India's Soft Power Diplomacy For UPSC/OPSC IAS/OAS Exam

India’s Soft Power Diplomacy 

✓What is soft Power?  

~The concept of Soft Power is in use in international relations.  

~It’s used for increasing its global influence by a country by the use of positive diplomacy  which include the show of a country’s :- 

1. Rich culture  

2. Political values 

3. Economic Power etc. 

The term soft Power was coined by an American Joseph Nye, Its opposite of hard power which  includes use of coercion, weapons etc.  

(Note:- Joseph Nye 

-American political scientist 

-He coined the term soft Power. 

- He gave his idea in his book “Bound to Lead: The changing nature of American power” -One of the founders of Neo liberalism.) 

Soft or Hard power is used as a diplomatic option to influence others behavior.  Various Evidences of use of soft Power 

1. The UN declared 21st June as International Yoga day.  

• Falls on June 21 every year to spread awareness about benefits of Yoga. • was declared by UN general assembly in 2015 

• The day was suggested by Indian PM Narendra Modi.

2. SAARC satellite 

• Launched by ISRO in 2017 for the benefits of various SAARC nations – except Pakistan. • The satellite is named G-Sat 9 and was launched in May 2017.  

• It’s a communication satellite. 

• Except Pakistan all SAARC nations participated. 

3. Act East Policy 

• A new name of India’s Look East Policy. 

• It focuses on India’s extended neighborhood in the Asia Pacific region.  

• Involves economic cooperation & cultural ties with Eastern neighbours. 4. Neighbourhood First Policy 

• An important feature and the very first initiative of NDA Government.  

• According to the policy India’s immediate neighbors ( Nepal,Bhutan, Pakistan,Sri Lanka  etc.) are given top most priority. 

5. NAM( Non Aligned Movement) 

• Was founded in 1961. 

• India was its founding member. 

• It added to India’s strength and prestige at international level. 

• NAM is a group of 120 countries. 

• It’s headquarter is in Jakarta, Indonesia. 

• It was adopted as a middle option between Western and Eastern power blocs during the cold  war. 

• Played a greater role in world peace. 

• Fundamental principles of NAM are based on 5 principles of Panchsheel:-

i. Mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. 

ii. Mutual non aggression. 

iii. Mutual non interference in each other affairs  

iv. Equality and mutual benefit. 

v. Peaceful coexistence. 

6. Gandhian Legacy  

• Gandhi’s legacy of Non- violence and non exploitation of the weaker.  • His teachings are still inspiring people around the world.  

• Based on ethics of not harming humans, animals and environment.  

• Gandhiji adopted this tool for social & political change by peaceful means. • Recognized as one of the best virtues. 

7. Pluralistic and Diverse Society  

• Unity in diversity is India’s strength.(People of different religions & of variety cultures  are living peacefully in India.) 

• Indian society has offered refuge to people of diverse ethnicity and religious faith like Jews, Parsis, Muslims, Christians etc. 

• The Indian constitution guarantees freedom of religion also. 

8. Indian diaspora  

• Indian people abroad are professionally sound, economically well settled and living in a  peaceful manner everywhere.  

• This has added to a great extent to India’s Goodwill internationally.  

• We’ve been very successful in keeping the diaspora engaged with India.  E.g:- Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is an example of this.

( Note:- Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is a convention that began in 2003 in India. - Observed on Jan 9 bi-annually , and is sponsored by the union ministry of external affairs.)

 9. Indian Film Industry  

• Indian films and music are recognized World wide & attract huge audiences globally.  • Indian actors and performers have thousands of fans abroad.  

- E.g.:- Amir Khan, Salman Khan, SRK, Amitabh Bachchan, Pandit Ravi Shankar, AR Rahman  etc. 

• Connect to Human emotions easily. 

10. Assistance to developing nations 

• India’s policy to assist developing nations on their path of development. 

 • Non exploitation of the weaker. 

• On war and terrorism affected countries in their reconstruction and rebuilding (E.g.:- India’s assistance to Afghanistan in its rebuilding process is an example.) 

11. India’s membership to SCO ( Shanghai Cooperation Organization) 

• In 2017, India along with Pakistan became full members of SCO.  

• The membership will provide India another major platform to raise its voice for  concentrated action in dealing with various issues related with terrorism, defense and  security. 

• SCO membership provides an opportunity to India and Pakistan to build a common  approach at least on issues of common concern. 

(Note:- SCO 

Member – India, Kazakhstan,China,Krygiz republic, Pakistan, Russia,Tajikistan, Uzbekistan  Observer – Afghanistan, Iran, Belarus, Mongolia

-Shanghai five mechanism was its predecessor.) 

- SCO was formed in 2001, it’s headquarter Beijing in China. 

- A permanent inter-governmental organization. 

• Major goals of SCO:- 

i-strengthening mutual trust and neighborliness among members. 

ii-Promoting among member states cooperation in various areas of human concern ( politics,  trade, economy, research, technology, culture, education, energy, transport, tourism, environment  etc.) 

iii- Making joint effort to maintain and ensure peace , security and stability in the region. iv- To build a fair and rational new International economic & political order.  

12. Asia Africa Growth Corridor  

• An initiative of India in collaboration with Japan to increase India’s influence in the African  region and aims at improving people to people cooperation in two regions. (Note:- Asia Africa Growth Corridor based on 4 pillars 

a) Development & cooperation 

b) Quality infrastructure and institutional connectivity 

c) Enhancing capacity and skills 

d) People’s people partnership) 

13. Chabahar Port 

• Developed by India’s co-operation and is a part of India – Iran- Afghanistan partnership. • The project will be instrumental in developing cordiality among participants. • promotion of India’s influence and prestige in the region.

(Note:- Chabahar port was built under 2016 trilateral agreement among India – Iran &  Afghanistan. 

- A strategic transit point on route from India to Afghanistan bypassing Pakistan located on the Gulf  of Oman in South East Iran.) 

14. India’s space organization ( ISRO) 

• Because of ISRO India’s prestige has been raised globally. 

• ISRO has become a low cost satellite launch option for various nations of the world. • Even the US is using India’s launch vehicle for placing American satellites into space. • So far it has placed more than hundreds of satellites of its foreign customers in space. (Note:- ISRO 

-Established in 1969. 

-Head quarter: Bangalore. 

-It launched Aryabhatta India’s first satellite in 1975.) 

15. Indian Culture 

• The biggest component of soft Power of India is India’s rich heritage and culture.

 • India is one of the oldest civilizations of the world , its culture has evolved through the  ages. 

• India’s ICCR(Indian council for cultural relation) has been instrumental in increasing  awareness about India’s rich cultural trades abroad.  

• ICCR organizes cultural exchange programs with foreign countries. 

 • It gives an option to various nations for knowing India more precisely.  

(Note:- ICCR

-was founded in 1950. 

-Strengthens Indian cultural relations with other countries. 

-Promotes mutual understanding between India and other nations.  

-Promotes cultural exchanges with India and other nations.) 

16. Vaccine Diplomacy  

• Supply chloroquine to the US and Brazil. 

• Supply COVID vaccine to 3rd world countries. 

Challenges:- 

✓External challenges are mainly from 3 countries  

Japan, China and the USA. 

✓Japan’s- JICA( Japan International cooperation agency) 

(Note:- JICA formed in its present form in 2003, assists socio economic development in  developing countries. 

Headquarter: Tokyo, Japan ) 

✓ China’s confucius institute 

(Note: works for promotion of Chinese language and culture abroad.  

• The first such institute was opened up in Seoul, South Korea.  

• In India it’s there in Kolkata and in Mumbai University.)  

✓ USA is dominating because of its Hollywood, KFC & McDonald, Google, Facebook, Twitter  etc.  

Internal challenges :-

There are some factors that are lowering India’s reputation abroad.  

✓ Caste based society. 

✓ Poverty and unemployment. 

✓ Rising instances of intolerance. 

✓ Dwindling state democracy in India 

✓ Issues related to Women security, rape etc. 

In Global Soft Power index report 2017 India doesn’t stand among top 30.  (Note:- Global soft Power index 

Published by UK based Portland Communication. 

• As per 2017 index France top the list followed by UK and USA. 

• Global index of soft power assesses nations on the basis of Six majors of reputation and  influence.  

1. Government 

2. Culture 

3. Education 

4. Global engagement  

5. Enterprise 

6. Digital  

Suggestions for India:-

✓ To invest more in ICCR to make it youth oriented and expand its ambit tapping its sports  potential more particularly in athletics.  

✓ India has a beautiful landscape and rich cultural heritage. So both provide huge potential for tourism in India.  

✓ Focused attention is needed to develop these things. (Like E.g.:- AMRUT SCHEME,  HRIDAY SCHEME, Eco- retreat in Odisha in tourism etc.) 

✓ All parties should join to develop parliamentary maturity and bring effective solutions to  various problems of India. 

 So far, India has somewhat failed to tap its soft Power potential effectively. So India  couldn’t capture any slot among the top-20 in the Global ranking of Soft Power. Hence considerably  focused attention on this is the need of the hour.