India in 2023 has emerged as a powerful firebrand nation in B4 (Big 4), with four players across the world stage- the USA, Russia, China and India. We are the fifth largest economy by GDP (3.6 trillion USD) and third by PPP (11.75 trillion USD). We have recently overtaken the UK economy by almost 350 billion USD, which is incidentally more than the GDP of Pakistan. Further, an economic outlook of a 7 to 8 per cent growth rate for almost a decade makes India the fastest-growing economy in the world. If we can further quantify it by Germany’s outlook in -0.3 and USA and Japan between 1 to 2, and China is now stagnating at 2.3 per cent, India will be the fastest growing 4th biggest economy in the world, whichever way we may look at it. AatmaNirbhar Bharat and Make in India have been the key initiatives which have worked across various sectors to improvise and augment the stature of India, a shining star in the world economies’ map and possibly the only country not much touched, affected and shied away by the global recession. The world has been witnessing the global phenomenon of recession writ on its face for the present.
We have adopted and resorted to something substantial right and appropriately, visibly and diligently. We have managed to fortify the country in the last eight years from almost a fragile 5 to B4. This is a transactional shift at rocket speed, and we have weathered all storms strongly, including Covid-19. One very quantifiable parameter is inflation, which we are reeling at 5.8 per cent at present to overcome; the USA has the highest in its 41 years record, reading at more than 10 per cent, and in the UK, the credit lines’ pricing has been almost trebled by the Central Bank in one year. An astounding fact is that German economy is languishing, where it is solely dependent on Chinese raw materials for its industry by over 40 per cent and Russian gas by 60 per cent.
Gameplan in National Interest
While in the recent past, we depended on Chinese API for medicine as raw materials, today, we are making more than 3000 APIs in-house in UP and Gujarat. By the end of 2023, this residual marginal dependence will also be practically reduced to nil. This indicates that we are performing great and attaining satisfactory targets under all underlying arenas with a well-defined mission and long-term vision in view and set game plan in national interest.
National security & challenges
The talk of the nation is incomplete without ensuring security of 1.35 billion people with hostile neighbours on the east and west and a whole ocean to guard (through which 60 per cent of the world trade passes). The challenges and opportunities are immense. One obvious thing in our thought process and for the greater good is that “only power and strength can ensure peace” This is the mantra of forging ahead and having the fermented national defence strategy in place.
Today the rating of Indian defence is globally seen as the 3rd to 4th most powerful military of the world. This did not happened on its own. A lot of relentless effort, strenuous work and quantifiable strategy have gone behind in a very short span of time to make it happen and get this acknowledged and accredited on the world stage, as power and firepower must be known and shown for the best use of deterrence.
Battle-hardened army
The Indian Army, by size and numbers and with its reserves, is the world’s biggest army (3.5 million), around half a million bigger than the Chinese army. Indian Army is a battle-hardened army having a phenomenal track record of winning wars and fighting terrorism, and serving and defending the country at the world’s highest battlefield Siachen Glacier for decades now. The Chinese army fought and lost a war 43 years ago with Vietnam, and at LAC, they used portable oxygen generators to survive and breathe, forget fighting.
Today we have roads to Pangong Tso lake, and we have speed boats engaged and deployed there. We have multi-terrain armed vehicles made in India there, and we have deployed Swaran drones, Kamikaze drones, full body armours, state of tech rifles and heli life table titanium guns, Swiss make night vision gears, imported super lightweight LMG of world’s best standards, AK 203 Rifles, newly designed winter clothing for our brave gallantry which to some estimates is Rs 1 lakh per person. Roads, infra, bunkers, ammo, logistics and weapons for the fastest response time with more than mirror deployment to Chinese; we have never done this before and shown the world what we can achieve. India has managed to signal a simple message to China that not even an iota of our land is negotiable. We have lived in times wherein AK Antony apprised the Parliament that building no roads is our only defence against China. In contrast, Jai Ram Ramesh advised Dr Manmohan Singh not to allow even power projects to come up in North East as that would upset China. Indian Air Force has seen a sea change with Chinooks, Apaches, Hercules Globemaster and game changer Rafale being inducted.
The Indian Navy is on the path which is the fastest of all and almost all made in India. The induction of Aircraft carriers in it makes India in the top 5 countries of the world to have this capability at a fraction of the cost. India can now double the tonnage of this aircraft carrier in 10 to 15 years, which will be again the fastest in the world. Today, we are making frigates and destroyers at an astonishing speed, and every second day. Our world-class milestone is the INS Arihant submarine commissioned with K4 missiles, which makes it 4th country in the world to have the capability of making a nuclear-powered submarine in India with K4 missiles with a range of 2200 km capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. Hence, India is a complete nuclear triad. These submarines can hit targets if required anywhere in China or any other hostile country through sea due to endurance guaranteed by nuclear-powered submarine technology.
India has conducted more than three dozen missile tests in the last two years. The latest one of AGNI 5 in the night has officially put India in the countries with ICBMs with MIRV technology and 1.5 ton payload. India is in the top 4 countries to have this technology in the world which is time-tested. Homemade, which makes scalability, maintenance and ‘UP KEEP’ hassles free. The Chinese have admitted the response time of IAF has been much improved, and India has ramped up infra at a surprising pace. This never expected the Chinese to forget Pakistan, which has some residual nuisance value only as the arsenal to fight is practically bankrupt for three to max seven days. Today China is holding back because of the power of India and the ever-increasing Indian arsenal, while there are numerous examples of the Chinese arsenal not being reliable; look at Pakistan, you get the answer where we can see these toys at work. With a sea of change and strength building happening around us with multi-billion of imports happening and even not an iota of an allegation of any scams or underhand dealings as most of the deals are direct government to government elimination of middlemen and lobbies is cheery on the cake. If the precedence of import of Bofors gun with a pile of scams and kickbacks. It took more than 30 years to get an Anti-aircraft gun and jeopardise the nation’s defence, now benchmark that with what is done in almost eight years after 2014 to the current date is just mind boggling and an amazing account of the purity of intentions and supreme national interest, where it is nation first and foremost.
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