An opinion poll published this week suggests that 65 percent of Indians want their country to be an economic superpower and 60 percent for it to be a political and military one as well. India is already an economic superpower — and should be sitting, along with China, at the world’s economic top table. According to the IMF and the World Bank, its economy is now the fourth largest in the world in terms of Purchasing Power Parity as opposed to the misleading dollar-rupee exchange rate (44 rupees, the current dollar-rupee rate, buys a great deal more in India than one dollar does in the US). The G-8 should be G-10.
Anyone still not convinced about India’s economic muscle need only look to last year’s takeover by Mittel Steel of Europe’s Arcelor, creating the world’s largest steel producer by far, reinforced last month by Tata’s buy-out of Anglo-Dutch steel-maker Corus. India now dominates the global steel market. This impressive picture will be replicated in much of the IT, pharmaceuticals and services sectors as the appetites and bank balances of Indian companiesgrow. Look at India’s massive middle class, at well over 200 million, the largest in the world. Look the air show that opened yesterday in Bangalore with 500 international aircraft companies in attendance. With air traffic expected to double in the next three years, Indian aviation is booming: Bangalore already could well soon rival Paris as the international showcase air show. Look to the Indian government’s revision this week of the figures for economic growth, up to 9.2 percent this year, the fastest in 18 years. Look too at record highs on the Indian stock market.
It is all encouraging and exciting news. But does India really want to be a political and military superpower on the back of this economic prowess? It is one thing for a country to defend its own interests, but quite another for it to become a world policeman. It is a poisoned chalice. The alluring glory of superpower status would soon be drowned under a tidal wave of demands that India do this, commit funds to that, send troops here, pay for postdisaster reconstruction there — and all against a background of diminishing thanks and growing criticism.
In any event, does the world actually want or need any more superpowers? The doings of the world’s only current holder of the title, especially the mess it has made in Iraq, have probably led most people to conclude that the world would be better off without superpowers altogether and that international decision-making has to be left to the UN alone. Here though, there can — and should — be recognition of India’s stature. Much needed reform at the UN, when it finally happens, should include India being given a permanent seat.
But a political-military superpower outside the bounds of the UN? There are millions of illiterate Indians living below the poverty line. There is still so much to do at home. Being a superpower is an expensive and crippling burden, one that it can ill-afford — and should avoid at all costs.
