And for a Friday returning from a Family wedding in Chennai amidst the raging Ukraine conflict, some thoughts….. some musings…..
I am amazed at the stories and criticism in western media and many in the US on India abstaining against the UN Resolutions on Ukraine. Russia always supported India in every conflict imposed on her by Pakistan and their handler China, be it Kashmir, Bangladesh or Kargil. India is fiercely independent and a good friend of Russia, but so also with many of the 200 + UN member states and has one of the largest, finest, well trained and disciplined armies in the world. We are not stooges or only dependent on Russia. Equal friends as with Germany, France and USA, but always on our terms too. Over the years we have been procuring defense equipment from US, France, UK, Germany and Israel. All on hard currency payments, so no freebies, no obligations.
No doubt the rising crude prices will impact economies all over the world. So also in India. We are making huge strides in moving away from fossil fuels towards Electric vehicles and Renewable Energy (RE). As on December 2021, we have already added 150 GW of RE and is the fourth largest in the world. But Ukraine crisis and the US led sanctions against Russia has changed World order. With the China-Russia embrace, Germany, US and Japan will need to relocate some of its huge manufacturing out of China to India, which is the only country to assure a growing consumption market with abundant tech talent. The FTA signed with UAE last month will give quick access to Indian manufacturing, Fintech, Entertainment and Value added Agriculture, easy access to Global markets, particularly to Oil /Gas rich countries Saudi, Qatar and Iran. Indians have very high resilience to volatility, unpredictability and chaos. They have the skill sets, competencies and risk taking to thrive under adversities.
The Govt has declared all international flights to resume normal operations from 27th March. Let’s rebuild our economy, the resilient way, the sustainable way, the SEEGOS way.