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Monday, July 4, 2011

Can India be World Power ?

I have been thinking about this aspect for some time. To  my mind for India to be recognized as a great power it will first have to put China in the shade. That appears difficult as the one ingredient that could pull India down is the population. Yes! the population. By 2025 India will be the most populous country in the world and would be ahead of china. This is not a happy thought, but one that needs deep dissection. It should not be forgotten that India at present has just 2.4% of the world land area and that must support a population of amounting to 17% of the world. Thus resources and food would be stretched and it will be difficult to feed this massive population.
In fact what ever would be produced would  be less for this massive multitude, be it cars, rice , soaps , for that matter anything.
But whenever living organisms in an area multiply then nature takes a  hand and regulates the numbers. Where is the guarantee that this will not happen in India. The second point is that feeding such a large populace will itself be a gigantic task and any chance or pretense at being a world power would  be difficult. You can't be a world power with undernourished people. As it is the food  available for Indians is much below the world average and the per capita consumption of grains and proteins is low. I do not thus see India going anywhere as a world power. Even dominating the local region is a pipe dream with almost all neighbors ranged against India.  Think of Nepal, Burma, Sri Lanka and BanglaDesh and not forgetting Pakistan who is the Indian ally ?
China is the middle kingdom and thinks it is center of the world. Some effort and political will be  required to match China. The first step in this field is the population that must be curtailed, till that happens India will be a ship without a steering mechanism.

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