Becoming the Worlds Superpower - India - Research Paper Example

A potential global superpower is a of both economic and political entity that is anticipated to becoming a superpower. The United States is the current global superpower. However, there are some countries that are considered to be potential superpowers such us Brazil, China, Japan and India. A superpower is considered to be the strongest country in the world in very many aspects such as politically, economically and in military ways. Many media publication and analysts from different countries including the U.S. intelligence have argued that India has the potential of surpassing China in economic growth in the near future and probably becoming the next global superpower (Jaffrelot & Cynthia Pg 99-100). This paper is focused in arguing the factors that could see India as a potential global superpower. India has been perceived to have the potential of becoming a global super power owning to the fact that it has exhibited a rapid economic growth especially in the industrial sector; which is considered to be the main inductor of the course to global superiority. Nevertheless, this has also been marked with contrary views as analysts look in the situation. As far as many of them support that India can in the near future surpass China and even become the next global Superpower, many of the others are opposed to this observation. This paper will therefore look into both the issues and the ongoing discussion as regards to the potentiality and limits of India becoming the next global Superpower. This paper will also look at the challenges that India is facing that would hinder her from achieving its 21st century goal of becoming the superpower (Mahtaney Pg 104). Introduction Asian countries have shown great potential of becoming superpowers of the 21st century with India proving to be potentially a strong contender in this race. The question that remains however is that will this really happen or is it just a mere speculation that is beyond the reality scopes. For this to happen, it depends deeply in the wisdom, vision and purpose of the Indian leadership. So far, the Indian citizenry have high hopes and are having crossed fingers waiting for this to come to pass. This course can totally fail if India leadership becomes preoccupied with greed for power gaining and simply leading to rhetoric vote fetching at the cost of furthering the course of India’s march to success and prosperity and gaining the status of a global economic superpower. The economic giants of today were worse of at the turn of the 20th century when compared to where India is today (Bhandare Pg 66). But India is not subjected to the same road that the economics giants of today travelled since there are no similar technological, political, engineering and scientific challenges that existed then. Therefore, with the improvements of these aspects in the contemporary world of today, India is likely to move faster on its road to economic development as compared to the economic superpowers of today. It won’t have to take India six centuries or so in order to attain its state of superpower unless it’s stupid enough to abandon the current industrial status and go back to the past of reinventing the ancient wheels all over again. The United States intelligence has speculated that India would most probably become an economic giant and a superpower by the year 2030 if China slows down (Jaffrelot & Cynthia Pg 107). Why India Can be a Global Power India has a great human resource with nearly 1.1 billion people making it the second most populous country in the world after China. It has a vast are of land huge enough to cater for its population with a lot of natural resources that serves its vast population (Lak Pg 53). The Indian economy has had a steady growth of 6% over the last decade and a fabulous 8% economic growth over the last 3 years. India is therefore among the fastest growing economies in the world and currently, it boasts a fast emerging middle class and growing Gross Domestic Products, improving export rates and foreign investment and employment. The stock market of India has in the past years been roaring to complement this growth. India’s economy is therefore been thriving so well. Besides, it has also been experiencing large foreign exchange reserves and low external debts (Lak Pg 89). What make India’s growth less impressive is that it is entirely driven by just a fraction of its citizens with much of the population living in rural poverty. Almost all its foreign investment are allocated to it 6 most developed urban states with the income gap felt most between New Delhi and the rural India. There are some other areas in which the country excels despite the income inequality and illiteracy felt in the rural India. The wealthy nations such as the United States, Germany, Russia and France have in the past years visited India and have spotted this high economic growth. The have therefore seek economic ties with the nation with enormous potential (Bhandare Pg 76). Although it has not reached the economic level and potential of China; which is the fastest growing country in the whole world, India exhibits even a greater long term rapid growth potential. Leaders of both the Chinese and Indian economies have proposed a European Union model economic integration of a common market which would be the greatest and most powerful economic integration in the world, hosting about 40% of the world’s consumers or human race. India has an amazing intellectual property. It has a quarter of its economy divided into agriculture, another quarter into manufacturing sector and a full half of its economy into high-tech service sector. The high-tech sector makes a half of its gross national output. This has made India a nation of ‘knowledge Superpower. It will possibly skip the industrial development which is the intermediate stage which has preceded other nation directly to the Information Age (John Pg 167). Many of the western nations today are opening their scientific and information development labs and companies in India. This has redirected the business world looking at the direction of India (John Pg 158). Since India has grown economically, it has had a high priority to boost its military capabilities. They have even had nuclear weapons’ test at the desert near Pakistan which shocked many nations as it has not signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation treaty with the 187 member countries. India has gone on a full- fledged nuclear program and its Defense Ministry has put $2 billion to build from 300 to 400 weapons annually over the next five to seven years (Harrison Pg 27). The relationship between China and India is finally warming up following the 1962 brief war where China defeated India. The growth of the two Asian giants have similar patterns from similar challenges, high populations to ancient civilizations; and an economic major between the countries can be the greatest since India seeks to be a giant in software technology the same way China is in hardware (Swaminathan Pg 165). Limitations of India being a Global Power The corruption rate in India can hinder it from being an economic giant. Corruption has for a very long time been known for suppressing economic growth as it comes with poverty inductors. Above all, India has challenges with income inequality (Swaminathan pg 85). The gap between the rich and the poor is so enormous in India that the economy is in the hands of the few who live in the nation’s large cities. Majority of the Indians live in the rural areas where they are subjected to extreme poverty. Therefore, the economic growth is not well distributed and this affects the nation’s economic growth as it is unidirectional and not balanced. The corruption in India is the biggest hindrance to its economic growth. This is also coupled with black money. Hence, the greatest growth engines for India are the mitigation of corruption and proper governance (Israni Pg 77). The economic downturn that currently exists in the world is because of overdoing social welfare by developed countries and if they can never sustain with the extreme schemes of social welfare, there is no way for India to pull off this miracle given its current infancy stage. To keep on to its dreams of being the 21st century economic power, India should learn from the western horrid experiences and make possible changes not to fall into the same traps (Mahtaney Pg 157). Another aspect that would hinder India’s growth towards becoming the global superpower is the sensitive issue of being overpopulated. Previously, one could not say that India is overpopulated due to the land and mineral resources to the number of persons per square mile ratio which was 270. Today, this ratio is 750 per square mile and it is evident that India would soon become overpopulated. When the natural resources are extensively exploited, economic growth would be greatly hindered as they will have to export the resources and this would always create a deficit in the balance of trade; which would delay its economic growth (Israni Pg 34). Proper infrastructure is very crucial to an economic growth and has even been used to measure economic development (Moyili Pg 34). This is a concept that has been understood by economists and analysts as it is the core of human conveniences and is very essential for the development of trade and industry. However, India has had poor governance as far as proper maintenance of infrastructure is concerned. India is therefore having very poor infrastructure which can hinder its growth towards achieving its dream of becoming the global superpower (Israni Pg 67). India has very rich energy sources like solar, hydro-sources and wind but it has not maximized the utilization of these sources to give its citizens energy security. Energy security is the mother of all growth as it even powers the production sectors of the economy. If India has to attain the level of growth needed for its course, it has to give more attention to its energy production and security (Chaze Pg 108). Conclusion If India keenly observes its limitations and corrects or solve them; then take advantage of its potentiality, it could definitely become the world’s next superpower. It has to adopt strong governance and make strong trade ties with relevant countries. Working on corruption and the income inequality in the country would make its development far much easier and indeed, it could become the world’s next superpower. Works Cited Bhandare, Namita. India, the next global superpower?: Hindustan Time Leadership Summit. New Delhi: Lotus Collection, Roli Books, 2007. Print. Chaze, Aaron. India: an investor's guide to next economic superpower. Singapore: John Wiley & Sons (Asia) Pte., 2006. Print Harrison, Selig S.. Superpower rivalry in the Indian Ocean Indian and American perspectives. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. Print. John, Whiley. India as knowledge superpower: strategy for transformation, task force report.. New Delhi: Planning Commission, Govt. of India, 2001. Print. Israni, Kim. Destination: superpower India.. S.l.: Xlibris Corp, 2011. Print. Jaffrelot, Christophe, and Cynthia Schoch. Emerging states: the wellspring of a new world order. New York: Columbia University Press ;, 2009. Print. Lak, Daniel. India express: the future of the new superpower. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Print. Mahtaney, Piya. India, China and globalization: the emerging superpowers and the future of economic development. Basingstoke [England: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. Print Moyili, Em.. Musings on India: reflections on events from 1997 to 2001. Bangalore: Sapna Book House :, 2002. Print. Swaminathan, Jayashankar M.. Indian economic superpower fiction or future?. Singapore: World Scientific Pub., 2009. Print. Read More