<p class="bodytext">As India marches towards its centenary of independence, roadblocks are aplenty. A disruptive Trump administration, turmoil in global trade, looming threats of wars, a domineering China and the rise of the Right across the world are key factors that confront the nation. How policymakers navigate these challenges to protect national interests will determine India’s position in the world by 2047.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Nursing a superpower ambition amid the geopolitical churn, will India succeed in maintaining strategic autonomy? How far will domestic factors influence foreign policy, and what will be the state of the economy in 2047? These are some of the questions that India’s Tryst with the World, a foreign policy manifesto, tries to address. Part of the Rethinking India project, the volume is a collection of brilliant essays penned by leading academics, technocrats, activists and thinkers. Contributors include Manmohan Singh, Hamid Ansari, Shashi Tharoor, Shivshankar Menon, Shyam Saran, Nirupama Rao, Kishore Mahbubani, Jayati Ghosh and Sunita Narain.</p>.'The Burning Earth': Empire of extraction.<p class="bodytext">Edited by Salman Khurshid and Salil Shetty, the collection offers in-depth analyses of the nation’s present and future challenges. More than an academic exercise, the book frames foreign policy as a shared national concern rather than an expert’s domain. A refrain of the essays is that only an economically and militarily strong India with the right democratic credentials will be able to play a role suited to its stature. The need to regain the nation’s moral voice in the global arena, as in the Nehruvian era and Indira Gandhi’s defiance of the US to create Bangladesh, is cited as a laudable example.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Divergent views emerge on facing the challenge from China. Manmohan Singh favours high growth to narrow the gap with China. He finds the admiration for the Chinese model of development, ‘authoritarian state capitalism’, misplaced. Kishore Mahbubani contends that India lacks a long-term strategy to manage China. He recalls how, in 1980, the Indian and Chinese economies were at the same level. By 2020, China’s GDP ballooned to five times that of India. He attributes this success to opening up to global economic competition. India didn’t. Shivshankar Menon foresees no immediate prospect of a thaw in ties with China. The change of status quo in Ladakh by China in 2020 is a clear warning. Till India transforms itself and its economy, the turbulence in mutual ties will continue.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Salman Khurshid advocates a restructuring of the foreign policy establishment by tripling the size of IFS intake in five years, reorienting training and adding more domain experts to meet present needs. Pointing out that the BJP government is undermining the foreign policy establishment, he cites fault lines like the scrapping of a separate ministry for Overseas Indian Affairs, the end of confidential briefings on important foreign policy issues to political parties by the PM, the use of the RSS foreign wing and the failure to promote soft power effectively. He bats for a principled, coherent foreign policy with a futuristic vision. </p>.<p class="bodytext">Nirupama Rao is upbeat on Indo-US relations, lauding expanding military ties and growing people-to-people cooperation. The confluence of Indian talent and American innovation will make all the difference, she says. She argues that in a multipolar world, India’s strategic autonomy will remain a defining feature and that it will co-exist with deep partnerships. Keep engaged with the US to remain out of trouble is Shyam Saran’s advice. ‘’We are in a phase of deflated expectations.’’ </p>.<p class="bodytext">Salil Shetty draws readers’ attention to the pitfalls of ill-conceived domestic policies derailing ties with neighbours. The aggressive immigration policy of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and NRC triggered protests in Bangladesh and Afghanistan and annoyed Islamic nations. Similarly, the abrogation of Article 370 provoked China to occupy Indian territory.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Conceding that India will remain far too important to be ignored, Jayati Ghosh voices concern over the state of the economy, with rising levels of inequality, unemployment and poverty. The loss of credibility due to the government’s efforts to manipulate official data is disconcerting. On India’s future role in the global economy, she asks: ‘’Can the Modi government continue to mislead and distract people with religious nationalism, or would a collapsing economy and declining livelihoods ultimately also affect the political appeal of Hindutva?’’</p>.<p class="bodytext">The volume makes for compelling reading for anyone interested in seeing India occupy its rightful place in the world.</p>
<p class="bodytext">As India marches towards its centenary of independence, roadblocks are aplenty. A disruptive Trump administration, turmoil in global trade, looming threats of wars, a domineering China and the rise of the Right across the world are key factors that confront the nation. How policymakers navigate these challenges to protect national interests will determine India’s position in the world by 2047.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Nursing a superpower ambition amid the geopolitical churn, will India succeed in maintaining strategic autonomy? How far will domestic factors influence foreign policy, and what will be the state of the economy in 2047? These are some of the questions that India’s Tryst with the World, a foreign policy manifesto, tries to address. Part of the Rethinking India project, the volume is a collection of brilliant essays penned by leading academics, technocrats, activists and thinkers. Contributors include Manmohan Singh, Hamid Ansari, Shashi Tharoor, Shivshankar Menon, Shyam Saran, Nirupama Rao, Kishore Mahbubani, Jayati Ghosh and Sunita Narain.</p>.'The Burning Earth': Empire of extraction.<p class="bodytext">Edited by Salman Khurshid and Salil Shetty, the collection offers in-depth analyses of the nation’s present and future challenges. More than an academic exercise, the book frames foreign policy as a shared national concern rather than an expert’s domain. A refrain of the essays is that only an economically and militarily strong India with the right democratic credentials will be able to play a role suited to its stature. The need to regain the nation’s moral voice in the global arena, as in the Nehruvian era and Indira Gandhi’s defiance of the US to create Bangladesh, is cited as a laudable example.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Divergent views emerge on facing the challenge from China. Manmohan Singh favours high growth to narrow the gap with China. He finds the admiration for the Chinese model of development, ‘authoritarian state capitalism’, misplaced. Kishore Mahbubani contends that India lacks a long-term strategy to manage China. He recalls how, in 1980, the Indian and Chinese economies were at the same level. By 2020, China’s GDP ballooned to five times that of India. He attributes this success to opening up to global economic competition. India didn’t. Shivshankar Menon foresees no immediate prospect of a thaw in ties with China. The change of status quo in Ladakh by China in 2020 is a clear warning. Till India transforms itself and its economy, the turbulence in mutual ties will continue.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Salman Khurshid advocates a restructuring of the foreign policy establishment by tripling the size of IFS intake in five years, reorienting training and adding more domain experts to meet present needs. Pointing out that the BJP government is undermining the foreign policy establishment, he cites fault lines like the scrapping of a separate ministry for Overseas Indian Affairs, the end of confidential briefings on important foreign policy issues to political parties by the PM, the use of the RSS foreign wing and the failure to promote soft power effectively. He bats for a principled, coherent foreign policy with a futuristic vision. </p>.<p class="bodytext">Nirupama Rao is upbeat on Indo-US relations, lauding expanding military ties and growing people-to-people cooperation. The confluence of Indian talent and American innovation will make all the difference, she says. She argues that in a multipolar world, India’s strategic autonomy will remain a defining feature and that it will co-exist with deep partnerships. Keep engaged with the US to remain out of trouble is Shyam Saran’s advice. ‘’We are in a phase of deflated expectations.’’ </p>.<p class="bodytext">Salil Shetty draws readers’ attention to the pitfalls of ill-conceived domestic policies derailing ties with neighbours. The aggressive immigration policy of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and NRC triggered protests in Bangladesh and Afghanistan and annoyed Islamic nations. Similarly, the abrogation of Article 370 provoked China to occupy Indian territory.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Conceding that India will remain far too important to be ignored, Jayati Ghosh voices concern over the state of the economy, with rising levels of inequality, unemployment and poverty. The loss of credibility due to the government’s efforts to manipulate official data is disconcerting. On India’s future role in the global economy, she asks: ‘’Can the Modi government continue to mislead and distract people with religious nationalism, or would a collapsing economy and declining livelihoods ultimately also affect the political appeal of Hindutva?’’</p>.<p class="bodytext">The volume makes for compelling reading for anyone interested in seeing India occupy its rightful place in the world.</p>