 |
|
|
|
India As
I Remember
By Waris Shere
Aug. 15, 2008 |
 |
|
With a
billion people, the Republic of India with a
population of nearly four times that of the
United States is the world's largest democracy.
After gaining Independence in 1947, India chose
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU as its first prime minister. He
had been an important voice in the Indian fight
for India's Independence and was a natural
choice for the high office. In just over six
decades, India has gone from being a British
colony to being a functioning, Independent
democracy. India, being a developing country,
has had to face several economic and political
challenges. One of the most important problems
is the population explosion. India’s population
has tripled since Independence. Nearly one-sixth
of all of the people of the earth live in India.
The population in India continues to increase at
an alarming rate. Overpopulation, poverty, and
internal strife threaten Indian stability from
time to time. Despite these concerns though, the
world's largest democracy has survived all these
years without a government collapse or military
takeover.
The History of the World's Largest Democracy,
writes Ramachandra Guha an eminent historian,
that one of his goals is to solve "the puzzle
that has for so long confronted scholar and
citizen, foreigner as well as native—namely, why
is there an India at all?". India's colorful
history spans millenniums, but arguably its most
vivid era began in 1947, when the newly
independent nation embarked on the unprecedented
experiment of democracy. Its survival as a
unified country, and as a democracy, against
immense odds—crushing poverty, is one of the
great stories of our time. It is also one of the
least understood. Why has democracy taken root
in India, when it has failed to survive in so
many other countries in the Middle East and
Africa—not to mention in Pakistan, which was
part of India until 1947? The exact answer may
defy analysis, but Guha's thought provoking book
provides understanding and clues on how a
democracy is built and sustained—making it
mandatory reading for public-policy planners
throughout the world. India undoubtedly has made
stupendous economic progress and established
itself as an important global player. The entire
credit for giving a complete U-turn to the
Indian economy from the socialistic economic
models of the Nehru-Gandhi leadership and
putting India on the path of economic liberalism
.India has at various times been described as a
rising giant, a superpower.
In its seventh decade after independence, India
today stands at a crossroads in its relations
with the rest of the world, writes Harsh V. Pant
of the Defence Studies Department, King’s
College London, in his brilliant book titled
"Foreign and Security Policy: India Negotiates
Its Rise in the International System". " Being
one of the most powerful economies in the world
today gives India clout on the global stage
matched only by a few other states. Coupled with
highly professional armed forces well-ensconced
in a liberal democratic polity, India is
emerging as an entity that can decisively shift
the global balance of power. As a consequence,
the lens through which India has traditionally
viewed the rest of the world is increasingly
unable to do justice to India's growing stature
in the international system. Flush from its
recent economic success and on its way to emerge
as a major global player, India today is
struggling to define itself, to comprehend not
only its power capabilities but also the
possibilities and limits of that power."
Demands are being made on India by the
international community, expecting it to play a
global role in consonance with its rising
stature, writes Harsh Pant. India is now being
invited to the G-8 summits, is being called on
to shoulder global responsibilities from nuclear
proliferation to global warming to Iraq, and is
being viewed as much more than a mere "South
Asian" power.
According to Pant, International politics is an
arena where outcomes are largely determined by
the behavior of major powers. It is the actions
and decisions of great powers that, more than
anything else, determine the trajectory of
international politics. And being a minor power
without any real leverage in the international
system, India could do little of import except
criticize the major powers for their "hegemonistic"
attitudes. Today, as India itself has moved to
the center of global politics with an accretion
in its economic and military capabilities, it is
being asked to become a stakeholder in a system
that it has long viewed with suspicion. India is
a rising power in an international system that
is in flux, and it will have to make certain
choices that probably will define the contours
of Indian foreign policy for years to come. The
stakes are too high for India as well as the
international community. India's profile and
stature has risen in the international system.
What Walter Lipmann wrote for US foreign policy
in 1943 applies equally to the Indian landscape
of today. He had warned that the divisive
partisanship that prevents the finding of a
settled and generally accepted foreign policy is
a grave threat to the nation. "For when a people
is divided within itself about the conduct of
its foreign relations, it is unable to agree on
the determination of its true interest. It is
unable to prepare adequately for war or to
safeguard successfully its peace."
About the Author: WARIS SHERE is an
Educator and Author of Eight Books including his
latest publication "THE STRUGGLE FOR PEACE".
Shere is a former resident of Patna , presently
living with his family in Canada.
|
Comments: |
|
No
comment so far. |
|
Discussion on this topic is now
closed. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
