India Country Profile

Prepared by: Twin Falls High School Delegation for Idaho Model U.N. – 2023

Political Profile

India is a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic with a Council of Ministers along with a Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and President, Droupadi Murmu, who controls the central government and the whole of the country. The states of India also have a local government with a Council of Ministers and a Chief Minister who work under a Governor who controls the state itself. India is a multi-party system that contains two major primary factions. The primary political factions include the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been in power since 2014 under President Murmu, and the Indian National Congress (INC). The BJP party is a right-wing
nationalist party while in comparison INC tends to take a more center-left approach to issues. The party currently in power is the BJP party with J. P. Nadda as President, Nadda is also a part of the Indian parliament. With the BJP party in power, they often take an integral humanism approach to issues with a hyper-focus on social conservatism (traditional family values, religious traditions, etc.) and on nationalistic principles (no outside interference). The most recent bills they’ve passed are the Central Universities Bill (education), The Family Courts Bill (Law and Justice), and the Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Amendment Bill (External Affairs). Along with these, the Lok Sabha (LS) and the Rajya Sabha (RS) have passed a total of about 14 bills in 2022 and 39 bills in 2021. Each of them deals with other issues such as environmental issues, finances, power, and many more. As of right now, neither the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha have worked towards passing the most recently introduced bill, the Electricity Amendment Bill of 2022.

Major officials in current Indian politics:
President of India- Droupadi Murmu
Prime Minister of India- Narendra Modi
Chief Justice- Uday Umesh Lalit
Chief Election Commissioner- Rajiv Kumar

Economy

India has the fourth-largest economy in the world. India has a mixed economy and generates wealth in a variety of ways such as farming, agriculture, working in a multitude of modern industries, and providing a wide range of services. India’s main agricultural products are sugar cane, rice, buffalo milk, potatoes, and bananas. Services are the major source of economic growth accounting for two-thirds of India’s output. Using its large, educated English-speaking population India has become one of the main exporters of information technology services, business outsourcing services, and software workers. This generates a considerable percentage of India’s GDP and employs approximately three million workers. India’s main imports are mineral
fuels, oils, waxes, and bituminous substances making up twenty-seven percent of their total imports. India’s economy has been built using child labor and India continues to use child labor as a major part of their economy. More than 10 million children under the age of fourteen are part of the workforce. Children in India are subject to the worst forms of child labor including human trafficking as well as completing dangerous production jobs such as stone quarrying and brickmaking. It is very difficult to improve these conditions as there is corruption among police officials and other law enforcement officials related to the enforcement of child labor laws. Bollywood is India’s Hindi Film Industry based in Mumbai, India. Bollywood produces 1000 films per year, which generates $2 billion for India’s economy. Bollywood has been successful based on hyper-consumption and commercialization. Due to Bollywood’s popularity, it is able to
generate 40% of India’s income with a 10-20% annual growth rate. After the Covid-19
pandemic, India’s economy saw a decline, however, over the past two years it has grown. India’s GDP dropped 7.3% in 2020, conversely in 2021 it increased 9.0% and is expected to increase 6.4% by the end of 2022. Throughout the pandemic India and the United States have remained trading partners. India is the United States’ ninth-highest trading partner, while India trades the most with the United States. Despite India’s economic growth, the country does have a few infrastructure flaws that lead to a decrease in productivity, specifically in transportation. Public railways and ports have excessive delays and India is unable to quickly resolve these infrastructure issues due to an inefficiency in the country’s project approval process.

National Security

India currently faces several major national security threats, primarily due to their conflicts with Pakistan and China. One of the most prominent recent conflicts in India was with Pakistan over the Kashmir region in the Northern part of their border because Pakistan and India both claim the region as theirs, and as a result, Kashmir has been split between the two nations. India also has several disputes with China, and they are considered enemies. India’s approach to these disputes has been heavily criticized and generally has done little to quell or prevent further issues from arising over these disputes. India also faces internal national security threats due to religious and ethnic conflicts, primarily due to the rise and spread of Islam, which is heavily discriminated against by the Indian government as Hindus are the majority in power. In many ways, a large amount of these threats are the Indian government’s fault for their systematic discrimination against many groups, their strict caste system, and other such human rights violations. There are several other internal issues that adversely affect their national security, such as water resource issues, drug smuggling, and rampant corruption within the government itself. The current administration and government are doing little to alleviate these issues, but are often exacerbating the issues due to their repeated human rights violations. One of the major reasons they have difficulty in addressing these issues is India’s lack of a solid national security plan/policy, so they have no framework to guide their efforts in fixing these issues. India will need a lot of assistance and advice to be able to fix these internal issues, but will also have to be
receptive to solutions they may disagree with.

Role in United Nations

India plays a big role in supporting the United Nations. India joined the United Nations in 1945, after seeking international peace and security. India brought up worries and concerns regarding colonialism, racial discrimination, and disarmament. India also contributed to decolonization. From 1947 to 1948, India helped draft the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. India had the first woman to become a President of the UN General Assembly in 1953. India also helped with the ending of the arms race and global disarmament. India tries to play a fairly constructive and helpful role to attain a peaceful relationship with all countries. India still to this day provides eminent Force Commanders for UN Missions. They have contributed over 195,000 troops, and
participated in more than 49 UN missions. That is more troops than any other country in the UN has provided over time. Over 168 Indian peacekeepers have made the supreme sacrifice in UN missions. So far, India has provided 15 Force Commanders to various UN Missions. India currently is the second largest provider of troops for UN missions, with 7,676 troops deployed in 10 different UN peacekeeping missions, 760 of which are police personnel. India has provided an exponential amount of help and will continue to provide support to the UN.

Current Role in Climate Change Mitigation

India is the fifth-largest greenhouse gas emitter and the third-largest emitter of carbon dioxide in the world. The cause of these emissions continues to increase because as the population continues to rise, the economy has a higher demand for oil and coal. India has taken an oath to cut down emissions, and eventually become carbon neutral by 2070. India has been hesitant to set reduction goals towards climate change and believes that other countries should also take responsibility for global warming mostly because India has bigger problems to worry about like human trafficking, and food and water shortages. Prime Minister, Mr. Modi, says that they are trying to reduce greenhouse gasses by 45% by 2030. India hopes to achieve this through hydroelectric power, solar power, nuclear power, and windmills. India is hesitant to reduce carbon emissions as they feel that this responsibility should be placed on other countries that are a bigger contributor to climate change. Their stubbornness to lower their usage of fossil fuels as
a large population, sets an example for others to refuse change as well. Many citizens in India believe that they can buy relief and get away from the consequences of climate change. This belief causes an issue with motivation to control climate change as these wealthy people are not using their importance and voice in their community to advocate and encourage the government to take action. India continues to deny their substantial contribution to climate change agreeing only to lessen their carbon emissions to appease global demands.