What would be the latest PoD that could see India becoming a Superpower?

Som910

India has a population that rings in Just below China, a fairly educated and young workforce and fair international relations.

But crippling poverty, corruption and local rivalries that tie up military spending mean that it hasn't been able to punch in the weight class it appears to belong in.

What would be the latest PoD that could see India rising up to the highest echelons of World Power?
 

Plmd

Som910 said:
India has a population that rings in Just below China, a fairly educated and young workforce and fair international relations.

But crippling poverty, corruption and local rivalries that tie up military spending mean that it hasn't been able to punch in the weight class it appears to belong in.

What would be the latest PoD that could see India rising up to the highest echelons of World Power?
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Having the British Raj divided in a better way, or for that matter not at all? This should prevent the big population exchange with Pakistan, leading to less poverty overall.
 
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marktaha

Banned
Indian businessmen having the same freedom there that they had here rather than being held back by socialism, bureaucracy and superstition
 
AltoRegnant

AltoRegnant

You need to avoid partition sincce that's where the biggest rivalry (Pakistan) comes from. as a whole, colonialism also ravaged India, but i think that's necessary for a world power India. that's not because 'o much rail' but because prior to the British, India was more like europe than china, with countless states and empires and a million little princes claiming dominion over the whole peninsula. without an outside force, i don't see it uniting and staying united. the Mughals made it work for a while but lacked the tech to sustain it and ran into the decadence problems of any monarchy.

So i suppose the latest PoD would be for the hindu majority Raj to make concessions to the Muslim forces.
 

Vinization

Keep the partition from happening. Not only this prevents the Indo-Pakistani Wars, it also likely drives this Greater India into the arms of the US since they'd probably have a lot of tensions with the USSR thanks to Afghanistan.
 

Madhukar_Shah

KingOnTheEdge said:
India was more like europe than china
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Wait so you're saying it was more like Europe than china.... Which is why it couldn't become powerful? That's some interesting reasoning. India most definitely doesn't need to be united to be rich, and I think possibly the best scenario would be the situation of the 17th century where the north is united, the deccan is split between the Telugu Qutb Shahi state and the Adil Shahi state (whether or not the Adil Shahis can maintain their expansion into the Carnatic coast) and the south is split between about 5 states in kerala and 4 substantial Nayaka states. That's nowhere near countless, and even the Nayaka states have similar populations to quite a few major European states.

I really don't understand the point you're trying to make.


KingOnTheEdge said:
decadence problems of any monarchy.
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That seems like a problematic concept that's at best a sweeping generalisation that ignores the fact that politics was dominated by monarchies until the 20th century- unless you're saying that Russia, Imperial Germany and the United Kingdom weren't major powers I don't know what you mean.
 

Vinization

How about keeping a major power that could eventually get the capacity to kick the British out, like the Sikh Empire or Mysore?
 
AltoRegnant

AltoRegnant

Madhav Deval said:
Wait so you're saying it was more like Europe than china.... Which is why it couldn't become powerful? That's some interesting reasoning. India most definitely doesn't need to be united to be rich, and I think possibly the best scenario would be the situation of the 17th century where the north is united, the deccan is split between the Telugu Qutb Shahi state and the Adil Shahi state (whether or not the Adil Shahis can maintain their expansion into the Carnatic coast) and the south is split between about 5 states in kerala and 4 substantial Nayaka states. That's nowhere near countless, and even the Nayaka states have similar populations to quite a few major European states.
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There's a difference between an Indian state being a world power, and India being a world power. I assumed op wanted something close to otl's republic of india
 

Som910

KingOnTheEdge said:
I assumed op wanted something close to otl's republic of india
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Yes, while India being a World Power is what I was going for, I would say that an Indian State being an World Power would fit the bill if you squint.

But I also asked about the latest PoD, so...
 

Madhukar_Shah

Som910 said:
Yes, while India being a World Power is what I was going for, I would say that an Indian State being an World Power would fit the bill if you squint.

But I also asked about the latest PoD, so...
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I mean there's a case to be made that the modern republic of India becoming a world power at any point after partition wouldn't fit the bill as it's an Indian state and not the Indian state too, but yeah.

The latest pod in my eyes is no partition, driving India to the us. It's influence probably doesn't come up too much on the international stage apart from in the middle east, which India would likely take the forward step in keeping stable- perhaps keeping the Shah in Iran, or mediating to prevent the CIA coup in the first place. Foreign policy would be mainly Afghanistan based until the cold war is over but if that's stable it could completely butterfly things like the Iran Iraq war, American invasions of the middle east and in general the wave of political islamisation that's been happening since the 70s.
 

Som910

Madhav Deval said:
It's influence probably doesn't come up too much on the international stage apart from in the middle east
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Well, if India is not caught up in regional politics with Pakistan, being an United subcontinent, I guess it would also exert diplomatic pressure eastwards towards Indo-China and Greater India. So perhaps some interference in Vietnam as well?
 

Som910

Since I had asked latest, and most believe no-partition is a valid PoD for that, then Post-Colonial State...?
 

Silver01

KingOnTheEdge said:
India was more like europe than china, with countless states and empires and a million little princes claiming dominion over the whole peninsula.
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The mughal empire had just collapsed that was the only thing similar to Europe
And even before in the early Indian periods
where and when because it dopended

Many parts of India didn't have the balance of power unlike late medieval europe India post mughal collapse didn't have that as well nor the warfare (not technology but system ) of the west
 

Sol Zagato

India never leaves the British empire, and the British Empire never breaks up. The British Empire becomes a superpower, and is in truth an Indian empire because India becomes the strongest and most influential part.
 
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