INGREDIENTS OF A GREAT POWER

Can India really claim to be a great power?

Stephen P Cohen listed following ingredients of a great power:

• The capability to manage the domestic process of economic development and national integration.
• The capacity to resist outside penetration.
• The capacity to dominate regional competitors.
• The capacity to deter outside states from lending support to regional competitors.
• The capacity to achieve command in critical weapon systems or at least be able to bargain successfully for them in a crisis.

Now, let us see these ingredients in the backdrop of India's perceived power status:

• India is second only to Iraq in terms of the attacks she suffers each year in her Home land, whether from internal or external powers.
• India has virtually failed in resisting outside penetration. All her frontiers are ringed by hostile states
• The Mumbai attack painfully undermines India's failure to dominate any regional state and also deter them from launching hostile acts against India.
• Unfortunately, India has completely failed to persuade USA to stop extensive military and financial support to Pakistan; whereas, it has been used against India.
• Pakistan's nuclear proliferation is a known fact now. The bulk of her weaponry is supplied by China. India's failure in her Bofors system, No aircraft carrier for the Navy, now grounding of the entire fleet of Air Force Trainer Jets and DRDO's failure to attract new talent are some the few gross blunders of India. These are at the cost national security.

Post Parliament attack, India ordered the complete mobilisation of her armed forces in haste and  again demobilised after three years. Even the armed were confused about the objectives. The mastermind of parliament attack was awarded death sentence but still continues to remain in jail for years as our leaders have failed to decide on his mercy plea. By 2008, all major Indian cities were attacked by terrorists followed by Mumbai attack.