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Round
The World
New Delhi, 29 December 2023
India & The World
REFLECTING ON 2023
By Prof. (Dr.) D.K.
Giri
(Secretary General,
Assn for Democratic Socialism)
Another year is passing. We await the New
Year with hope as well as anxiety, as the world is going through turbulent
times. Philosophical speaking, it is the order of the life, full of ups and
downs, happiness and sorrow, peace and war. The last cycle of international
life (peace and war) is under interrogation as Prime Minister Narendra Modi
profoundly said while mildly chiding the Russian President Vladimir Putin last
year during Shanghai Cooperation Summit at Samarkand, that “it is no time for
war”. The United Nations was created after the Second World War to prevent
further wars.
However, the world community has failed in
preventing full-scale wars in addition to several armed skirmishes and clashes.
The horrifying war in Ukraine continues unabated causing horrendous loss of
lives, properties and resources. The war that started last year lingers on
defying diplomacy and the political acuity of world leaders. Apparently, the
Ukrainian war at present is stalemated as Russia seems to tire out and Ukraine
running out of support from the West. Until there is some kind of truce, the
war can intensify at any stage as the resources or resolve on either side are
reinforced.
If Ukrainian war was not enough for the world
community to address the disruptions in economy and politics, another violent
war erupted in the Middle-East between Israel and Hamas. This was quite
unexpected. Israel and Palestine were living in peace and some kind of
co-existence since the conflict began over seven decades ago. However, terrorism
as a method of conflict resolution is still lurking around. This is completely
illegitimate and unacceptable. India, as a victim of cross-border terrorism has
been raising the issue of eliminating the scourge of terrorism from world
politics. But, because of dubious policies of quite a few countries terrorism
persists.
Israel became a victim of cruel and sadistic
attacks by Palestinian terrorist groups namely Hamas on 7 October this year
suffering hundreds of deaths and hostages. Shocked and surprised, Israel vowed
to retaliate with all its might with two war objectives – to eliminate the
military capacity of Hamas so that they are incapable of repeating such attacks
on Israel, second, to free all the hostages taken by Hamas. Consequently, from
October, Israel and Hamas are engaged in a deadly combat with heavy casualties.
According to the reports available, over 20 thousand civilians in Palestine
have been killed and over hundred soldiers from Israeli side. Israel is facing
assaults from Hezbollahs in Lebanon and Houthis in Yemen. According to the
Israel military, the war is likely to continue for months.
Again, the world leaders have miserably
failed in bringing about a lasting ceasefire, let alone the end of the war. In
dealing with the current war, the commentators are going back to the origin of
conflict and are caught in victim-aggressor-victim cycle. In this war, both
Israel and Hamas have become aggressors as well as victims. If the focus would
have been on 7th October and the consequent reactions, it could be
easier to resolve. While calling out Israel on the massive retaliation causing
heavy casualties amounting to genocide, the commentators go back in time
instead of stressing on the terrorist attack by Hamas which gave the ground for
Israel for ‘self-defence’.
Recalling the brighter side of India and its
interactions with the world, we had an amazingly successful G-20 Summit in
Delhi. It came up roses inasmuch as there was a consensus statement by the
world leaders despite a divided opinion on Ukrainian war. However, it happened,
Indian leadership was credited with successful negotiation across the
countries. The entire canvass of India’s politics and economy in all sectors –
local governments, social sector, art and heritage, small-scale innovations
were all exposed with the world community in the run-up to the Summit spanning
over the year.
This year, India became the fifth largest
economy in the world. That is some achievement to shout about as India’s growth
has been constantly low in the 70s and 80s at 3 per cent which was queerly
called ‘Hindu rate of growth’ by an eminent economist, Prof. Raj Krishna. The
economic planners resolved to expedite the economic growth which is promised to
be over 5 trillion by the end of this decade to be the third largest in the
world. However, the prosperity of the country is measured by per capita GDP not
the country’s GDP alone. In that sense, disappointingly, India has the lowest
per capital GDP among all G-20 members.
At the same time, India became the most
populous country in the world surpassing China. This is again a distinction
India could claim provided it uses the demographic dividend intelligently and
strategically. Prime Minister Modi, in an article, articulated the strength of
India in terms of four Ds – democracy, demography, development and diversity. So,
India’s population, mainly its large segment of youth population, could be
harnessed in India and abroad. India’s foreign policy could strategise on
population redistribution, facilitating the migration of skilled manpower to
various countries. The European countries, namely Italy, Portugal and Germany
are open to receiving India’s work force.
There were two unsavoury incidents involving
India and Canada and India and the USA. In both the cases, two Sikhs of Indian
origin having accepted the citizenship of Canada and USA, were plotting violent
attacks on Indian agencies. One of them, Hardeep Singh Nijjar with dual
citizenship of India and Canada, was murdered in Canada. The Canadian Prime
Minister accused Indian agencies being behind his death. An avoidable
diplomatic row erupted. Similarly, the US citizen Gurpatwant Pannu, who called
for boycott and violence against Air India, was targeted causing the US to
point a finger at Indian intelligence agencies. The sharing of evidence etc. is
on between relevant authorities in India and the US.
On the side of caution, it is to be noted
that once again the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF)
has asked for 17 countries, including India, to be put as ‘countries of
particular concern’. This is about lack of religious freedom in those
countries. In case of India, it is the minorities which are being harassed and
hounded by the religious vigilantes from the majority religion. This is
certainly a matter of concern for a country like India, which has been famous across
the world for religious tolerance and accommodation. Remember, Prime Minister
Modi spoke in Israel with a great sense of pride that no Jew suffered from
anti-Semitism in India. India is one of the few countries in the world with a
secular Constitution.
Likewise, India ranked low in the ranking of
three democracy watchdogs – Freedom House, V-Dem and Economist Intelligence
Unit. One may quarrel with their process of measurement of democracies, but
should we be completely dismissive of such concerns! When India is aspiring,
may be rightly so, to be a Vishwa Guru because of its unique spirituality and
culture, any blemish on India’s politics and society should be addressed. The
World Happiness Report 2023 shows India on 126th position out of 137
countries despite it being the fifth largest economy. Is this not something to
address in 2024 and beyond?---INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
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