The rise of India as a global soft power
India is an enlightened nation with a vibrant soft power inheritance. The country is vividly conscious of the weight of its cultural engagement and requires putting in little more effort to present its culture fascinating to the corners of the world.
For creating Goodwill:
🌞Indian ethos and practices has helped it build a benevolent image and tremendous goodwill globally, but it has to be backed with quality project delivery.
🌞India's reputation as the pharmacy of the world may have been enhanced by providing medicines to more than 150 countries to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, but the goodwill that it has created is even more, Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar has said.
As a Strategic Investment:
🌞To become a leading strategic investor in commercially viable and financially attractive public-private partnership infrastructure projects, India needs to deliver on its promises.!
🌞India invested more than $3 billion in Afghanistan,$3 billion worth of Indian investment in various projects — dams, roads, trade infrastructure.
Post-Pandemic Changes:
🌞With increased scope of cooperation and the realisation that global problems require global efforts, India’s role has gained prominence as the pharmacy of the World.
🌞India, France sign MoU with scope for cooperation in health research.
Trade and Investment Flow:
🌞 To build an image of a trusted and reliable partner, India needs to make other countries believe in its commitment to deliver. This will lead to rising trade and investment flows to growing Indian markets.
🌞India's FDI inflows have increased 20 times from 2000-01 to 2021-22. According to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), India's cumulative FDI inflow stood at US$ 871.01 billion between April 2000-June 2022.
Agreements and Communication:
🌞 The projection of Soft power can help India establish agreement and communication between states through peaceful methods. It also helps build a brand for itself by promoting its Non-aligned commitments, Democratic values, morals, ethos, etc.
🌞India and her role in various international organisations is an important topic for the civil services exam. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is a very important intergovernmental organisation that deals with international trade and commerce.
India’s culture & Soft power
🌞India’s global representation is rooted in the idea of ‘unity in diversity’, contemplative of the wide collection of cultures and civilizations that remains to attract many across the world. The soft power rootlets move very deep.
🌞Although culture is inherently linked with people and the prime agents responsible for dissemination of cultural heritage and values are Indians, both living in India and abroad (diaspora), there are more activities undertaken by the government.
Free vaccines and India’s humanitarian diplomacy
🌞India in recent days delivered millions of COVID-19 vaccines as gifts to countries in the Indian Ocean region, it attracted international attention.
🌞More than 5 million Indian-made vaccines were airlifted last week to countries extending from Myanmar and Bangladesh to Mauritius and the Seychelles. And millions of more free vaccines are on their way this week.
In order to Reach Globally:
🌞There is no denying the fact that India can use these instruments of soft power to reach out to the global audience—in turn, making an all-embracing impact on the worldwide market.
🌞The Indian Institute of Technology will establish its first branch outside India in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as part of the India-UAE trade deal signed.
5 Ways India Can Become a Soft Power Superpower
🌞Cultural institutes - Germany has the Goethe Institut, China has its Confucius institutes, and France has the Alliance Francaise. India needs to invest more in its equivalent cultural institute, the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), or create a newer, more youth-oriented institute.
🌞Museums - India most certainly needs a world-class museum on par with the great museums of the world.
🌞Sports - India should invest more in sports, and not only for the sake of winning more medals at the Olympics.
🌞Tourism- India should do a better job at crafting an image of itself and its history that goes beyond just the Taj Mahal and a few Rajput forts.
🌞Cinema - India makes more movies a year than any other country and Bollywood films are popular throughout the Middle East and Central Asia. Yet, India has done little to convert this love of its movies (and songs) into a desire for people to go to India or learn more about it.
Way Forward for India
🌞In its capacity as the biggest democracy in the world, India's soft power should extend beyond simply sharing election best practices, to also countering executive overreach through a sophisticated framework of democratic institutions.
🌞The other way to overcome a shortage of money and minds on the job is to examine how the private sector can be included to fill some of the gaps left by official agencies.
