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Sunday, January 26, 2003 |
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Special Issue
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Can
India be a superpower? Vision
for becoming a developed nation Not
a superpower but an emerging power India can be a
presence in future multipolar world It will remain a tale of unrealised potential Interview Interview India has to shed image of being a soft state “India can be a major power if it improves the standard |
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Make
the nation competitive It
is possible if there is political will India can
follow a different path |
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Only
a united India can become a world power PARTYSPEAK Human
resource is our greatest asset Growth,
justice & harmony must to be a superpower It
is lopsided to talk of superpower status |
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WORLD War II resulted in nuclear warfare, killing millions of people
but gave birth to the United Nations. The code of war ethics and human
rights in war was evolved, symbolising the elevation of human
civilisation standards and concern for fellow human beings, says A.P.J.
Abdul Kalam.
WHAT makes a nation a superpower? China, it is claimed, is on its way to
becoming one. Stephen Cohen describes India as an ‘emerging power’;
not as a superpower, not even as a great power, and, at best, an Asian
power. It is Cohen’s contention that India’s power is, as yet, in a
nascent stage, says 
THE
turbulent 1990s began with an unprecedented global change on the
geo-political scenario. One of the two superpowers just vanished without
much notice and the great divide between the two combative ideologies of
communism and western capitalism abruptly disappeared, ending the
dreaded Cold War era. The world is adjusting to the new world order in
which the USA alone fits the bill of being termed a superpower that is
in a position to exercise its economic strength and armed might anywhere
in the world.
IN terms of its
military capabilities, India is now, formally or informally, an
acknowledged nuclear power. Its missile programme is credible and
self-reliant, with Agni-III (3000-km range) coming up by the end of this
year. It has the world's third-largest armed force that is capable of
defending India's territorial integrity and internal subversion, writes S.D.
Muni.
INDIAN culture is what has
always kept Barjinder Sodhi, a Berlin-based NRI, attached to his roots.
He left India in 1984 to pursue higher studies there. He has proved
right the oft-quoted nostalgic statement made by NRIs that you can take
an Indian out of India but you cannot take India out of an Indian. He
was here as a representative of various associations, including the
Indian Cultural Centre, Berlin; Bharat Majlis; Sikh Association and
Jawan Bharti Centre Youth Association. Sodhi plans to start some venture
in India.
A.P.S. Chawla, Chairman of
the UK-based Nova group of companies, has been settled in London for the
last 38 years. He is now involved in a project related to cancer
patients in India. He recently donated Rs 25 lakh for a cancer hospital
in his home town, Amritsar. He has promised another Rs 25 lakh for the
project to be given soon. Also the President of the World Punjabi Organisation
at London, Chawla, who was here to attend the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas
spoke to Shveta Pathak about the expectations of the Non-resident
Indians from the Indian government and India as an investment
destination. 
DESPITE its mediocre
governments, India has steadily progressed over the years mainly due to
the initiative of it’s people. There is little doubt that superpower
status will be attained but India has to first tread the present
difficult path of turmoil. It is already doing so and fresh successes
are reported frequently, with the growing support of the Indian diaspora
abroad, says V. N. Sharma.
"NUCLEAR
weapons alone can neither make India a superpower nor get it respect or
status in the community of nations", says Ujjal
Dosanjh, a former
Premier of British Columbia (the first Indo-Canadian to hold the post).
"What can make India a real superpower is its socio-economic
development.
FIRST, let’s decide as a nation to ignore Pakistan and heed China.
Every Indian leader should scrawl ‘China’ in big letters in his
office to remind him every day who is our real competitor. While China
is currently ahead, our economy has performed well in the past two
decades, and if we accelerate our reforms, especially in agriculture and
education, we will gain ground, says Gurcharan
Das.
TERRITORY, demography, economic potentialities and potential
military capacities underpin India's prospects of becoming a great
power. There are, however, certain pre-requisites, a series of exercises
that will help in getting India’s act together. A deliberate and
conscious effort should be made by civil society and the political
classes in India to overcome the centrifugal impulses and trends, says J.
N. Dixit.
THE
last few years have seen the emergence of a class of proclamations by
leaders in politics and science that I find somewhat disturbing. These
proclamations wish, predict and disclaim that in a decade and a half our
country would become a "developed" country. Some of them
suggest that we are already on our way to becoming an IT power, a
biotech power, an agricultural power or a science and technology base of
the world.
THE nation's unity is always of supreme importance but it is more
vital now. Divisive politics at this critical moment may win a few
seats in the legislatures but it is inhibiting our role in the near
and distant neighbourhood and is taking us miles away from the dream
of greatness. Only a united, secular India can become great and may,
at some stage, emerge as a world power, says I.
K. Gujral
Arun Jaitley