Elements of the statement below by Democratic party Californian Congressman Dana Rohrabacbacher have appeared, from time to time, on this page, but given his importance as Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats, an abridged version of his declaration to the US media should be of interest to Asian Voice readers.
The US, India, Russia and Japan should form an alliance to preserve world peace and stability and secure freedom against radical Islam and China, said Dana Rohrabacher. Observing that his world-view is similar to that of the President-elect Donald Trump, Congressman Rohrabacher said Japan, India, Russia, and the US share common interests, common rivals, and by working together would fashion a more peaceful and prosperous global order. "New alliances, like a grand alliance by the United States with Russia, Japan and India could well do more to preserve the peace and the stability of the world and secure our freedom especially against radical Islam and China that many of the old alliances could not, because the old alliances are not useful in meeting today's challenges.’
Rohrabacher told the BreitBartNews. "With the right policies, India will have the same economic growth we have seen in China. Its people have incredible entrepreneurial and technological skills and talents, ‘The United States is no longer in a position to do that alone,’ he noted.
Rohrabacher said the Asia Pacific rebalance was an attempt to meet the challenge from China, but China is now more emboldened because of President Barack Obama's pivot was so poorly executed.
‘India and Japan are major powers in the world right now and their potential is enormous. If we are working with them and we have a workable coalition with them, that is something that would balance off the dynamics at play with an expanding China,’ he said. ‘Japan has a very strong economy that is quite often overlooked as a force in the world because it is so peaceful,’ Rohrabacher said. What are we to make of his sentiments?
American policy, it would appear, is on the cusp of change. There is some way to go and many hurdles to cross before the goals are achieved. It is never easy to surmount ancient and entrenched prejudices and overcome the opposition of vested interests..The struggle to establish a new and stable global order involves the long-term welfare of humanity. It is an ideal worth struggling for. We have been trapped in sterile divisions of suspicion and discord for far too long. We deserve better.
Brexit must offer clarity for closer Indo-British ties
Speaking at the London launch of a book entitled, ‘The Modi Doctrine,’ at the Indian High Commission recently, the ruling BJP’s head of the Foreign Affairs Division, Vijay Chauthaiwale said the British Prime Minister Teresa May’s visit to India – the first outside Europe – had given rise to positive expectations tinged with scepticism about the possibility of a closer Indo-British partnership.
He suggested greater British clarity on the details of Brexit: on the terms negotiated with the European Union for the UK’s departure from the organization and the future economic relationship between them. This would clear the ground for an Indo-British free trade agreement, which could be a win-win boon for both parties. Mr Chauthaiwale said: ‘That uncertainty had been reflected in the (May) visit. To take the (Indo-British) relationship to the next level we will need to get a lot of clarity. from the British side.’ Mr Chauthaiwale is one of the editors of the work mentioned above.
He then dealt with the vexed problem of immigration, he suggested a more pragmatic British approach to the issue and referred to the serious decline in Indian students numbers in British universities. The movement of labour follows the movements of capital. Skilled Indian labour – in the IT sector, particularly – to work in UK-based companies on a short-term or long-term basis is as beneficial to the UK economy as it is to the Indian.
The Labour opposition leader, Jeremy Corbyn has criticized the British government for failing to treat India as a true partner, referring to the Indian contribution to British political and cultural life.
India’s Commerce and Industries Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, told the BBC that Britain and India were in a ‘tight professional engagement,’ rather than basking in the convivial sentiments of the past. There is much work to do. However, it can be done from a robust platform already in good working order. The UK is the largest foreign investor in India, and India is the third-largest investor in the UK after the United States and Japan. This is important going forward.
Rise of the new Indian middle class
A month or so ago, a young Finnish visitor to India in a conversation with an Indian reporter related his experience of the country ever since he had first arrival in the late 1980s. Buying a railway ticket then required the toil of an entire day as he moved from counter to counter in search of the elusive bit of paper. The shifting of the tectonic plates from what derisively described as the ‘Hindu rate of growth’ to the economic liberalization when the suffocating barriers of the licence and permit raj was dismantled took time to register. The youthful Finn was unable to detect any dramatic transformation in the country during his visits through the 1990s. It was around 2003-04, that he noticed the change: a rail ticket could be bought online in a minute. Shopping malls were sprouting everywhere, The availability of goods and services had taken a giant leap forward. The consumer market was humming. This was a new, eye-catching India, which he hadn’t caught onto before because the economic reforms were gradually working their way through the rusted system
The 21st century saw the take-off, said the Finn. Now, it was full speed ahead. This cameo can be enlarged into a broader print. Central to it has been the rise of the new Indian middle class whose numbers, aspirations and earning power have surprised foreigners long accustomed to the mores of old India.
Recently the Boston Consulting Group and the Mint newspaper collaborated in a feature on the emergent India. They began with the story of a 35 year-old primary schoolteacher, Kavita, based in Nagpur, a Tier-II city in Maharashtra. The place bustled with activity, commerce thrived and the city was expanding in all directions. Kavita’s husband, Prakash, works for a trading company and their eight year-old daughter Roshni, attends a smart English medium secondary school. Husband and wife have a joint monthly income of Rs 90,000, smoothly comfortable by Indian standards. The family can afford pleasurable weekends at cinemas and restaurants. They described these weekends as ‘fundays.’
Time was when Kavita grew up in a joint family. Her father worked in a public sector company for a modest salary, her mother was a house wife whose education had stopped at the primary level. But she insisted that her daughter, Kavita, enroll at a smart modern school and then go to college and graduate, much against the wishes of the older conservative relatives around them. It turned out to be an exhilarating ride into the future – a future that clearly works.
The new Indian middle class at present has 26 per cent of national market share; by 2025, the figure is expected to rise to 40 per cent. The digital revolution in mobile phones and internet access has risen, and is rising, phenomenally across the country, making it an instrument of democratization and a catalyst for an emergent modern economy. India is set to surprise the world. More importantly, it is set to surprise itself.
