What/who is a superpower?

According to Wikipedia, A superpower is a state with a dominant position characterized by its extensive ability to exert influence or project power on a global scale. This is done through the combined-means of economic, military, technological and cultural strength as well as diplomatic and soft power influence. This is a very comprehensive definition of superpower, covering all the areas.

Currently, we have only one superpower i.e. the United States of America. The USSR was also a superpower but after its division, it seized to be so. China is on its way to being a superpower, but now it is just a regional power.

What does India need to do to become a superpower?

It is a long road ahead for India to become a superpower. There are several areas we need to focus on to achieve the goal.

  • Education and Healthcare: This is the first and foremost step taken by all the developed countries. They invested heavily in these two areas and brought up the literacy and life expectancy rate. India still has a literacy rate of what China had in 1991. And it is a very known fact that we have underinvested in these two areas, even after knowing that they are the solution to 70% of our country’s problems. They will raise the standard of living and clearly the USA’s standard of living is quite high as compared to India.
  • Strong Economy: India is still dependent on agriculture and tax collection for the most part of its revenue. We definitely have missed out the golden opportunity of opening our markets after the cold war era. We need to boost our manufacturing sector. Though foreign investments have recently started flowing in, they are mostly to capture Indian markets only. Indian made products are hardly used by other countries, they are unable to compete globally and are used by Indians only. We need to become producers rather than just being consumers. We don’t seem to be paying much attention here. In the last quarter, our manufacturing sector grew by only 3.1%. America is a 21 trillion-dollar economy, whereas India still is aiming to become a 5 trillion-dollar economy by 2024. We need to get rid of the agricultural economy tag as soon as possible.
  • Defence: Though we have the second-largest army, fourth largest Air Force and the seventh-largest navy. But when we look at the equipment most of them belong to a different generation. The equipment we use is not the latest or of the best technology. Moreover, we import 99% of our defence equipment. A superpower cannot be dependent on other countries for its safety. We need to have a strong defence on the foundations of a strong economy.
  • Capturing the fourth industrial revolution: India is not as attentive as required to the advancements in AI, IoT, Data Sciences, Life Sciences, New energy resources, materials etc. In the future, a country’s strength/destiny will be determined by its level of Science & Technology. Forget about the USA we invest around one-tenth of China in these technologies.
  • Environment: Out of 180 countries, India ranked 177,  in the world when it comes to handling environmental issues, according to the 2018 Environmental Performance Index (EPI)— the green rankings released on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meet in Davos. Most of the developed nations have expenditure on environment protection higher than that on military and education combined. We are losing our forest cover at a rapid rate, many cities and villages are facing acute water scarcity, temperatures are soaring, major rivers are extremely polluted etc. These issues develop social unrest and instability.
  • Improve rankings in various indexes: As a country with such high ambitions, India should focus on improving its ranking in various indexes such as Human Development Index, Happiness Index, Freedom of Press Index etc. Our rankings in these areas are amongst the underdeveloped nations of Africa.
  • Population Control: India’s population is booming. India is the seventh-largest country by area but may overtake China in terms of population by 2025. Such a huge population is difficult to manage. It’s an overwhelming task to cater to needs 1.25 billion people. High population leads to improper distribution and overexploitation of resources.
  • Strong Diplomatic and Defence Relations: A global superpower has the ability to influence the decisions of countries thousands of miles away, forces a country to think twice before taking any step which could adversely affect it. Despite recently closing hundreds of bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States still maintains nearly 800 military bases in more than 70 countries and territories abroad. Has been giving billions of dollars of financial aid to the needful countries (India was also a beneficiary of the USA at the time of Independence), helps them in development, which is enough to manipulate the policy-making of a country. The USA is also a member of all the major decision making and governing bodies in the world. It will definitely take decades for India to gain such a stature in the global community.
Also Read :  Is India prepared enough to handle cyber attacks?

Conclusion:

These are the important areas where India needs to work heavily if it wants to be a superpower.


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10 Comments

  • kaushal, Dec 30, 2020 @ 3:11 pm Reply

    in my opinion ..indian should focus mainly on the youths of country ,as we can see that india is producing lakhs of engineers every year ,they have enough potential in them ,but they are not getting any support from government on employments ,they are not getting good payment scales .So many young engineers who have very higher IQ have to go abroad to work in MNC’s .Many of our young scientists instead of joinning ISRO they are preferring to join NASA .This is reducing our nations capabilities.
    SO i think that solving these problems will lead india to be a super power soon.
    thank you

  • Suchi, Mar 18, 2020 @ 1:08 pm Reply

    The problem arises here when the talent of India goes abroad and find opportunities there whether we talk about nasa or many renowned companies.they feel lack of resources in india.
    Education is one of the main problem.if everyone gets opportunity of good and most importantly practical education rather than theoretical than he will understand the situation of the country and will contribute to the nation according to its sources. India is know for its agriculture but there’s no increment in agriculture sector. farmers are not even paid properly. There are number of issues in india right now and there are solutions also. There’s a need of good planning and mainly executing and implementation.

  • Twinkle, Nov 4, 2019 @ 6:52 am Reply

    I strongly believe that the sectors like education , healthcare, defence and industrial sector can change the face of India in the global community.as it was correctly mentioned above that education can itself solve 70% of India’s problems. In today’s time, the fund allocation(3.5%) in this sector is still much lower that what experts recommend(6%). thus,Indian gov should put in more efforts to enhance the academic institution system in the country, which will significantly boost the demographic divided of India, resulting in powerful economy.
    Secondly, the central cabinet ministers have taken steps towards enhancement of manufacturing, Industrial sector of India over the years, but we still continue to live in the state of trade deficit, and the sole reason for it is higher imports than exports. Initiative likes make in India or reducing corporate tax , allowing more FDI has contributed well to the economy ,but it hasn’t yet reached the satisfactory level. there is still the need to take bolder steps in the near future, for India to surpass the regional powers ,and then become a global influencer.

    • RISHABH, Nov 26, 2019 @ 11:20 pm Reply

      population control is the important thing to became a super power …when india’s population is controlled the employment opportunities increases per person ratio.

    • Shimbhu, Nov 20, 2022 @ 8:16 am Reply

      According to me if india wants to become a superpower then work it on economy, sports, military power,infrastructure, population control, and so on.

      If india’s education system is good then it is good for india to make superpower, so current government implemented a new education policy in india which is better than old education policy in many thinking like that in NEP instructors work on students skill ,and there are many practical exercises implemented in syllabus.

      Economy will be a good factor for india to become a superpower, now india has 5th position around the world in its economy, and india’s economy is fastest growing economy in the world.

      The most useful factor is industrialised which is implications in india and startup is a good thing to make better our industries.

  • abhoon, Jul 20, 2019 @ 4:02 pm Reply

    I think we have a lot of the young population, that means we have the strength to do more

  • Suresh MORE, Jul 15, 2019 @ 1:30 pm Reply

    Hi,
    kindly join me in the Group Discussion.

  • Tinku Paul, Jul 12, 2019 @ 7:15 am Reply

    According to me in India have lots of strength because of manpower. Government has to utilize it. Countries development depends on economy and education. Education is the backbone of the country. But still in 21st century many rural areas are there, children they are not going to school because of parents cannot afford them and malnutrition problem, they don’t get meal twice in a day. Because of peoples livelihood is very poor. Government has to take care of them. Countries economy is depend on Agriculture and industry. Many peoples are there their livelihood is agriculture but sometimes draught, sometimes flood as a result farmers get ruined sometimes they commit suicide because they are not able to pay their loan , yes Faisal Bina yojona is there but Government should take care farmers will get full compensation then they can start next plantation. Secondly if set up big dams and rain water can reserve , then farmers can harvest. If people will get job and proper remuneration then they don’t need to go to outside India then brain drain will stop and India will be strengthen. Lastly India’s defence is very strong but many times we see there is some loopholes I e outsiders can get the advantage to attack our country because of any incident happens after investigation we understand insiders hands are there so it has stop. So one day will come eradication of poverty, eradication of illiteracy then hope India will reach the destination on the top all over the world.

  • JJ, Jul 10, 2019 @ 10:20 am Reply

    India have the strength to become the super power because of youth .No other country have that much strength and our country should focus on using that strength and manage all problems in the minds of young people.

    • Surry, Sep 16, 2019 @ 4:11 pm Reply

      Obviously I would say India having most world youth population, so India has a lot of potential to become superpower due to its youth population.If India give its youth to coherence opportunity to show their potentia it can lead our nation in every field, I think we should development appreciate platforms to prove talent of Indian youth generation…It can bring only big changement in country preview…

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