How To Make India A Superpower

“India is not just a piece of earth; she is a power, a godhead.” This is how Sri Aurobindo looked at this country and its rich ancient civilisation. And he wanted his fellow Indians to have “the firm faith that India must rise and be great.”

A country like India, with more than one billion people, should aim for the status of a superpower. If nothing else, we account for nearly a sixth of humanity. Apart from population, there are other factors that favour India. For example we are a full-fledged democracy. What’s more, we have been a vibrant, modern democracy for 56 years now which is not the case with any other developing country in the history of modern world.

Besides these two vital factors, the development model adopted by our first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, gave us two magnificent gifts. One is the vast industrial and technological base which enabled us not merely to build big industries in the public sector but also to go for the Antarctica expedition and atomic energy capabilities. The second is that we are the largest pool of skilled technical personnel after the USA because of which we have prospering Indian professionals working in foreign countries.

In the 21st century, the status of a nation does not depend so much on military strength as on economic strength or standard of living of people. If military strength or nuclear weapons were to determine the status of a nation, Russia would be equal to the USA in the world today. The USA has been able to overtake its principal rival Russia because of its economic strength and because of the purchasing power that Americans possess.

India today does not have serious problems of external security because the country has indigenously developed both nuclear weapons and effective delivery systems. But the weakness of our country lies in its sluggish growth rates and in miserable human development indicators. So, if India is to gain a rightful place in the comity of advanced nations, we need to focus on accelerating our growth and development.

While we need to concentrate on growth rates, we must simultaneously attend to much basic tasks as widening mass literacy and improving public health systems. Along with advances in technology and industry, utmost care must be given to the promotion of education and to the development of people’s intellectual skills, personality and social training.

Indians have all chances to take the country to the status of a super power. To achieve this golden goal, we have no option but to work hard with great faith in our strength and in the long-term future of our nation. No amount of planning can achieve these goals in flexible national attitudes and harmony. Growth, justice and harmony are the firm pillars on which India can be built as a superpower.

How To Make India A Superpower