Soft power is defined as a nation’s ability to influence the preferences and behaviours of various actors in the international arena (states, corporations, communities, publics etc.) through attraction or persuasion rather than coercion.

A country's soft power, according to Nye, rests on three resources: "its culture (where it is attractive to others), its political values (when it lives up to them at home and abroad), and its foreign policies (when others see them as legitimate and having moral authority).

Ever since Joseph S Nye Jr., an American political scientist, introduced this term the countries across the world latched on to this idea to augment their influence using their cultural assets and values that date back centuries, to an extent, that some of them have even become self opinionated. They advertently or inadvertently forgot the essential feature of Soft Power ; The Political Values.

One of them is our country, whose soft power underpinned by its ancient civilization and rich cultural heritage, due to this misunderstanding , has not been harnessed  to its fullest potential.

Why is it Necessary to Analyse the Soft Power Index.

The famous Chinese diplomat , Hu Shih once remarked:

"India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border.

Therefore, is it not surprising that today we are not even amongst the top 20 on the Global soft power Index and rather this year we have slipped 9 places to the 36^th spot and that even Brazil is ahead of us.

If one examines the Soft Power Index data right from 2014 to 2021 dispassionately, one can anaylse as to why our forefathers succeeded and we the modern Indians are failing in using the Soft Power to its full potetial.

According to David Haigh, Chairman and CEO of Brand Finance, “The Global Soft Power Index is the result of a ground-breaking fieldwork research, the most inclusive of its kind, which allows to see in aggregate how the world views the top soft power nations, but it also enables – thanks to the scale of the sample – a more granular snapshot of nation-to-nation attitudes. These findings are vital for governments seeking to better manage their nation brands and improve their soft power influence in specific countries and on specific metrics.”

In layman’s language Global Soft Power Index would tell us what " Brand India " means to the world as for instance what does " Brand Japan" mean to us in India?

The Global Soft Power Index of a Nation incorporates a broad range of measures, which in combination provide a balanced and holistic assessment of nations’ presence, reputation, and impact on the world stage.

This mathematical Index uses 7 pillars of soft power, listed in the illustration below.

Read more ...

The Union home ministry’s recent order to extend the jurisdiction of the Border Security Forces (BSF) has, expectedly, caused uproar. Obviously, the states ruled by opposition parties as expected and as has been the norm resented this and accused the center to undermine India’s federal structure.

However, before we dwell into the advantages and disadvantages of this step, we need to learn what might have led to this and seek some answers;

1. Post Capture of Afghanistan by Pakistan using its proxy Taliban the serious threats of cross-border infiltration from Pakistan has increased.

Que. So, the question is how enhancement in area of jurisdiction would help improve the efficiency, if its powers remain the same.

2.The use of Drones by Pak based terror organizations to drop weapons, explosives and drugs inside India territory has increased. These drones are used in border areas to drop the cargo close to the border.

Que. In that case once again how is this new amendment going to help BSF when its powers remain the same.

3.Different border states had different areas of jurisdiction under BSF for eg Earlier, the limit was fixed to 80 km in case of Gujarat and 15 km in Punjab, West Bengal and Assam. While the limit has now been increased to 50 km in Punjab, West Bengal, and Assam and it has been reduced from 80 km to 50 km in Gujarat. This was leading to operational problems for BSF because of the non uniformity. The current amendment THEREFORE establishes uniformity in defining the area within which BSF can operate.

Que. But the question arises that the settlements in Gujarat, Rajasthan because of the inhospitable terrain are quite far off from the border areas and deploying Police in these areas is not feasible whereas in Punjab and West Bengal barring a few places the human settlements are very close to the border so the Police is always available  take care of crimes related to drugs, illegal immigration etc. Will it not lead to conflicts and blame game between the local Police and local populace on one side and    BSF on the other.

4.As some of these border states are sensitive in view of the increase in infiltration, illegal immigration and drug trafficking this limited area was creating operational problems for the BSF which was mainly responsible to guard the Borders. All that the infiltrators got to do was cross 15km border belt enter the jurisdiction of local Police, and get lost in the milieu. The old limits might be helpul to the local criminals as well as local petty politicians who might be hand in glove with the criminals.

Que. However, if the powers remain the same and the seized goods/contraband and people arrested have to be handed over to the local Police and it is the LOCAL POLICE that has to do the rest of the investigation, in that case what difference would the increase in the area of jurisdiction make ?

Moreover, In the 203^rd report of the Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs titled ‘Border Security: Capacity Building and Institutions’ that was presented to the Rajya Sabha in 2017, the Committee had discussed the issue of smuggling, illegal immigration along the India-Bangladesh Border(IBB)in detail.

When the Committee asked the primary reasons for cattle smuggling along IBB, the ministry replied that the following factors are responsible:

Read more ...

It would not be wrong to state that India’s middle class is an engine of India’s growth. But it barely gets anything in return.

The State has just got its hands off from every responsibility. For education the state conveniently presumes that we would be sending our children to private schools and private colleges as it has failed to run its educational institutions, for electricity it expects us to buy a generator or an invertor as the State run Electricity Boards cannot provide power 24 hours. For health care its now an unwritten code please visit private nursing homes as Govt Hospitals cannot be trusted. Even the poor avoid them. For water every citizen is expected to get a bore well dug in the back yard of the house and buy a water purifier as the State cannot provide safe drinking water.

During the  Pendemic, almost every house hold of this class had spent more than Rs 2 lacs in getting his kith and kins treated but sadly the Govt has still not taken any step to improve its Hospitals. The oppressed middle class man will have to still take his family to a private hospital.

The current Govt ridiculed the MNREGA but still uses the oppressed middle class man’s hard earned money to continue funding MNREGA, it has rather started many other such initiatives that are being funded by tax collected from the already oppressed middle class ; Ayushman Bharat, Free electricity, free rations, free gas cylinder , Free laptops, free bicycles etc for the people who are kept poor due to MISGOVRNANCE and CORRUPTION.

And surprisingly, the oppressed middle classman still cheers the Govt. Today there is barely a single vegetable which is costing less than Rs 80 per kg the cost of cooking gas cylinder is costing almost Rs1000/ and cost of petrol has gone up to Rs110/lit.

Responsible Middle Class.

The responsible oppressed middle class man understands that lock downs in last one year have made an impact on the economy and it therefore needs time to recover.

But the moot issue is once it recovers at the cost of our miseries,

One. Will the Govt pass on the benefits to its customers,

Read more ...

Violent protests will always lead to loss of life of innocents and leaves tears and bereaved families behind.

Be it anti CAA Protests or farmers protests in MP of 2017 or even the recent one the final outcome has always been ; few deaths.

It appears that the leaders deliberately push their supporters into this violence for the furtherance of their own vested interests.

After each such incident, The Govts usually announce a compensation of few lakhs to the bereaved family members, a job to the NOK(Next of Kin) and opposition political party leaders get an opportunity to get some media glare.

However, unfortunately, the Leaders who pushed their supporters into resorting to violence have seldom been punished and never held accountable for the violence , more over they have no remorse also if few are killed.

Gandhiji, had called off the Non Cooperation movement immediately after the Chauri Chaura incident.

However, post independence, the leaders seldom displayed such sense of responsibility.

The moment the Leaders are held accountable for the violence, they will ensure discipline and make sure that the protests are held peacefully.

Turn a few pages of history and one would realize how disciplined we were in 1940s. Perhaps the Leaders then knew that if the protesters resort to any violence the British Police will not hesitate to use Force and if few get killed , the Govt will neither give any compensation nor any job to the NOK and as a result the whole movement will go for a toss, so they were responsible towards their Followers/ Supporters/Participants and hence gave NO OPPORTUNITY TO THE BRITISH POLICE TO USE FORCE. 

But the Current Leaders have no such sense of responsibility towards their Supporters ; MAR GAYA TO MAR GAYA.

Although, there are numerous videos floating around and politicians are accusing each other for the violence that happened at Lakhimpur, but notwithstanding the above, this opportunity must be used by the Govt to ensure that Justice is done, guilty are punished and leaders are held accountable.

Unless the Leaders are held accountable for violence , these kind of violent protests will carry on and the law abiding citizen will continue to suffer.