One of the best ways to gain international credibility is by sending peace keeping force.
1) You instantly gain a favorable reputation with the government you are helping and improve your standing in the UN as a defender of democracy.
2) Indian Companies are more likely to expand in areas where Indian troops are there to protect their investment and employees. It gives them a sense of security, plus ensures cooperation of the local government.
3) You boost the morale of your soldiers who feel bored due to inaction and whose skills are underutilized in peace time.
4) A UN mission is an excellent training ground where we can demonstrate our defense capabilities in different terrains. France talks about sending 200 troops, we already have a million in J&K I think we can relocate 200 of them for the world causes and gain some laurels.
5) UN pays equally to each soldier irrespective of their nationality. Even $5 per hour for 10hours each day might look peanuts for a European or American soldier, but translates into 69000/- p.m. for an Indian. (Remember on duty a soldier does not have to pay for his expenses) Hence most Indian army soldiers look UN posting as a reward for their good work. A cash reward for which the govt. does not have to shell out even a dime.
6) British ruled an empire by making the local provinces pay for the troops it housed in their territory. That way they fed for a world conquering army. If India needs to upgrade its military might without increasing budget allocations. I guess this is the way.
7) Most of the developed countries are relying more on air and naval supremacy to maintain their military might. They have limited number of infantry divisions to spare for the world causes.
Yes there is a danger of losing some soldiers in a foreign land. But to boost the morale of Indian soldiers, increase our international influence, and play an important role in the world affairs.
In this Lebanon crisis, the main brokers of peace are the EU. A body without any army, foreign minister or diplomatic service is collective sending troops to broker a peace treaty. Italy is being asked to take command of the peace-keeping force. A question comes to my mind, why is India not involved. To gain this title, we need to send our soldiers and fight terrorists abroad. You do not have to breed a army of mercenaries, but sure you could spare 200-300 soldiers who can prove the world about how strong Indian’s are.
9 replies on “India, Defender of democracy.”
UN is a bogus organisation that pushes papers and does ‘stuff’ only for an eyewash, the only good thing is that a few Indian Soldiers are getting a fully paid foreign trip.
totally agree with you. It is a bogus organization, but helping it gives us some internaional good will. Plus you generously reward your brave soldiers. All this at no cost to you ….. wow it is a win win situation.
[…] power […]
If you can read this article, that might change your perception of UN. It has got noble aims, but the major powers in quest for their petty self interests have reduced the effectiveness of the whole organization. It is up to countries like ours to set a better example then the unilateral policy that is followed by major powers or creation of other offshoots like NATO.
Sorry, the article: http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_RQJNQGQ
I have high regard for UN…. What I am saying is that sending troops abroad would be the fastest and most efficient way for India to gain respect in international politics.
However one should not forget the indian Peacekeeping fiasco in Sri Lanka… where we lost over 1k soldiers and 2k were put out of commision. yet we ended up making enemies in both Local Sri Lankan government as well the LTTE
@ Pegasus
IPKF was a big fiasco. No doubt about it. But then hindsight is a wonderful thing isn’t it? What would you or I have done, if we were in Rajiv’s position? The Sri-Lankan president specifically asked for our assistance. Being the major power in the region (south asia), should we have brushed off that request? In hindsight it is very easy to say, yes, we should have. But considering the involvement of ISI in various capacities, would it have been the wise thing for us to do? People keep saying that India got involved because of the Tamils in SriLanka. That could not be farther from the truth.
Well don’t talk about india’s need to raise IPKF….
1) you support and train LTTE and then one fine day you send in a 10k large force to crush it…..
only logic I can think for is that either india is just like Pak…. (afgan) or we are plain nuts.
india got involved because we are a sadist imperialistic country like USA… and we have problems in finding that our neighbors are at peace.
http://shocking.wordpress.com/2005/06/09/india-is-a-peace-loving-nation/
interesting
ankur it is not all that black and white
the fact is that the Sinhalese were also to blame for the birth of the ltte which went for the gun to defend their rights.
ltte is not an externally propped and funded organisation like those in jnk
because they are well organised and are considered one of the deadliest terror organisations even by the us agencies -with unparalleled expertise in car and suicide bombing.