Book review- Delusional Politics by Hardeep Singh Puri

Writing after a long time and  about the book which I received the firsthand copy from the author himself on 26th of January this year.

About Hardeep Puri Sir,  there's always an inspiration to draw from his four-decade long career in diplomacy. He was a pioneer of multilateral diplomacy having served as a diplomat at Indian Mission in Geneva where I'm presently serving and also as Indian representative to UN in New York. Hia previous book which I read last year- Perilous interventions was very aptly descriptive of the misconceived interventionism by West in Iraq, Libya and Syria and also by Saudi Arabia  and Iran in Yemen and Russian intervention in Ukraine, in almost all cases, achieving the geostrategic objectives was the primary goal of invention often made under the garb of humanitarian crisis and for peace. It provides an account into how the UN, as the harbinger of international peace and security, failed to prevent the spread of insecurity among the nations.

In his latest book, Delusional politics, Puri Sir delves into the  politics of delusion practiced by the political leadership without thinking about the far reaching consequences of their act. An ill-conceived thought of holding a referendum on Brexit came in the mind of David Cameron with his political motive to strengthen his standing in the Conservative party. How this decision is now ruining and threatening the British. He also describes the policy making under Trump as being Delusional.

Without delving into the political aspects of the book, here is the summary of the chapters on terrorism and trade-

1. Politics of terror: Abject poverty, religion and lack of education are not the only forces behind terrorism. It's actually based on constellation of fault lines. Imbalances caused by exclusionary, unaccountable and ideologically based governance; inequitable distribution of resources, deft use of internet and social media in the era of new and emerging geopolitical power rivalries are some of the causes.                                  
2. Lack of a global definition of terrorism within the multilateral system under UN- Major objections on:

State use of armed forces against civilians and right to resistance of the people under foreign occupation.

"It's inconceivable that any terror outfit can outgrow its modest beginning without external assistance"- by a group of individuals/another state/entities.

Online radicalism- when finally the West has decided to shed its delusions on terrorism due to lone-wolf attacks on its soil.

How's ISIS different from JeM or Jamaat-ud-Dawa. In fact, ISIS has arguably drawn inspiration from a country like Pakistan, which uses non-state actors as a proxy for achieving geopolitical goals.

Locking-up radicalized and unemployed youths in jails only helps to incubate Al-Qaeda in jails. We need to carefully understand radicalisation in order to counter it effectively.

No terror plot would be successful without the governmental use of terror as a tool for achieving its geostrategic goals and similarly, no Countering Violent Extremism strategy will be successful without state responsibility. Naming and shaming is a must!

Politics of Trade policy:

Having joined the trade liberalisation bandwagon and giving up the quotas, why has India failed to take advantage, while the rest of the developing world like China, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Sri Lanka etc. did?

Where have we lost?

1. India has paid insufficient attention to the value of Trade policy over the years. Eg. In the textiles sector, the enhanced duty drawback scheme, implemented by GoI in 2016 had been suggested way back in 1996. Policy paralysis, lack of will and perhaps lack of full understanding prevented the required steps being taken back then. Had timely steps being taken, India's share of global trade in textiles, clothing would've been much larger.
2. We need good qualified professionals at the helm of Trade policy decision making, it's too important a matter to be left to generalists.
3. In addition to trade liberalisation, we need trade-related infrastructure, trade facilitation and a reform of domestic tax and investment regime.
4. Our private sector must learn and accept the need to compete. Farsightedness and long term planning for investment and technology.
5. Need to prevent the creeping in of politics into trade and develop a bipartisan consensus on Trade policy due to its direct linkage to national interest and economic prosperity for the country.
6. India has to become a part of global value chain (GVC), especially so in the present times of dramatic transformation owing to initiatives like BRI, AI, digitalisation of global economy so as to avoid finding ourselves at the fringes of GVCs.

Steps taken by India in the domains of Trade-related infrastructure and ease of doing business-

• GST
• DMIC-21st century smart cities for expanding India's manufacturing and services base
• Make in India - promotion of FDI (Liberalisation of regime), global design & mfg. hub
• National waterways act, 2016 (first commercial container movement from Kolkata to Varanasi)
• National bankruptcy act
• Digital-India pgm- eased G2B interface

Why India is at the fringes of GVCs today?

• No Indian power figures in the top 20 container ports in the world as per the latest data from World Shipping Council.
• Whereas there are 10 Chinese ports in the top 20 with Shanghai port at the top in terms of volume shipped.

Sagarmala programme- "P for P" (Ports for Prosperity)

Aims to revitalize the old ports to make them among the finest in the world. ( Port modernization, port connectivity enhancement, coastal community development, port-linked industrialization)

World merchandise trade (USD 16 Trillion) - 2 categories: small basket with 30% value and big basket with 70% value

• India's exports: 70% in small basket ( shrimps, buffalo meat, small diamond, jewellery, rice etc)
• Higher end of value chain: electronics, telecom, engineering goods- what India needs to target ( access to latest technology & trade facilitation is the key)

• Specialised skills and massive effort on R&D
• Preparation not for tomorrow, but today's fourth IR (AI, Blockchain, robotics, cloud-computing, automation and 3D printing etc)

Today, Indian economy- USD 2.8 Trillion

India's share in global exports- 2% ( merchandise + services)

• Stagnant since 2013

Our approach to FTAs/PTAs/RTAs and stance in WTO

• Low utilisation rates in FTAs
• Not enough opening of services sectors in partner countries

• Negotiate hard to achieve a deal that defends our national interest!
• Draw redlines in consultation with stakeholders
• Take everyone into confidence

Advantages from rcep- 

Part of GVC, access to technology and our products will meet global standards on SPS & TBT.

Our interests are best served by an open, predictable and rules-based MTS ( Multilateral Trading System).

So, our stakes in WTO today are far greater than even Western countries like US)

Carry out far-reaching domestic consultations to reach definitive decisions on what constitutes our fundamental National interest and what can be used as a negotiating leverage to obtain concessions.