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India will never become a superpower

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by78 said:
India will never become a superpower

More populous than powerful. Anthony Devlin/PA

The end of the Cold War and the era of “unipolar” US dominance that followed has led many to wonder about the future of international power. Who will rival, or perhaps even replace, the US?

At least one obvious candidate has emerged. Although it would be premature to categorise China as a global superpower, it is quickly developing into the US’s most plausible challenger. But in discussions of globally important matters - Syria, financial crisis, the NSA fallout and so on - one name is curiously absent: India.

When the dust settles on a rearranged global system, might India also become a global superpower? My answer is no.

To understand why, we need to look at what it means for a state to have “power”. Some international relations scholars, known as neorealists, suggest that nations are able to enhance their power by building up a range of demographic, economic, and military capabilities. John Mearsheimer, a leading theorist in this school, has identified two types of power: military and latent.

If we borrow Mearsheimer’s framework, military power can therefore be measured using existing armed forces and supporting naval and air forces. In his view, dominance over land is essential because success is defined by the ability to conquer and control territory.

Over the past two decades, India has demonstrated its ability to carry out underground nuclear tests and its capability to deliver nuclear warheads using intermediate ballistic missiles. However, it has not yet utilised these newly acquired capabilities to project power effectively. Regionally, a large percentage of India’s armed forces are stationed along the country’s extensive border areas with Pakistan and China. This inefficient allocation of military resources has limited India’s power projection beyond its borders.

Domestic poverty

In addition, the focus on India’s modest nuclear capabilities has detracted attention from weaknesses in India’s conventional forces. For instance, India does not have a strong weapons manufacturing industry, so it imports an overwhelming amount of its sophisticated military hardware from abroad, mostly from Russia. Moreover, India’s existing conventional military equipment is in severe need of modernisation.

Given the massive challenge of domestic poverty and underdevelopment, India simply has not had the resources to enable the development of a modern military arsenal. As such, it has been unable to assert itself on the international stage. In international conflicts, India’s military has only been active in humanitarian assistance and ancillary non-combat roles.

Although other countries, notably Russia and China, have been able to act as veto players on the international stage, India’s presence is of little consequence. For instance, few people would know or care to know what India’s position is on, say, the conflict in Syria.

Clearly India is not at present a global power. The question that remains to be answered is whether India has the potential to become a one in the future. Once again, academic theory guides us to think about a country’s latent power, which is the state’s ability to translate assets of population and wealth into mobilisable power.

Viewed in this way, India is also unlikely to gain a foothold as a major global player. To be sure, it has demonstrated an impressive ability to galvanise the information technology and business process outsourcing industries. However, these growth sectors are the exception, rather than the norm. In a largely agricultural country, there are huge internal wealth and income disparities across India.

Given that India is a democratic state, the government has to be responsive to the demands of its citizens. As such, the existing pressure for the redistribution of wealth limits growth in military expenditure and consequently inhibits the ability of the state to turn India into a global power. It is not surprising to note that India’s military spending as a proportion of GDP has declined since the late 1990s.

Signs of stagnation

At the core of the argument that India will not become a global power is the fact that it faces an insurmountable demographic challenge. From my point of view, as a result of this, there is little expectation that India will grow exponentially wealthier over time.

What is this demographic challenge? Well, an analysis of global population trends shows that over time, most likely by 2025, India will become the world’s most populous nation. But much of this growth is taking place in two states: Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. These two states are India’s largest and third largest states (with a combined population of 302m), but also India’s two poorest states (with a per capita income ranging from US$347 to US$450 a year). In this light, vibrant economic growth is unlikely to be sustainable in India. We are already witnessing the first signs of stagnation in the Indian economy.

In order for India to be a global power in the 21st century, it would need to develop its military capabilities and diminish its dependence on natural resources. The country would also have to devote substantial fiscal resources towards military expenditure.

Given the burden of a rapidly growing poor and unskilled population, it is hard to fathom how the Indian state will be able to allocate scarce resources into making it a militarily and economically powerful nation.
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Cortana said:
Darinda modi is a Hindutva leader ..... Obama spanked him really hard when he said India should be secular .....

india need more spanking from USA
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Okay. Go now. Your wife is calling you to wash your shitty LUNGI.
 
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Menace2Society said:
They will collapse under the burden of too many people and too many poor people.

Even Pakistani population is controlled somewhat and same goes for every other country. India is a ticking time bomb.
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TFR of India is less than that of Pakistan.

There is more chance of collapsing of Britain than India because of ignorant Pakistanis like you.
 
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I think it is time we stop talking about being a super power and all..... becoming embarrassing....

I dont think anyone in the govt or in its agencies planning to become a super power......... We have huge issues to be resolved, and those issues are going to take few decades to resolve.......

How many of us thought we would be in this state in 1990's...... We were in a very bad shape, forget dreaming of being a superpower, those days common man was dreaming of standing in his feet, and govt's were trying to provide basic infra...... But things changed with MMS era (as FM)....... Because of those actions now atleast we can even think of it......

What we need to do as a nation is

1) Get rid of corruption
2) Get rid of Caste
3) Get rid of Religious hatred and bring more communal harmony (which is the toughest among the list)
4) Change in our political system
5) Changes in panchayatiraj...... If you ask me the highest amount of corruption happens in panchayat, and municipalities.....
6) Reforms in education system
List goes on....... Once we are thru with this, then let us think if we can become a super power.....


Till then......................
 
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Cortana said:
Yea Pakistan is in good condition .....With China on its back now ... india in lots of trouble .... india can never become power .. all they do is buy things from other countries

A super power never buy weapons they develop weapons themselves that is super power ...
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Cortana said:
Darinda modi is a Hindutva leader ..... Obama spanked him really hard when he said India should be secular .....

india need more spanking from USA
Click to expand...

Cortana said:
India is nothing in front of China ...... and dont cry when i say .. your army is involved in raping the women in india ....stop supporting darinda modi
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Cortana said:
Your space tech... is a fake one your media proved that ....and the other aspects well china is far far ahead from india

India is buying weapons from other countries .... a super power does that ?????
Never china is creating its own ..........You are far away from china
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China will Lead not doubt about that and India will improve too ,,, But
Do u every morning wake with this thing in mind to Hate more than previous day,Hows ur day routine,it all circled around Hate speeches , hate thoughts and hate feelings ?? just curious:what:,,peace brother:angel:
 
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chalHat said:
Do u every morning wake with this thing in mind to Hate more than previous day,Hows ur day routine,it all circled around Hate speeches , hate thoughts and hate feelings ?? just curious:what:,,peace brother:angel:
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Leave him be, his inferiority complex will strangle him everyday if he doesn't spout hate speech about India before going to bed.
Let him live in his masochistic cycle of self denial. Its good for all of us.
 
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RisingShiningSuperpower said:
India is already a knowledge superpower. Ancient Indians invented yoga, space travel, plastic surgery, and fusion energy.
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RisingShiningSuperpower said:
Due to Kangress and that Italian whore, India's progress has been delayed.
But Modi-ji will make sure that India will quickly catch up and surpass China to become a superpower by 2020!
Click to expand...


OK I see your point, no doubt at all, india superpower 2020 hell yeah!

:crazy:
 
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