Ramachandra Guha Ten Reasons why India will not and must not become a Superpower

Presented by International Development Research Centre and co-hosted by UBC and the Canada-India Foundation, there has been much talk of a coming Asian century, to be dominated by the economic strength and political assertion of China and India. This talk will critically scrutinize the claims made on behalf of India, and in particular the belief, held by some Westerners and perhaps by many Indians, that India is a coming superpower. It will acknowledge the durability, against the odds, of India's national unity and of its democracy. It will appreciate the recent surge in economic growth. At the same time, it will provide a critical analysis of the deep fault-lines within Indian society, politics, economics, and culture, to conclude that the talk of India's imminent rise to superstardom is highly premature. Ramachandra Guha is a historian and biographer based in Bangalore. Now a full-time writer, he has previously taught at the universities of Yale and Stanford, held the Arné Naess Chair at the University of Oslo, and been the Indo-American Community Visiting Professor at the University of California at Berkeley.

Webcast sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• IKBLC
• Liu Institute
• Asia
• India

[MssAvatar2011]

Incredible man. Agree 100% with all his views. He is one of the few voices of sanity left in india today. India will not (and cannot even if it wanted to) ever become a superpower. First India needs to address the issue of having 924 MILLION poor and some of the worst statistics in the world.

[invictussingh]

@kingdomofloss1 In all cases of mass murder in India no big gun has ever been convicted by law, that does not mean that that they are innocent.

There can be no lasting prosperity without law and order.

[kingdomofloss1]

@invictussingh Dude, don't make antagonize me. All I wanted to say was BJP can bring about an economic turnaround and more systematic management of affairs. No one is taking away the allegations from Modi & Co. but remember they are still allegations.

[nitefucker86]

@MissAvatar2011 oh yeah, dont blame hindus, just blame them and call them fundementalists when they say they are hindu. It is nothing less than asking a person "hey you are a good man but you have to eat my shit". CONp in its 60 years of political rule did no single good thing for the country and gave us riots and terrorists and naxalites all over the country. BJP had only 6 years of rule but it built infrastructure, education initiative and good financial regularity.

[ajay123ajay1]

If u r so thirsty why dont u drink at one time instead of so many sips



[kingdomofloss1]

@invictussingh it happened everywhere dude, I am not going to defend the killings but being a practical guy, I am simply going to say, it was an event in history that was needed for Gujarat to reach there. Like Indo Pak divide, like WW2, like WW1, like the falling of Berlin War. It was an event in history. You can keep saying that murder of Jews was wrong but that shaped the freedom of India, end of colonialism. The fall of Berlin Wall started the idea of EUROPE and trade relations improved. etc

[shub1122]

he has at least 100 time has a sip of water

[shub1122]

his style and frequency of water drinking is irritating

[reva12]

Mr. Guha's point about development applies to not only India but to all the countries of the world who want to follow the western model of "progress" and "development". It is totally unsustainable looking from all sides: human (everybody living in a virtual world) and environmental. And what are all these GDP and such anyway? Just smoke and mirrors! And he is right about Indian politicians, media and the prevailing ethos of marking success by material acquisitions.

[kingdomofloss1]

@invictussingh There is always such issues. Which US president has not done the same, except Obama. I think BJP had a big role to play in the Massacre, surely they did. but the development cannot be overlooked.