For a dream of global power status

Pakistan has the nuclear bombs, but who on earth would call it a global power. This is what Dmitry Kosyrev, vice president of the Foreign Policy International Association, Russia had once famously asked. In the backdrop of Slumdog saga, one still vividly recall a nostalgic incident where one boy of around 12-year-old asked to buy his books at the busy road of Barakhamba road, New Delhi in a winter evening. The boy looked smart, spoke some broken English. Though he was a bit dirty, he had a wonderful dream – to become a pilot one day. Whether he becomes a pilot or not, the time would tell, but what one wonder is how many boys, how many girls are on the streets, whose parents are living in the so-called slums for years in the capital city of a dreaming super power country. Leave them alone living in the countryside, a 20-minute walk away from the power corridor of Parliament House, there are dozen of children living on the mercy of those ‘generous’ gentlemen crossing through the road. If one would believe, there are more than 6.5 crore people living in slum in the country, which is enough more than the entire population of Great Britain.
When the country sells slums, the world’s clapping with triumphant. When the seller earns one hundred million dollars, the dwellers are starving. And we are all happy, because we have manpower, we have resources, we have talents. And we are all proud of Slumdog Millionner success. The is the country called India, dreaming for a global power.
But Kosyrev has reasons to fear about it.
A world power, a global power, a super power – what is the exact meaning of these words, in the absence of any formal recognition of such status, save for the permanent membership of the UN Security council, which got itself frozen in the mid-20th century, he argued.
No doubt, though, that there is a certain common perception that some countries are powers (regional or global), while others are not. For that matter, he asked, what are the components of a global power status then. And this is the question that lies ahead upon us today, whether we want a world power, a global power or a super power or what power is India seeking for. Or should we choose an ‘alternative’ that being different from the rest?
The Soviet Union was a super power, according to him, because it was an alternative – to the West, to Capitalism. The Marxist idea proved to be very hollow, but so many countries are using the availability of choice – commercial as well political.
The global trade and financial system is unfair and will stay unfair as long as the seller wants the price to be high and buyer prefers it to be low. A possibility of finding another seller/buyer is the only lever you can use in this situation, he said.
Yes, ‘military factor’ is also important in the power status equation. But is it the end for power? No, In fact, a very special component of a global power status is the special image of the country, a message it conveys to the world. Admittedly it is the economy. The economic power is vital that is economic indispensability. And finally it’s the culture that shapes the national image more than anything else.
So the question is what image does India have today in the world; what culture shape India’s global status in the present context. Arguably, India too have the nuclear arsenal, then whey is it still being termed as a developing country or buying 126 fifth generation of fighter aircrafts can India achieve its global status? Japan doesn’t have a nuclear bomb, but why is it still being considered as one of the most advanced and developed countries. The answer still remains an acute for India. Because India is still not readied to change its image, it is not ready to shape its culture. Culture doesn’t mean unity in diversity of different people. The culture of tolerance, culture of oneness is still very far.
Do you believe that there are four Indian in Forbes 2008 list of ten riches people in the world and there are 800 million Indian, which is about 75 per cent still living under Rs 20 a day. One billion dollar is the amount Mukesh Ambani is spending on building a house. But there is a housing shortage of 24 million units in the country. Soft drink giant, PepsiCo plans to invest around 500 million dollars in India, which one of its top 5 markets, but fifty per cent of children in this market for Pepsi are malnourished, and 60 per cent women are anemia. Thirty-five per cent of the world’s poor live in India, which has 17 per cent of the world population, forty per cent illiterate, too live here. And India ranks 128 on the Human Development index, though we are 4th in the world in purchasing power parity.
So this is what India has to decide now where it is willing to sell its slums or buying fighter aircraft. It is upto us we have to decide, whether we want to be a global power, or what alternative have we. If we want then from the moment on we should start behaving like one.