Our leaders and commentators have been trying to proclaim India as the emerging super power in the world. But the question that goes begging that do we have the strategic thinking and more importantly the desire to become a global power. Today neither can we project ourselves as a Military Power and neither as an economic power. Rhetoric alone cannot give us the respect from the other nations, we need to have the substance and sadly the leaders have failed us and at a very basic level even we as citizens of India have let the nation down. India: Can India become a great power? | The Economist
This statement needs to be addressed by our leaders ( Political, Diplomats and Defence Forces) I am marking to the gentlemen for their comments on this @Ray, @Yusuf, @Bangalorean @thakur_ritesh, @Kunal Biswas @sayareakd @leathelforce @p2prada @Singh @Virendra @W.G.Ewald @civfanatic
I think the desire is there. Questions are on plan and implementation. Is India really working towards becoming a superpower ?
Another related article from the Economist India as a great power: Know your own strength | The Economist
The desire is there in the mind and in the dreams, but are we willing to get our hands dirty to make it happen -- this is the billion dollar question. The recent case of dithering over the approach in Afghanistan post US withdrawal is a case in point.
India does not have global aspirations, it never had. We are more or less happy with ourselves. India - Superpower is media's chewing gum. We already live in enough hostile neighborhood. No one wants to make it worse. Such shift will be good for western interests but not India. Exporting democracy is USA's job. International norms are changing & will change further to China's rise. West should accept it gracefully. We need aggressive BRIC. West can not regain its bargaining power in world at expense of making India more vulnerable. -- Oh please! Indian prime ministers have wasted enough time visiting & hosting Paki leaders. They have more experience on how Paki Govt acts more than anyone. Making Pak economically dependent is the only way forward. There was nothing wrong with NAM. Today also we have moved away from non-alignment quietly without making any noise. Indian relations with West are better than ever. We do not need to engage in any formalities to abandon NAM. Flourishing Indo-West relations while still maintaining independence in foreign policy is one of the best achievement of Indian establishment in last 2 decades. -- I don't know why but author seems to be of opinion that India should be on lap of West.
@nrj, sorry missed out on marking to your attention But do you really feel that we can project our power even in our own neighbourhood.
Like Virendra said, the desire is definitely there. Who would not want his nation to be a "superpower"? That said, a hard reality check would show us that we have severe issues to overcome before we can get there. I will avoid cliches like "our corrrrrrruput paaaaliticians are stopping us" - if I had to put my finger on the single biggest aspect that is a serious hindrance to our becoming a great power, it is our nation's collective obsession with NehruGandhi era socialistic, populist and mai-baap sarkar policies. These policies have eaten into the vitals of our nation and have sapped our country of its massive inherent potential. It might sound to many, that I am beating the same drum and fixating on economic aspects in unrelated issues. But the core issue that is the deep-seated reason for our issues is the very same NehruGandhi brand of bloodsucking populism/pseudosocialism. Chinese trolls on DFI often say that India cannot fight a war because a war cannot be fought by "importing an Army". While their intention might be to troll, there is an eternal truth in those words. Let us leave aside pathetic foes like Pakistan. A "superpower" entails being completely self-sufficient in the capability to project power - self sufficient technologically, and not in terms of manpower. Power projection requires state of the art technology and equipment which can be mass produced during wartime. Needless to say, our current policy of defence production is a joke. If we reform our ways today, it might yield fruit in 20 years or so. The more we delay, the more laughable the goal of "superpowerdom" will seem.
I think question is can we take tough decisions, like what happen with Marines case (sadly SC take decision). if we can prove yourself that we have arrived with our actions then others will take notice of this fact. Plus we have to do it smartly. we do want to be called superpower, new generations wants it but we have old guards in power and senior IAS lobby is old and cautious
Ask me, I will tell you its not a desire but necessity for all those who have similar ambition.. Why is the necessity ? coz everything is easier in this world who got bigger muscles & Smart Mind.. FACT ! It is that simple as that..
In recent times the only one occasion where we were able to project ourselves in positive light was the handling of the nuclear fallout by the ABV Govt. leading to series of meetings between Jaswant Singh- Strobe Talbot. These meetings/negotiations were conducted between two equals and India leveraged it's strengths to get the US to accept it's Nuclear Status. This was a coup for our leadership. But sadly such occasions are a rarity and not a norm.
Which world do you inhabit? which region are we a super power- India Gate/Gateway of India??? Get serious we have a country like Maldives cooking a snook at us and we cannot do anything. Bhutan is drifting to the Chinese, what is our response?
I have doubts on even the claim that we're a fully recognized & operational regional power. What happened to Chamel Singh in Pakistani prison? What happened after eyewitnesses in Pakistan exposed how he was killed by Jail officials? Did the GOI take any concrete actions? We've made a mess of Sri Lanka affairs. Nepal has been in doldrums for so long. Maldives slipped out of our range and there's no denying that. There's very slow progress on Bangladesh. Pakistan is hopeless as usual. I don't see how we're an established regional power. In my opinion we're a debatable/inconsistent regional power. About getting the hands dirty, we are the people who wipe the house ultra clean from inside and then come out to dump all the garbage on road, right in front. Soprry about the bad example but no, we're not in the mindset of getting the hands dirty on national agendas. Regards, Virendra
We are the most power full nation in south Asia when it comes to Economy, Military strength, Space Tech etc. Apart from military and nukes, Pak cant challenge us in other fields Our diplomats will work on that and did you forget the firm stance of GOI in Italian marines case and how Italy had to back off?
First of all what is South Asia. It is India and the rest are too puny to consider but the fact that our influence does not cover them despite this speaks volumes. Pakistan can get away with murder and we cannot do anything-- is this signs of a regional power? Maldives-- we do not have a clue and for the time being we have lost it. In the case of the Marines it was the SC and not GOI who got the Italians back.
I must say that we should have send at least 10,000 or para military forces (army on deputation with para military) in Afghanistan, provided we are able to take casualties.
