NEW DELHI: The external affairs minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said the global economic and political hierarchy has undergone a “very significant change,” suggesting that India has gained a key advantage in human resources at a time when several developed nations are grappling with stagnation and demographic challenges. Addressing the convocation of an institute in Pune, Jaishankar said the cumulative impact of recent global developments has altered the international pecking order.“The cumulative result of all these happenings is that the global economic and, thereafter, political pecking order has actually undergone a very significant change,” he said, according to ANI. Pointing towards the shifts in the international labour market, the minister said India is increasingly becoming a driver of the global workforce. “We have started to surge in trained human resources at the very time when many developed nations are struggling to find them,” he said, adding, “Since demand and supply invariably develop their own equation, we have entered an era of mobility.”The minister also mentioned that this growing cross-border mobility now places new responsibilities on governments. “We need to ensure welfare, including in conflict situations, and the politics of this mobility needs to be managed,” he said, referring to India’s efforts to protect its citizens abroad.Reflecting on the post-colonial global order, Jaishankar said control over national destinies has shifted back to sovereign states, making policy choices a decisive factor. He noted that while China has “gained the most” since decolonisation, India has “done well, especially in the post-reform era,” and even more so over the past decade.In contrast, he criticised the Western economic model, linking current discontent to past decisions.“Western elites consciously chose to shift production to maximise profits. Their competitiveness has eroded over the years, accelerated by their lifestyle,” he said. “Much of the Western world now feels that they have stagnated, a sentiment that has increasingly come to acquire a political meaning.”Concluding his address, Jaishankar told students that national progress is shaped by leadership and governance. In India’s case, he said, “leadership and governance have led to ups and downs in various phases in our economic growth and in our social transformation,” urging them to see themselves as contributors to a “Viksit Bharat” that is increasingly shaping, not just participating in, the global order.
