India’s Struggle for emerging Global Power

Dr. Shiv Kant Yadav
Political Science Department
DAV College, Bulandshahr (U.P.)

The recently concluded electoral exercise (GE 2014) in India is a materoshed event in the Indian history & the world. The largest such democratic exercise held in human history, showcased the entrenched strength of the democratic process in India. For the first time that one of the major parties annouced its prime ministrial candidate well ahead which set the tone for its electoral compaign on issues of development and governance and the large segment of youth population and the middle class as well mobilised in way never seen before. The near flowless conduct of electcoins is a signal demonstration of the power of democracy in India & i.e. clearly the demonstration of the strength of India as everging power. The result were phenominal a single party majority after 3 decades an outcome of the focus on important and pressing issues rather than the usual population. This itself was clear indication that the large young population will support the national leadership to take a proactive, firm and nationalist – approach to governing India.  Accordingly, one can expect a significant shift in India’s approach to international relations, in favour of unambigously articulated national interest, over the coming years. The swearing in of the new government was used as the forum to send such appropriate signals to th rest of the world. Inviting the heads of state of the SAARC countries was a masterstroke of strategy. India is fast emerging as a global power based on an economic resourgence that could propel it into the front ranks of global decision waker. In the sixty years since it became independent the transfer of power, both at the centre and in the states, has proceeded with clockwork precision. “India’s struggle for emergence as Global Power involves or goes through following phases :  The end of the post cold war period was marked by the transition of a unipotar world, where the US means the sole superpower in a multipolar scenerio in which the PRC & the nations of EU emerged as significant players. This opened up the balance of power to realignment as other major powers manocurred for significance in the global order. The war in Afghanistan & the invasion of Iraq in 2003 followed suit and the aftermath of 9/11 has resulted in post – poet cold war situation where the US is engaged in a war and is grapping with resultant economic recession.  Other rising powers such as India and Brazil are questioning the collective dominance of the US, EU & Japan in global markets. Of the emergence of Asian economic china is already considered major power & an emerging superpower with its permanent seat on the UNSC and membership of the WTO, Shanghai cooperation organisation (SCO), Asia Pacific economic council (APEC) and the East Asian Summit.  In the light of much debated “peaceful rise of China”, the riverly b/w the US and China will dictate the structure of great power relations in the 21st C . In Asia, the consequences of this great power struggle are affecting geo – political dynamies in a way that has so far been beneficial to the emergence of India as a regional power.  India is both a pontinental and maritime nation. Its location at the case of continental Asia end the tog of the Indian ocean gives it a Vantage point in relation to west, Central & Southeast Asia and the littoral states of the Indian ocean from East Africa to Indonesia. An energy deficient country, India is located close to some of the most important sourdes of oil and natural gas in the gulf and central Asia and adjacent to the Malacca Strait a vilot sea lane through which 60000 ships transit every year. However, the Indian subcontinent is also the 3nd most unstable area in the world, beast with two armed nuclear powers, dispputed border, separatist movements and radical extremism.The war situation in Afghanistan, transition to democracy in Pakistan & Nepal, further militarisation of the long running conflict in Srilanka and Bangladesh war 1971 followed by Post 9/11, undergone major shifts in their securily environments and patterns of instability. There are numerous challenges in countering internal terrorism and maintaining foreign relations  with neighbouring states that have taskboured or sponsored anti – Indian elements or are involved in disputes over land, heater or borders with india. Thus, the future of India’s role in the region will be impacted by the domestic situations of other states as much as it will by its own internal situation.
India is located at the centre of an are of fundamentalist activise, terrorism & political instability b/w North & East Africa & Southeast Asia that has witnessed US embassy bombings of Nairobi and Mombasa, incidents in Morocco, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia , Bali & Jakarta and the Bombay blasts of 1992.  India also faces on a daily basis, a proxy war, from across its borders using terrorism & local insurgencies, spilovers of internal conflicts, thereto to internal security from externist movements from within due to unaceaoutability of WMD proficerating to non – state actors and other extermist elements. Moreover, the India ocean Region from East Africa to Southeast Asia is involved in trafficking in drugs, arms & ammunition, human trafficking and sea lane piracy. None of these problems is unique to India but as a frontline state, this constant struggle for sustenance & progress intake its regional power standing all the more checkered with responsibility. * Solutions to these challenges are difficult to manage as institutional lethary and lack of centre – state coordination has weighed down the efficiency of the political and bureaucratic machinery in India. New Delhi has charted out policy for parts of India that are distants geographically & culturally from the Indian heartland which has led to widespread alienation of these states & their people giving rise to separatist movement & rebellion. * Economic challenges are present in endervic levels of poverty, wide economic & income disparities, regional imbalance, infrastructure constrains, inaccessiblity of indestriliation, developement of capital intensive industries other than labour intesive and backwardness of agricultural (Problem of land holding , outdated record of right , lack of technology) have hampered the growth of India’s largest sector. This growth has made India the 5th Largest consumer of energy in the world. It is clear that energy deficient India will remain a net importer with a possible supply disruption due to geo- political uncertainly & volatility in oil prices and the lack of liable energy alternatives.  If, indeed India is to realise its economic potential and by the signing of the Indo – US Nuclear Deal that opens up India’s entry into the club of nuclear haves and opens up the way for trade with other suppliers such as France and Russia. * Urban India is no less, with pockets of commenal tension & sctarian violence spread across the metropolitan centres of the country. Be it the Hizbul Mujahideen, the United Liberation front of Asam (ULFA) or the Noxatile movement, India’s tryst with terrorism is for from over. The revision of Indian military and law and order establishments to this effect are urgent requirements as was demonstrated by the terrorist attacks in Bombay on 26th Nov. 2008.
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