The other day while flipping through TV channels, i came across the World Economic Forum India Economic Summit Debate , a 3 day event which recently happened in New Delhi. The focus of that session was whether India was hungry for super power status . Due to my interest in International Affairs and especially India's relationship with Global world, I decided to stop flipping the channels and started watching the debate.
The panel , quite distinguished ,had Rahul Bajaj, Chairman of Bajaj Motors, Dr. Anil Gupta, Prof Strategy , Insead, Singapore, Shoma Chaudhary, Managing Editor of Tehleka ( remember Tarun Tejpal? ) , Sudha Pillai of Planning Commission and Shekhar Gupta of India Express along woth Nik Gowing of BBC World News UK.
Having heard some of the points and comments made by them , i could not help but thought about the comparison between the BRIC nations and how their Geopolitical position coupled with other factors will place them on the superpower list .
Thus i decided to write this piece to put across these nations and mention out some of the factors which could help me move in achieving the all important OECD Developed Country Tag and also in process gain more global and political clout in world affairs.
Superpower in my words defines a nation state which not only safeguards its national interests but also works towards the greater good of the region, union or the global interests . Not only they possess superior military and diplomatic clout, they also act as torchbearers for global economy and function as policeman to nation states againsts rogue organisations and combat global conflicts . Ok I am not Political science student yet , so i my definition may not be completely correct.
Also Superpower is too generic term to describe any country . There is political, economic, social, developmental ramnifications to entire debate . So to label a country superpower without considering all factors is all too generic .
Anyways i decided to do the following exercise wherein i will try to compare the nations based on factors like education , geopolitics of its region, development, economic clout , political clout on global affairs, domestic environment etc .
So I thought about India first and here were the some of the initial thoughts which i had
INDIA: As a permanent member of security council ?
My first reaction? Nah ? Not possible atleast in near future?
why ?
1. Geopolitics of the South Asia.
One of the biggests problems India have which will impede its ambition for global powerhouse of 21st Century is its geography .
Yes, India's Geopolitical problems will probably supersede and will decide the way how INdia will implement and even change the way its foreign policy is conducted with its neighbours, .
Come to think of it, India is the only major country in the world which is situated in such a neighbourhood where each of it considers India as threat . To put it other way, one of the ways which a nation progresses in achieving global clout is by maintaining good relations with its neighbouring country , be it militarily, diplomatically, trade and development wise, economic wise and even on cultural exchange wise ( Think Germany-Austria economic relations, UK-Ireland, China-South Korea Trade, US-Canada etc ) . Notice that some of them have hatred, rivalry, past history of bloodshed but on today's front they try to use it their advantage the cultural, historical relationship in a positive one. India unfortunately is not so lucky .
India boasts of Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China, Bangladesh , Nepal as its neighbours , Barring Nepal , none of them are allys. Worse we have had wars/conflicts/tensions with each one of them in last 63 years . Although India and China are having weak political relationship ( Arunachal Pradesh, Dalai Lama and Tibet still are the thorns between the nations), Economically , this could be a partnership which India should not afford to lose, China is India's second biggest trading partner after UAE and the Trade between the nations is setting the trend of whats to come in future when the manufactuing hub of china meets services hub of India. Thus its imperative for India to improve its economic relationship with its Asian Neighbour and this could also be decisive step in India's pursuit of UNSC seat if China and India remain on good terms on trade wise. Yes, China will still object to India's claim due to power shift in South Asian Politics but if trade develops to something better in future between nations, China might still end up not "rejecting" .
On other fronts, relationship with Pakistan will be something which will define the way South Asia will move in this century, with Af-Pak / US/ NATO all involved, India might be actually be relieved its not spending its time in Af-pak politics although India is doing lot of development activities along with UN which stakes it claim with any pie which the region offers . Definitely , This relationship and how US , China and even Russia will evolve something with Pakistan and Taliban will determine India's power in the region. It could well be the litmus test for India to see if it can try to rise and maintain its status as Regional Power and as well as Soft Power.
Thus, it remains critical how India's Foreign Policy with Pakistan evolves as time goes which will determine how the region will shape . With China working to increasing its friendship with its karakoram neighbour and taken the relationship to the next level ( the development of gwadar port ,and linking gwadar with urumqi as the long haul infrastructure link between the isolated western China and arabian sea) , It will be interesting how india handles both its neighbours .
2. Economy vs Governance
India's economy is the shining bright beacon in this period of financial and economical doom and gloom. Post liberalisation in 1991, India has managed to achieve astounding success on growth . Maintaining a healthy 6-8% growth during 2007-2010 crisis indicated the stability and optimism the nation has when compared to some other nations.
Yes, we all have seen the way cities like Gurgaon, Bangalore have taken the world by storm. Unfortunately the very growing economy brought out the loopholes of our system. Even though we seem to grow 8%-9% economic wise, our governance is not even matching up to half the growth set by economy and this will what probably impede India's bid for superpower. India seem to be the only country where Electricty lost is so huge that it actually can be accountable as % of GDP lost . We also seem to have infrastructure which is at best described as " basic" . Our urban infrastructure is turning out to be a nightmare and if not solved very soon , it will be become a limping leg to the healthy body .
We need atleast 20 metros rolled out in next 5 years , not to mention to upgradation of countless national highways into expressways/which could help trade and goods improve its efficiency. More importantly we need a sound governance system, which would enable the maintenance of its infrastructure. Unfortunately to be blunt , It would take us quite some decades to achieve this , the factors which would also depend on how the next point is tackled.
Thus while India’s growth rate is marching forward, its also carrying the infection of the governance, failure to cure would cripple the very health of the indicator which India is thriving in its current day.
Continued Next Post
Monday, November 22, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Random Observations about India's Capital
1. Delhi Metro is one of the best metros in the world, sadly the same cannot be commented about its commuters
2. Satellite City Gurgaon ranks 11th in life after work index in some ranking . i will say ranking methodology was pretty generous on the city
3. The air in the city is so powerful that it would enable your old allegeries unleash itself within minutes to such an extent that even air from central africa would be ashamed of it
4. " Gaadi ke bina kya jeena yaaron" that seems to be the motto of Gurgaon and Noida Municipal Authorities.
5. Guess Kalmadi and Co did one hell of a job with CWG . I see cleaner roads, cleaner games village post event and even cleaner chaos at T3
6. Price of a cinema ticket at Gurgaon multiplex was more expensive that Price of a ticket in South Western Europe :O.. kya baat hai.. Gurgaon is on fire..
7. I finally managed to see the residences of these politicians.. Absolutely down to earth homes considering their revenue through scarlet corruption as Nani Palkivala .Guess thats called humblness
8. One of the best things which Dilli boasts which even NYC , London or Tokyo will not have is the parantha wali galli.. and in general Dilli ka food.. Respect!!
9. Whats with Indianized Names of the Metros ? New Fad i suppose :)
Still on positive side, Delhi has lot of offer both for tourists or residents ,
As for me, my memories lie with understand the yellow line from Jahagirpuri to Huda City center and how the metro distracts your attention to kendriya sachivalaya when you are interested in going to Guru Dronacharya or Sikandarpur.
2. Satellite City Gurgaon ranks 11th in life after work index in some ranking . i will say ranking methodology was pretty generous on the city
3. The air in the city is so powerful that it would enable your old allegeries unleash itself within minutes to such an extent that even air from central africa would be ashamed of it
4. " Gaadi ke bina kya jeena yaaron" that seems to be the motto of Gurgaon and Noida Municipal Authorities.
5. Guess Kalmadi and Co did one hell of a job with CWG . I see cleaner roads, cleaner games village post event and even cleaner chaos at T3
6. Price of a cinema ticket at Gurgaon multiplex was more expensive that Price of a ticket in South Western Europe :O.. kya baat hai.. Gurgaon is on fire..
7. I finally managed to see the residences of these politicians.. Absolutely down to earth homes considering their revenue through scarlet corruption as Nani Palkivala .Guess thats called humblness
8. One of the best things which Dilli boasts which even NYC , London or Tokyo will not have is the parantha wali galli.. and in general Dilli ka food.. Respect!!
9. Whats with Indianized Names of the Metros ? New Fad i suppose :)
Still on positive side, Delhi has lot of offer both for tourists or residents ,
As for me, my memories lie with understand the yellow line from Jahagirpuri to Huda City center and how the metro distracts your attention to kendriya sachivalaya when you are interested in going to Guru Dronacharya or Sikandarpur.
Hopefully i will start blogging again
I never really am a blogger , but i guess there comes a time where you feel the need to start writing something , else you lose the writing skills :)
After loong time i am back again , lots of travels happened between the time of this post and the previous post and i hope i can try to recount my travel experiences from now .
On the flip side, i started showing lot of interest and enthusiasm understanding the politics and international affairs landscape, living in Europe paved me way to understand the complexities of different countries and how they function and my travel experiences enabled to appreciate the great art of global affairs. My interest in Global Affairs include geopolitics of the world states, European states , India and its Globalization, Foreign policy of India and macroeconomics and its impact.
Hoping to have a continued momentum on this to make an suitable impact .
After loong time i am back again , lots of travels happened between the time of this post and the previous post and i hope i can try to recount my travel experiences from now .
On the flip side, i started showing lot of interest and enthusiasm understanding the politics and international affairs landscape, living in Europe paved me way to understand the complexities of different countries and how they function and my travel experiences enabled to appreciate the great art of global affairs. My interest in Global Affairs include geopolitics of the world states, European states , India and its Globalization, Foreign policy of India and macroeconomics and its impact.
Hoping to have a continued momentum on this to make an suitable impact .
Monday, September 7, 2009
Travelogue Ep 1 part 1 : 33 hrs of Western Europe
My first travel outside Iberian Peninsula started with a long and ardous journey from Madrid to Innsbruck . Mode of transportation for first 28 hrs of journey was bus . Yes , you heard it rite a normal coach bus spanning across 3 countries. before this trip , the longest time i ever spent on a bus was between Kodad , a tiny village near vijaywada and Hyderabad, a journey of 300kms which took about 5 hrs . so coming with that experience , 28hrs of travel covering 3 countries on an uncomfortable seat was a slighly overwhelming initially . Anyway , i booked my trip with first leg: Madrid-Zurich on a bus via Barcelona, Montpelier, Grenoble, Geneva , Bern, Lausanne and then a Eurocity(EC) Express train from Zurich to Innbruck.
Starting the journey at 9am from Madrid Estacion de sur , as i bid good bye to my brother who was waving from the platform , it could not help but remember that i am starting another journey on to unknown. Leaving the known lifestyle of Iberia, it was hard to imagine i need start again on cultural journey this time in the unknown lands of alps and central Europe, the diversity of Europe hit me hard as i thought this .
Anyway bus started rolling over the streets of madrid, soon leaving the city and venturing into rugged landscape of spain , the next stop of the journey was Zaragoza( also known as saragossa) . This was the time Saragossa was hosting Expo 2008 with water and sustainable development as its main theme. So naturally 3 hrs later as we reach near the city limits , we are welcomed with great theme decorations of city for Expo. Zaragossa transformed itself into a mini globe with people, companies , around the world congregrating for the ocassion . It did look special with Water Tower rising high among the zaragoza landscape . With loads of shows , thematic squares displaying water as main theme and a river aquarium which became the biggest freshwater aquarium , Zaragossa was on the world map . Interestingly 10 years ago , It was another iberian city which got a chance to showcase its might , Lisboa. Till date Lisboa cherishes parques de nacioes as a historical landmark in its glorious history , a fact which ascertains the fact expo 98 was regarded as one of the best expo in the history
After Zaragossa , the bus started rolling and after sometime we stopped for a lunch break in a nearby motel. Since i packed my food while i left , i did not much issues with food on that day .
After lunch , the bus started its way to catalunya with barcelona its final destination where we change buses for central europe.
Barcelona , the vibrant city on med sea, one of the most popular cities on Europe, a true backpacking paradise, a walk through la ramblas , placa de catalunya could not help but think how different barcelona is diff from madrid
Rivalry between these two cities are unparalled as it is one of few countries in Europe which doesnt fall in primate city category , for more information on primate city . pls google primate city or check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primate_city.
Rivalry among barcelona and madrid in some ways resemble the rivalry which Mumbai and Delhi present . ( barcelona as mumbai and madrid as delhi ) . you can help but compare as u traverse across these cities . But in personal opinion i found both cities enchanting but will pick barcelona ( med sea tilts the balance here :) )
My stay in barcelona was short as i had to head to Zurich soon . But having been to barcelona a month before , i was very much familiar with cityscape and so no issues boarding the next bus .
My next post will cover the second leg of the journey ( Spain to Alps)
Just a final thought , If you ever intend to travel Iberia, make it a point to give atleast 10 days of tarvel if you are covering spain and portugal in total as spain is big , bigger than u think ,
So final one liners as i leave iberia
1. Dont talk rude about Football ( Real Madrid or FC barca or real vs barca ) . you are going to face music :)
2. Spain and Portugal are known to be most relaxed among all European countries . If a party is scheduled for 9pm . dont expect ppl to pour before 10 . both countries follow same pattern . It is a culture shock even for someone who is not from this region ( read central europe esp Germany and Austria)
3. Greetings to women : this is also another major culture shock ppl outside Europe see , pls follow proper etiquette here . maybe its unknown first time , but you will learn it .
4. Portuguese is not spanish , I know many people know this and yet many people dont know this . They are differnt langauges. similar sounding , latin grammar as base , part of romance lanaguges but they are essentially two different languages
5. Spain business hours are slightly different from European style , so this works well for some and doesnt for many . ( Read spanish siesta , )
6. Spain and Portugal are both famous for bullfighting , but there is essential difference between them . In spain , after the fight, the bulls are killed whereas in portugal the bulls are left free ( I could not think anything but the essential theme which these two countries show to the world)
7. Portuguese doesnt follow European time . odd one out in continental europe. some ppl do forget this :)
8. Veggie guys are going to face some prob . Ham rules in Spain , Sea food in portugal . Outside madrid, barcelona , lisbon and porto , it is very diff to get veg food. ppl rely on their own cooked food or basic salad, frites. Indian food availability outside big cities is still a dream :)
9. Coffee in portugal is another great experience . It is amazing but you have it say it right . if yoiu say coffee , you are going to get a black coffee in small 30 ml cup ( expresso ) . also coffee is served after every meal inlcuding dinner , doesnt matter whether dinner was served at 11pm :)
10. Wines rule in this part of the world. so make sure u get the best of rioja, porto wines.
11. Travel is still unfortunately a biggest handicap among cities in both countries ( more so in Spain ) , start difference from france ( similar country in area) .
12 . Buses are best ways to travel . unless ur are keen to try to the new AVE ,
13. from Travel perspective the most known path ppl take
Madrid-Toledo-Segovia -Lisbon -Sintra-Cascais back madrid . Expect to add Algarve or Porto if you have extra days in Portugal . Alternatively The spanish triangle of Cordoba-Granada-Seville can be combined with Algarve .
Off Beaten track for both countries is North . The douro valley , braga and viana de castelo are excellent trips , similarly a trip to guggenheim , asturias is a great experience
More travel tips, details, information use rick steves guide or lonely planet .
Thats all here .
here are some of the pics
Plaza Mayor, one of the largest squares in Europe
Puerta de Alacala
Placa de communicaiones
Prado Museum
Gran Via ,
The Royal Palace, Madrid
Nou Camp , Barcelona
Sagrada Familia
view from hostel , la ramblas
Next post Travelogue part 2 ep 2 : central european sojourn
Barcelona , the vibrant city on med sea, one of the most popular cities on Europe, a true backpacking paradise, a walk through la ramblas , placa de catalunya could not help but think how different barcelona is diff from madrid
Rivalry between these two cities are unparalled as it is one of few countries in Europe which doesnt fall in primate city category , for more information on primate city . pls google primate city or check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primate_city.
Rivalry among barcelona and madrid in some ways resemble the rivalry which Mumbai and Delhi present . ( barcelona as mumbai and madrid as delhi ) . you can help but compare as u traverse across these cities . But in personal opinion i found both cities enchanting but will pick barcelona ( med sea tilts the balance here :) )
My stay in barcelona was short as i had to head to Zurich soon . But having been to barcelona a month before , i was very much familiar with cityscape and so no issues boarding the next bus .
My next post will cover the second leg of the journey ( Spain to Alps)
Just a final thought , If you ever intend to travel Iberia, make it a point to give atleast 10 days of tarvel if you are covering spain and portugal in total as spain is big , bigger than u think ,
So final one liners as i leave iberia
1. Dont talk rude about Football ( Real Madrid or FC barca or real vs barca ) . you are going to face music :)
2. Spain and Portugal are known to be most relaxed among all European countries . If a party is scheduled for 9pm . dont expect ppl to pour before 10 . both countries follow same pattern . It is a culture shock even for someone who is not from this region ( read central europe esp Germany and Austria)
3. Greetings to women : this is also another major culture shock ppl outside Europe see , pls follow proper etiquette here . maybe its unknown first time , but you will learn it .
4. Portuguese is not spanish , I know many people know this and yet many people dont know this . They are differnt langauges. similar sounding , latin grammar as base , part of romance lanaguges but they are essentially two different languages
5. Spain business hours are slightly different from European style , so this works well for some and doesnt for many . ( Read spanish siesta , )
6. Spain and Portugal are both famous for bullfighting , but there is essential difference between them . In spain , after the fight, the bulls are killed whereas in portugal the bulls are left free ( I could not think anything but the essential theme which these two countries show to the world)
7. Portuguese doesnt follow European time . odd one out in continental europe. some ppl do forget this :)
8. Veggie guys are going to face some prob . Ham rules in Spain , Sea food in portugal . Outside madrid, barcelona , lisbon and porto , it is very diff to get veg food. ppl rely on their own cooked food or basic salad, frites. Indian food availability outside big cities is still a dream :)
9. Coffee in portugal is another great experience . It is amazing but you have it say it right . if yoiu say coffee , you are going to get a black coffee in small 30 ml cup ( expresso ) . also coffee is served after every meal inlcuding dinner , doesnt matter whether dinner was served at 11pm :)
10. Wines rule in this part of the world. so make sure u get the best of rioja, porto wines.
11. Travel is still unfortunately a biggest handicap among cities in both countries ( more so in Spain ) , start difference from france ( similar country in area) .
12 . Buses are best ways to travel . unless ur are keen to try to the new AVE ,
13. from Travel perspective the most known path ppl take
Madrid-Toledo-Segovia -Lisbon -Sintra-Cascais back madrid . Expect to add Algarve or Porto if you have extra days in Portugal . Alternatively The spanish triangle of Cordoba-Granada-Seville can be combined with Algarve .
Off Beaten track for both countries is North . The douro valley , braga and viana de castelo are excellent trips , similarly a trip to guggenheim , asturias is a great experience
More travel tips, details, information use rick steves guide or lonely planet .
Thats all here .
here are some of the pics
Plaza Mayor, one of the largest squares in Europe
Puerta de Alacala
Placa de communicaiones
Prado Museum
Gran Via ,
The Royal Palace, Madrid
Nou Camp , Barcelona
Sagrada Familia
view from hostel , la ramblas
Next post Travelogue part 2 ep 2 : central european sojourn
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