ABSTRACT
Modern India is a land of incredible contradictions. India’s economy has grown rapidly and holds the promise for enormous expansion, yet poverty still ravages much of the country. India led the world in the creation of new millionaires last year, 1 but it also leads in the number of the world’s poor, with some 900 million people living on less than $2 a day. 2 It is the world’s largest and arguably most vibrant democracy, yet it is plagued by political paralysis and corruption. It has vast coal and gas reserves, but still imports most of its energy. 3 It enjoys signifi cant agricultural diversity and is the world’s largest exporter of rice, 4 but hundreds of millions of Indians still go hungry each day. 5 India sits at the foot of the Himalayas and borders some of the world’s largest glaciers, yet much of the country cannot access clean water. 6 India seeks global infl uence and respect on the world stage, but it often remains unwilling to fl ex its military, economic, or diplomatic power abroad, as it maintains a decades-long inward-looking foreign policy. And while it remains relatively secure and peaceful, forces from outside and now inside India threaten the country’s tranquility and stability with increasing frequency. 7 This is modern India-complex, confounding, and contradictory in so many ways.
