Is India ready to fight the information war?

The 21st century has brought forth many technological advancements on the world, and some of the most important of these are digital and television media. In this age of information technology, information (true or not) can be spread incredibly quickly to a larger audience than ever before with a single click.

India is at an important juncture of time, where it is exerting significant influence and projecting its might on the global stage, but the prevalence of technology in daily life and its resultant, that is the so-called 'information war', where wars are based on fighting through competing narratives and aiming to demoralize the enemy, is becoming an increasingly inevitable challenge to India's rising stature as an emerging global superpower.

Today, it is largely believed that Western media publications, from nations such as the US, the UK, France and Germany are leading the information war, as they are able to exert their control on building global narratives through some of their most powerful media houses. These media houses, along with other smaller private and state broadcasters that amplify the narrative built by them largely control the global society's perspective on international affairs.

But, because of the superiority complex and inherent racism carried by Western minds, that reflects on the reportage of these media houses, developing countries like India, are, to an extent, adversely affected by the hatred and racism that such reportage instills in Western society. As a booming economy and an emerging superpower, India needs to do more to effectively counter Western information warfare being carried out against it.

In the backdrop of the orchestrated all-out smear campaign against India being carried out by the Western media against India's G20 presidency, trying to undermine its importance and diverting attention from the G20's agenda, an increasing need is felt for an effective vehicle to carry the Indian narrative forward on the global stage, which India is lacking due to a lack of political will, and also a lack of private investment. Arguments may be made that public funding may be used for better purposes, but I believe that resources spent on information warfare today, would yield incredible results in the future as India's hard power (economy, military, etc.) would have reached the threshold of what is widely considered to be superpower status, thereby complementing its rise in soft power and may even expedite India's rise to becoming a superpower as it would also build global public opinion in favour of India, which would lead to increased investment in India as well.

Another emerging superpower, China has also invested copious amounts of resources towards information warfare, but its success is relatively mixed owing to its relative lack of soft power and its increasingly hostile regime being seen as an imminent threat to a rules-based world order. But what puts India at an advantage is that it is seen as not seeking to upend the world order, but is seen as relatively a more peaceful power compared to China. The Indian diaspora, film industry, and its relatively higher global exposure also tips the balance in favour of India controlling a higher proportion of global narratives as well.

In conclusion, India is now in a position to invest in its information warfare and narrative-building capabilities and doing so at the earliest can yield incredible results in the future. India's information warfare capabilities should ideally increase hand-in-hand with its rise as a global superpower, for India to truly influence global affairs and public opinion.