Sansad TV Perspective: India's Soft Power

In the series Sansad TV Perspective, we bring you an analysis of the discussion featured on the insightful programme ‘Perspective’ on Sansad TV, on various important topics affecting India and also the world. This analysis will help you immensely for the IAS exam, especially the mains exam, where a well-rounded understanding of topics is a prerequisite for writing answers that fetch good marks.

In this article, we feature the discussion on the topic: India’s Soft Power.

Anchor: Vishal Dahiya

Guests:

1. Prakash Javadekar, MP, Rajya Sabha
2. Prabhu Dayal, Former Ambassador
3. Prof. Harsh V. Pant, Vice President, Studies and Foreign Policy, ORF

Context: In addition to economic and military power, the idea of soft power has gained importance during the past few decades. 

Introduction: 

• Indian arts, culture, yoga and spiritualism, culinary varieties, festivals, music and dance forms have attracted people from all around the globe for centuries now. 
• The Committee on External Affairs has recently presented its 16th report on “ the prospects and limitations of India’s soft power and cultural diplomacy”. 

India’s soft power:

• India has many things to offer as soft power such as those described below:
  • Yoga is now practised in more than 150 countries. People in the millions are taking an interest in Yoga.
  • Ayurveda has also become popular, not only in the NRI community in India and the diaspora but even in many other civilizations also. 
  • Our civilization is one of the oldest. We have an environmentally friendly culture. We worship trees. We worship animals. We worship nature because we believe in coexistence. 
  • The Indian knowledge system is very important indeed, even in gaming. Games today, the world over, children’s play is full of violence, fear, aggression, and the like. Only the Indian value system bases games on teaching empathy, and helping each other, the panellist argued.
  • Bollywood film industry, cultural heritage.
• Significance of soft power: 
  • Augments the positive perceptions of a country.
  • It is a persuasive approach to international relations.
  • Revives national pride in the country’s ancient values.

Issues in leveraging India’s soft power:

• According to an analysis done by Portland on soft power, India was not even in the top 30 countries.
• The Indian government in the past was not aggressive and proactive in promoting our soft power.
• Lack of synergy and coordination between the External Affairs Ministry and other ministries.
• Less number of Indian tourism offices abroad.
• In the past, the Indian Diaspora has never been involved with Indian values, culture and traditions as it is today.
• Ayurveda “does not have a recognised pharmacopoeia” and because of this such products are being exported as dietary supplements and nutraceuticals.

Recommendations of the report of Lok Sabha’s standing committee on external affairs:

• Committee asked the Ministry to facilitate the opening of more AYUSH centres overseas.
• Getting recognition abroad for Ayurveda as a system of medicine, adopting the pharmacopoeia of India so that (the products) can be exported as medicine.
• Collaboration with the Indian diaspora to disseminate yoga training abroad, in regions where it is not yet popular.
• The committee suggested revising the differential pricing of tickets to monuments for foreigners and Indians.
• It suggested building a system of common tourist entry passes to multiple heritage sites to streamline the process.
• Increase annual budgetary allocation of ₹500 crore for the Indian Council For Cultural Relations (ICCR).
  • The Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) is the pre-eminent organization of the Government to project India’s soft power abroad.
• It asked for the creation of a coordination committee involving representatives from the ministries of external affairs, culture, youth and sports affairs, AYUSH and science and technology to overcome the lack of coordination among multiple institutions.

Way forward:

• The Indian government should be more aggressive and proactive and think innovatively to promote India’s soft power globally.
• Soft power comes under different ministries so there should be greater synergy among the External Affairs Ministry and other ministries.
• Because the Indian Diaspora is spread far and wide now, the involvement of the Indian Diaspora should be encouraged.

Read all the previous Sansad TV Perspective articles in the link.

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