India’s soft power

• India has ranked 27th, in the Global Soft-Power Index 2020.
• Soft power is the ability of a country to persuade others to do what it wants without resorting to force or coercion. It lies in a country’s attractiveness and comes from three resources:
• its culture (in places where it is attractive to others),
• its political values (when it lives up to them at home and abroad),
• its foreign policies (when they are seen as legitimate and having moral authority).
• Indian scholars like Kautilya and Kamandak have referred to ‘soft’ diplomacy, including the practice of sandhi (peace).

India’s Strengths as a Soft Power

• long history, culture and civilization: attracted both intellectuals and common folk from across the globe
• Presence of all the major religions of the world: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism and from outside- Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Indian government is using this in its outreach to East, Southeast, and Central Asia Buddhism.
• Yoga and Meditation: health aspects being researched and propagated by well know physicians and doctors
• Music, dance, art and architecture: Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) under MEA does pioneering work in not only disseminating our culture abroad but also encouraging exposure of other cultures in India to encourage a cultural dialogue.
• Bollywood In Afghanistan, Russia and Africa
• Indian Cuisine is a major attraction for foreigners
• Indian Diaspora as NRIs and PIOs role in projecting its Soft Power. They not only help in disseminating our culture but also have, on occasions, contributed to promoting our Foreign Policy goals

Challenges with India’s Soft Power

• Not unlocking its potential: fares poorly on tourism and education on a per capita basis.
• Lack of diversification: 36 India Cultural Centres (ICC) aimed at the diaspora in Caribbean and South Africa whereas ignoring strategic and growing relationships in the Nordics and Latin America.
• Negative perception: for corruption, endemic poverty and hostility to business. Reports in the international media of pollution in urban areas, child labor and violence against women have detracted expatriates, tourists, business people and other visitors.
• Lack of state enabled endeavours: most Indian cultural diffusion such as Bollywood have occurred without the involvement of the government
• India’s Popularity restricted mostly to developing world

Way Ahead

• Need to focus on quality, training, excellence and investment for India’s soft power to be globally recognised
• Leveraging textile craftsmanship as it used cultural motifs and patterns from all the cultures. India's Khadi textile designs carry the history as well as a huge aspect of India’s political philosophy that much of the world has yet to understand
• setting up an Indian Cultural Services (ICS) – a cultural cadre to nurture creativity with a global perspective
• Learning from international best practices: Like UK’s ‘The GREAT Britain’ campaign, needs a strategic creative project and launch a unified cohesive pitch of ‘Image India’.

Few initiatives taken by India

• Setting up a public diplomacy division within the Ministry of External Affairs in 2006
• Ministry of Tourism- “Incredible India” campaign to showcase its social, political, and cultural assets abroad.
• Supporting larger foreign policy initiatives such as the Look East Policy (now Act East), the Connect Central Asia policy, and developing strategic aid and trade partnerships in Africa.
• Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to develop a “soft power matrix" to measure the effectiveness of India’s soft power outreach.
• increased budgetary allocations to the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), the nodal government agency for India’s soft power projection.

Soft power cannot be a substitute for hard power as it helps only if the country has built up its conventional sources of economic and military power. At the most fundamental level, Soft Power is about winning the hearts and minds of people.  

A virtual exhibition on the shared Buddhist heritage of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) countries.

• Soft power as a tool for foreign policy was conceptualized by Joseph Nye in the 1990s.
• Religion, cuisine, music, art, Bollywood etc. are India’s various tools for soft power diplomacy. 

Importance of religion in India’s soft power diplomacy

• India's religious diversity is its biggest strength: all the major religions of the world in India, Four are homegrown: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Four came from outside: Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
• Role in its policy: India’s Look East Policy is being built up by emphasizing India’s historical links with Buddhism
• sought membership to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on the grounds that it has the 2nd largest Muslim population in the world.
• safe haven for Jews at a time of their prosecution in their native lands provides the foundation to strong India Israel relationship.
• Religious diplomacy has been integral to India: “VASUDHAIVA KUTUMBAKAM ('the whole world is but one family) was enshrined in Maha Upanishad.
• Religion is a cohesive bond for Indian subcontinent: Various religions of India help it to connect with all the neighboring countries.

What are the challenges being faced by India in projecting itself as a leader in religious soft power diplomacy?

• China is emerging as a competitor: potential of Buddhism in the area of diplomacy, China has made it a crucial part of its soft power strategy . its historical association, and has largest Buddhist population of any country in the world.
• Structural loopholes in the efforts to propagate India’s culture: performance of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), with centers in about 35 countries and aimed at promoting Indian culture, has been lackadaisical. India has failed to build its brand value abroad. 
• Strict visa rules: citizens of only Nepal, Bhutan, and Maldives are eligible for visa-free travel to India. This acts as a hurdle in leveraging India’s enormous cultural assets and religious heritage by reviving intra-regional tourism flows.

What India should do to make its religious soft power diplomacy effective?

• Needs to have a people centric approach for leveraging religious diversity
• Soft Power dissemination should be neutral:should not be any reference to our interests while propagating our civilization and cultural heritage. 
• Economic vibrancy must be maintained and enhanced as soft power assets per se do not translate into policy gains.
• Celebrating values of other countries: not only promote Indian culture abroad but also make Indians aware of other cultures.

Religious tolerance and secular values provide India an edge in global diplomacy particularly over China. In the saga of Buddhist soft power diplomacy, China will be struggling because of its treatments of Tibetan Buddhist during Cultural Revolution and the occupation of the territory. Treatment to Uighur Muslims will make it difficult for China to win the hearts and minds of Islam followers.