What are first world, second world and third world countries?
These terms have become antiquated and their definitions serve little or almost no purpose as of now. These ‘worlds' were conceptualized to refer to the geopolitical blocs formed from the cold war post WW2.Countries in red represent First World, greeb for Second World and Blue for the Third World .First-world countries were those countries which adhered to the capitalist-democratic ideology. United States of America, United Kingdom, Canada, South Korea and most of Western European countries were first-world nations.The communist sphere of USSR (United Soviet Socialist Republic) made up the second world. They were proponents of communism-socialism. Contemporary Russia, Cuba, China and rest of the states formed fromthe collapse of Soviet Union, such as Kazakhsthan, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia all are second-world countries.Countries which refused to side to any of these blocs were the third world countries. The Group of 77 was formed by these nations called Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). This includes Brazil, Mexico, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Sweden and many others.After the collapse of Soviet Union in 1991, use of these terms have become redundant. Nowadays, developed countries are usually called first-world countries, which are industrially advanced, democratic with high HDI. The developing nations are usually referred to as Third World Countries, which are poor, economically underdeveloped with low HDI.
Would India be consider periphery or semi periphery country?
I think India would be considered a semi periphery country. India is fast moving from its periphery to its core. With the GDP growth of more than 9% consistently, adoption of globalisation process and the new technology, rising currency & forex reserves and the recent atomic deal with the USA there seems to be no stoppage. India is already world's fourth most largest economy after the USA, China and Japan. More countries are supporting India's claim for a permanent seat at the UN. Soon India would have a say on most international matters. Much would depend on how India performs about the following say in next five years: Agriculture and food processing Infrastructure with reliable and quality electric power Education and Healthcare Information and Communication Technology Critical technologies and strategic industries.