“You
cannot be super poor and super power at the same time”
said a wise man to me personally. I do not want to start this note on a
negative connotation. However whenever we start discussing on the possibilities
of India as a global power which is on the rise, this is a saying that always
crosses my mind. India definitely has had a tremendous run in the last 68 years
of the independence from the imperialism of British and other European powers
in pockets of India.
However India has
always been a very complicated country by structure to be designed as a single
political entity under nation state system. It was never more than a cultural
union of various sub cultures and sub races with in the ethnicity of South
Asia. India after its establishment as a sovereign country had problems which
were numerous. It was from the creation of new nation states after 1947 both east
and west which displaced several millions on both sides of India and in India
itself as well. Notwithstanding the constant challenge of turning an agrarian
economy focused country towards industrialization for the upliftment of the
economy which was turned to nearly defunct state by the British in nearly 200 years
imperialism! However our downfall has been initiated from the times of Mughals
after Akbar as his successors lacked the vision. Well returning now back to the
centrifugal point of the topic which is India’s rise as a global power in the
contemporary times it cannot be discounted that we are moving ahead. I wanted
to focus on the historical perspective to justify the claims as it may be
deemed that India is rising but want to point also that as many western
scholars and many Indians put it that it’s rather the re-emergence of India
since times of Gupta Empire in 1000 A.D. India though officially accepted in
name as per the Greeks named it after Indus from the famous account of Megasthenes
“Indika” has been known as Bharat to the indigenous people and Hindustan as per
the foreign invaders. Bringing such a nation which is fragmented on the
religious, cultural and other socio-economic lines itself shows what a
magnanimous task it was. As like the founding father of USA, similarly in India
as well they had a vision which was tried to be constructed in the constitution
of India for being the base of progress. What determines the so called
properties of a global power, it is simply two factors. One is economic and the
other is military which are two sides of the coin which needs to be flipped for
being a global power. Now here comes the question of India that how far has it
developed its abilities in these two aspects. It may seem vey clichéd however
with the second biggest population; it has just sky as the limit. Yes
overpopulation is definitely a burden only when you cannot turn them into
productive force which China has down far better than us. However our labour
force is exported and our Macro factors have always given us bragging rights in
respective form of GDP and PPP. Now GDP does not count for micro scale which is
why i had mentioned the very first opening statement on my essay. Still being a
billion plus country we are just now on the verge of the rise which can soar
even further. That has seriously realistic chances of being turned into a
higher success story as we progress gradually and keep on piling our forex
reserves. I am not straying into micro factors as that is not the domain for
this essay on the topic. Power projection is being looked at economic and
military as mentioned earlier. So counting on the economic front, to being more
than just being Asia’s third largest economy after China and Japan, the vision
like Make in India should not just be a gimmick. It should be turned into
something meaningful which is more effective to create jobs and output both in
human resource and as well revenue. It is what can drive the economic growth as
has been happening steadily over period of time. India has grown tremendously
in the service sector with of course the Information Technology producing the
impetus. Producing some world class Indian companies in Information Technology
with the likes of TCS, Infosys and even Wipro providing tech support and
maintenance is commendable. However we still need to focus on creating path
breaking software’s and/or operating system which needs lots of funding for
research and development. It takes time but it is on the verge of happening in
near future. Just like Information Technology, Pharmaceuticals has been another
sector where Indian companies have also come in. In this regard there also has
been a complain that Indian companies have copied the patents but nevertheless
discounting that it has been an achievement to produce the expensive drugs from
the west for the suited needs of the economically growing nation like ours in
India. These are small but necessary steps to grow and build the steps for
economic footprint which has been happening since 1991 after India opened up to
world.
This can be definitely
taken to a next level by being the next manufacturing hub just like China
.Using our technical expertise and talented youth in the form of engineers and
scientists which can be sucked in to make high quality stuff with technology
transfer happening from first world countries. It is what can propel India to
grow and stamp the authority of being an economic giant in the world.
Now looking at the
context of manufacturing, India is a bright spot in the slump of global economy
standing on its demographic dividend. To run that in our favour as mentioned
above, steps have been taken which should result in FDI inflow rise as has been
happening steadily. Also balancing economic growth with social development
would be key as India sets its vision to be a dominant player of 21st Century.
Now let’s focus on the
other aspect which construes global power. That is military strength and power
projection of India’s aspiring global security role capabilities. India though
economically still developing has nevertheless tried to modernize its army
capabilities. It is needed and will be the framework for the time to come as
India now sets its vision to develop and manufacture India’s growing defense
needs in the form of nuclear submarines, missiles and tanks in India itself.
India being geographically exposed with Indian Ocean in the south and Bay of
Bengal and Arabian Sea in the east and west respectively has a key role to
play. Especially the stakes in the Indian Ocean rim with Asia-Pacific being the
centre stage makes it more imperative for the India’s power projection in the
form of hard power.
So India’s development of indigenously built ICBM along with cautious expansion of defense capabilities through heavy import of arms shows the world its aspirations. There will be always critics who will keep on saying that India being a developing country with huge poverty still at hand should focus on its developmental financing. Yes it definitely has a valid point and discounting the fact of political corruption or rather the system of administration, India also needs focused aggressive military strength capability build up as well. It is necessary but why? To justify the statement we have to understand the role that India aspires to play in the changing order of the world. Also remembering Indian neighbourhood which contains hostiles such as China & Pakistan is necessary. Therefore in these circumstances that India is faced with spending more on a well planned military build up which has been happening over a period of time. Terrorism has always been a thorn in the flesh of India not to mention a nation which once was more actively involved in sponsoring terrorism. However, India has now got a commendable three division army which needs to be backed up with up to the mark ammunition, proactive and reactive defense for a new India that is keen on getting on board the UNSC permanent seat. Maintaining the role of India of stabilizing South Asia and steadily moving ahead to be an Asian giant apart from default leadership it has played for third world countries with Non Alignment Movement & G-77 conclave is definitely a commendable job. So now the focus should be on looking to construct the vision of India for the 21st century in a gradual time based framework. It is what India has not done bad despite its structural implementation fallacies. From the planned mixed economy to caution straddling onwards for an aggressive liberalized economy, India has started believing in its potential to be a force in the world. In security related matters from being dependent on arms import and foreign help it has moved to conclude arms export and provide defense cover to other developing nations with India global ascendancy steadily rising.
