India is what it is today only because of its efforts. Nobody has played India’s saviour in the 75 years, that we have been ‘independent’. The West, which likes to trumpet its own horn at every opportunity it can get hold of, has systematically worked to inhibit India’s growth. Had the Western world extended help to India throughout our independent past, we would have possibly been a different nation. We would have a much larger economy, a supreme space programme, a robust defence industry and of course – a permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council.
There is no denying the fact that previous governments in New Delhi messed things up for the country as well. They do have to be held accountable for shamelessly scuttling the Indian growth story. However, the United States-led Western world has much to be held responsible for as well.
Sanctions Against India
The West has a thing for sanctions. They can weaponize their economies against nations that do not toe their line. Such a campaign is being undertaken against Russia, but it has also been conducted against India. After the Pokhran II tests which India conducted in 1998 – announcing our arrival as nuclear powers to the world – the West spiralled into an uncontrollable fit of rage.
Strong criticism was drawn from Canada on India’s actions. The United States issued a strong statement condemning India and promised that sanctions would follow. The sanctions on India consisted of cutting off all assistance to India except humanitarian aid, banning the export of certain defence material and technologies, ending American credit and credit guarantees to India, and requiring the US to oppose lending by international financial institutions to India.
Sanctions were also imposed by Japan on India and consisted of freezing all new loans and grants except for humanitarian aid to India.
Depriving India of Crucial Technologies
Joe Biden turned out to be the biggest saboteur of India’s ambitious space programme. In the 1990s, India was looking to get the Cryogenic technology from the Russian Space Agency, Glavkosmos, at $250 million, which would have played an important role in missions involving heavy satellites going deeper into Space.
The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Senate Committee voted to block further American aid to Russia if Moscow went ahead with the $250 million deal with India. The man who moved the amendment was Joe Biden himself. Russia, which was passing through a deep economic crisis, following the Soviet breakup at the time, had to comply with the US Senate’s amendment. As a result, India’s Space programme was harked back by several years, if not decades.
Ultimately, India had to develop indigenous Cryogenic technology, with the first experiment being carried out by ISRO only in 2014.
Vaccine Blockades
When India needed vaccines the most, the United States of America – led by Joe Biden, decided to halt the supply of vaccine raw materials to our country. The United States had, in February 2021, invoked the Defense Production Act, to curb the export of raw materials critical for vaccine production.
Aggressive diplomacy by the Modi government had led to the United States being forced to mend its ways and resume raw material supplies to India.
Climate Vigilantism
The West is once again trying to impede India’s economic growth by imposing unreasonable and unfair climate standards on India. The West has been pushing India to stop coal usage – but this would greatly hamper India’s economic growth.
Unlike the West, India is still a developing country with an economy that is yet to reach the sky. The West knows this. Calling on India to abandon coal and comply with bombastic environmental standards is a ploy to derail the country’s growth.
The Modi government, however, has not fallen into the liberal trap set by the West. It has rejected the West’s game plan and has instead adopted an indigenous and India-centric plan to deal with climate change.
The West has never really helped India in its time of need. Bailout packages, security treaties – that part of the world has largely acted in ways that harm India’s interests. How the U.S. and its allies stood by Pakistan in the 1971 War of Bangladesh’s liberation is well documented. The West has never risen to the task and extended aid to India which would help the country achieve something meaningful.
Such indifference towards India is what has cost us dearly. By the way, the British stole nearly $45 trillion from India during their rule over the country. $45 trillion is 17 times more than the total annual gross domestic product of the United Kingdom today. Imagine that wealth remaining in India after independence!
Sir,
The west might have done all the things you claim it did. But do not forget our own follies in retarding our growth. To give a couple of examples:
1. Not investing / emphasising in universal primary education.
2. Chasing the mirage of a socialist paradise and not encouraging entrepreneurship. I would even say the indian state was positively discouraging private entrepreneurship.
3. Lack of *any* encouragement to pursue and re-search indigenous sciences like Yoga, Ayurveda, Siddha etc. We woke up to Yoga only after it became popular in the West. We realized the curative powers of Turmeric only after an American company was given the patent for it.