India envisaged as a 'soft superpower'

The challenge is to ensure that the country actually reaps the democratic dividend

When Shoma Chaudhuri, editor of weekly newsmagazine Tehelka, bracketed India with sub-Saharan Africa in comparing how the poor live, the assembly gathered at the India Economic Summit session on ‘India: What Kind of Superpower will it be” listened in silence. But, when she made the comparison a second time, the editor-in-chief of the Indian Express, Shekhar Gupta got impatient. The discussion threatened to spin out of moderator Vikram Chandra’s hands as Gupta told Chaudhuri that she was insulting not just “the country and hundreds of thousands of brave people who live in India, but also sub-Saharan Africa”.

This and other such gems glittered in the pile as the panel discussed whether India wanted to be a superpower, deserved such an appellation, and if it did, what sort of superpower it should be. Civil society activist Joe Madiath said India, where hundreds of thousands of people went to bed hungry, was sending a man to the moon and, without missing a beat much to the delight of the audience, hoped that the country had the capacity to “get him back from the moon as well”. He felt that the India he wanted to see as a superpower should be “caring and with a soft centre”.

Planning Commission member Sudha Pillai said the elite of the 1980s used to react cynically if it was suggested to them that India could be a superpower, but that is what it was discussing today. She envisaged India as a ‘soft superpower’. Shekhar Gupta said the traditional definition of a superpower was one that had military might and added that he was not sure if that was the kind of superpower India wanted to be. He said Indians had a tendency towards self-congratulation, which must be avoided. “Uncle Obama comes here and tells us India should be a superpower and we feel very happy. But it is still a work in progress,” he said.

India’s relationship with China elicited a wide range of responses. One panelist described India’s emulation of China as “frightening”. Another argued that competition with China was healthy and necessary — and that competition did not mean imitation. There was agreement that India could not become a superpower without resolving its border disputes with neighbours, including China. China is likely to become the next superpower: it is building deep water ports, expanding its navy, and spreading its economic influence across Africa and Latin America.

But Anil Gupta, Chair and Professor of Strategy, INSEAD, Singapore, felt that while there was under-estimation of China, there was also over-estimation. However, he agreed that while the yuan was being talked about as a reserve currency, this was not case with the rupee. Some speakers felt that India was expanding its influence differently — in a corporate way, using brands, which will generate global power, but more slowly.

An NDTV Internet poll, the findings of which were announced, found that 66 per cent of respondents think corruption is the main factor holding back India’s progress. There was consensus on the panel that corruption is a major issue from top to bottom.

It started at the top, with leading media persons and politicians — but equally, corrupt low-level government officials preyed on the rural poor, which in turn fed terrorism. Weak governance and toothless regulators were to blame and the result was crony capitalism. That said, corruption was also very high in the USSR and it remains a massive problem in China today — did that make a country less powerful as a result?

The NDTV Internet poll also found that 46 per cent of respondents think India’s huge, young workforce will help India become a superpower, while 30 per cent think India’s large consumer market will help. Panelists cautiously agreed — but the great challenge was to ensure that the so-called democratic dividend did not become a time bomb of the failed aspirations of poorly educated people. It was argued that manufacturing was missing from the list — if India did not become the world’s factory, it should forget about becoming a superpower.