Matching the UK's Strengths with India's Developmental Aspirations

Matching the UK's Strengths with India's Developmental Aspirations

Strategic expert Gareth Price concludes how education could be the key to unlock the full potential of the UK-India partnership.

Highlights:

  • While Higher education is a British strength, numerous surveys suggest it is an Indian weakness. UK's reluctant to meet India's clear request for easier visa access to students could result in them seeking out other countries.

  • A host of non-traditional security challenges like climate change, drug trafficking, infectious diseases, migration, disasters, resource scarcity and transnational crime will affect the UK and India. There is scope for deeper and sustained dialogue on each of these.

  • The UK should look at India-UK relations in comparison with other countries, instead of an abstract subject, as it is not the only one seeking to form ties with India.

The joint statement that resulted from Theresa May's visit to India in November 2016 set out a broad range of areas with the potential for greater interaction between the UK and India. The UK has been astute in recognising the benefit of engaging on areas in which India has a need, as opposed to pushing India on areas in which the UK has strength but which may not match India's priorities. Yet while the agenda is broad and impressive, often the level of engagement on each individual issue could be deepened. Moving forward, as the UK seeks to strengthen its relationship with India, is there a particular feature of global governance on which it could work with India to demonstrate the utility of the bilateral relationship Alternatively, are there lessons from other countries which have sought to promote themselves within India

Global governance

For the first question, that of global governance, India frequently works on an issue-by-issue basis with like-minded countries. Thus, when promoting itself as a fast-growing economy, India has utilised the BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China and, later, South Africa. The BRICS grouping initially faced criticism from some Western commentators since the members do not share the same value system. An alternative grouping which does share values as well as an aspiration for permanent membership of a reformed UN Security Council is the IBSA Dialogue Forum, comprising India, Brazil and South Africa. Another pertinent grouping is the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), which has a secretariat based in Mauritius and comprises twenty-one countries with a coastline on the Indian Ocean. So, for the UK, is there a particular issue for which cooperation and engagement between the UK and India makes sense and for which a UK-India grouping could work together to come up with a shared approach or set of rules While they may not be obvious partners, both countries have expressed a desire to work together on global governance issues. Many of the issues are already on the dialogue agenda for the UK and India. These include terrorism, radicalisation, cyber security and sustainable energy, for instance. On each of these issues, there is scope for deeper and sustained dialogue that could, in time, come up with a set of rules or a shared approach to the issue under discussion. Were the UK to invest the time and resources and develop, with India, a common understanding of the issue and a common solution, this would send a powerful signal, as well as demonstrate - to India - that the UK is a useful global partner.

Learning from the West

For the second approach, are there lessons from other countries seeking to deepen their engagement with India Of late, most Western countries have sought to promote themselves within India. India's importance to the West - both in relation to global challenges and as a place of economic opportunity - is a relatively recent development. Japan was one of the first 'Western' countries to spot India's potential. Next were the EU and the US. In each of these cases, the relationship has been developed predicated on India's needs, with the Western partner looking for issues in which they have deep-rooted expertise, which can be shared with India for mutual benefit. While the UK has shifted to trying to focus on India's policy priorities, problematically, post-referendum Britain appears more insular, despite rhetorically committing to a more internationalist perspective. At the same time, the UK's flagship industries - in particular, financial and legal services - are not priority areas for India. While there have been some positive developments for the former, with the introduction of masala bonds, it is difficult to make the case that the UK and Indian economies are complementary. In addition, India's primary ask of the UK is for greater visa access, a wish unlikely to be granted in contemporary Britain.

Education could be the bridge

That said, is there an issue or sector which the UK could focus on in partnership with India's developmental aspirations An area for which proven British expertise could be showcased and for which British commitment could run deep Education is the obvious area for enhanced collaboration. Higher education is a British strength, and numerous surveys suggest it is an Indian weakness. Many prominent Indians have been educated in the UK, and only five years ago almost 70,000 Indian students were enrolled in British universities. Now, however, that figure has fallen below 12,000, as the UK has sought to reduce inward migration. Many politicians believe that student numbers should be exempted from overall migration figures, but current restrictions on working in the UK postgraduation make other countries - notably Canada and Australia - more attractive options. Hopefully, the current British mindset will change and Indian students will be seen as contributors to the economy.

Addressing challenges

Beyond education, the question for the UK is whether to continue with a broad, if shallow, array of dialogues and collaborations or to focus on a smaller number and go deeper. On a range of issues, both the conceptualisation of the problem and the national interests involved are currently markedly different. Many of the subjects on which partnerships were announced during Theresa May's visit appear to be on the money - areas where experiences can be shared and best practices developed. In addition to traditional security concerns, a host of non-traditional security challenges will affect the UK and India. These include climate change, drug trafficking, infectious diseases, migration, disasters, resource scarcity and transnational crime. Whether the UK would be India's partner of choice in any of these could be a moot point. Had the UK wanted to work with India on any of these issues, or subsets of these issues, it could have done so at any point in the last decade.

Conclusion

The choice lies with the UK rather than India. The UK is not the only country seeking to deepen its relationship with India and instead of looking at UK-India relations as an abstract subject, the UK would be better advised to look at it in comparison with other countries, some of which are investing heavily (financially) to improve relations. And the UK's 'shared historic ties', often mentioned, do not necessarily count in its favour. India has set out its developmental priorities and its security concerns. With its youthful population, its economic growth is set to continue. The obvious issue that lies at the intersection of India's requirements and the UK's strengths is education - whether vocational certification or tertiary education. If the UK remains reluctant to meet India's clear request for easier visa access and to ease access for Indian students, it will be the UK's loss and its competitors' gain.

Dr Gareth Price is a Senior Research Fellow at Chatham House.

The above is a synopsis of one of the chapters from ′Winning Partnership: India-UK Relations Beyond Brexit′, edited by India Inc. Founder & CEO Manoj Ladwa.

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