03-05-2014, 04:08 PM
Prospects of India becoming a Global Power
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INTRODUCTION
In a few weeks from now, we shall be celebrating our sixty-fifth Independence
Day, which for an ancient country such as ours may not seem long, but for
a forward-looking state the period is long enough to make an assessment of
its achievements and shortcomings. It is also apt that we take a careful stock
of where we stand today in the community of nations and what kind of future
we can plausibly expect as the twenty-first century unfolds.
As every school-going child in India knows, with the world’s seventh-
largest landmass, second-largest population, third-largest army and the
fourth-largest economy in PPP terms, our country already stands as a leader
among nations. But what strikes people across the globe most is that despite
its incredible diversity of race, religion, language, etc. and the immense
challenges posed by the poverty and illiteracy of a large segment of its
population, India has been a remarkable example of a country seeking to
resolve the multifarious and complex issues before it through an active and
participatory democratic process. Fifteen general elections and innumerable
state- and local-level elections later, our credentials as the world’s largest
democracy are universally recognized. I have often heard my foreign
interlocutors speaking in awe of India’s general elections being the biggest
organized human exercises in history.
In his address to our Parliament on 8 November 2010, the US President,
Barack Obama, paid India a great tribute: “It’s no coincidence that India is my
first stop on my visit to Asia, or that this has been my longest visit to another
country after becoming President. For in Asia and around the world, India is
not simply emerging, India has emerged.” Of course, as an honoured guest
of the Government of India, President Obama was being somewhat over-
generous with his compliments, but there is no reason to doubt the sincerity
of the admiration that India often excites in foreign observers. In fact, 2010
was a good year for India’s international standing. Besides Obama, the leaders
of all the four other permanent members of the UN Security Council – Prime
Minister David Cameron of UK, President Sarkozy of France, President
Medvedev of Russia and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China – visited India
between June and December, and signed numerous agreements including
contracts for billions of dollars of trade and investment. It would be churlish
to dismiss the visits as a mere oddity in the scheduling of the diplomatic
calendar, unlikely to be ever repeated. Each visit was carefully planned by the
two sides and brought important mutual benefits besides promoting better
understanding among the world’s key players.