india- A rising global power.docx

Competition Success Review , Vol. LIII, No. 7 Jan 2017 Riddhima Bose

India: A Rising Global Power





"India is, the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition.Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only." - Mark Twain


In 1835, Lord Macaulay, the British historian and politician admitted before the British Parliament: "I have travelled across the length and breadth of India . Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values,people of such caliber… the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage….."
When Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the President of India took over as the President, he bestowed a "vision" upon the people of India , a "glimpse of where" India would stand in the year 2020. He envisioned that India would lead the world not only in the fields of science and technology but in all other fields also.
Albert Einstein once quoted ""We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made."
Swami Vivekananda, the great Indian philosopher and saint had declared more than a hundred years ago that India would rise to its full stature and glory and lead the world in all spheres—spiritual or material. That dream of the people of India appears to be achieve fulfillment whenever one casts a glance over the big strides.

The post-Cold War period, India is seen as a rising power for two important reasons.
First, its hard power capabilities, while lagging behind those of the major powers, are appreciably higher than those of the other regional powers such as Brazil, Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, Nigeria and Egypt.The Indian middle class of 300 million is much larger the population of Indonesia (287 million) and Brazil (168 million), the two largest regional powers. None of these regional powers hold aggregate raw military capabilities compared to India.
In the economic sphere, India has the largest economy, except that of Brazil, though in per capita dollar terms, all regional powers, with the exception of Nigeria and Pakistan, rank above India.Secondly, India is changing rapidly and is strengthening its position in almost all indicators of hard power capabilities, though the level of improvement varies from one area to another.
The early 1990s, faced with liquidity crisis, India opened up its market and integrated with the world economy. Since then, its average annual growth rate has been over 6 percent. And as its expanding market has become an attractive site for foreign investors and exporters, India has acquired a great degree of self confidence in emerging as a major economic player, at least in niche areas such as information technology, biotechnology and related area. India has already begun to see its large and expanding market as the foundation for encouraging regional economic cooperation in the subcontinent and beyond.
In the 1990s, in an effort to foster closer economic relationship within the South Asia region, India has replaced the concept of reciprocity in economic operation with its neighbours with 'more than reciprocity'. India's aspirations extended beyond the South Asia region, and it became an active promoter in 1997 of the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation. It also became a full dialogue partner of the ASEAN regional Forum.
While these moves are primarily economic in orientation, they are likely to have strategic
implications in the long run. In the military domain, India's power projection capabilities beyond the region have rapidly increased as a result the consistent support lent by different governments to the Integrated Missile Development Programme, which was launched in the early 1980s. This
programme has resulted in the development of a range of ballistic missiles, including the Agni -I missile with a range of 1500 km in the 1990s.
The programme had plans to develop longer range version of the Agni missile as well as an intercontinental ballistic missile. With these, India's military reach was set to increase to cover the Far East, West Asia, and Central Asia as well as Australia. India has already successfully produced a long range, cruise missiles in a co-production arrangement with Russia.
By far the most significant development that enhanced India's position in the global power structure is its decision to go nuclear in May 1998. India's defiance of major powers in its decision to conducted underground nuclear tests and emerge as a nuclear weapon state followed from its efforts to overcome the challenges in the strategic arena- the collapse of the Soviet Union and with it the special Indo-Soviet relationship, the intensified efforts of the major powers to strengthen the non-proliferation regime to retain their monopoly over nuclear weapons and foreclose India exercising the nuclear option, and the US negligence of the Chinese transfer of nuclear and missile equipment and technology to Pakistan.
The major powers, rightly perceived in the nuclear tests, along with India's declaration that it now stood as a nuclear weapon state, a challenger to their hegemony. The first reaction of the major powers was to condemn the nuclear tests. Several of them sought to isolate India politically and to punish it economically through sanctions, suspension of economic aid, and denial of loans from international financial institutions. Confident that its economy had the resilience to withstand economic pressures, India remained unrelenting. Soon differences surfaced among the major power as to how to deal with India. Russia and France left no doubt, by word and deed, of their different approach through opposition to sanctions and political ostracism.
Under these circumstances, the US initiated strategic dialogue with India. The result was a tacit and partial accommodation on the part of the US to India as a de facto nuclear weapon state, even as the US formally remained committed to its ultimate aim of nuclear non-proliferation. Other major powers, barring China, have initiated strategic dialogue with India.
China was most adversely affected by India's rise to a nuclear weapons power, as it could end China's unhindered hegemony over Asia. It was most critical of the Indian tests and irritated by the US dialogue with India, but it too has come round to establishing normal relations with India and even engaged in a security dialogue with it. Thus, within two years of the tests, there was a sea change in the treatment of India by major powers.
Hu Shih, former Ambassador of China to USA once rightly said "India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border."
The nuclear tests have increased India's political and diplomatic bargaining power with the other major powers, as evident in the strategic dialogue that it has begun to engage in with all the major powers. India is now also taken seriously, even if not universally, as a candidate for the major power status.
Having repositioned itself from being a middle power in the international system to become a Candidate for major power, India has been working towards achieving permanent membership for itself in the restructured Security Council of the United Nations.For quite some time now, there has been a demand to restructure the UN Security Council to reflect the changes in the global power structure. In this context, the acquisition of permanent membership in the Security Council will dramatically improve the Indian power position in the global power structure. Institutions have been a source of soft power capabilities. Established powers have often used institutions to legitimise their position. Rising powers such as China have also been increasingly using institutions in order of the power ambitions. India already exercises institutional power intermittently through its leadership in G-77, G-20 and the non-aligned group. Its contribution to the UN peacekeeping operations also provides India with some institutional influence.
In today's date India is performing exceedingly well in all fields, especially that of knowledge through information technology. India is now in race to be recognized as a world power in the next few years. In the field of space programme, India took a big jump on May 5, 2005 with the successful launch of the 44-metre tall four-stage Polar satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV –C6 from the Indian spaceport at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. This has place India on a stage where it can now receive launch orders from other countries.
The Indian IT industry is already leaving several countries behind. There are more than 600,000 persons working in the Indian IT industry responsible for creating a wealth to the tune of 16 billion dollars. India is going to take bigger strides and touch the 50 billion dollar mark in the export of software soon. The 'on-line' is becoming the in-line in every
Indian home and the day is not far when every Indian village panchayat will
be fully computerized. Indian immigrants in USA are the richest amongst the
immigrants. According to reliable estimates, there are some two lakh millionaires of Indian origin in USA alone. The size of the Indian entrepreneur market in the Silicon Valley alone comprises 200,000 people. It is only because of their hard work, perseverance and dedication to duty that the people of India are finding a place of pride in the fields of technology, health and corporate business all over the world. Everybody is proud of Indian firms like the Mittal Steel Corporation which now operates in 14 countries of Europe, Asia, Africa, and the USA.
Gone are the days when our leaders used to go to the advanced countries with a plea for aid and expertise. The roles appear to be reversed now. India is now in a position to help several countries with capital as well as expertise in several fields. The Delhi Metro and the Konkan Rail Project are being looked upon as the best project comparable to any such project anywhere in the world. Several countries are already trying to replicate the Delhi Metro model and are approaching India for the purpose. Projects like the Golden Quardrilateral and the linking of rivers in the country will certainly revolutionize in the infrastructure in the country
within the next ten years. Only a little while ago, Henry Kissinger, the former US Secretary of State eulogized India as a global power and backed India's candidature for permanent membership of the UN Security Council.
There is no doubt that the country has changed beyond recognition during the last 50 years. India and Indian products are now becoming synonymous with quality and durability all over the world. That is why the Indian export figures and jumping higher and higher every year.

A Rough Guide to India once quoted "It is impossible not to be astonished by India. Nowhere on Earth does humanity present itself in such a dizzying, creative burst of cultures and religions, races and tongues. Enriched by successive waves of migration and marauders from distant lands, every one of them left an indelible imprint which was absorbed into the Indian way of life. Every aspect of the country presents itself on a massive, exaggerated scale, worthy in comparison only to the superlative
mountains that overshadow it. It is this variety which provides a breathtaking ensemble for experiences that is uniquely Indian. Perhaps the only thing more difficult than to be indifferent to India would be to describe or understand India completely. There are perhaps very few nations in the world with the enormous variety that India has to offer. Modern day India represents the largest democracy in the world with a seamless picture of unity in diversity unparalleled anywhere else."

India is certainly on the march. It is going to be a different India in the year 2020. It is going to be an India of our dreams, an India that can hold its head high in the "comity of nations". Once again we dare to hope that India will occupy the supreme position of "Jagatguru" in the world.