Indian Century

Republic of India

The Indian Century(or India's Century) is a term referring to the possibility that the 21st century will be dominated by India, similarly to how the 20th century is often called the American Century, and the 19th century as Pax Britannica (British Peace).

Background

According to scholars, media sources and economic historian Angus Maddison in his book The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective, the polities of India constituted the largest economy in the world from ca. 1 CE to 1000 CE. Also, during the period when China was the dominant economy in the world, India held the second position of the largest economy. India's share of the world income (economic output) went from 27% in 1700 (compared to Europe's share of 23%) to 3% in 1950.

In the 17th century, India and China accounted for 60-70 percent of world GDP.

A number of modern economic historians have blamed the colonial rule for the reduced status of India's economy, investment in Indian industries was limited.

Factors

Projected economies of India and China compared to US between 2009-2050.

India has been identified as a potential superpower. It is also often referred as South Asia's natural hegemon because of its overwhelming dominance of the region in all aspects – political, economic, military, cultural, and demographic. India contributes 77% of South Asia's population, 75% of its GDP, 77 percent of its territory, 80% of its defence budget, and 82% of its armed forces. One of the key factors includes its populous democracy. It has the largest economy in the region, and has impressive GDP growth which sits today at 9.2% According to political analyst C. Raja Mohan: "India's omnidirectional engagement with the great powers has paid off handsomely. Never before has India had such expansive relations with all the major powers at the same time—a result not only of India's increasing weight in the global economy and its growing power potential, but also of New Delhi's savvy and persistent diplomacy."

India is generally considered an emerging power due to its large and stable population, and its rapidly growing economic and military sectors. With the largest defence budget in the region, India possesses nuclear weapons, intercontinental ballistic missiles, and operates two aircraft carriers. It has successfully developed a Ballistic Missile Defense system, becoming only the fourth country to do so. In 2007, India became the fourth nation in the world to complete atmospheric reentry for Manned Space Mission, an indication of its recent scientific progress. India has also successfully sent probes to the Moon and to Mars.

Many industries are established in the country due to investments in technology and in the professionalism of manpower, in addition to its tradition of Exact Sciences. However, several problems such as economic, political, and social problems need to be overcome to be considered a superpower.

See also

• Potential superpowers
• Asian Century
• Chinese Century
• Pacific Century

Further reading

• "Is this the Indian century?" The Guardian.
• Is it the dawn of the Indian century, asks Wharton forum. India Abroad.
• Action: the Indian Century and China-India relations. SBS.
• China's Century — or India's?
• India, China to become superpowers in two decades The Economic Times.
• China and India: The Power of Two Harvard Business Review
• Lesson From Old India
• How China and India will be more powerful than the U.S. by 2030 Daily Mail
• India, the Next Great Basketball Superpower? The Atlantic.
• Dirks, Nicholas (2008) The Scandal of Empire: India and the Creation of Imperial Britain. Belknap Press ISBN 978-0-674-02724-4.
• Durant, Will (1930) The Case for India. New York: Simon and Schuster.
• India: The Rise of an Asian Giant ISBN 978-0-300-11309-9
• Kennedy, Paul (1989) The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. Vintage; 1 edition ISBN 978-0-679-72019-5.
• Lak, Daniel (2009) India Express: The Future of the New Superpower. Palgrave Macmillan ISBN 0-230-61759-X.
• Luce, Edward (2008) In Spite of the Gods: The Rise of Modern India. Anchor ISBN 978-1-4000-7977-3.
• Marks, Robert (2007) The Origins of the Modern World: A Global and Ecological Narrative from the Fifteenth to the Twenty-first Century. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers ISBN 978-0-7425-5419-1.
• McKinsey & Company Inc. (2013) Reimagining India: Unlocking the Potential of Asia's Next Superpower. Simon & Schuster ISBN 978-1-4767-3530-6.
• Meredith, Robyn (2008) The Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of India and China and What It Means for All of Us. W. W. Norton & Company ISBN 978-0-393-33193-6.
• Parthasarathi, Prasannan (2011) Why Europe Grew Rich and Asia Did Not : Global Economic Divergence, 1600–1850. Cambridge University Press ISBN 978-0-521-16824-3.
• Sieff, Martin (2010) Shifting Superpowers: The New and Emerging Relationships between the United States, China and India. Cato Institute ISBN 978-1-935308-21-8.
• Smith, Jeff (2013) Cold Peace: China-India Rivalry in the Twenty-First Century. Lexington Books ISBN 978-0-7391-8278-9.
• Tharoor, Shashi (2012) Pax Indica: India and the World of the Twenty-First Century. Penguin Global ISBN 978-0-670-08574-3.

External links

• Infographic: Share of world GDP throughout history | Infogram
• How the British Ruined India