Context:
This article is dealing with the dilemma of India’s role to tackle domestic issues & to become a global power and what priorities India needs to maintain and what is the need of the hour.
India’s Growth:
- The Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs in Economic Survey 2022-23 projected a baseline GDP growth of 6.5 percent in real terms in FY24.
- The projection is broadly comparable to the estimates provided by multilateral agencies such as the World Bank, the IMF, and the ADB and by the RBI, domestically.
Image Credits: PIB
Image Credits: PIB
A Comparison of India:
| Characteristics |
India in 1991 |
India in 2023 |
| Economy |
- A weak, poor, and deeply under-risk country with a foreign exchange reserve of $5.8 billion and a nominal GDP of $270.11 billion.
- For a population of 846 million, around 50% of whom were poor.
|
- India’s foreign exchange reserve has grown to around $600 billion.
- Although tens of millions of people in India still live in poverty.
- Ranked as the world’s fifth largest economy, India’s nominal GDP could soon touch $4 trillion.
|
| Threat |
- Fears of a nuclear war
- Prospects of an India-Pakistan clash
- Violence in Kashmir
|
- China has taken place, instead of Pakistan in terms of war front concerns.
- Now, India has one of the largest militaries in the world with over a hundred nuclear weapons.
|
| Effect of Superpowers |
- The collapse of India’s trusted partner, the Soviet Union and strained relations with the United States accelerated pressure on India.
|
- The U.S. is now one of India’s closest friends, and India now enjoys strong relationships with several powerful states around the world.
|
Role Playing by India:
- A Pole in World Politics: India is a bridge between the north and south and east and west.
- Strategic Position: India is playing its strategic diplomacy very well in the contemporary international system.
- Example- Ukraine Issue: India is trying to mediate between Ukraine and Russia to bring an end to the war, without taking anyone’s side.
Challenges Faced by India:
- Economical Challenge:
- Despite being the fifth largest economy in the world, its GDP per capita ($1,947) was low even Bangladesh ($2,227) in 2021.
- Infrastructural & Governance Challenge:
- In India ease of doing business may have improved, but starting a business without a bribe is still not easy.
- A few days of rain brings the national capital to its knees.
- Regional, caste, ethnic and religious divisions run deep.
- Poverty Tackle:
- One of the most serious concerns for India is to reduce poverty and improve the well-being of millions of Indians living under the poverty line.
- Decision Making:
- A weak domestic economy prevents politicians from allocating adequate resources for foreign policy objectives.
Conclusion:
- Ignoring or dismissing the global consequences of a rising India’s power is unwise, but doing so without being rooted in the realities of the country’s inherent limitations would be a strategic blunder.
- India’s ability to shape international politics must also be a reflection of its domestic priorities which should be tilting towards the well being of its people.
- India needs to maintain a balance between its domestic policies and to take steps in the global scenario to become a global power.
News Source: The Hindu
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July 24, 2023
