Opinion | Why India Needs A Moral And Strategic Reset As Global Order Fractures |
The massive exercise that is the defence budget has just culminated with a hefty hike after years, in a recognition that the Indian republic faces unprecedented challenges. Alongside are a slew of schemes designed to power up the youth as a national force multiplier. And now the India-US trade deal, soon after a free trade agreement with the European Union, should power up the economy. None of this comes too soon. As the Economic Survey notes growth at 7 per cent, it also flags the possibility of a “disorderly multipolar breakdown" as well as significant trade disruption as major upcoming threats.
The truth is that the world has shifted diametrically from the time the National Flag was first unfurled in 1950, and leaders like Ho Chi Minh stood up for ‘Freedom for all’ and life, liberty and happiness. This is a world of war, of rapacity and a blatant ‘might is right’ eroding the fundamentals of state stability and growth. It is also a world where the ugliness of the Epstein files is only just beginning to be felt. In total, a moral and functional collapse.
Today’s chaos is not just about Trumpian ‘transactional’ policy. Europe’s wars hit a pause button for just about 70 years after the Great War, only to start again with Ukraine. It is a sobering thought that it was the bloodletting of the World War which led to all exhausted parties turning to the lofty ideals enshrined in the United Nations Charter. That stood for a while.
Now the UN’s irrelevance is apparent, as the US — not unfairly — quit 66 UN organisations as a waste of money. Meanwhile, China dominates as its........