten a hunger strike over pay disparities at state-run colleges. then about 14 days a month, he travels to see those who can't make it to the capital. he actually flies himself. >> flying is a little bit like what people consider yoga or meditation. it relaxes me. it also helps save a lot of time. >> when he lands, he's greeted with campaign slogans and fanfare. he gets on a motorcycle to make his way through the village

stopping to talk to people like this handicapped man. >> the government provides tricycles to those whose hands are operational so he can be mobile. he has not yet got one of those. >> he'll help him navigate the bureaucracy and cut through the red tape to claim his government benefit. when you campaign in your state, do you feel that what's going to work is if you offer rice or what is going to work if you explain how you're going to get policies put in place that will create growth? >> the candid answer is both. if you only do populous policies, you may be able to get by one election or so but then the chickens come home to roost and numbers don't add up. if you only talk about investments that will pay off in ten years, you ain't going to get elected.

>> odisha has a long way to go. what was once considered a basket case of india, has grown 8% every year for a decade. it's not just odisha. isn't it extraordinary with all of the problems, bureaucracy, bad politics, average growth over the last ten years is 7%. does it mean if things are fixed it could be 10%? is it the price of democracy? >> to some extent it's a price of democracy. democracies have reformed and fixed themselves. look at chicago in the 1920s. look at chicago today. look at england. england in early 19th century was corrupt society. you could buy any job in the government. but then they did the hard work of politics. >> one of the most powerful people in india's government thinks india can reform and even

become the next china. >> i feel that we just behind china by 10 to 15 years and the democracy and rule of law and courts are independent because we have a lot to do to improve it further. fundamentals are sound in my view. >> if economic fundamentals are sound, india's politics does need work. up next, one major hurdle in india's path, corruption. there's good news there as well. india might just have a homegrown solution. [ male announcer ] for every late night,

every weekend worked, every idea sold... ♪ ...you deserve a cadillac, the fastest growing full-line luxury brand in the united states. including the all new 2014 cadillac cts, motor trend's 2014 car of the year. get the best offers of the season on our award winning products. like a 2014 ats and srx. hurry in, offers end january 2nd.

>> regardless of how dysfunctional american politics might be, it would be hard to imagine 30% of america's legislators with criminal charges pending against them. that was precisely true for india's lower house of

parliament follow iing india's last election in 2009. charges ranged from rape and murder to corruption but something here is changing. the usually apathetic indian middle class is making demands of its government and from this anger a movement has emerged. call it the indian spring. >> the problem that hits 99% of indians is every day i go for a birth certificate and i'm asked for a bribe. i go for a completion certificate for my house, i'm asked for a bribe. >> the former ceo of procter & gamble in india says that corruption is endemic across the country even in small, every day transactions. >> when i die, my children will have to bribe somebody to get a death certificate. that birth to death corruption is the problem. >> this man goes a step further.

he says living honestly is just not possible in india. he's a trained engineer who once worked in india's version of the irs. he was so outraged by what he saw in government, he became an anti-corruption activist. >> the people of india are the best people in the world with the worst government. >> the inspiration is a frail 74-year-old man. the face of india's anti-corruption movement. in august 2011, thousands rallied around inspired by gandhi and went on a hunger strike to end corruption. >> no one could raise a finger at him. he brought spirituality to the entire movement. >> his 12 day fast ended with a

success of sorts. parliament agreed to consider a bill for a strong independent anti-corruption agency. do you think you were successful in getting the government to respond and adjust? >> the people wanted a strong anti-corruption and government did not do that. most of the people sitting in the government, most ministers have indulged in corruption. >> since he couldn't get politicians to listen to him, he became one of them. if you can't beat them, join them, right? he formed the party of the common man and that common touch has found quite some success. in december, his party won 28 of the 70 seats. not everyone thinks he's the kind of leader that india needs.

>> he's a populist and he's out of sync. >> people think of the constitution and something gained from above. >> he met him while he was writing his latest book "india grows at night." he says he has his sights set on the wrong target. what he rails against is the type of crony capitalism that in one case alone cost india as much as $40 billion. when officials were alleged to have sold off big portions of india's mobile airwaves. >> that's a problem which hits about 1% of indians. instead of worrying about the corruption at the highest level, worry about the corruption in your neighborhood. >> one of the men at the highest levels of indian government agrees that corruption is a daily phenomenon but he says the government is responding. lots of people look at india and

say the corruption is terrible at every level. what would you say to them? >> the notion that india is the only emerging market that's corrupt is complete nonsense. what is true is that worry about corruption and indeed the politicalization of corruption is immense. to my mind, that's actually to the credit of india. >> meaning? >> meaning that government recognizes -- we've said this at the highest level. government recognizes this is a concern and it's a legitimate concern. >> the government has adopted a few transparency measures and that anti-corruption bill that new delhi introduced following the hunger strikes, it just passed more than two years later. in the end, they do agree on one thing. you think that the india that your son will live in is going to be less corrupt, richer, with a government that's more

responsive than the one we currently have? >> absolutely. >> five years from now, will india be less corrupt than it is today? >> of course. india will be less corrupt. less illiteracy and less poverty. >> even though you say there are so many things wrong with it? >> hope is from people of this country and people are coming together and protesting. they're not sitting back and cynics anymore. >> some people allege that the anti-corruption party has been corrupted itself. it's a charge he denies vigorously. his anti-corruption platform is increasingly being adopted at least rhetorically by other opposition parties who believe the upcoming national elections will be a protest against corruption for the first time ever. it's a sign that voters are maturing and demanding better government. up next, can india grow like china? there's one party of india that

seems to out-china the chinese and the guy that helped them do that wants to go national. [ female announcer ] what if the next big thing, isn't a thing at all? it's lots of things. all waking up. connecting to the global phenomenon we call the internet of everything. ♪ it's going to be amazing. and exciting. and maybe, most remarkably, not that far away. we're going to wake the world up. and watch, with eyes wide,

as it gets to work. cisco. tomorrow starts here. i need you. i feel so alone. but you're not alone. i knew you'd come. like i could stay away. you know i can't do this without you. you'll never have to. you're always there for me. shh! i'll get you a rental car.

i could also use an umbrella. fall in love with progressive's claims service.

>> when we think of china, we imagine an authorityian land where things work and a place where freedom is sacrificed but in return you get strong

economic growth. when we think of india, we think of a messy democracy, of organized chaos, a place where growth is sacrificed for freedom. now imagine a place in india where both are true, where there is democracy but also strong economic growth. the top official of this state might well be leading india after the 2014 national elections. >> if you look at the growth in gujarat, it's better than china if you think about it as a country. >> nr narendra mody is -- >> you can really improve. >> you may think that sensible governance is lacking in america but india has a way of making us

look like a model of efficiency. h just listen. in 2008 when he was still running india's largest con clom rat, he unveiled the world's cheapest car. initially he built the factory for the $2,500 nano. when the plant was 80% complete, a local politician accused the group of taking farmer's land. a false allegation he says. >> our walls got breached. materials got stolen. how could we run a plant in such a hostile environment? >> so he decided to move the operation to gujarat where chief

minister mnarendra modi delivered. >> he delivered in four days what others could only offer best endeavors to do. clean. no side deals. >> no bribes? >> none whatsoever. >> first generation entrepreneur embodies the possibilities of gujarat. he was born in a small village where his father was a grain merchant. >> one day my father told me now you have to do something. you have to go big city. >> armed with the ambition to help his family overcome what he calls their helpless financial condition, he drove a scooter to school. >> i ride a very rough scooter. very old scooter. >> in the big city, second largest in gujarat, he drives a ferrari. not just any ferrari, one that

used to belong to the formula one racing legend michael schumacher. he proudly drives it around the city where he co-founded a textile, entertainment and real estate company. his dream is for each of his employees to drive a mercedes, bmw or audi. >> very hard work people here. >> he chose surat because it's one of the fastest growing cities in the world. the city produces 40% of india's textiles and 8 out of 10 diamonds in the world are cut or polished here. the municipal commissioner runs sutra. there is even an empire state building and world trade center.

every ten years the city of 4.5 million adds 2 million new people. >> that's continuing today because of of the low unemployment rate, nice weather, availability of water and sewer and everything. >> but not everyone has been a part of the growth. one man lives in the muslim slum in surat. >> if you go out, you'll see number one facilities for everything. if you visit our slums, all you'll find is waste and drains. modi is working but he's getting rid of us power and building palaces, building bridges. >> he's talking about gujarat controversial chief minister,

n m narendra modi. >> why can't you say you regretted the killings that happened. >> a journalist that interviewed modi says the chief minister failed to stop it the 2002 riots. a massacre in which upwards of 1,000 people, mostly muslims, were killed. >> modi is perceived as a villain. as a man who presided over killings of muslims by either deliberately failing to stop it the rioters. by some accounts he gave instructions to the police to permit rioting so anger could be quelled after a certainly amount of blood had been shed. >> the united states denied him a visa to visit citing his complicit in the riots.

mo modi denies any wrongdoing. has gujarat got it right and can its project go national? indians head to the polls in 2014 and are angry for the ruling congress party for mismanagement of the economy and modi has been dynamic and effective on the campaign trail. if he and his allies gain a majority, modi will be india's next prime minister. a prospect that delights many but scares many others. up next, how in the world do you keep track of 1.2 billion people? india has a high tech solution. n drive sales event is back. which means it's never been easier to get a new passat, awarded j.d. power's most appealing midsize car, two years in a row. and right now you can drive one home for practically just your signature.

get zero due at signing, zero down, zero deposit, and zero first month's payment on any new 2014 volkswagen. hurry, this offer ends january 2nd. for details, visit vwdealer.com today [ male announcer ] if we could see energy... what would we see? ♪ the billions of gallons of fuel that get us to work. ♪

we'd see all the electricity flowing through the devices that connect us and teach us. ♪ we'd see that almost 100% of medical plastics are made from oil and natural gas. ♪ and an industry that supports almost 10 million american jobs. life takes energy. and no one applies more technology to produce american energy and refine it more efficiently than exxonmobil. because using energy responsibly has never been more important. energy lives here. ♪

>> there's been an explosion at a rail station in southern russia which has killed more than a dozen people. authorities tell cnn they believe a suicide bomber caused the blast. joining me now from moscow is cnn's diana magnay with the latest. diana? >> reporter: hi, candy. we are hearing it was a female suicide bomber who walked into that rail station around midday local time. bear in mind, this is key holiday season. new year is the main russian holiday so this was a time when the train station was packed. this comes of course weeks ahead of the olympic games in sochi in just a few weeks time. in july, the main terrorist

leader, if you will, in the north caucuses region, issued a threat saying he would use all maximum force possible to try and disrupt the sochi games. so within that context, you can see why this suicide bombing might have taken place. and also in october, there was another attack by a female suicide bomber. this time on a bus where six people were killed. officials are trying as hard as they can to make sure that sochi itself is extremely secure of course but this kind of thing puts fear into the minds of people traveling to sochi is also a concern spoiling for president putin these olympic games that he poured billions of dollars into. $50 billion. more than any other leader spent on any games. candy? >> what can you tell me about the group itself that's

suspected of doing this? >> reporter: no one has claimed responsibility. we know it's a female suicide bomber. these so-called black widows are typical, a signature, a hallmark of the militant fighting you see in troubled north caucuses region. they have been involved since 2000 a number of terror attacks here. the moscow theater siege act to avenge deaths of a father or son or husband. we are waiting for the authorities to give us more details about this particular woman. often they carry i.d.s with them because they want to publicize their cause. >> diana magnay, thank you. cnn will follow the story throughout the day. now back to "fareed zakaria gps." imagine trying to identify every single person in a nation of more than 1.2 billion people.

if you cataloged one person every second, the effort would take 38 years. sounds crazy. in 2010, india's government began such an effort hoping to create the largest personal data base in human history. in the waning hours of a hot afternoon in northeast india, a man waits patiently in a dimly lit room full of laptop computers. he's here with his three sons to get their fingerprints recorded, their eyes scanned, and their photos taken. his hope is that all of this high tech gadgetry will give his boys something they've never had before. an official identity. today millions of indians have trouble proving who they are. that means they are shut out of

the basics of modern life like bank loans and government services. so the government is aiming to give every one of the 1.2 billion residents a 12 digit number similar to the social security number but high tech and more tamper proof since it will be linked to his or her fingerprints and iris scan. >> a great example of using the most sophisticated technology to solve the challenges of the people who are most left out. >> this man is the brains behind the operation. he's the co-founder of a technology company he started in 1981 with $250. now it's worth billions with a sprawling campus three times larger than google's headquarters. you were one of the founders of

the most successful technology company in india. why leave that to get involved in ftrying to develop this systm in india? >> the prime minister invited me to lead this project. i realize the project had challenges that i was familiar with. i could execute on something like this. >> he gathered some of the best binds minds in india's tech industry and asked them to take a pay cut. it was a daunting challenge even for them. >> i'm not a religious person but i started going to temples. what about response time? >> a veteran of silicon valley helping to start web m.d. was one of the chief architects of the project. >> the system had to run in 22 languages and deal with a

billion people. running tens of thousands of enrollment centers across the country. most complex project i have ever been associated with it. >> to make sure that multiple i.d. numbers aren't issued to the same person by accident, the dream team built a tech center that checks every new number against the millions that already exist. >> this is the largest such system in the world. >> new enrollments of monitoring in real time. the morning we visited, more than 100,000 i.d.s had been created that day. all told, they've already turned out more than 500 million i.d.s covering about half of the indian population. the national i.d. is sort of a technological version of the great infrastructure project in the 1970s in the west. do you think it will have the same kind of impact as roads in the entire country in the united

states or railroads or things like that? >> absolutely. because we are doing online i.d., a lot of applications will come in. >> the i.d. is being useded in a number of different ways. this man and his wife live in a small village in the northeastern state. he has a job thanks to a government program guaranteeing work in rural areas. actually getting his wages for that work at the far off post office was a job in itself. >> translator: we wouldn't get the money on our first or second visit. it would take two or three days and sometimes a week to get the work done. >> since he got his identity card, he says things have changed dramatically. he opened a bank account thanks to his i.d. and just down the

road, there's now a mobile atm device that uses a thumb print for identification. now instead of haggling with a bunch of bureaucrats, he has his hard earned cash right at his fingerprints. >> the government spends billions of dollars on entitlements and subsidies if you look at entitlements like scholarships, pensions, maternity benefits. >> so in using the i.d., you can get those benefits to the right person directly without any intermediaries. >> the entire thing is electronic. >> the i.d. project could rev revolutionize the way the country does business. >> everything is linked up. >> an advocate for the poor is one of the project's many critics. she points out that indians

could be denied government services thanks to the i.d. because some welfare programs want to require an i.d. to gain access. >> if for any reason you don't have fingerprints that work or whatever, you get excluded. >> the supreme court entered the fray saying no one should be denied benefits for lacking an i.d. and another lawsuit is pending. critics of the i.d. also worry about government having so much access to personal information. >> a number of institutions and agencies that have been started up like the national intelligence group say that they are going to keep tabs on all suspected friends, families and their supporters. the i.d. is a tool. >> you know people have concerns about privacy. should people be worried? >> obviously be sure to have a very clear privacy architecture but privacy is about creating

privacy for convenience. you are getting access to all of these benefits and services. is it a fair tradeoff to make? >> with the i.d. enabled bank account would agree. >> translator: life has changed a lot. now we know we have savings in our hand. >> next up, another intriguing case of the private sector finding solutions for india's public problems. this time from the country's huge film industry known as b bollywood. [ male announcer ] for every late night,

every weekend worked, every idea sold... ♪ ...you deserve a cadillac, the fastest growing full-line luxury brand in the united states. including the all new 2014 cadillac cts, motor trend's 2014 car of the year. get the best offers of the season on our award winning products. like a 2014 ats and srx. hurry in, offers end january 2nd.

>> in 2012, a television talk show in india drew 90 million viewers. numbers rivalling any super bowl. one of india's biggest film stars decided to use his fame to

start a remarkable program. part journalism, part entertainment, that has shaken up this country of more than a billion people. meet the tom cruise of india. he's one of the biggest stars in bollywood, india's wildly successful song and dance industry. india actually produces about twice as many movies per year as hollywood. khan is a big draw at the box office. his 2009 film was one of the highest grossing movies of all-time. his latest film in theaters now is another big hit. but khan took a big risk with another recent career move. he wanted to host and produce a

television show. one that would explore some of india's most taboo subjects. including domestic violence and abortion. you realize how strange this is. this is like tom cruise hosting and researching "60 minutes." >> it is unusual. it's something that's been troubling me. something i felt like doing. >> the show translates to truth alone prevails. that's also india's official national motto. >> domestic violence. >> khan's goal, an in-depth discussion about india's problems to spark a conversation about the direction of the country. each 90-minute episode focused on a different topic.

>> we do a lot of research on each of the topics and once we gathered that material, we try to tell it to you in a way that it hits home. >> the first episode examined one of the nation's most troubling social ills. female fetuside. aborting a fetus because it's female. thanks in part to the practice, men outnumber women in india by over 45 million. the problem is so bad that the government actually banned doctors from telling expectant parents the gender of their own fetus. >> ratio of girls against boys is dramatic you have huge social problems across the country. >> some families are so eager to have a boy rather than a girl, they'll do just about anything. one woman told khan she was forced to get an abortion by members of her own family.

>> the woman told khan she was forced to abort five more daughters in the next eight years. entire communities have been affected. in a satellite interview, khan asked a group of men to raise their hands if they were of marrying age. when he asked them who was married, they all put their hands down.

>> they can't find anyone to get married to because there are no women in their area. it's absurd. >> what's more, the authorities often do very little to enforce the law. a hidden camera sting operation featured on khan's show caught a slew of doctors allegedly providing illegal sonograms and sex select abortions. video evidence has been available for seven years but they said none of the doctors had been punished in court. so khan made a direct appeal to his audience.

and support him they did. the show's website got so much traffic that it crashed. 90 million people watched and khan hit the cover of "time" magazine. it turned out to be a huge hit. >> yeah. i was hoping it would be successful. me and my team believed in it because we felt that these are issues which are so close to every indian that every indian is going to want to watch it. and is going to be affected by it. what surprised me is the reaction of the political administrative class. >> the government set up special courts to more efficiently try female fetuside cases just as khan asked. just days after another episode aired about child sex abuse, the indian parliament's lower house passed legislation. a show about india's system was followed by a meeting between

khan and a prime minister. the show's 14 episodes was seen by over 500 million people. people are still talking. >> people call in from small villages. i don't even know the names of these places. telling me what they like about the show. that dialogue made me realize how people are reacting in different parts of the country. >> when you look at the anti-corruption protests and the protests and you look at your show and discussion it provokes and action it provokes, do you think all of this tells you that we're witnessing some kind of a change in india? >> it does tell me that. will change happen overnight? certainly not. i would like to believe that one day things will change dramatically. >> season two of khan's show is expected to air early in 2014. up next, i'll give you my take on whether india will make it.

the most important global trend of the last 20 years has surely been the rise of china changing economics and culture around the world. were india to unlock its economy, the country's demographics alone would ensure that its rise would be the defining trend of the next 20 years. that is what is at stake for india and the world in its upcoming national elections. will india finally live up to

its potential? many foreign observers particularly western business people look at india today in despair. the country simply cannot reform at the pace needed to fulfill its ambitions. everything gets mired in political paralysis. this is true and unfortunate. the india we showed you in this special report is a moving picture and not a snapshot. i left india 30 years ago but have visited every year since and the picture of that country has gotten brighter and more dynamic and more hopeful. remember, the country's economy might be sluggish now but it has grown steadily for the last 15 years faster than any large economy except china. in states that are desperate, government is promoting economic reforms. this is not a story about one

person. the state of 60 million people has grown almost as fast as china for two decades with seven chief ministers at the helm and not just modi. other states are growing fast as well. 20 years of economic growth have transformed the country. the indian middle class now numbers more than 250 million. technology is giving the new middle class the power to make its voice heard. nearly three-quarters of the population has mobile phones. texting and similar methods have become a routine way to petition government, organize protests and raise awareness. india will never be a china, a country where the population is large and ruling elite directs the nation's economic and political development. in china the great question is whether the new president is a reformer who will need to order change top down for that country.

in india the questions are different. are indians reformers? can millions of people mobilize and petition and call for change and persist in a way that makes reform inevitable? that's the only way change will come in a big open democracy like india. and when that change comes, it is likely to be more integrated into the fabric of the country and thus more durable. were india to succeed, it could have enduring lessons for the world. china is the rare case of an efficient pro-growth one-party state. a model that is unusual in history and difficult to emulate. india is a big, messy diverse democracy. if it can make the hard choices that ensure growth and progress, then many, many countries around the world can find their own paths to success. frankly, if india's

dysfunctional democracy can deliver, there may be lessons in there for washington d.c. go to cnn.com/fareed for more of my views on india including my essay from the new book "reimagining india." thanks for watching this "gps" special. we'll be back next sunday with our regular program. >> good morning. welcome to a soaking wet washington d.c. the media world changed in so many ways in 2013, for better and for worse. what can we forecast for the future of journalism, commentary, television, technology? we have 12 headlines to dissect about that and 60 minutes to do it. it's time for a special end of the year edition of "reliable sources." thanks for joining us. every channel you turn on today