Did you know that the Republic of India is considered one of the world’s emerging superpowers? Around 62 years ago, in the summers of the year 1848, India as a nation was born newly. It was still struggling for its survival then. It had two aspects which continuously pinched it. One was the communists, and the others were Hindu extremists. There were several more problems which it was facing as well. There were around 8 million refugees who had to be provided with homes, shelter, employment, resettlement and had to be given the country’s citizenship.
Five hundred princely states had to be integrated with the country one by one. This was a massive project as the princely states had to be taken from the Maharaja’s who used to think very highly of themselves and were egoistic. There must be only a few Indians of that era who are alive now who must have seen the kind of uncertainty or future hold it back then in the summers of your 1948.
A question then at everyone’s tongue used to be that will India be able to survive? Now, 62 years down the lane that dreadful question has been replaced by a more hopeful one that will India become a superpower and if yes then how?
Seeing India’s progress till today, will it become a superpower?
According to our history, statistics, and progress say then yes India will become a superpower. Looking back at our history we all can see that it was not expected out of India to evolve and survive as a democracy or even to hold together as an entire single country, but you see it has.
Evidence like these shows us the manifestation of successes in the country is passed against all the odds of history and have brought us admiration across the world. If calls are not being made that country should become a permanent member of the Security Council of the United Nations Organisation, I would say that these demands are legitimate and overdue. India’s record as a multicultural democracy has been very stable, and it rightfully claims for a place at the high table of global affairs.
Now, just in case you’re wondering what precisely a superpower is then a Superpower is a country with a dominant holding or position characterised by its ability to influence or exert or power project on a world over a scale. All this is done by many means: military, economic, cultural strength, technology, diplomacy, and power. One such example of a superpower is the United States of America. It is a powerful and influential country.
The term “superpower” was first used after World War II for the Soviet Union and the United States. As long as the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union went on, these two countries were generally termed as the world’s two superpowers that dominated world affairs. Towards the end of the Cold War in 1991 as the Soviet Union fragmented into many countries, only united states appeared to be the world’s only superpower.
So, as there is no concluded definition of what a superpower exactly is, the main character sticks that make the country a superpower can be broadly classified into geography, economic, population, military, resources, diplomacy and the nation’s identity. In this blog post, I will be discussing all these dimensions concerning India for it to become a superpower. Here is a list of the aspects with their brief explanations where the country needs to focus on achieving the goal.
The economic power of India
India Is the world’s seventh-largest economy by nominal GDP and the third-largest by purchasing power party (PPP). After the economic liberalisation in 1991, India has achieved 6 to 7% of average GDP growth annually. After the year 2014, only except year – 2017, India’s economy has been the world’s fastest-growing economy even surpassing China.
What is appreciable about the country‘s economy is that it has one of the fastest-growing service sectors in the whole world with an annual growth rate above 9% after the year 2001. This contributed to around 57% of the entire GDP of the fiscal year 2012 -13. As a result, the country has become one of the major exporters of BPO (business process outsourcing) services, IT services, and software services with $ 154 billion revenue in the fiscal year of 2017.
The IT sector of the country is significantly expanding a lot. This is the reason why some have already begun to describe our country as a superpower in technologies. It is considered to be the world‘s office and is leading in the services industry. The main reason behind this is the large pool of highly skilled people who can work on comparatively lower costs and the English speaking workforce. This is the fastest-growing part of the country’s economy.
The primary sector of the country’s economy is also growing at 9% per annum. It is the world’s second-largest producer of food after China. The food processing in the country accounts for USD 69.4 billion as gross income. India also has many good factors that help increase a country’s economy, so many economists rate long-term growth perspectives of the country’s economy as positive. Some such facets are investment rates, increasing integration into the global economy, young population and healthy savings.
Superpower in terms of geography
India Lies in a cultural region of the Indian Ocean. The ocean is in such a zone that it has unprecedented potential for growth in the scale of transoceanic commerce with many Europe and Asian countries. Secondly, Afro-Asian sea trade routes also pass through or close by to the Indian territorial waters. The next perfect thing about the country’s location is that it is in a region where there is a sunny tropical belt around, which significantly benefits the renewable energy trend.
It serves as an ideal combination for both – high solar installation and a significant consumer base density. In the coming future, it is expected that the world will exit the fossil fuel era and enter into a nuclear energy age. India would serve as the perfect location for needs like these. Hence, all these factors can help India in becoming a superpower in respect to its geography.
Superpower in terms of natural resources
Did You know that India has 25% of the whole world’s thorium resources? This will further help India enter the nuclear energy age and help it become a superpower. But let’s classify this category of natural resources into three and then ponder on it.
- Tourism: India has a very unique and fascinatingly diverse culture and history. This includes everything like art, music, social models, spiritualism etc. The country has a history of over 5millenniums. Hence the industry of tourism is booming a lot in the country, and it has also witnessed a tremendous amount of growth in the past. As per the reports of the year 2005, there were 3.9 million tourists who had travelled to the country. Each of them spent approximately $ 1470 per person, which is seen comparatively higher than that of France known to be the leading tourist destination.
- Energy: as earlier mentioned that in the future this world is expected to exit the fossil fuel age and enter the nuclear energy or the renewable energy age or it could even further penetrate the fusion power age. All of this will happen when technologies become more economically sustainable. India will serve As the best destination for it as it has a lot of resources and workforce for things like these.
- Metallic minerals: Metallic minerals are the one which has one or more than one metallic element in it. They occur very rare in nature and are naturally found in concentrations known as mineral deposits. Metallic minerals available in the country are chromite, copper, lead, tin, bauxite, silver, manganese, zinc ore, zinc, and gold.
As a population superpower
India Is the second-most populous country globally, which has nearly 1/5 of the whole world’s population. According to the world population prospects in the year 2017, the country’s population was 1,324,171,354. If we categorise this population, then 50% of the population is below the age of 25, and more than 65% of the population is below the age of 35. This shows the amount of youth our country has. It exhibits youthful brimming energy. This will provide our nation with a large workforce for the decades to come hence helping in its growth.
Superpower in military
The Indian Armed Forces are the country’s leading defence organisation, consisting of two branches: the paramilitary and military core. The military of the nation maintains the second-largest active-duty force in the whole world after China. In contrast, the Indian paramilitary forces are the second largest paramilitary force in the world. Combining these two, the country’s total Armed forces are 2,414,700 strong, making it the third-largest defence forces in the whole world.
The Army has done many crucial operations and has played essential roles in checking the world’s advances. Evidence to it is Bangladesh’s liberalisation in 1971, its role in World War II and many more. Talking about the Air Force, it is the fourth largest Air Force of the world. Our country recently inducted its second indigenously manufactured combat aircraft. It is also trying to develop the fifth-generation stealth aircraft.
Now coming on to Navy, the Indian Navy is the world‘s fifth-largest Navy. It is considered that it has Bluewater capabilities with sophisticated missile capable warships, aircraft carrier, advanced submarines, minesweepers, and the latest aircraft in its inventory and effective use of state of the art technology indigenously manufactured. It operates one aircraft carrier and is also planning to induct the INS Vikrant, followed by a larger INS Vishal.
Superpower in diplomacy
Do you know which country is the world’s largest the Democratic Republic? Yes, it is India that is the worlds largest democratic republic. The next largest democratic republic after it is the United States of America and India is three times bigger than it. India tries to maintain good foreign relation with the other countries of the world.
It has already developed relationships with the world powers like Japan, Russia, the United States, the European Union, The African Union, of the Arab world, Southeast Asia, South American nations and Israel. All this is being done to make a more favourable environment for economic growth. It has also boosted its image among the Western countries over the year, and in the year 2006, it even signed a civilian nuclear deal with America.
So, looking at the kind of progress our country has made and is making it can be said that India has travelled a long way from the summers of the year 1948 and it ought to become a superpower in the coming future.
ALSO Read- Women in India