Before India gained its independence, a semi-autonomous diplomatic relations was maintained by the Government of British India. They had colonies such as the Colony of Aden under the Bombay Presidency from 1937 to 1963, and consisted of the port city of Aden and its immediate surroundings. After India gained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1947, they joined the Commonwealth of Nations and also supported the independence movements in other colonies, like the Indonesian National Revolution. Overtime, India has gained many attentions in international affairs. The size, the population, and the location are the reason why India is so popular, not to mention the growing economic strength, their military ability, and the scientific and technical capacity to add on. During the Cold War, India did not align itself with any of the major powers, but they had connections with the Soviet Union therefore receiving many military support. After the Cold War, India was affected severely in terms of foreign policy, but still remained to lead the developing world and the Non-Aligned Movement. Then, India seeks to strengthen its diplomatic and economic ties with the United States, the People's Republic of China, the European Union, Japan, Israel, Mexico, and Brazil as well as becoming an active member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. Today, India looks forward to having a permanent seat on the UN Security Council because India has always been an active member of the UN and have constantly been participating in UN peacekeeping operations since the beginning but is they are currently backed by several countries including France, Russia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Brazil and Australia. Also, somewhere in the time frame of the last tree year, India has helped the US and European nations with significant information for war. They held many joint military exercises that resulted in a strengthened US-India and EU-India bilateral relationship where then India's bilateral trade with Europe and US has more than doubled in the last five years. India is also trying to work with nuclear and have already signed a nuclear co-operation agreement with the US, but this has not persuaded other Nuclear Suppliers Group members to sign similar deals with India even though the US argued that India has a strong nuclear non-proliferation record which would make it an exception pursue. If India achieve their goals, the benefit that will come is significant. They will be considered a superpower or better yet a potential of being a global power. What ever they do and decide can affect the world someway of another. They will continue to be the country with the fastest economic growth rates in the world with the largest economy. The cost of this is also significant; with every “good” there is a “bad”. India would have more enemies and could possibly go to war. Increasing in a very fast rate can also turn in to a quick descend.
India is very ritual and religious ever since the history of India. Religion became a part of living for Indians, a part of their culture. Starting from the Shramana religions and the Vedic religion, religion in India started thousands of years ago. India is the birth place of four of the world's major religious traditions which includes Hinduism which is a modified Vedic, Jainism and Buddhism from Sharmana, and lastly Sikhism. Hinduism dominates in India with 80.5 percent of the population, and then Islam with 13.4 percent, Christianity of 2.3 percent, and Sikhism of 1.9 percent are the other major religions followed by Indians. Religion is another reason why in the history of India people went. This included traders, travelers, immigrants, and even invaders.
Another country that is very religious in Asia is China. China’s religions also go way back in the past with Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism during the Tang Dynasty. Other than following a religion, Chinese mostly worship to their ancestors that have past away. After communism took over, Christianity started to merge, but then religion in China slowly faded away during the 50’s. During the 80’s when China opened up and freedom was then given to the people of China, Taoism and Buddhism was then considered to be Chinese culture. Buddhism became the fastest growing religion in China.
To me, the history of the two countries may not be exactly the same but I believed that religion in during the 50’s under communism did fade away but the people was forced not to express in what they believed in. That is the reason why after the “opening up” of China, religion re-emerged so quickly. India and China are similar in terms of religion because they both see religion as a part of their life, their culture.
In India, there are 1.17 billion people living in 3.29 million sq. km. A fairly large number of people belong in the upper and middle class, but at the same time, there is a big pool of people living under the line of poverty, about 70 percent to be more precise. As India keep growing and growing in terms of GDP at around 1.21 trillion USD per year, the large group of lower class people affects the country in several ways. In the history of India, a caste system is very much well known. From priests (Brahmin) to warriors (Kshatriya), then traders/artisans (Vaishya) and lastly farmers/laborers (Shudra), this way of dividing people is somewhat engraved into the society still today even though there are officially illegal. The way you are put into each category is pretty much simple, if you are born a farmer or a laborer, you will always be a Shudra. It is believed that if one is born unclean or polluted, they will always be polluted. This is obviously a problem because it is a problem in the society. As of now 70 percent of the people in India are Shudras, if this problem is not fixed, those numbers will only increase rather than decrease. By having lots of lower class people in the country, I believe that it degrades the country’s image. Other countries that see potential in India would very much put this as a negative view on India. The trust and the reliability on India will for sure decrease. To solve this social problem, the government already has put rules and laws against the caste system to improve the society, but that is not all it takes. The law enforcers are not doing a good enough job. They are not taking this law seriously enough. On the other hand, it’s not only the enforcers that need work; it’s the people of India too. Everyone needs to set aside the caste system and start to accept others, to open up and see what talent one has. This may take generations and generations, so it has to start from the fathers and mothers, teaching their children that there are no such things as a caste system. This routine will need to be practiced as generations pass to the next. This is the only way to cure this social problem. The faster they are able to decrease the numbers who believe in the caste system, the faster India will grow.
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was an Indian boy who was born into an “untouchable” family in the caste system. His father sent him to the army because he would get good education. Right from his childhood, he experienced caste discrimination. He raised himself due to the death of his father and did well in school, later on graduating from Colombia University. Because of his rough childhood life, he has written countless emotional quotes such as this, “This condition obtains even where there is no slavery in the legal sense. It is found where as in caste system, some persons are forced to carry on the prescribed callings which are not their choice.” Knowing his background, it is easier to understand his feelings and emotions while writing this quote. I can feel that he understands a lot more about life than others surrounding him in India. He would speak with knowledge in the introduction of his quote. He understands why there is still a caste system even though he knows that everyone is born equally and especially when there is a law forbidding the caste system. He just wants people to realize that there is no point of it because he can prove it with himself. Being born as an untouchable is basically the lowest of the lowest, but he can prove it to other classes that untouchables can and are capable of being as good as others. The reason why he said “legal sense” is because he knows the law, he can debate, and to top that, he is a Law Minister himself. In the second part of the quote, he explains that it is unfair to be born as an untouchable. To elaborate, by being born as an untouchable, it’s like you are born with a scare on your face. The scare wasn’t there when you’re in the embryo, but as soon as you come out and you realize that you’re an untouchable, it’s like having to be forced to cut yourself in the face just to leave a scar just to remind you where you are from when it’s not even your choice. Now, no matter how or what he achieves in life, every time he looks in the mirror, he will always see that scar imbedded in his face. He is a brave man, doing what he did. He tried to make a difference for all untouchables in India. When I was reading about his life, it made me think of Martin Luther King. I believe that these two great men had similar goals in life, and that was to change the way people think about discrimination.
India plays a very big role in the Asia region in terms of trade, culture, and politics. To start off, India is very famous in trade. This is most likely because of where the land sits on earth and its richness in vast varieties of raw materials. Trade for India started since 2500 B.C.E., when the inhabitants of the Indus River valley developed an urban culture based on commerce and sustained by agricultural trade. Practicing of trading for India kept continuing continuously. In the 90’s, India won 213 parliamentary seats and returned to power at the head of a coalition with P.V. Narasimha Rao who led the Congress-led government which he initiated a gradual process of economic liberalization under Finance Minister Manmohan Singh. These reforms opened the Indian economy to global trade and investment. Today, India’s exports roughly 176.4 billion USD a year with engineering goods, petroleum products, precious stones, cotton apparel and fabrics, gems and jewelry, handicrafts, tea. Not only that, India’s software export is at 22 billion USD a year. Their major trade partners are China, U.A.E., EU, Russia, Japan, and of course the US.
India has a long history, therefore the culture in India has always changed throughout time. India has been invaded by countless such as the Iranian plateau, Afghanistan, Arabia, and the west. The Indians have sunk in many different cultures and languages, absorbed and modified to produce amazing racial and cultural combination. With a population of 1.17 billion, there are 72 percent of Indo-Aryan, 25 percent of Dravidian, and about 2000 more ethnic groups in the last 3 percent. The language both absorbed and originated includes Hindi, English, and 16 other official languages. As for the cultural aspects, we can see that India is vast with many different cultures merged from being invaded from its history.
In history, India started with the Indus Valley Civilization, then the verdict period which explains why Hinduism is the dominant religion in India. After the verdict period, many parts of India had many independent kingdoms and republics. Between the 10th century and the 12th, Delhi Sultanate ruled most the northern parts of India and later came the Mughal Empire. During the Mughal Empire, Akbar the Great had India making progress economically and culturally. Portugal, the Netherlands, France, and Great Britain were the countries that played a role around the 16th century. They established trading post and later took advantage of the Indians. By 1856, most of India was controlled by the British East India Company. After India got its independence on August 15, 1947, the current type of government in India is Federal republic. In the government, the executive branch includes the President who is the chief of state, then the Prime Minister who acts as the head of the government, and Council of Ministers.
Because of the historical significance of India in terms of trade, culture, and politics, the rest of the Asian region was also influenced. By Indian trading, the countries neighboring India such as Pakistan which is to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north, and Bangladesh and Burma to the east also in some ways got some trading benefits. For instance China, China and India started to trade goods trough the Great Silk Routes. India also sent emissaries and Buddhist missions to China both by sea and by land. Culture, Indian culture spread throughout the Asian region. Cultures such as family culture where a family would all stay together at one place traveled to all of Asia. The oldest male would be in charge of everyone and everything; he would make all the important decisions for the family carried throughout Asia. Thailand has certainly also adopted this culture as the eldest in the family would take care of the young and would make the important decisions. Another historical significance of India that influenced Asia is politics. Even though most if not all South East Asian countries reject that they where influenced politically because they reject that they have been colonized by “The Greater India”, rulers of South East Asia countries use Sanskrit names, confirming that they have adopted it themselves which is highly unlikely. In my point of view, India has influenced the Asian region significantly through time. Some of the aspects that were influenced may be merged with original traditions, but I believe a lot of if started from the influence of India.
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