Can India become superpower in this COVID-19 pandemic?

The increasing COVID-19 cases and economic slowdown had increased the frustration among the countries. Everyday US-China arguments and the failure of international organisations had further created the sense of panic across the globe. The losing status of US and losing credibility of China has created a vacuum of superpower at the top.

Before 90’s, during the period of cold wars, the countries were united on the basis of “defence integration” for protection of each other’s boundary. But with the advancement of trade and economic interest world moved into “economic integration”. This multilateralism gave rise to international bodies like World Trade Organisation (WTO), where the countries leading these bodies are together not on the basis of similar values but purely on the basis of economic interest. US and China are the best suited example for this.

Of this economic integration, the most benefited country came out to be China. This integration had made China an economic-hub. With this advancement, now China is using this feature to promote its influence internationally by threatening other countries to curb their supply chain & using unnecessarily its veto power on the UN platform. Similar is the case with US, applying economic sanctions on the countries like Iran for their personal interest & threatening small countries on their trade and defence deals.

The malaise that affects this is not new. The paralysis of all 3 functions of WTO- negotiation, dispute settlement & transparency was one sign of that deep rooted malaise and the credibility of WHO is a recent indicator. Amid these attacks, this pandemic has heightened the crisis of multilateralism. This world cannot be led with these “system rivals”.

Now, it’s high time to move from economic integration to the “value integration” where the like-minded countries with similar values must come together and lead the world. Unlike US and China, India had managed to increase its credibility and trust across the globe. Its neutral stand, demographic advancement & geographically suited location are biggest features into it. India along with other like-minded countries of EU & Africa must come together in an alliance and should work for better and unbiased solutions of advance problems. And with this we cannot deny the possibility of this alliance to be the superpower ahead.