Politics

Foreign Policy on India: Dispelling Myths with Half Truths

The Foreign Policy is carrying a web exclusive by Barbara Crossette (and blog entry) on what is wrong with India. According the the FP blog, Ms. Crossette:

backed up her argument with lots of data showing that, for now, India’s vaunted rise, and its celebrated tolerance, are more hype than reality when it comes to improving the lives of most Indians.

The problem with the entire article starts there. It purports to explain why India and the US aren’t natural allies, but looses that thread of logic midway. Even the arguments that she does make are made possible only by a complete ignorance of the subject and the selective use of numbers (lots of data is not necessarily the right data). The following are some of her more egregious statements on India, and my responses.

“India and the United States are natural allies”

It was not until the collapse of its champion and friend, the Soviet Union, that Delhi saw reasons to improve ties dramatically with the United States.

Actually, Delhi turned to the Soviet Union only after America shunned it, supporting Pakistan at India’s expense (see history). In 1953 and particularly after the Soviet Union entered Afghanistan, the US developed a strong military alliance with Pakistan, providing substantial military aid – much of which was directed against India.

Delhi is likely to resist opening its own nuclear facilities to serious international inspection and remains steadfast in its refusal to sign major international arms-control agreements.

True. then again, the US withdrew from the ABM treaty unilaterally in 2001. India hasn’t broken any treaties, just refused to sign ones that don’t suit it – same as the US.

“India is a responsible world power”

India has a history of interference in the politics of its weaker South Asian neighbors.

As opposed to the US, which has never interfered in the politics of any sovereign nations, right?

It is the US, in fact, that has a dismal record of nation building. Of sixteen efforts during the past century, only four succeeded, including Japan and Germany. Worse, “not one American-supported surrogate regime has made the transition to democracy, and only one case of direct American administration has done so.”

In addition to the many countries it has directly invaded, the US has fomented revolts in several others – in many cases to overthrow democratic governments, as in Nicaragua and Chile.

A rebellion in Pakistan split the country in two in 1971 with a lot of help from Delhi, whose army effectively created Bangladesh. Perhaps a million people died in the bloody ethnic and sectarian cleansing campaigns that followed.

Barbara failed to point out that Bangladesh was at the time ruled by Yahya Khan, the dictator of Pakistan. The ‘Bangladesh Liberation War‘ occurred over nine months, with India entering it towards the very end. And ethnic cleansing by Pakistan was precisely why India got into the war – to stem the tide of refugees entering India.

So, India does what America only purports to do – spread democracy. Unlike Iraq, this was a real ‘liberation’. Oh, and India gave refuge to millions of Bangladeshis that still live here. How many Iraqis live in the US?

The question remains, however, whether India’s voice and vote would do any more than echo the mantras of the Nonaligned Movement and the Group of 77.

India may well echo the ‘mantras of NAM’. Then again, the UK is better known as America’s ‘lap dog’, than for having an independent foreign policy. What Ms. Crossette probably means is, will India toe the American line?

India contributed 0.4 percent of the United Nations budget in 2006

True. The US is the largest contributer to the U.N’s budget. It is also the country that undermines the UN and multi-lateralism the most.

“India will surpass China”

Perhaps, but at what? India, which currently has a population of 1.1 billion people, will be the world’s most populous nation sometime in the next few decades. But that may be the only arena in which it overtakes China.

Ms. Crossette follows this statement with several statistics to show the dismal state of affairs in India, in health, education, and nutrition vis-a-vis China. She overlooks that the WEF Competitiveness Report ranks India 43; China is 54. India also uses energy more efficiently, and produces significantly lower carbon emissions per capita. Or maybe those are not important measures?

Nobody contests India has a lot of problems. Indeed, this Indian will be the first to admit that malnutrition is at shameful levels. That, however, has nothing to do with what India can achieve, only with what it has achieved.

India is becoming a high-tech, middle-class nation

Prove it. India’s vaunted middle class is still a distinct minority. In reality, the gap between rich and poor remains enormous.

Yes, it is enormous. However, India’s income distribution is much more equal than that in China (another measure where India beats China) and even the US. The Gini Index puts India at 32.5, ahead of the US (40.8) and China (44.7).

“India is a model of tolerance”

No. Human rights abuses and corruption of political power are far more prevalent in India than in other democracies.

What other democracies? Pakistan, where a dictatorship has been supported for years by America? Bangladesh, which ranks worst in corruption? And how about comparing with China – a dictatorship?

The treatment of most Indian women can be just as bad. Women are much more likely to be illiterate, earn one-third as much as men across the board, and die in the thousands annually as the victims of abusive spouses or in-laws.

True, women are often discriminated against, but the country has enacted – and is enforcing – strong domestic violence legislation. As for salaries, in case you missed it, women in the US also earn 25% less than men; and the pay gap is widening.

Finally, in politics India has had universal franchise since 1947 (Switzerland 1971, Portugal 1976), elected its first female head of state in 1966, currently has an Italian born Christian woman as head of the ruling party, and allows all citizens – including naturalized ones – to be elected to the highest office. The US, just starting to celebrate a female speaker of the House, can hardly be considered a beacon of liberalism and political equality.

The Truth Behind this Analysis

By now one has forgotten the original assertion of the article – that India and the US are not natural allies. Beyond that, it is neither objective, nor logical and proves only that India has lots of problems – a rather obvious fact that many Indians will acknowledge.
There are three kinds of lies – lies, dammed lies, and statistics. Ms. Crossette has used the last, only to prove that she does not like India. At the very least, Ms. Crossette, get your facts right.

© 2007 The Discomfort Zone.