Rise of Global South championed by India is only silver lining in 2024: USI Director General Major General BK Sharma

"...the only silver lining in 2024 is the rise of Global South, which is being championed by India," Major General BK Sharma said in his New Year Greetings for 2024.

The Director General said that the biggest challenge that India faces is China for which the country needs to develop comprehensive national power and leverage it effectively for internal balancing, external balancing and symmetric balancing.

"The Biggest challenge that India face is besides its comprehensive national growth is the big elephant in the room and that is China. To address China challenge, we need to develop comprehensive national power and leverage it effectively for our internal balancing, external balancing and a symmetric balancing," BK Sharma said.

The USI Director General gave an open call to the nation, policymakers, researchers, Association of Indian Universities, the scientific community and financial institutions to collaborate with USI to make the dream of Viksht Bharat a reality.

"All this strategic direction needs a whole of nation approach, from that perspective, I make an appeal to all the policymakers, researchers, Association of (Indian) Universities, Scientific Community and Financial Institutions to get their heads and shoulders together and collaborate with USI to make the dream of Viksht Bharat a reality," BK Sharma said.

The USI Director General said that the world was volatile in 2023 with the challenges like the Talibanisation of Afghanistan, conflict in Ukraine, Gaza conflict and its expansion to the Red Sea.

"When we reflect on the year 2023, we see a very volatile world. Which is manifest in Talibanisation of Afghanistan, Conflict in Ukraine, Gaza conflict and its expansion to Red Sea, which has caused major disruption in the global supply chain," the Major General said.

The Director General added that the world was also a witness to niche and disruptive technology like Artificial Intelligence, Big data analytics and the Geopolitics of Semiconductors.

"We are also watching the impact of niche and disruptive technology such as Artificial Intelligence, Big data analytics, Geopolitics of Semiconductors, rare earth metals and things like that," BK Sharma said.

The United Service Institution of India is India's oldest Primeval Defence Research Think Tank established in 1870.

The organization deals with military heritage, strategic security, geopolitics, military doctrine, UN Peacekeeping operations, skill development programs, besides, Atmanirbhar Bharat (Make in India) in the defence technology sectors. (ANI)