As rescue ops in Nepal wind down, a 'Great Game' begins

Nepal needs to rebuild; And India needs to pump in more infrastructure funding than China

After nine days searching for signs of life trapped underneath rubble across the cities and villages of quake-hit Nepal, the government there finally called off the search and rescue mission earlier this week. More than 4,000 workers from 34 nations, including India’s National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were told to return home even as the Himalayan nation started the process of rehabilitating its citizens and rebuilding its infrastructure.

Since Nepal is wedged between India and China, it is but obvious that the two emerging giants will play a major part in rebuilding one of Asia’s poorest countries. It will inevitably end up being a race to pump in maximum infrastructure funding and other resources, and it is a race which Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government needs to win, even if for purely inward-looking reasons.

 

India and China have been increasing their regional dominance in the South Asian and the Indian Ocean region for more than a decade now. And because of its much bigger financial resources, China has been taking the lead on that front. Simply put, it has been outspending India in Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan, winning defence and infrastructure contracts.

By January 2014, China had overtaken India as the largest foreign investor in Nepal. Its economic and cultural influence in Nepal is also out there for everyone to witness. You just needed to travel around Kathmandu in pre-quake Nepal to see that showrooms of Chinese automotive brands like Geely, Cherry, Great Wall, and Lifan outnumbered those of Indian brands like Tata Motors and Mahindra.

Immediately after taking office last year, Modi did his bit to reset the geopolitical setup of South Asia. The message given by the External Affairs Ministry was that India would be more visible in its immediate neighbourhood than before.  In December on the sidelines of SAARC Summit, India and Nepal signed agreements to the tune of $3 billion. While in itself a huge commitment which could change the economic landscape of Nepal, this amount needs to increase post the quake. India’s military and disaster relief forces gained a lot of goodwill in the past two weeks in Nepal, in spite of the near international incident which our television media brethren caused there. We know that they know that we are their closest regional allies. That needs to continue.

The Indian government needs to commit its state-owned companies as well as privately owned infrastructure companies to rebuild roads, power lines, schools, commercial buildings, hospitals, homes and other projects. It needs to take back the initiative and it needs to stay on top in rehabilitating the amazingly resilient people of Nepal. It may be frustrating, since the Nepalese Government has shown to be underequipped in all aspects. That means that there probably will be more red-tape and bureaucratic hurdles in Kathmandu than there are in New Delhi. Still, we need to be at it.

We need to be at it because the so called 'String of Pearls' isn't some daft hare-brained idea dreamed up by a bored spy-master, it actually exists. And so far China has deftly drawn up that string. It is time India seizes back the initiative.