Nova Posted October 29, 2012 Posted October 29, 2012 Shashi Tharoor has a new book out titled Pax Indica - India and the World of the 21st century. Well the book came out in July, but I just found out about it. This book is an analysis of India's foreign policy and how it affects domestic issues. There are some startling facts in the book, and I will quote a short excerpt which I found astonishing: India is served by the smallest diplomatic corps of any major country, not just far smaller than the big powers but by comparison with most of the larger emerging countries. At just about 900 IFS officers to staff India's 120 missions and 49 consulates abroad, India has the fewest foreign service officers among the BRICS countries. (In addition, there are some 3,000 stenographers, cyber experts and clerks in the IFS service that provide support staff to the MEA.) This compares poorly not just to the over 20,000 deployed by the United States, and the large diplomatic corps of the European powers: UK (6,000), Germany (6,550) and France (6,250)! But also to Asia!s largest foreign services, Japan (5,500) and China (4,200). The picture looks even more modest when compared to the 1,200 diplomats in Brazil's foreign ministry. It is ironic that India - not just the world's most populous democracy but one of the world's largest bureaucracies, has diplomatic corps roughly equal to tiny Singapore's 867. The observation here is that India cannot aim to be a great power, when expertise and man power in the area of foreign services is lagging so behind than that of other countries. The common entrance exam system for IFS also needs an overhaul. Indian diplomats don't lag behind in terms of ability or intelligence, but the sheer amount of workload spread out so unevenly has severely decreased our efficiency in understanding and dealing with issues related to other countries. This not only affects foreign policy but also impacts domestic issues. There are too many points to mention here. Instead, I would highly recommend that you read this essay, by Tharoor, at the following link: http://www.caravanmagazine.in/reporting-and-essays/ministry-eternal-affairs
Clarke Posted October 29, 2012 Posted October 29, 2012 The economist also brought up the fact: India's total number of diplomats is less than those of NZ!
anotherhawkeye Posted October 29, 2012 Posted October 29, 2012 We should pack the tea and gop party people to India to see small government in action...
Crookbond Posted October 30, 2012 Posted October 30, 2012 Everyone knows the problem and the solution. No one wants to implement. Apna kaam chalta toh bhaad mein jaaye junta
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