Superpower Chessboard: Can India Avoid Becoming the Next Pawn or Is It Poised to Be a King?

India's rise to superpower is a two-sided promise of power and peril. As its $3.5 trillion economy and youth bulge propel superpower ambitions, India remains only 12th on the list of the world's most powerful nations, behind traditionalist behemoths. According to experts, India's path to becoming an actual superpower is hindered by deep-seated challenges: income inequality, educated youth unemployment, and infrastructural shortages. As it beats China in numbers and witnesses booming growth, India's strength remains hemmed in by internal conflict and local wars. Yet with wise reforms, a burgeoning start-up economy, and a focus on innovation, India could be a pawn no longer, a king on the global geopolitical board—if it can get past its vulnerabilities and seize its demographic dividend. The world waits: will India fall, or finally checkmate the opposition? Source: The Independent, Times of India, Policy Watcher