India exerts less power says Lowy Institute

The Lowy Institute Asia Power Index recent report stated that India is 4th largest country yet exerts less power than other countries. The report also stated that despite having so much potential to contribute to the region, both Japan & India have lost ground. The report also stated that India will not be able to cover the gap even in 10 years. China has grown as the most important country in Asia after Russia, to which most of Asia looks to.  Even in Inequality,India stands out as a“poor and very unequal country, with an affluent elite”. The latest World Inequality Report 2022 stated that the top 10 per cent in India hold together fifty seven percent of the total national income while the bottom fifty percent’s share is just thirteen percent in 2021.

India is perceived to be so aligned with the USA that it just follows them in foreign policy since 1991. The only gap came during Vajpayee as Prime Minister. Vajpayee listened to the army chiefs vetoing Jaswant Singh’s proposal to send troops to Iraq. He did not want Indians to be enemy of Iraq. He also refused permission to supply arms to the Afghan Army. He boldly conducted Pokhran despite US pressure.  . India is trying to recover lost ground. India has rekindled its relations with Russia. Putin visited India recently. New Delhi  strongly conveyed to the world that its biltateral relationship with Moscow is “back on track”.  This is important to India due to its Washington Tilt since Russia,Pakistan,China have friendly relations with each other  Russian foreign policy has prioritized strategic cooperation with China and India. Post-Independence, India was a strong country in 1947. It even offered China its security council seat. It was the big brother for the nations liberated from colonial rule. It led the Non aligned movement to keep away from the Cold War. It carried weight in the United Nations. India needs to recover that space in the near future. 

A single rupee gave 11 US Dollars in 1913. Today, 1 USD is 75 rs. Why did the governments allow the rupee to fall so much depending on too many exports? Export based strategies harmed the purchasing power of Indian companies making technology more expensive for them to acquire. By investing a lesser amount due to currency difference, Western companies easily grabbed shares in Indian companies. How does a Nation benefit from exports alone missed the planners.  Collapsing the currency to allow experts would obviously get cheers from exporters but it makes the Nation weaker by increasing our purchasing cost. Importers from India get goods at cheaper rates but when they sell to India, they can sell at higher rates. 

India was a strong trading country because it traded both ways. Focusing on exports alone, allowing currency to collapse made the rupee weaker. Even in 1925 post first world war, India rupee was stronger giving 10 USD for 1 Rupee.  In 1947, one rupee could still get 25 cents. Allowing it to trade per market value in 1993 caused a free fall of the rupee since till the Nehru era, we had a fixed rate currency regime. Making the currency cheaper obviously gets the flow of foreign funds into markets but these funds rush away in times of crisis. The RBI keeps a tight leash on the rupee gaining strength to boost exports constantly. When Indian tourists go out, they have to shell out more money since the rupee is weaker which is the reverse for western tourists into India. Only a strong Rupee will make India a superpower. 

The 6th largest economy in the world needs to have strong purchasing power and a strong distinct identity. In 75 years, India has failed in creating a distinct Identity for itself since identity derives from acceptance of its heritage. Post Independence, a new nation would focus on developing its identity, its culture and correct its falsified History. India did neither and refused to connect with its ancient heritage by disguising this refusal in the name of Secularism. India is the birthplace of Hinduism yet it refuses to assert its cultural identity denying not just Hinduism but the entire wealth of knowledge that has derived from Sanatan Dharma. This includes the ancient architecture,temples, Ayurveda & Yoga. Instead of uniting as a Single Nation, Indian politicians have survived by keeping the varied distinctions of caste, religion alive creating vote banks through divisive politics. This divisiveness does not give the nation a strong cultural identity which gives a nation soft power. The North tries to impose Hindi as a National Identity which obviously is not acceptable to the South since Hindi is just another language. Corruption in all branches of democracy has made India’s rise as a Global Power seem a distant dream. 

A Superpower also has to have a clean government. In the USA, UK, corruption is less in the lower levels but in India, corruption is too high at all levels. Politicians are the biggest defaulters of bank npas yet they are written off instead of being protected. Indians are tired with power hungry politicians who just change parties but carry the same culture. No Party has been able to provide a clean government till date. In international parlance,

Indian companies do not control major stakes in foreign industries but foreigners control major stakes in many indian industries. India is not militarily as well nor a mighty power which is the world’s envy. It is mostly Asian and African countries who come to India’s institutions to study. Indian Academia has not been able to attract western students as much as their institutions have attracted Indian Citizens.Of course, if Indian Rupee was stronger, noone would be leaving India for foreign shores. Our obsession with the west remains perennial. The RBI has put 451 tonnes of India’s Gold Reserves in the Bank of England. England refused to give loan to India during its Balance of Payments Crisis unless Gold was airlifted to England yet RBI didn’t bring back the gold that was airlifted from India and still kept adding more Gold to BOE Vaults. Why the Central Bank cannot store gold in Nagpur Vault is known perhaps only to them. 

In August 2013, the then chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi lambasted the UPA government for not arresting the rupee’s fall and said that “If the rupee keeps falling like this, other countries will start taking advantage of India”. Since then, the rupee has fallen to 75 rs. Countries like Pakistan seem to be asserting their will more openly than India. They also get away without attracting any Human Rights violations but Indian officials remain apologetic about anything that happens in India. No western media could indict China for Ulghur Muslims carnage yet a weak Indian govt gives too much credence to international opinion and refuses to stand by its own beliefs.