While Prime Minister Narendra Modi is away building goodwill with the US, Chinese troops have reportedly crossed the international border at Sikkim and gotten into a skirmish with Indian soldiers. Elsewhere, China also launched operations of its indigenously built fastest bullet train — it is claimed to touch top speed of 400 kmph — between Beijing and Shanghai.
While one cannot say for sure how much of Chinese growth is eyewash, there is no denying the fact that China has laid a firm foundation for growth playing to its own strengths. So when US president Donald Trump said at a joint press briefing that “India has a true friend in the White House” and that “India is the fastest growing economy in the world”, it appeared to be a left-handed compliment.
It felt even more so when Trump added: “We hope we will be catching up with you very soon.” Modi would know, as much as most others in the country, that the realities at home are quite different from what the growth figures tell. India is far from getting even close to China on many fronts; the true impact of demonetisation is yet to surface; a farm crisis has been brewing and a seemingly erratic monsoon threatens to upset the applecart of expected growth.
While the initial bonhomie at Modi’s meeting with Trump seems to hold promise, the final outcome is still anybody’s guess. Beijing has expressed worries about India acquiring surveillance drones from the US and while the Chinese media views the Modi-Trump meeting as only a means for the US to strengthen its own cause in the region, particularly with the growth of North Korea as a potential threat.
With China growing in strength and improving ties with countries such as Russia and Pakistan, the US is finding it difficult to find a firm foothold in the region and worried. With nuclear powered North Korea directly threatening the US, the situation is volatile and the US is badly in need of allies in the region. India makes an ideal choice given its location and apparent isolation in the region thanks to its ongoing struggle for dominance with China.
Trump has, among other things, made it clear that it is important that barriers to the export of US goods to India have to be lifted. Such a demand if accepted would mean greater competition for Indian entrepreneurs at a time when they are ill-equipped to meet the challenge. The effects of demonetisation and worries with Goods and Services Tax coming into effect July 1 are bound to hound the manufacturing sector at least for a while.
India needs to power its growth at home before it commits to the needs of developed economies such as the US. Greater indigenisation of technology is essential for the country to grow. While there is sense in acquiring technology for short-term use, it cannot be the solution for sustained and sustainable development.
While India has undoubtedly achieved some milestones in technology such as in space science, such growth has not been witnessed in other key fields such as agriculture. Modi’s visit to the US may improve relations with that country to the extent that it may help bash Pakistan a bit and ruffle China’s feathers.
But for India, per se, it is unclear how the visit will pan out. If Modi spends less of his energies on discussing H-1B visa norms in the US, and focuses them instead on strengthening manufacturing in India that would give the country greater strength to stand on its own.
North Korea may be belligerent but the lesson it has to share is one of self reliance and confidence in the ability to fend for itself. India does not need more visas to drain its brains, it needs jobs for its people to stay put and help the
country develop.
