EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: INDIA, AN ANALYSIS

Contemporary India is a diverse and unique country with a promising economic standing in the global marketplace. India’s history consists of a number of interesting and noteworthy paradoxes that have helped shape its society and culture. The chapters of this report will cover a broad spectrum of issues concerning India, which if not addressed, stand to threaten the democracy, progression, and stability of a great nation.

In our first chapter we will address the obstacles facing the establishment of food security in India. Specifically, India is challenged with population, climate, and institutional constraints. Additionally, inadequate levels of agricultural productivity, inaccessibility to food and rising food prices are extensively affecting the growing Indian population. India must confront these issues to ensure sustainable growth and secure its position as an economic power.

Suggested reforms to assist India in establishing food security include the increased accessibility of qualitative nourishment for its large impoverished population. Furthermore, the Indian government must take into account the diverse climate and unique state income circumstances when rationalizing food quotas. Lastly, the government should plan to systematically implement irrigation and infrastructure improvements. Successful efforts to establish food security in India will allow for continued, sustainable economic growth for the future of the nation.

In our second chapter we will examine the sociopolitical strife of the Sikh minority in India. We will focus on the conflict facing the Sikhs in the Punjab region, where the 60% of the population in this area is Sikh, and look at their struggle for an independent state. In order to understand the conflict, we will follow how tension in the region has evolved since pre-independence India with British rule to the radicalization of the conflict that arose in the 70s with massacres, like the assault on the Golden Temple, and finally to its current status, where the situation in Punjab is more calmed, although it has many adherents among Sikhs living abroad (mostly UK and Canada). In the conclusion, we will analyze the issue by comparing it to other radical independent movements in Ireland and Spain and we will look at some recommendations about the internationalization of terrorism and how to avoid future violence.

In our third chapter, we will analyze the effects of the India-Pakistan conflict over the territories of Jammu and Kashmir on the domestic Muslim population and its position in society. Certain issues pertaining to the widening gap between Hindu and Muslim Indians will be addressed, so well as potential problems that may arise from increasing and maintained levels of disparity between these two groups. Efforts to bring more Muslims into mainstream Indian society and to stamp out low-level corruption are key to ensuring progress in this area.

This will tie in with the last chapter, which looks at the relationship between both Pakistan and India in the context of terrorism. It will expose the underpinnings of their relationship, along with the issues and conflicts that have led to the rise of militant groups provoking terrorist attacks. Also we will look at the motives behind the radicalization of certain groups, particularly those active in the Kashmir conflict and look at ways to diffuse the situation. Our research will show that the Pakistan state has played an active role in pushing militants into the region and ‘stirring the pot’ by inciting anti-Indian/Western sentiments and arming these groups, which has resulted in these types of attacks.

We will look at India’s role in the conflict and how it is going about waging a counterinsurgency in the conflict and attempting to ameliorate the high tensions and disputes in the area. Also we will see the roll that the current United States-Afghanistan conflict plays on the matter. And lastly we will look at the steps India can take to stem the terrorist attacks against its country and interests, and how it can pursue a more effective counterinsurgency operation in Kashmir to win the hearts and minds of the people, and hopefully rectify the situation.