B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY

An initiative of Group

International
Relations

Civil Services Main Examination 2017

B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY

An initiative of Group

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International Relations
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Contents
International Relations
Chapter 1
Indian Foreign Policy:
Evolution over Years............................... 1
Foreign Policy.............................................................. 1
The Indira Gandhi years.......................................... 2
LPG Reforms 1991: End of Non-Alignment....... 2
1996: Nuclear Test and Shift in
Foreign Policy................................................... 3
Chapter 2
India and Neighbourhood..................... 4
India-China Relations................................................ 4
India-Pakistan Relations........................................... 5
India-Bangladesh Relations.................................... 6
India-Afghanistan Relations................................... 8
India-Srilanka Relations............................................ 9
India-Nepal Relations..............................................10
India-Bhutan Relations...........................................11
Chapter 3
India-West Asia Relationship............... 12
Importance of West Asia to India........................13
Important Bilateral Relations in West Asia......13
Indias Other Involvements in Western Asia....15
Other recent Developments in Western Asia.....15
(iii)
Chapter 4
Indian Ocean Region............................ 16
Significance of Indian Ocean Region................16
Indias Policy towards the Indian Ocean...........18
Chapter 5
India-Japan Relationship..................... 20
Indo-Japan Relations in Economic Sphere......20
Indo-Japan Strategic Relationship.....................21
Chapter 6
India-South East Asia Relationship..... 22
India-South East Asia Relationships...................22
Challenges in Relationships..................................23
Volatility in South East Asia...................................24
Chapter 7
India-USA Relationship........................ 25
Election of new President of USA.......................25
Other issues affecting India-USA relations......26
Areas of significant cooperation between
India and USA............................................................27
Visit of Indian Prime Minister to USA.................27
Chapter 8
India-Russia Relationship.................... 28
A brief historical background of
India-Russia relationship........................................28
Recent developments.............................................28
Chapter 9
India-Europe Relationship................... 31
Background of India-European Union
(EU) relations .............................................................31
Current Dimensions in India-Europe.................31
Recent interactions between India and
major European countries.....................................32
Chapter 10
India-Central Asia................................. 35
The Central Asian region........................................35
National Security in India-Central Asia.............37
Chapter 11
India-Africa Relationship..................... 38
Opportunities presented by Africa ...................38
Asia Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC) .................39
Chapter 12
SAARC.................................................... 41
SAARC...........................................................................41
ASEAN...........................................................................43
(iv)
Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).......45
BIMSTEC.......................................................................47
BRICS.............................................................................49
TPP, TTIP and RCEP...................................................53
United Nations Convention on the Law
of the Sea (UNCLOS)................................................55
United Nations Commission on
International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).................55
United Nations Human Rights
Council(UNHRC)......................................................56
United Nations Security Council (UNSC)..........57
International Criminal Court (ICC)......................58
International Court of Justice..............................60
South Asia Sub regional Economic
Cooperation (SASEC)...............................................62
Non- Proliferation Regimes...................................64
Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)...........................64
Missile Technology Control
Regime (MTCR)..........................................................65
Wassenaar Arrangement and
Australia group..........................................................65
Space Diplomacy......................................................66
Indian Foreign Policy:
Evolution over Years
Foreign Policy
Foreign policy of a nation is a tool to further its
legitimate interests. After Independence, there have
been many inflection points in the foreign policy
paradigm of India. But, the first glimpse of the foreign
policy of India was on view in 1920s and 1930s.
Foreign Policy before Independence
The shaping of Indias foreign policy was largely
influenced by the international development after the
Second World War, the weakening of the forces of
imperialism and growth of the forces of democracy
and progress. Several countries in the post war era
in Europe and Asia broke away from the capitalist
system to form the socialist system. There was an
upsurge in the movements for national liberation
that resulted in the collapse of the colonial system
of imperialism.
It was mainly due to Nehrus efforts that since the mid-
twenties the Congress party began to take interest in
international affairs. The Indian National Congress
party had as early as 1920s adopted a resolution
expressing a desire to establish cooperation with
the neighbouring countries. He also attended the
Communist International forum in 1924 in Germany.
After 1927 Nehru took an active part in formulating
the foreign policy of the Congress that was in effect
its first foreign policy statement.
Independence and Non-Alignment
After gaining independence in 1947, India began
to evolve its own foreign policy in the light of its
requirements and the prevailing international
situation. The post independent foreign policy was
formulated taking into consideration the various
factors such as the Congress party resolutions,
ideology of national leaders, power politics of the
Super Powers, Cold War, colonial experience,
imperialism, racial discrimination etc.
1
By the time India achieved its independence in
the year 1947, the Cold War had already started
and the world was being bifurcated into two hostile
groups, namely, American block and U.S.S.R. Block
each jockeying for the supremacy in the globe
with conflicting ideologies. As a result, each group
entered into military and political alliance with
their respective supporters and followers. America
through number of alliances such as NATO, SEATO
etc., started in organizing its friends and supporters
into American bloc. Similarly, to counter American
move, Russia also entered into Warsaw Pact with
Communist countries that owed allegiance and
support to USSR.
To avoid the foreign entanglements by joining either
of the blocs, India decided to keep away from the
power blocs aligned against one another. Indias
opposition to alignment with the power blocs and
opposition to imperialism and colonialism gave birth
to the concept of non-alignment. India believed that
the only way through which it could achieve its goal
was to adopt a policy of nonalignment. Later on it
not only became the basic principles but also the
comer stone of Indias foreign policy. Perhaps, it is
the nonalignment, which played a historic role during
the Cold War period that helped India to identify and
retain its power status and position in the international
arena.
Wars of 1962 and 1965
The military defeat in 1962 Indo-China war marked
nothing short of a watershed in the structure and
conduct of Indias foreign and security policies.
India embarked on a substantial program of military
modernization which was very limited due to policy
of Non-Alignment. However, even after Nehrus
demise in 1964, his successors still could not
formally abandon the stated adherence to a policy
of non-alignment. Consequently, the rhetoric of
nonalignment remained a staple of Indian foreign
2 Civil Services Examination
policy. Indias foreign policy behavior, however,
increasingly assumed a more Realist orientation.
After the 1965 War with Pakistan, India saw many of
her old friends turning their back in wake of the Cold
War Politics. India was also concerned about the
first Chinese nuclear test at Lop Nor in 1964. Some
within Indias parliament called for an abandonment
of nonalignment and even urged that India acquire
an independent nuclear weapons option. After
considerable debate, the ruling Congress party
and the new Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri,
reaffirmed the countrys public commitment to
nonalignment and eschewed any immediate plans
to acquire nuclear weapons
The Indira Gandhi years
Prime Minister Gandhi authorized Indias Subterranean
Nuclear Explosions Project (SNEP) which culminated
in Indias first nuclear test of May 1974. Under Indira
Gandhi, Indias foreign policy sought to sustain two
competing visions of world order. On the one hand,
India still supported the cause of decolonization and
continued to lead the charge on behalf of the weaker
states in the international system. For example, it
remained a staunch opponent of the apartheid regime
in South Africa, it was an unyielding supporter of the
Palestinian cause and it opposed the Portuguese
presence in Angola and Mozambique.
On the other hand, it also came to accept the
importance of defense preparedness and increasingly
overcame its reservations about the use of force
in international politics. Not surprisingly, despite
Indias professed commitment to nonalignment it
signed a twenty-year pact of peace, friendship and
cooperation with the Soviet Union in August 1971.
With the USSR backing, India achieved a grand
victory in the 1971 war and creation of Bangladesh.
The Interregnum: 1971-1991
In the aftermath of the 1971 war, India emerged as the
undisputed dominant power within the subcontinent.
Despite its new-found status, the country was
unable to transcend the region. Several factors
account for this failure to emerge as a power of any
consequence in the global order. Most importantly,
thanks to its pursuit of a dubious strategy of state-led
industrialization Indias economic growth remained
anemic.
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At a global level, in the wake of the first oil crisis of
1973, India chose to spearhead the Group of 77, a
set of developing nations seeking to fundamentally
alter the global economic order. Ironically, while it
was a leader of this coalition it benefited little from
the global spike in oil prices and failed to obtain
any meaningful concessions as a resource-poor
developing nation from the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Throughout much of the decade of the 1970s
thanks to its poor record of economic growth and
its diplomatic limitations India became a marginal
player in the global order. Its influence remained
confined to the South Asian region.
LPG Reforms 1991: End of Non-
Alignment
The Soviet collapse and the transformation of the
global order forced Indias policymakers to make
drastic changes in Indias foreign policy at multiple
levels. The country was also confronted with an
unprecedented fiscal crisis partly as a consequence
of the first Gulf War of 1991.
Faced with his extraordinary crisis and also
confronting the loss of the vast East European
market as a consequence of the Soviet collapse,
Indias policymakers, most notably the then Finance
Minister Manmohan Singh, chose to dramatically
alter Indias domestic and international economic
policies. These involved abandoning the countrys
historic commitment to import-substituting
industrialization, unbundling, though fitfully at best,
its vast public sector and dismantling a labyrinthine
set of regulations, licenses, permits and quotas
which had largely stifled economic growth.
In 1992, in the wake of the Oslo Accord between
Israel and the Palestinians, India upgraded its
diplomatic relations with Israel to the ambassadorial
level. Simultaneously, India also directed its gaze
toward South-East Asia after a long span of neglect.
Now as part and parcel of the opening of its markets
to foreign investment and seeking to develop a
viable export sector, the country embarked upon a
Look East policy.
The Narasimha Rao regime efforts continued to
improve relations with the PRC, a process that had
been initiated during the Rajiv Gandhi regime in the
late 1980s. Even though the two sides forged two
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
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important confidence-building measures (CBMs) in
1993 and 1996 designed to reduce tensions along
the Line of Actual Control, little or no progress was
made in resolving the border dispute.A new course
of Foreign Policy was sought by the then Prime
Ministers IK Gujaral known as Gujaral Doctrine
1996: Nuclear Test and Shift in
Foreign Policy
The Vajpayee Government chose to exercise the
nuclear option and carried out nuclear tests in 1998
in Pokharan. Despite the initial burst of hostility from
the United States and the other great powers, the
international community grudgingly accepted India
as a de facto nuclear weapons state. The Pakistani
attempts to revive Kashmir issue through its incursion
in the Kargil region led to a limited war 1999. India
reclaimed all that had gone under Pakistan armys
possession. However, a full scale war was avoided.
Indias relations with United States Improved and
secured a firm footing. The Bush administration
helped India to get exempt India from the requirements
of the NPT and also the two countries pursued a
civilian nuclear agreement, which provided a sound
foundation for the relationship.
Indias Foreign policy in 21st Century
Indias foreign policy in 21st century could be
understood by explained as Indias grand strategy
that divides the world into three concentric circles.
The first, which encompasses the immediate
neighborhood where India has sought to
consolidate its position and has attempted, though
in a limited manner to keep the outside powers
from direct influence or interference within region.
The second encompasses the so-called extended
neighborhood stretching across Asia and the Indian
Ocean littoral, India has sought to balance the
influence of other powers and attempted to prevent
them from undercutting its own national interests.
The third, which includes the entire globe, India has
endeavored to make its place as one of the great
3
powers a key player in international peace and
security.
In the last two decades the Indian policy establishment
has been confronting multiple existential issues
and threats: the inevitable rise of China and the
intensified US-China competition in the Asia-Pacific,
the revival and reconsideration of Indias relations
with Africa and the power volatility of the Middle East
in the context of sustained energy supply and energy
security, expanding and consolidating relations with
South East Asia and Japan, dealing with the nuclear
issues etc.
The Indo-US civil nuclear deal put India on the
map of nuclear states recognizing its potential and
immense capabilities. India has become a member
of a wide array of multilateral bodies in economic
and other spheres. Indias participation is visible in
a number of such bodies like G-20, BRICS, IBSA,
as well as with those fora with pronounced thrust
towards economic cooperation like ASEAN, EAS,
WTO, BIMSTEC etc.
Shift to Realpolitik
After the decades of Idealism, as rooted in Nehruvian
Philosophy, India has finally moved towards
pragmatism in the foreign policy. It is evident from
our warm relations with Israel, not hesitating to do
Military agreements like LEMOA with the US and not
cowering under the Chinese Pressure.
India wants a change in the global world order with
reforms in UNSC and IMF. It wants a rightful entry in
the Nuclear Supply Group (NSG) as a responsible
Nuclear Power. It has taken lead in environmental
conservation by forging International Solar Alliance.
It has also secured a breakthrough by ushering text
based negotiation on comprehensive convention on
International Terrorism in UN.
Economic Prosperity, Energy security and protection
from the hostile neighbors is the trident of Indian
foreign policy. The Indian state has embraced
realpolitik to secure these interests.
India and
Neighbourhood
India - China Relations
Why in news
China and India have been engaged in a standoff in
the Doklam area near the Bhutan tri-junction after a
Chinese armys construction party came to build a
road. While the Chinese have asked India to withdraw
its troops from the area as a pre-condition for any
resolution, India has accused the Chinese of directly
violating an agreement between the two countries.
Historical Background:
The two ancient civilisation, India and China, are
historically and culturally associated with each other
and share common attributes like huge population,
rising economy, conflict with neighbours etc but
after the 1962 war China has tried to become more
assertive in the region. It is evident from the recent
standoff between India and china in doklam plateau
which is a tri junction area of three countries namely
India, Bhutan and China.
Other conflicts and issues :
The two countries have several areas of conflict in
recent times which are as follows :
1. Border disputes
(a) In ladakh region: There is still a conflict
between the two countries along the line of
actual control which was captured by china
in 1962 war.
(b) In Arunachal Pradesh: Even after the 1962
war, when it decided to go back to McMohan
line, China still lays claims over 90,000 sq Km
of Arunachal pradesh calling it South Tibet.
However this region belongs exclusively to
Indian territory
(c) In Uttarakhand Region: Besides the eastern
and western sector, there is a middle sector
in Uttarakhand where China stakes claim
2
over an area of about 10,000 sq km. All these
border disputes remain unresolved even
after several rounds of talks.
2. Border Trespasses
(a) Because of the British colonial legacy and
contrasting understanding of the maps, both
countries see their borders at different points
on the ground and both are committed to
build infrastructure till the last mile. The
result is seen in complaints of incursions,
evident from the doklam plateau issue. The
matter gets complicated as the two nations
are militarily very strong.
3. Dalai Lamas visit to arunachal pradesh in India:
(a) The visit of Dalai Lama to the tawang district
of Arunachal pradesh was a religious one
but the chinese look at it as the interference
in their internal affairs.
4. Stapled visa to Indian citizen
(a) China at many instances issue stapled
visa to the residents of arunachal pradesh
because china thinks that issuing a proper
visa would tantamount to recognizing Indias
sovereignty over arunachal pradesh but the
Indian position is that the issuance of stapled
visa dilute indias claim that Arunachal
Pradesh is Indias territory.
5. River Water Dispute
(a) Brahmaputra river water sharing is the
major flashpoint between India and China.
China has been building dams after dams
in the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra
which is called Tsangpo in Tibet. India has
objected to it but there has been no formal
treaty over sharing of the Brahmaputra water.
Further, China has not been forthcoming in
sharing the details about water level in the
Brahmaputra, which puts a large tract in the
states of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam to
the risk of sudden and huge flood.
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
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6. Nuclear Supplier Group:
India has been pushing for entry into the
exclusive club of nuclear supplier group but
china has been blocking the entry on the
pretext that all other nations of the group
have ratified the Non-proliferation Treaty,
which India has not signed.
7. China Pakistan Economic corridor
China is building China-Pakistan-Economic-
Corridor (CPEC), which passes through the
Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to which india
has objected.India considers building of
the CPEC as China's interference in India's
sovereignty.
8. One Belt One Road Initiative
The initiative envisages the construction of a
maze of road, rail and port projects through
a number of countries to connect mainland
China to markets in Asia and Europe. The
main reason behind Indias opposition
towards the policy is the China-Pakistan
Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is a part
of OBOR.
Impact of the conflicts on India
The region of border dispute has been
strategically important and has an immense
economic potential which makes the region
important both for India as well as Asia.
Another impact of the conflicts are on the trade
relations between the two countries with balance
of trade being more inclined in favour of china.
The construction of OBOR has geopolitical
repercussions along with impact on the economy
on India. Through the OBOR initiative China tries
to ensure that its companies become regional
and global players and replace other regional
players.
By blocking Indias entry into NSG, china is
building a case for pakistan. India remains wary
about chinas strong strategic bilateral relation
with Pakistan.
Way forward
Both countries shall make efforts to reach an
understanding on contentious issues like border
trade, border transgression and diversion of
Brahmaputra waters, and to better coordinate
their strategies in international organisations like
the World Bank, IMF and WTO.
5
They should continue to take a common stand in
environmental meetings organised by the UN. It
should resolve the issues by peaceful rounds of
dialogue .
Energy diplomacy with a focus on energy security
is another area of cooperation which can help
the two countries rebuild a peaceful region
Promotion of business and people centric connectivity
with certain confidence building measures.
Indulging in mutual data sharing and cooperation
to deal with the problem of terrorism
The two countries shall engage more deeply in
the areas in areas like the tourism and climate
change, where there is a huge scope of
cooperation between the two countries.
India-Pakistan Relations
Why in news
Pakistan had again rejected Indias request for
consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav, a former
Indian naval officer who was sentenced to death
for espionage and terrorism by a Pakistani military
court in April this year for which the matter has been
pending in International Court of Justice in The
Hague.
Historical background
Historically the relation between India and Pakistan has
been bitter from the beginning of the birth of pakistan
Other conflicts and issues
1. Indus water treaty issue
There has been a conflict on the construction
of dams for kishanganga and rattle
hydroelectric power plants on tributaries of
jhelum and chenab river. According to the
treaty pakistan has right over the Indus,
Jhelum and chenab rivers whereas india
has the right over Ravi, Beas and Sutlej. The
treaty was brokered by world bank in 1960.
2. Cross border terrorism issue
The cross border terrorism has been a major
challenge to indias security and sponsored
by certain groups like lashkar-e-taiba which
is supported by Pakistan. For example the uri
attacks that was held in Uri in India in 2016,
to which India replied in a surgical strike.
6 Civil Services Examination
3. Balochistan issue.
The largest province of pakistan that is
balochistan saw many waves of conflict
and is similar to the kashmir issue in India
but unlike pakistan, India never interfered in
the internal affairs of pakistan. However in
recent times Prime Minister made reference
to atrocities on Balochistanis, which is
demanding freedom from pakistan.
4. Jammu and Kashmir Issue
It is one of the longest dispute India has been
facing with pakistan since Independence
but in recent times it has gain different
dimension where the outside support to
the separatist leader by Pakistan in form of
funding to stone pelters and the their leader
and thereby maintaining disturbance in the
valley.
5. Ceasefire violation by Pakistan
It has become a persistent issue where the
pakistani army officially backed by Pakistan
breaches the ceasefire and cross the borders
which has deep impact on the Indian-
Pakistan relation. This is one of the major
issue which hinder the process for creating
a peaceful environment in the border region.
An Assessment of India-Pakistan
Relations
The continuous turmoil between the two countries
has roots in the history. However, despite continuous
attempt by the two countries they are not able to have
a cordial relation because of the presence of some
non-state actors like the military coup of Pakistan
and organisations like lashkar-e-taiba and tehrik-e-
taliban, which has a major role in making pakistan a
terrorist state and the terrorist activities by pakistan
creates intense pressure on india to adopt more
robust and aggressive policy.
Such activities pose more difficulties to decide on
future steps and also rule out the possibility of having
any peaceful negotiation in near future. These
activities have been criticised at various international
organisations. For example the SAARC summit
was called off so as to exclude Pakistan. However,
countries like China, which sees Pakistan as not
merely an ally but a crucial partner in achieving
success for its one belt one road initiative, and
Russia which has in recent times a friendly inclination
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towards pakistan, is a matter of concern for India. For
bringing peace between the two countries, proper
dialogue and regular meeting of high level delegates
shall be held to resolve the issues amicably.
Way forward
Cooperation in sectors like cultural and sport
activities with ease of movement between the two
countries to engage in more people to people
contact.
Creating an international pressure on pakistan to
curb state sponsor terrorism
Resumption of dialogues between the two
countries and deep engagement of the two where
the chances of conflict is less and coordination is
more. For example working together on climate
change, technological exchange of information
etc.
India-Bangladesh Relations
Why in news
Recently india and bangladesh has signed numerous
agreements on various sectors like defence, energy,
cyber security etc on the state visit of Bangladesh
P.M. to India.
Historical Background
India is one of the most pioneer country who
helped the erstwhile east pakistan to become an
independent country in 1971 as what we call today
as Bangladesh. India's links with Bangladesh are
civilisational, cultural, social and economic. There is
much that unites the two countries a shared history
and common heritage, linguistic and cultural ties,
passion for music, literature and the arts. However
there are certain areas which are still needed to be
worked out to develop more cordial relation between
the two countries
Issues and conflicts
1. Teesta Water issue
Sharing the waters of the Teesta river, which
originates in the Himalayas and flows through
Sikkim and West Bengal to merge with the
Brahmaputra in Assam and (Jamuna in
Bangladesh), is perhaps the most contentious
issue between two friendly neighbours, India
and Bangladesh. Bangladesh has sought an
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equitable distribution of Teesta waters from
India, on the lines of the Ganga Water Treaty
of 1996 but the objection of West Bengal CM
is that it will obstruct the flow for north bengal
and as water is a state subject the centre
cannot overrule the concern of the state of
West Bengal.
2. Illegal Migration and insurgency issue
The porous border and lack of proper fencing
along the countrys longest international
border is one of the main reason for huge
amount of illegal migration. These illegal
migrants sometimes pose a serious threat to
the internal security of the country.
This porous border and the cattle haats
along the border has led to cattle smuggling
on a large scale
3. Border Disputes:
The non-demarcation of a 6.5 km land
border along the Comilla Tripura makes
the border question unresolved. Indias
reluctance to resolve this issue is attributed to
the concerns of the Hindus living in the lands
likely to go to Bangladesh after demarcation
Areas of cooperation
1. In defence sector : Bangladesh buys around
80% of its defence equipment from China. To
counter the increasing military presence of
chinese in Bangladesh India has offered a new
line of credit, which allows Bangladesh to buy
around $500 million worth of Indian defence
equipment
2. In tackling Terrorism : The two sides had in past
a common enemy which is known for spreading
terrorism and sponsoring the terrorist. Both the
countries are vulnerable to terrorism and thus
should jointly cooperate each other in tackling
the terrorism
3. Power and Connectivity Sector : Along with
transport connectivity, India and Bangladesh
are also bound through power and fuel links.
Bangladesh already draws 600 megawatt from
the Indian grid, with another 500 megawatt to be
added through the Bheramara-Bahrampur inter-
connection. The two countries have agreed on a
power evacuation scheme between Assam and
Bihar, from which Bangladesh can draw 1000
MW power supply.
7
One of the transport links that the two premiers
remotely launched was the delivery of a diesel
consignment, which is the harbinger of a much
closer relationship on fuel supply. India is already
constructing a Indo-Bangla friendship pipeline
from Siliguri to Parbatipur for supply of high speed
diesel as a grant-in-aid. Indian Oil Corporation
and Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation are also
constructing a LPG terminal and pipeline.
Yet another area of connectivity is through
Bangladesh Bhutan India Nepal (BBIN)
corridor, which is given assistance by the Asian
development Bank, will integrate the subregion
as a whole.
Importance of India-Bangladesh
relations
India and Bangladesh had a roller coaster kind of
relationship. However, despite this ups and downs
the relation between the two countries is largely
a peaceful one. The bilateral ties between two
countries have seen an exponential curve which is
evident from the fact that between 2010 and now
there has been four exchanges of visits at the level of
heads of government and each one has been laced
with cordiality, and fond utterances for each other.
However, increasing chinese presence in
Bangladesh in the form of aid given to the country
for their infrastructural development is a cause of
concern for India. The Indian side has however tried
to counter it by extending the third line of credit since
2010, during the recent visit of sheikh hasina to India.
The other major cause of concern for the relation
between the two countries is the issue of illegal
migration of bangladeshi into India which has not only
created socio-economic and political turmoil in the
migrant-receiving states but also strained bilateral
relation. Given these challenges, the Government
of India tried to contain illegal migration through a
mix of laws and executive interventions aimed not
only at expelling the foreigners from the country but
also deterring potential migrants to cross the border
illegally and defer them from creating the problem of
insurgencies in the host country.
Way forward
Strong political will and bilateral resolve are
crucial in overcoming the tension-ridden, State-
centre relations in India
8 Civil Services Examination
It seems to be a good time for the industry in
India to look for opportunities for collaboration
in defence, such as in military hardware, space
technology, technical assistance, exchange
of experience, and development of sea
infrastructure.
The renewing of the 25-year treaty of friendship
and cooperation on the basis of sovereign
equality can help India gain trust among
Bangladeshi people.
The long pending Teesta River sharing agreement
where a middle path has to be carved so that
both countries are benefitted
Efforts should be made to integrate the regions
economies with road, rail and shipping routes
that can yield rich dividends.
India can expand sub regional cooperation
among BBIN countries to cover initiatives in rail
which would open opportunities in land ports
and land customs stations, air connectivity
Special emphasis has to be laid on promotion
of exchanges in the fields of music, theatre,
art, painting, books, etc. A bilateral Cultural
Exchange Programme (CEP) 2009-2012 provides
the framework for such exchanges.
India - Afghanistan Relations
Why in news
India in December 2016 has hosted the 6th ministerial
conference of Heart of Asia summit in Amritsar. The
declaration made by the conference is known as
Amritsar declaration.
Historical Background
The history of India- Afghanistan relation dates
back to ancient times. India and Afghanistan
have strong cultural links with each other. In
recent past, Indo-Afghan relations have been
further strengthened by the Strategic Partnership
Agreement signed between the two countries
in 2011. The Strategic Partnership Agreement
(SPA) between the two sides, inter alia, provides
for assistance to help rebuild Afghanistan's
infrastructure and institutions, education and
technical assistance to re-build indigenous Afghan
capacity in different areas.
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Importance of India- Afghanistan
Relations
Afghanistan is one of the most crucial partner
for India. It is important for india for its strategic
location because a cordial relation with
Afghanistan will help India to have a connectivity
with the central Asia.
India has invested in the infrastructure sector and
has lent more than $2 billion since 2001 and now
India has promised to provide $1 billion in aid
for development, reconstruction and economic
progress in september 2016 in areas such as
education, health, skill development, energy,
infrastructure etc.
The salma dam has been constructed in 40 years
and is named as India Afghanistan Friendship
dam which symbolises the importance of India-
Afghanistan relations
India is helping Afghanistan-Iran Connectivity
where it has been building Chabahar port in Iran
and has built the zaranj delaram highway. This
connectivity will help india bypass pakistan which
will help India in developing trade relations with
the central asian countries and thereby giving a
boost to Indian Economy
India has been closely associated with
afghanistan in providing stability after the NATO
forces left the country.
The recently held Istanbul process or heart of Asia
conference had focused on tackling terrorism
with an attack on pakistan to sponsor terrorism
along with other issues like commitment to
human rights, leveraging cultural ties, eliminating
non tariff barrier to trade and prevention of drug
trafficking. This declaration is known as Amritsar
Declaration
India is also keen to join Afghanistan-Pakistan
Transit trade agreement (APTTA), where
Afghanistan can use Pakistans territory for transit
trade while Pakistans goods can move through
Afghanistan to nations bordering Afghanistan.
However, Islamabad has not agreed to allow
using APTTA for goods to be transported from
India to Afghanistan through Pakistans territory
(via the Wagah-Attari route ). It has been backed
by afghanistan.
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Indias main export items to Afghanistan are
textiles, pharmaceuticals, tobacco, iron & steel
and electrical machinery, while its imports from
Afghanistan are fruits and nuts, gums and resins,
coffee, tea and spices
Afghanistan is also important for india for
its energy security. For this there is ongoing
development of Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-
Pakistan-India gas pipeline project which will
be a trans-country natural gas pipeline from
Caspian Sea, Turkmenistan to India through
Afghanistan and Pakistan. It has been funded by
Asian development Bank.
The importance of India for Afghanistan is evident
when in 2016 the Prime Minister of India Narendra
Modi was awarded Amir Amanullah Khan Award
which is Afghanistans highest civilian award.
Way forward
There is a strong economic, politico-strategic
and security component in the India-Afghanistan
relations. However to maintain the strong ties the
first important step is providing stability in the
country and India shall not miss the opportunity
to help afghanistan in securing stability
Deeper economic engagement and minimising
the trade barrier which shall will be a win win
situation for both the countries
The two countries shall engage in more people to
people contact and shall promote tourism sector
since the two countries are culturally linked to
each other
India-Srilanka Relations
Why in news
Recently Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil
Wickremesinghe visited India with the refreshed
Indo-Lanka ties that followed the regime change
in Colombo. The two prime ministers have signed
a Memorandum of understanding on long-term
collaboration in spheres ranging from energy and
infrastructure to special economic zones.
Historical background
The relationship between India and Sri Lanka is
more than 2,500 years old. Both countries have a
legacy of intellectual, cultural, religious and linguistic
9
interaction. In recent years, the relationship has
been marked by close contacts at all levels. The
nearly three-decade long armed conflict between
Sri Lankan forces and the LTTE came to an end
in May 2009. During the course of the conflict,
India supported the right of the Government of
Sri Lanka to act against terrorist forces. However,
India has consistent position on negotiated political
settlement, which is acceptable to all communities
within the framework of a united Sri Lanka and which
is consistent with democracy, pluralism and respect
for human rights.
Importance of India- Srilanka Relations
In the Energy sector India and Sri Lanka have
agreed to jointly revive a World War II era oil
storage facility in the strategically located eastern
port town and build infrastructure around it
There is considerable private sector investment
in each others territory. The areas both of
cooperation between both the countries are
petroleum, Information Technology, Financial
Services, Real estate, telecom, hospitals,
tourism, banking, food processing etc.
Indian railways are offering special package for
Sri Lankan tourists to come to India. India has
introduced e-visa for Sri Lanka
The Cultural Cooperation Agreement signed
by the Government of India and Sri Lanka
forms the basis for periodic Cultural Exchange
Programmes between the two countries.
Given the proximity of the territorial waters of
both countries, especially in the Palk Straits
and the Gulf of Mannar, incidents of straying of
fishermen are common. The country regularly
arrests Indian fishermen for crossing the
International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL)
that demarcates Indian and Sri Lankan waters.
India also detains Sri Lankan fishermen for the
illegal fishing.
The construction of Hambantota port in sri lanka
by the chinese is a cause of concern for India.
India should have deeper engagement with sri
lanka and should build an amicable relation to
counter the presence of the chinese government.
Tourism also forms an important link between
India and Sri Lanka. Government of India also
launched the e-Tourist Visa (eTV) scheme for Sri
Lankan tourists in 2015.
10 Civil Services Examination
Another problem in the relation which needs
faster resolution is the kachchatheevu island,
which was an uninhabited island that India ceded
to Sri Lanka in 1974 based on a conditional
agreement called Kachchativu island pact. But
the the government of Tamil Nadu is of the view
that the sufferings of Indian Tamil fishermen is a
direct consequence of ceding Kachchatheevu to
Sri Lanka and sacrificing the traditional fishing
rights enjoyed by Indian fishermen.
India is pushing for a new trade pact called the
Economic and Technical cooperation Agreement
to build closer ties with sri lanka. It will replace
the CEPA and establish an agreement on trade
in services and technological exchange. ETCA
will boost standard of goods and services, and
will be able to compete on global market and
improve opportunities for manpower training and
human resource development.
Way forward
An institutional framework shall be developed
in which the fishermens cooperatives of both
countries must be involved and committed
with an oversight power to resolve the dispute
of fishermen that has become a continuous
conflicting subject for both India and Sri lanka.
Deeper economic involvement with Srilanka has
become an imperative for India to counter chinese
presence and influence in sri lanka. Hence the
trade barrier should be relaxed and promotion of
cross border trade shall be encouraged in favour
of India.
Geographic,strategic,economic,cultural,citizen-
centric international concerns warrant that India
should actively engage with Sri-Lanka with a
short term targets and long-term vision through
stronger diplomacy.
India-Nepal Relations
Why in news
Nepal has rejected Indias open sky offer to allow
unlimited flights between the two countries
Historical background
India and Nepal share a unique relationship of
friendship and cooperation characterized by open
borders and deep-rooted people-to-people contacts
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of kinship and culture. There has been a long tradition
of free movement of people across the borders.
Nepal has border connectivity with five Indian States
Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and
Uttarakhand.
The India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship of
1950 forms the bedrock of the special relations that
exist between India and Nepal. Under the provisions
of this Treaty, the Nepalese citizens have enjoyed
unparalleled advantages in India, availing facilities
and opportunities at par with Indian citizens. Nearly
6 million Nepali citizens live and work in India.
Conflicts in India-Nepal relations
The major discontent in the India Nepal relation
is on the issues of the blockade by madhesis.
India has being criticised in nepal for having
sided with the discredited Madhesi leaders,
and shutting its eyes to the blockade that hurt
the aam Nepali.
According to nepalese government, another
issue of conflict in recent times is on anti dumping
duties imposed on export of jute and have also
imposed countervailing duty of 5% which is
against the spirit of the Nepal India friendship
treaty.
Yet another area of concern for India is the
increasing presence and influence of china by
financing and providing aid and grants to build
their infrastructural sectors like building of roads,
energy, electricity etc.
Nepal has rejected Indias open sky offer to allow
unlimited flights between the two countries which
is important for india since India has been keen
on countering Nepals recent engagement with
China on the road, railways and port connectivity.
Areas of Cooperation
As Nepal is a himalayan country and is vulnerable
to natural calamities, India should always be
ready for assisting and providing aid to any kind
of disaster that may take place. Also it shall help
Nepal in preparing the disaster management
plan in case any natural calamity takes place.
India in the past has provided substantial
financial and technical development assistance
to Nepal focusing on creation of infrastructure,
health, water resources etc. It shall continue to
do so in future.
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Both the countries have strong cultural links with
each other since ancient times and the institutions
like indian cultural center in Nepal shall develop
a roadmap for future cultural engagement.
India shall aid Nepal in the providing stability of
the new constitution of Nepal and strengthen the
democracy in Nepal
India-Bhutan Relations
Why in news
Bhutan has announced that it is unable to
proceed with the Motor Vehicles Agreement with
Bangladesh, India and Nepal (BBIN) project.
Historical Background
The two countries has a special bond due to its
historical and religious linkages and share a lot
of things in common. Bhutan was once a part of
Indian subcontinent which later seprated from
each other. The diplomatic relations between
India and Bhutan were established in 1968 with
the appointment of a resident representative
of India in Thimphu. The basic framework of
India-Bhutan bilateral relations is the Treaty of
Way Forward
Friendship and Cooperation signed in 1949
between the two countries.
Importance of India-Bhutan relations
Under the India Bhutan friendship treaty 2007,
India is to guide Bhutan for foreign and defence
policy which means that India is virtually
responsible for protecting Bhutan from the kind
of external threat.
11
The practise of Buddhism on a large scale by
Bhutan and India binds the two country culturally
to each other . This cultural tie shall be promoted
by providing scholarship to student of each
others country in the universities and promoting
people to people ties.
Established in 2003, the India-Bhutan Foundation
(IBF) focuses on education, cultural exchanges
and environment preservation initiative by
Indian and Bhutan for effective bilateral cultural
relationship
The concept of Gross National Happiness
is being adopted by Indian state of Madhya
pradesh to measure the happiness level of the
people of the state.
Hydro-electric power generated by Bhutans run-
of-the river dams is the economic bedrock of the
India-Bhutan relationship.India has sponsored
financing the dams through a combination of aid
and loans and buys the excess electricity at very
low prices
Mutually beneficial economic inter-linkages
between India and Bhutan shall be encouraged
to strengthen the bilateral relations
The two countries shall involve with each other in
areas of climate change and environment prepare
a roadmap for tackling any kind of disaster since
the region is tectonically weak area.
India-West Asia 3
Relationship

West Asia consists of Gulf Council countries, Yemen, Iran, Turkey, Lebanon and Syria. The strategic importance
of West Asia lies in its geography and an essential natural resource, namely petroleum. Oil-Diplomacy or Petro-
Dollars was the term used for western engagement with this region.

The region also has strong undercurrents of Shia (Led by Iran) and Sunni divide (Led by Saudi Arabia). In the
recent times, the region is also facing existential threat from the Islamic State which is trying to establish a
caliphate. There is a political crisis going on in Syria and Yemen, which makes the region highly volatile

India-West Asia Relationship

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Importance of West Asia to India
Energy Security (Oil & Gas): India imports
almost 80% of its crude oil requirement and of this
about 60% is supplied from the Gulf Countries in
the Western Asia. Saudi Arabia and Iran are the
largest oil suppliers to India. There are also plans
to construct a gas pipeline from Iran, through
Oman (As Pakistan is non-cooperative) to India.
India has recently signed a deal with United Arab
Emirates (UAE) to fill half (about 6 million barrels
of oil) of an underground crude oil storage facility
at Mangaluru, Karnataka as part of its quest for
energy security and strategic reserve system.
Interests of Indian Diaspora: There are
approximately 7.3 million Indians in West Asia.
Most of them are the blue collar workers from
the southern states of Tamilnadu and Kerala.
The Diaspora is an asset for the country as they
are the source of high remittances and also
strengthens cultural ties with these nations. But,
in the recent times, the Indian Diaspora has to
face many challenges in West Asian Region.
Some of these are:
w The Nitaqat law of Saudi Arabia has resulted
in unemployment of thousands of Indians. It
has also resulted in starvation of hundreds of
Indians due to non-payment of salaries.
w There have been incidents of Indians working
on projects in the west Asian region captured
by Non-state actors such as IS. About 120+
Indian workers have been recently abducted.
Trade and Investments: India and the economies
of West Asia have had a natural economic
relationship defined by geographical proximity,
cultural linkages, stronger presence of the Indian
Diaspora and economic complementarities
defined by Indias need for oil and West Asias
need for human capital and food products. The
Western Asia has emerged as Indias largest
trading partner constituting for about 20% of
Indias total trade. India hopes to attract the
cash rich Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF) of
these countries for investment in India's massive
infrastructure expansion plans.
Strategic Angle:
w Support of Islamic world: In the wake
of Pakistan-Sponsored terrorism in Indian
territory, the support of Islamic world is
13
crucial for India to put pressure of Pakistan
and also to project its secular image on
world forum. It would also help in getting
permanent membership of UNSC and IMF
reforms.
w Gateway to Central Asia & Europe: The
Central Asian states are crucial for India due
to their energy resources, but access to them
is restricted due to non-cooperative western
neighbor. Therefore, the development of
Chabahar Port in Iran, the trilateral agreement
along with Afghanistan on International North
South Transit corridor (INSTC) would help in
getting access to these regions.
w Defence Procurement: Israel, has came
out as a significant bilateral partner for
acquisition of state of-art defence weaponry
and technology. The Barak missiles and the
proposed Anti-Missile system will boost
the offensive and defensive capabilities of
Armed forces.
Important Bilateral Relations in
West Asia
India-Israel Relationship
India formally recognized Israel post independence
in September 1950. However its Israel policy was
driven by the principled stand of solidarity with the
Palestinian cause. Israel assisted India during the
1962, 1965, and 1971 wars, but full-fledged relations
were not established. It was in 1992 when India
finally established full diplomatic relations with Israel.
Since 2000, the bilateral relations have shown a great
traction and improvement. The basic dimensions of
the relationship are:
Israel has emerged as the third most important
arms-exporter after US and Russia, and is said
to be supplying arms worth about $1 billion
a year to India. India has signed a $2 billion
missile defence deal with Israel for purchasing
sophisticated medium-range surface-to-air
missile systems (MRSAM). Israels willingness
to share technical know-how would boost the
domestic manufacturing of defence products.
India and Israel together have implemented a
large number of cutting edge research projects in
applied areas covering Agricultural and Medical
14 Civil Services Examination
Biotechnology; Human Genomics; Advanced
Materials & Nanotechnology; Imaging Sensor
& Robotics; Solar Energy; Communication &
Information Technology; and Lasers & Electro-
optics.
Agriculture is one of the main pillars in India-
Israel relations. Israel has state-of-art technical
expertise in Dry-Land Agriculture and Micro-
Irrigation Techniques. With Indian agriculture is
pre-dominantly rain-fed these technologies are
highly required.
Indian Prime Minister has recently visited Israel in
month of July on completion of 25 years of diplomatic
relationships. Apart from various agreements, the visit
was significant, as this is the first visit of Indian Prime
Minister to Israel. Also, it marks the de-hyphenation
of Israel-Palestine relationship in Indias Diplomatic
stand, as the visit to Israel was not coupled with the
visit to Palestine.
India-Saudi Arabia Relationship
India and Saudi Arabia have, in recent years, shared
a healthy bilateral equation based on mutual interests
extensive trade, energy imports, cultural contacts,
and growing security cooperation.
Currently, India-Saudi relations revolve around
two important areas: 1) trade and investment and
2) defense and security cooperation. Bilateral
trade has been rising since the mid-2000s and
has grown substantially in the last five years.
Saudi Arabia remains Indias third largest trading
partner and the largest supplier of crude oil.
Saudi Arabia has shown signs of being a major
source of investments given its large sovereign
wealth fund.
The other sector where India-Saudi relations have
been strengthened significantly under Modis watch
is defense and security specially in combating
terrorism and counter-radicalization with the Gulf
countries. The Indian Prime Minister visited Saudi
Arabia in 2016 and their joint statement made it
quite clear that India and Saudi Arabia are seeking
greater intelligence sharing to combat terror. Indias
concerns about cracking down on illicit finance
rings controlled via the Gulf and preventing material
support from the region to extremist groups in India
requires better coordination between Indian and
Saudi security agencies.
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India-Iran Relationships
Iran and India have long had historical, cultural, and
commercial ties. Indias geographical position and
proximity to Iran make it a natural customer for Irans
vast oil and gas reserves. Over the past decade, their
economic ties, because of nuclear-related sanctions
imposed on Iran by the international community,
have centered on limited energy and agricultural
products.
Since sanctions were lifted this year after P5+1
agreement, Iran has doubled crude exports to India
and has become its third-largest supplier. Iran has
reserved the Farzad B gas field in the Persian Gulf
exclusively for Indian investment. Given its history of
conflict with Pakistan, India seeks an undersea gas
pipeline that transports Iranian gas from Chabahar,
through Oman, to the Indian port of Porbandar.
Given Irans large and educated youth populations
under thirty that is technologically savvy, but limited
in its development due to Western sanctions, India
can serve as a model in developing a bustling IT
and pharmaceutical sector. Indias private sector,
banks and large corporations can offer their Iranian
counterparts access to technology, credit facilities
and know-how.
India-UAE Relationship
The UAE has a special place among the Gulf
countries due to its syncretic culture, business-
friendly atmosphere, willingness to invest in the
Indian economy and its important role in maintaining
peace and stability in the region.
The political and diplomatic engagements with the
UAE have seen a substantial increase in recent
time. A new momentum was given to the relationship
in January 2017 when the two sides signed the
agreement on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership
(CSP). The landmark visit of Prime Minister Narendra
Modi in August 2015 and the return visit of the crown
prince in 2016 on republic day set the momentum
for enhancing the bilateral relations to a Strategic
Partnership.
The growing engagements between India and the
UAE has to be seen within the broader contexts
of UAEs policy of engaging with Asia to improve
economic prospects and Indias search for foreign
investments to expedite economic growth and
address the threat of extremism and terrorism.
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Indias Other Involvements in
Western Asia
Operation Rahat:
In 2015, Indian Navy conducted a rescue operation
under the name ' Operation Rahat' to evacuate
civilians stuck in strife-torn Yemen. The crisis in
Yemen has left thousands of people homeless and
stranded in the country. The airports and seaports
of Yemen. More than 4,000 people have been
evacuated in the operation, including foreigners from
26 other countries.
Position on Syrian Crisis:
India's position on the Syrian crisis in adherence to the
UN charter of non-interference for a political dialogue
and looking at the aspiration of Syrian people. India is not
directly involved in attack against ISIS but the peacekeepers
from India are working in Iraq and Syria. India is more
involved in providing humanitarian assistance to the
displaced people in the conflict zone. India has also taken
part in Geneva-II conference for resolution of crisis but the
talks eventually failed.
Other recent Developments in
Western Asia
Failed Coup in Turkey
Turkey witnessed the bloodiest coup attempt in its
political history on July 15, 2016, when a section of
the Turkish military launched a coordinated operation
in several major cities to topple the government
and unseat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. They
15
attempted to seize control of several key places in
Ankara, Istanbul, and elsewhere, but failed to do
so after forces loyal to the state defeated them. The
Council cited an erosion of secularism, elimination
of democratic rule, disregard for human rights, and
Turkey's loss of credibility in the international arena
as reasons for the coup.
Loss of Territory by IS
Islamic State has lost almost 1/3rd of the territory it
has held in Iraq and Syria since 2014. At the height
of its power, the militant group controlled about 40
percent of Iraq and about 25% of Syria. This has
been possible due to the coordinated efforts of West
Led forces along with the Iraqi forces.
The Qatar Crisis
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Yemen, Libya and
UAE have suspended their diplomatic ties with
Qatar. All the six countries have announced that they
withdraw their diplomatic staff from Qatar and eject
Qatars diplomats from their territories. They have
also planned to cut air and sea traffic.
The countries have accused Qatar for embracing
various terrorist and sectarian groups that are aimed
at destabilizing the region such as the Muslim
Brotherhood, alQaida, the Islamic State group and
other groups supported by Iran.
Oil prices have seen a jump after the six countries
announced suspension of diplomatic ties with Qatar
as it affected some of the worlds biggest oil and gas
exporters. Qatar, a gas rich nation is also the biggest
supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and a major
seller of condensate (a low-density liquid fuel) and
refining product derived from natural gas.
Indian Ocean 4
Region

Indian Ocean Region

Indian Ocean Region has emerged out to be the Geo-political Hot Spot of the world. The primary reason is its
strategic location, the littoral states and the presence of critical navigational routes.

Indian occupies a central and strategic location in the Indian Ocean area. Its national and economic interests
are inseparably linked up with Indian Ocean. Hence to keep the Indian Ocean as a zone of Peace free from
superpower rivalry and increasing cooperation among littoral countries in the region has always been Indias
foreign Policys goal

Significance of Indian Ocean
Region
The significance of Indian Ocean Region is usually
attributed to following three factors:
Critical Navigational Routes: More than 60 per
cent of all oil and petroleum product exports
are shipped through the Indian Ocean waters
and over 70 per cent of global container traffic
is carried through the waters of this ocean.
Therefore, Indian Ocean is crucial for energy
security of Nations around the world.
Littoral States: The states surrounding the
Indian Ocean region are marked by very high
population density and are home to more than
2 Billion people. This creates opportunities,
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especially given the high rates of economic
growth around the Indian Ocean rim, including in
India, Bangladesh, Southeast Asia, and Eastern
and Southern Africa. However, the densely
populated littoral is also vulnerable to natural
or environmental disasters e.g. Cyclones and
Tsunami. There are also issues of terrorism and
piracy in these waters.
Natural Resources: Forty per cent of the worlds
offshore oil production takes place in the Indian
Ocean basin. Fishing in the Indian Ocean now
accounts for almost 15 per cent of the worlds
total. Mineral resources are equally important,
with nodules containing nickel, cobalt, and iron,
and massive sulphide deposits of manganese,
copper, iron, zinc, silver, and gold present
in sizeable quantities on the sea bed. Indian
Ocean coastal sediments are also important
sources of titanium, zirconium, tin, zinc, and
copper. Additionally, various rare earth elements
are present, even if their extraction is not always
commercially feasible.
India as a KeyStone in Indian Ocean
Geographical Advantage: India has a pre-
eminent position in Indian Ocean, which could
be understood by the fact that it is the only ocean
named for a country. It has more than 7500 Km
of coastline, an exclusive economic zone of
2.02 lakh sq km and all the strategic Sea Lines
of Communication (SLOC) passing through
the vicinity. India is usually the first country to
respond in any case of emergency or disaster in
littoral states. In Strategic terms, India considers
Indian Ocean as its sphere of Influence.
Stakes of India in Indian Ocean: The
significance of Indian Ocean for India can be
understood under below mentioned points:
w Energy Security: India almost imports
around 80% of the crude oil requirement
from the West Asian nations. The import
is primarly across the Arabian Sea, a sub
branch of Indian Ocean.
w Trade & Commerce: Almost 95% of the
Indias trade by volume and 68% by value,
happens through the Indian Ocean region
w Blue Economy: Blue Economy is based on
the idea to use locally available resources
and employ renewable inputs to address the
17
problems of resource scarcity and enables
sustainable development. This marine-
based economic development will reduce
environmental risks and mitigate ecological
challenges. New technologies are opening
frontiers of marine resource development
from bio-prospecting to mining of seabed
mineral resources. The sea also offers
vast potential for renewable blue energy
production from wind, wave, tidal, thermal
and biomass sources.
w Projection of Soft Power: As mentioned
earlier, Indias policy is to project its soft
power in the Indian Ocean region with
steps such as Humanitarian and Disaster
Relied (HADR), Anti-Piracy operations,
environmental conservation etc.
Challenges in Indian Ocean Region
Non State Actors: The Indian Ocean is
surrounded by some volatile and weak nations,
and thus non-state actors like pirates, smugglers
and terrorists remain a persistent threat. The 8/11
attacks in India were executed through the sea
route and the Somali pirates were a grave threat
to vessels until very recently.
Chinas Assertiveness: As mentioned earlier
that bulk of oil tankers pass through the Indian
Ocean, and there are presences of choke points
like Straits of Malacca which can jeopardize
the energy security of China. Hence, China is
increasingly trying to assume a leadership role in
Indian Ocean. Some of its activities are:
w Encircling India (String of Pearls): It
refers to the network of Chinese military and
commercial facilities and relationships along
its sea lines of communication, which extend
from the Chinese mainland to Port Sudan. It
includes a facility in Gwadar and a port in
Karachi (both in Pakistan); Construction of
new facility at Colombo and construction of
new port Hambantota (both in Sri Lanka);
container facility in Chittagong (Bangladesh);
and ports in Myanmar.
w Maritime Silk Route (Part of OBOR Project):
China has aggressively worked towards
Infrastructure development in its Maritime
Silk Route project which is a component of
its ambitious One-belt, One-Road Project.
18 Civil Services Examination
The littoral states of Indian Ocean are been
influenced by China to be a part of OBOR
and few of them have agreed. Though, It has
overtly declared as commercial in nature,
India believes that MSR would be used by
China to project its Naval Power in Indian
Ocean region. (Like docking of nuclear
submarines in Sri Lanka).
Arena of Global Conflict: The Indian Ocean is
being considered by the experts as the principal
theatre of conflict among the worlds established
and ascendant powers. Apart from the apparent
conflict between US, India, Pakistan and Chinese
interests, there are some other conflicts going
around eg Chagos Archipelago Dispute.
The Chagos Archipelago is a group of seven atolls
comprising more than 60 islands in the Indian
Ocean about 500 km south of the Maldives. It
had been part of Mauritius since the 18th century
when the French first settled the islands. Before
Mauritian independence, in 1965, the UK split the
archipelago from the territory of Mauritius to form
the British Indian Ocean Territory and permitted
the US to use it for defence purposes for 50
years (until December 2016) followed by a 20-
year optional extension. Following this US Military
Base was setup in Diego Garcia, the largest of
the islands. In November 2016, the U.K. ruled
out the resettlement of the islanders, who were
alternately settled in Mauritius and Seychelles,
on the grounds of feasibility, defence, security
interests and the cost. Mauritius has threatened
to go to International Court of Justice on the
matter.
Indias Policy towards the Indian
Ocean
SAGAR and 5-Point Formula: Indias objectives
in Indian Ocean, as outlined by Indian Prime
Minister in 2015 SAGAR (Security and Growth for
All in the Region) initiative are:
w Preserving freedom of navigation for
commercial shipping
w Sustainably and equitably harnessing the
Indian Oceans natural resources
w Establishing protocols for enhancing disaster
prevention and relief as well as search and
rescue operations
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
An initiative of Group
w Countering piracy, terrorism, smuggling, and
illegal weapons proliferation
w Managing international naval competition
Blue Water Naval Capabilities: A blue-water
navy is a maritime force capable of operating
globally; essentially across the deep waters of
open oceans. India initially outlined its intentions
of developing blue-water capabilities under the
2007 Maritime Capabilities Perspective Plan,
The navy operates on single carrier task force
centered on INS Vikramaditya and also possess
an amphibious transport dock, INS Jalashwa.
In addition, the Indian Navy currently operates
INS Arihant, an indigenously developed nuclear-
powered ballistic missile submarine and also
leases one Akula-class nuclear-powered attack
submarine from Russia.
India as Net Security Provider in IOR: Indias
role as a net maritime security provider in the
region is not only its responsibility as a regional
power, but is closely interwoven with the nations
own economic growth and prosperity. Indian
Navy's maritime strategy is to be built on strategic
deterrence, maritime cooperation and capacity
building. In order to achieve these goals, Indian
Navy will continue to be the 'Net Security Provider'
in the Indian Ocean Region and has already
taken several initiatives like anti-piracy operations,
Humanitarian Assistance & Disaster Relief, Indian
Ocean Naval Symposium and resource-sharing
with other navies in the region.
Institutional Engagements:
w Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA): IORA
is an international organization consisting of
coastal states bordering the Indian Ocean,
established in 1997 to promote cooperation
in IOR. IORA comprises 21 member states
(including India) and 7 dialogue partners
and is based on the principles of Open
Regionalism for strengthening Economic
Cooperation particularly on Trade Facilitation
and Investment, Promotion as well as Social
Development of the region.
The Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA)
Leaders Summit was recently held in Jakarta,
capital of Indonesia from March 5 to 7, 2017.
The theme of the Summit was Strengthening
Maritime Cooperation for a Peaceful, Stable
and Prosperous Indian Ocean.
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
International Relations
An initiative of Group
Indian Ocean Naval Symposium: The
w between militaries of US and India by
Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) is
a voluntary initiative that seeks to increase
maritime co-operation among navies of the
littoral states of the Indian Ocean Region by
providing an open and inclusive forum for
discussion of regionally relevant maritime
issues. In the process, it endeavors to
generate a flow of information between naval
professionals that would lead to common
understanding and possibly cooperative
solutions on the way ahead.
Other Alternative Strategies:
w LEMOA: Logistics Exchange Memorandum
of Agreement (LEMOA) meant to build basic
ground work and promote interoperability
19
creating common standards and systems.
The agreement will primarily cover four
areas - port calls, joint exercises, training
and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster
Relief. Any other requirement has to be
agreed upon by both sides on a case-by-
case basis.
w Spice Route/Project Mausam: India is
trying to regain its lost pre-eminence in the
Indian Ocean region and negate the Chinese
Maritime silk route policy by revitalizing its
historical trade links with Arabian and African
countries through Spice Trade. Project
Mausam and Spice route initiative are steps
in that direction.
India-Japan
Relationship
The friendship between India and Japan has a long
history rooted in spiritual affinity and strong cultural
and civilization ties. Exchange between Japan and
India is said to have begun in the 6th century when
Buddhism was introduced to Japan. Indian culture,
filtered through Buddhism, has had a great impact
on Japanese culture, and this is the source of the
Japanese people's sense of closeness to India. Over
the years, the two countries have built upon these
values and created a partnership based on both
principle and pragmatism. Today, India is the largest
democracy in Asia and Japan the most prosperous.
Dynamism in Relationship: Post 2000
The bilateral relations between India and Japan
witnessed a major transformation in the 21st century,
with both countries realizing the mutual benefits
arising out of engagement. Some of the timelines in
forging of strong relationship are:
On visit of Japanese PM Yoshiko Mori to India
in 2000, led to the establishment of "Global
Partnership between Japan and India"
The annual summit meeting between India &
Japan are being held since 2005.
In 2006, Japan-India relationship was elevated
the "Global and Strategic Partnership".
In 2014, during the Prime Ministers visit for annual
summit in Japan, the relationship was upgraded
to Special Strategic and Global Partnership.
Apart from the above, Japan is the first country,
with which India has established2+2 dialogues
mechanism (Discussion on Security and External
Affairs). A Comprehensive Economic Partnership
Agreement (CEPA) has also been concluded
between India and Japan in 2011.
Indo-Japan Relations in
Economic Sphere
Existing Complementarities: In the economic
sphere, the complementarities between the two
countries are particularly striking e.g.
5
(i) Japans ageing population (23% above 65
years) and Indias youthful dynamism (over
50% below 25 years)
(ii) Indias rich natural and human resources
and Japans advanced technology
(iii) Indias prowess in services and Japans
excellence in manufacturing
(iv) Japans surplus capital for investments and
Indias large and growing markets and the
middle class.
Economic relations between India and Japan
have vast potential for growth, given the obvious
complementarities that exist between the two
Asian economies.
Offshore Development Assistance (ODA):
India has been the largest recipient of Japanese
ODA in South Asia since 2003. In 2014, for
instance, India received 57 percent of Japans
South Asia ODA budget Japanese ODA
supports Indias efforts for accelerated economic
development particularly in priority areas like
power, transportation, environmental projects
and projects related to basic human needs.
Japan is a particularly attractive source of
investment for India because of its technological
expertise, long experience in implementing
development projects, and commitment to timely
delivery.
Some of the key projects in which Japan has
invested through ODA are:
(i) Commissioning of Delhi Metro
(ii) Industrial Corridors such as Delhi-Mumbai
Industrial Corridor (DMIC). The key
agenda of the DMIC project involves the
development of nine industrial zones; a high-
speed freight line; three ports; six airports; a
six-lane intersection-free expressway; and a
4,000-megawatt power plant.
(iii) For running Bullet Trains in Mumbai-
Ahemdabad Corridor.
(iv) Japan has decided to be associated with the
development of Chennai, Ahmadabad and
Varanasi as smart cities.
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
International Relations
An initiative of Group
CEPA & Bilateral Trade: The India-Japan
Comprehensive Economic Partnership
Agreement (CEPA) came into effect on 1st
August 2011 and is the most comprehensive free
trade agreement that India has entered into with
any country. It consists of agreed measures on
liberalization of trade in goods, trade in services
and investment and an agreement to implement
cooperation in a number of identified areas.
About 94% of the tariffs between Japan and India
will be eliminated within 10 years (about 97% by
Japan and about 90% by India).
Indo-Japan Strategic Relationship
Apart from a strong economic relationship, India
& Japan have forged strong bilateral strategic
relationship. Both the nations are part of G-4, and
are co-operating on UN reforms and securing a
seat in UNSC. India is also pitching for IMF reforms
where Japan is a significant player. From the Japans
point of view, the strategic relationships provide it
strategic leeway in shedding its post Second World
War pacifist ideology and to play more assertive
role in global arena.
The recent visit of Prime Minister to Japan in
2016 for annual summit has following significant
developments on strategic front:
Indo-Japan Civil Nuclear Deal: The broad
contours of the landmark civil nuclear
cooperation deal that provides for collaboration
between their industries was finalized during the
PMs Visit and came into force on 20th July 2017.
The Agreement will pave the way for enhanced
cooperation in energy security and clean energy
and it allows the US and French nuclear firms,
which have alliances with Japanese companies,
to conduct nuclear commerce with India.
Apart from obvious benefits, the deal further
enhances the Indias standing in the global
community as responsible nuclear nation and is
a big step in securing the membership of Nuclear
Supply Group (NSG).
Amphibious Air-Craft Deal: During the PMs Visit
India and Japan had broad level agreement on
Sale of ShinMaywa US-2i amphibious aircraft by
Japan to the Indian Navy. The aircraft will provide
a huge boost to operational logistics in areas like
the far-flung but strategically critical Andaman
and Nicobar Islands. It can also land spares and
equipment in close proximity to warships on the
high seas
21
Indo-Pacific Geo-politics
The China Angle: In an increasing developing
multi-polar and multilateral world order, both India
and Japan are concerned about the expansionist
and aggressive attitude of China. While Japan
and China are at loggerheads on the Diaoyu/
Senkaku islands in East China Sea, India & China
have issues on land boundary, Chinas support
to Pakistan and its presence in the Indian Ocean
Region. The efforts to contain China has become
a cementing force in the Bilateral relationship
with India & Japan
Trilateral Front in Asia: Along with India and
Japan, United States is also a key stakeholder in
Indo-Pacfic region. With China being increasingly
assertive in South China Sea, Upholding of
International laws of Sea and ensuring freedom
of navigation has become very important. India-
Japan and US are involved in trilateral summit
meetings and recently Japan has resumed
its participation in trilateral maritime Malabar
exercise.
The Possible Quad: The geo-political experts
talk about formation of a Strategic Quadrilateral
partnership between India, Japan, US and
Australia to contain the rise of china and further
their mutual interests in the region.
Obstacles in Indo-Japan Partnership
Despite presence of many complementarities, some
obstacles which have hindered the realization of the
true potential of bilateral relations are:
Bureaucratic Hurdles: Bureaucratic complexity
is the most commonly cited problem, in fast
tracking the projects and obtaining tangible
outputs. Despite strong political will on both
sides, the slow-moving machineries of the two
states have yet to become intimately acquainted.
Cultural Factors: Cultural factors coupled
with poor communication have also been a
major impediment. It has been witnessed that
although India and Japan share a sound bilateral
relationship but still minimal people to people
contact proved to be important predicament in
their relationship. This results in both sides not
fully appreciating the concerns of each other.
Strategic Angle: Both countries have an interest
in countering Chinas rise without provoking
conflict or any form of escalation. Consequently,
neither is willing to commit to the types of security
cooperation that one might find in other strategic
relationships like the U.S.-Japan alliance.
 India-South East Asia 6
Relationship

The geostrategic signifi-

cance of South East Asia
can be understood from
the following facts:
It acts as a gateway be-
tween the Indian Ocean,
South China Sea and the
Pacific Ocean and lies in
vital sea lanes of commu-
nication.
Many Countries in the re-
gion have vibrant econ-
omies and form a sig-
nificant regional trading
block (ASEAN)
The resources in the
South China Sea and is-
sue of control over them
have seen conflicts be-
tween China and rest of
the world.
India-South East Asia

India-South East Asia
Relationships
From Look East to Act East: Initiated in
1991India's Look East policy was an effort to
cultivate extensive economic and strategic
relations with the nations of Southeast Asia.
India became a sectoral dialogue partner with
ASEAN in 1992 and has developed multilateral
organizations such as, the Mekong-Ganga
Cooperation and BIMSTEC, forging extensive
cooperation on environmental, economic
development, security and strategic affairs.
Indias Act East policy, upgraded from the Look
East policy in 2014, serves as a platform for
deepening and strengthening its relationship
with ASEAN and the East Asian economies.
The Objective of ''Act East Policy is to promote
economic cooperation, cultural ties and develop
strategic relationship with countries in the Asia-
Pacific region through continuous engagement
at bilateral, regional and multilateral levels
thereby providing enhanced connectivity to
the States of North Eastern Region including
Arunachal Pradesh with other countries in our
neighborhood.
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
International Relations
An initiative of Group
Trilateral Highway: India-Myanmar-Thailand:
The trilateral pact between India-Myanmar-
Thailand (IMT) will provide a seamless vehicular
movement between SAARC and ASEAN nations.
The Trilateral Highway starts from Moreh
(Manipur) in India up to Mae Sot in Thailand
through Myanmar. Construction of 130 km length
stretch of road connecting Moreh (India)/Tamu
(Myanmar) to Kalewa in Myanmar has already
been completed by Border Roads Organization
of India.
Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project:
The Kaladan Multi Modal Transit Transport Project
was jointly identified by the India and Myanmar
to create a multi-modal mode of transport for
shipment of cargo from the eastern ports of India
to Myanmar as well as to the North-Eastern part
of India through Myanmar. This project, which
will connect Sittwe Port in Myanmar to the India-
Myanmar border, is expected to contribute to
the economic development of the North-Eastern
States of India, by opening up the sea route for
the products. It also provides a strategic link to
the North-East, thereby reducing pressure on the
Siliguri Corridor. In the absence of an alternate
route, the development of this project not only
serves the economic, commercial and strategic
interests of India, but also contributes to the
development of Myanmar, and its economic
integration with India.
Economic Relationship: South East Asia-India
economic relationship has grown remarkably
starting 2002, there is immense potential to grow
the relationship further through both trade and
investment and by India integrating into the Asian
value chain. The recently implemented investment
agreement along with the Make in India initiative
should help such integration, targeting sectors
like electronics and pharmaceuticals. Indias
trade advantage as an exporter of professional
services and IT-related services should see
greater exports with the implementation of the
services agreement.
India is looking to negotiate Regional
Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)
with the South East Asian nations so as to
23
integrate almost 40% of the global population
into an economic block. India has also concluded
CEPA with Singapore and is having Free Trade
agreements with various Nations. Various
emerging economies in the region are interested
in investing into Infrastructure projects in India
(Singapore Investing in Amravati in Andhra
Pradesh) and also contributing towards Make in
India project
Energy Security: India, in need to diversify the
sources of its import of oil, is looking towards
the hydro-carbon reserves in the Continental
Shelves of South China Sea. The recent leasing
of sector to ONGC from Vietnam is a step in
this direction. Though, China is expressing its
opposition, the visit of President to Vietnam and
Cambodia in 2016, further cemented the bilateral
relationships.
Challenges in Relationships
Chinas Impact: Chinas bullying behavior has
been evident in its actions and pronouncements
in the South East Asia, particularly in the South
China Sea. Indias policy towards the reason
was more towards trade and investment while
keeping out of the strategic tussles. But , in the
current context, India need to be more decisive
in its approach towards the region as other
countries look towards it as counter-balancing
force.
Integration to APEC: Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) is a forum for 21 Pacific
Rim member economies that promotes free trade
throughout the Asia-Pacific region. India should
work towards to push for its membership in the
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) for
better economic integration
ASEAN-India FTA: ASEAN-India Free Trade
Agreement (FTA) in goods has shown some
incremental progress, the trade volumes remain
quite low as compared to that with India-China
trade. Similarly, while India hoped to address
some imbalances in its economic relationship
with the ASEAN through FTA in services sector,
that has not turned out the way India had
envisioned.
24 Civil Services Examination
Nine-Dash Line:
The nine-dash line stretches hundreds of kilometers south and east of its southerly Hainan Island, covering
the strategic Paracel and Spratly island chains. China buttresses its claims by citing 2,000 years of history
when the two island chains were regarded as its integral parts.
Volatility in South East Asia
South China Sea Dispute:
There are a few hundred small islands in the
South China Sea, a part of the Pacific Ocean.
Some of the main ones are Spratly Islands,
Paracel Islands and Scarborough Shoal the
bone of contention between China and the
Philippines. China laid claim to the SCS with the
communist party in 1949 demarcated its claims
with a U-shaped line made up of nine dashes on
a map, covering most of the area.
Verdict of Permanent Court of Arbitration
Philippines raised the matter of Scarborough
Shoal in the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA)
and the court has rules against the Chinese
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
An initiative of Group
Stand. But, China refused to obey the order
creating further tensions is region. China is also
involved in creation of artificial islands and reefs
in South China Sea to strengthen its position.
Global Outlook Towards South China Sea
Dispute:
US and the other western nations are wary of the
aggressive stance of the China in the South China
Sea. US have called for freedom of navigation in
the South China sea, and have frequently sent
Warships in the reason for Patrolling Purpose.
India has also exhorted all the related parties
to develop a code of conduct for responsible
behavior in the South China Sea. It has asked
all the parties to adhere to the United Nations
Convention on laws of Sea (UNCLOS).
India-USA
Relationship
India and USA are two major players at the international stage. The relationship between the two countries
has strengthened over time. It has seen a transformation from minimal cooperation during the Cold War days
to solid partnership from the first decade of the 21st century. Though there has been constant progress in the
relationship, certain impediments have come up time and again which threaten to de-stabilize the partnership
and counter the progress achieved.
Election of new President of USA
Mr. Donald Trump became the 45th President of The
United States of America in 2017. During his election
campaign Mr. Trump had caused ripples at the global
scale following the steps he proposed to take up on
becoming the President. His focus on America First
has the potential to drastically change the relations
at the international level. India is equally concerned
about the upcoming world order under the Trump
Presidency.
Impact on India following certain
decisions of Mr.Trump :
1. To withdraw from Trans-Pacific Partnership
(TPP):
w USA was the biggest partner in the TPP
and with its backing out the partnership has
3. Crackdown on H1-B visas :
weakened drastically.
w This to some extent augurs well for India as a
strong TPP would have meant serious losses
for India.
w TPP could negatively affect Indias exports,
caused issues with the patenting norms of
India and could hurt Indias pharma sector.
w With weakening of TPP India is placed at a
comparitively comfortable position.
2. Mr. Trumps withdrawal from the Paris Climate Deal:
w USA is a significant emitter of the Green
House Gases (2nd after China) and has
been a major contributor to global warming.
w However, Mr. Trump decided to pull out from
the Paris Climate Deal alleging that it gave
7
a better deal to "some of the world's highly
polluting countries" like India and China and
left the US hamstrung.
w India, he said, "makes its participation
contingent on receiving billions and billions
and billions and billions of dollars in foreign
aid, India will be allowed to double its coal
production; we're supposed to get rid of
ours".
w India however denounced such allegations
and asserted her commitment towards the
global effort to curb climate change and its
associated consequence.
w India is one of the most affected country from
climate change, and a non functional Paris
climate deal might further increase Indias
vulnerability.
w Following the America First policy and
ensuring that enough jobs are created for
the American people, there has been a
concerted effort to bring down the number
of H1-B visas allotted. This is followed by
making the regulaions for attaining such
a visa stricter and increasing the fees for
registration.
w US issues 85,000 H1-B visas every year,
a sizeable chunk of the applicants are
Indians. Indian students migrating to the
states for pursuing a higher degree and tech
companies that send their workers on off-site
projects will be among the most affected by
the changes to the visa policy.
26 Civil Services Examination
w The effects of the Act have already been felt
in the Indian markets, with share prices of
major tech companies plummeting. Infosys,
TCS, Wipro, Tech Mahindra and HCL were
among those badly hit.
w The Act could also lead to a decrease in
interest in students flocking to American
universities, thereby minimising the brain
drain.
About: H-1B Visa
It is an employment-based, non-immigrant
visa category for temporary workers. For
such a visa, an employer must offer a job and
apply for employees H-1B visa petition with
the US Immigration Department. If approved,
this work permit allows the employees to
obtain a visa stamp and work in the U.S. for
that employer.
Other issues affecting India-USA
relations
1. W.T.O. Dispute Between India-USA
India had lost the domestic content
requirement (DCR) case related to the solar
cell manufacturing against U.S.A. in the
dispute settlement system of WTO.
The Appellate Body of WTO has declared that
the domestic content requirement (DCRs)
in Indias Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar
Mission (JNNSM) violated the provisions of
WTO trade agreement.
WTO members are not supposed to insist
on national content requirements that
discriminate against foreign products.
Governments are also required to provide
national treatment, under which imports
must be treated on a par with domestically
manufactured products.
This could cause some blemished in Indias
shift towards renewable energy and its
target of harnessing 100GW solar energy
by 2022. This can lead to increase in cost
of production due to increase in the import
cost as compared to materials sourced from
the domestic market which would have been
comparatively cheaper.
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
An initiative of Group
2. USAs contentions against Indias patent
regime :
The US government efforts have focused on
ensuring that American companies receive
the best treatment in markets abroad.
However, the economic and commercial
barriers to US companies attempting to
operate in India have placed them at a
disadvantage. Chief among those barriers
are the long-standing issues with Indias IP
framework.
Many of the long-standing challenges
remain the same: Online and hard goods
piracy continues to plague the Indian
market, undermining the economic
contributions of Indias thriving film industry.
The biopharmaceutical industry continues to
face challenges in securing and maintaining
patents. Most notably, Section 3(d) of the
Indian Patent Act, which mandates that
products must demonstrate enhanced
efficacy in order to be patentable,
undermines the growth of biopharmaceutical
innovation in India
Additional complications like putting a
ceiling on the stent prices by NPPA and
confusion regarding the granting of patents
to computer software have further flared the
disagreements between India and USA in
this regard
As a testimony to this fact India ranked 43
out of 45 countries in the US Chamber of
Commerces (USCC) annual IP index, just
above Pakistan, which was added to the
index this year, and Venezuela. Last year,
India was placed 37 out of 38 countries.
However, under Indias first National
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) policy a
number of positive administrative changes
were included and it called for the creation of
IP education programmes. But India refused
to budge under the US pressure to agree to
all the demands presented by USA.
3. Totalisation Pact between India and USA :
India had repeatedly pitched for a totalisation
agreement at meetings with US officials.
Typically, Indian workers immigrating to the
US stay in the country for a period of three
to seven years and contribute about 15 per
cent of their salary to the US social security
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
International Relations
An initiative of Group
system. With no totalisation pact in place,
these workers lose the entire social security
contributions unless they complete 10 years
of mandatory contributions.
4. India has also been pushing for a greater
market access for agricultural export and better
institutional mechanisms to improve food export
Problems faced by Indian exporters of
mangoes, Basmati rice and grapes due to
unwarranted requirements and restrictions
were raised. USs Generic Drug User Fee
Act (GDUFA) and Food Safety Modernisation
Act have created an elaborate system
of inspection and high inspection fees,
affecting smaller exporters.
Areas of significant cooperation
between India and USA :
1. Fight against terrorism :
USA declared Pakistan as a safe haven
for terrorists and flaked the country for not
doing enough for controlling the menace of
terrorism
USA declared Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed
Salahuddin, a global terrorist.
These gave a short in the arm to Indias crusade
against terrorism and were in line with long
standing demands of India.
2. Defence cooperation :
Malabar exercise 2017: The trilateral
naval exercise between India-USA-Japan
is a significant show of unity and strength
between the countries to maintain the
balance of power in the Asia-Pacific region.
The technological competence of USA would
greatly enhance the potential of Indian Navy
too. The sharing of best practices between
the Navies could further strengthen the
striking and operational capabilities.
LEMOA : It stands for Logistics Exchange
Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA),
a tweaked India-specific version of the
Logistics Support Agreement (LSA), which
the U.S. has with several countries it has
close military to military cooperation.
LEMOA gives access, to both countries, to
designated military facilities on either side for
27
the purpose of refuelling and replenishment.
There has been a reaffirmation of India's
designation as a Major Defence Partner
Defence has emerged as a major area of
cooperation with USA emerging as the
second largest supplier, after Russia, of
sophisticated equipment to India.
Visit of Indian Prime Minister to
USA:
Mr. Modi completed a successful meeting with
the American president in June 2017 which
reaffirmed the strong partnership between the
two countries. It reduced the building skepticism
regarding the course that Mr. Trump was likely
to follow for India and clearly showed that the
partnership is expected to strengthen further.
Joint Statement released at the conclusion of
the meet include increased intelligence sharing,
operational-level counterterrorism cooperation,
exchange of information on known and
suspected terrorists for travel screening, respect
for sovereignty and territorial integrity, rule of
law, and environmental protection. Principles of
freedom of navigation, unhindered over flights,
and commerce as well as the need to resolve
territorial and maritime disputes peacefully and
in accordance with international law have been
reiterated. This reaffirms that India and USA are
on the same page with respect to dealing with the
rapidly growing influence and presence of China
in the Indian Ocean and Indo-Pacific region.
Way Forward:
The Indian foreign policy establishment can
justifiably feel upbeat with the results of the visit.
Given the uncertainties in the run-up to the visit,
the results have been most gratifying.
The real test of the commitments assumed by the
two countries will lie in action taken by them in
the coming months.
The two countries have several point of
convergence and should compliment each
other. A strong partnership between the two
enterprising democracies would be in the benefit
of the entire world order.
India-Russia
Relationship
Relations with Russia are a major component of India's foreign policy. Russia has been a longstanding, all-
weather and time-tested partner of India. India-Russia ties have acquired a qualitatively new character with
enhanced levels of cooperation in almost all areas of the bilateral relationship including political, security, trade
and economy, defense, science and technology and culture.
A brief historical background of
India-Russia relationship :
India has always found in Russia an enterprising
friend supporting her in each and every
endeavour.
Be it in the field of equipping our defence forces
or industrialisation of the country or strategic
support in the UN Security Council, Russia has
always come to Indias help.
Relations between India and Russia have been
based on defence acquisition, hydrocarbons,
nuclear energy, space cooperation, trade and
commerce, science and technology, culture and
people to people ties.
The already strong relations were up-graded from
"strategic partnership" to "special and privileged
strategic partnership" in 2010.
Recent developments
2. Nuclear energy Cooperation :
1. Defence cooperation :
Russia is the largest supplier of defence
equipment to India.
BrahMos missile-the supersonic cruise
missile is a dominating example of
cooperation between India and Russia in the
defence sector.
Deal for S-400 Triumf air defence systems
from Russia: The long-range air defence
missile system has the capability to destroy
incoming hostile aircraft, missiles and even
drones at ranges of up to 400 km
8
A joint venture to build Russian Kamov
helicopters in India has been signed too.
The plan is to build at least 200 helicopters
in India,which is part of Indias drive to build
a defence industrial base in India.
Indias aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya is
is a Kiev classaircraft carrierwhich was
commissioned by Russian Navy in 1987
under the name Baku. It was later renamed
asAdmiralGorshkov and last sailed in 1995
in Russia, before being offered to India.
The relation in defence sector thus is very
strong, However, it has been a long-standing
grievance of Indian armed forces that the
supply of critical spares and equipment
from Russia takes a long time affecting
maintenance of military systems procured
from that country.
India and Russia also have been conducting
naval military join exercise named INDRA.
Russia is an important partner in peaceful uses
of nuclear energy and it recognizes India as
a country with advanced nuclear technology
with an impeccable nonproliferation record.
Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and
Russias Rosatom had signed the Strategic
Vision for strengthening cooperation in
peaceful uses of atomic energy between
India and Russia.
Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) is
being built in India with Russian cooperation.
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
International Relations
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The two countries dedicated the unit two
of Kudankulum nuclear power plant and
witnessed foundation laying of its Unit 3 and
4. The dedication of Kudankulum 2 is an
example of tangible result of India-Russia
cooperation in the nuclear field.
3. Trade:
Bilateral trade has continued to perform far
below potential. It is essential for private
business in the two countries as well as
governments and financial institutions
to identify commodities that enjoy good
potential. Bilateral trade needs to be brought
to a decent level of USD 30 billion by 2025 as
against the current level of below 10 billion.
4. Boost to Indias Infrastructure sector:
Moscows Russian Direct Investment Fund
(RDIF) and Indias National Infrastructure
Investment Fund (NIIF) would pump in $500
million each to create a Russian Indian
Investment Fund. Announcements were also
made to boost ties in sectors like trade and
investment, hydrocarbons, space and smart
cities. This will help advance infrastructure
partnership between the two nations
5. India and Russia are partners in many
international organizations like BRICS, G20,
UN and SCO(where Indias membership was
approved recently).
The President of the Russia Mr. Putin had
visited Goa in October 2016 for attending
the BRICS Summit. Moreover, he attended
the 17th India-Russia Annual Summit along
with Prime Minister of India. At the bilateral
Summit, the leaders reviewed the entire
gamut of India-Russia relations and reviewed
the progress made since the last summit
held in Moscow in December 2015.
6. In 2017, India and Russia are celebrating 70
years of establishment of diplomatic relations
between them.
However, there are certain issues that have
recently cropped up as sources of tensions, as:
There has been a recent shift in the geopolitical setup
with Russia clearly inclining towards Pakistan and
China in the face of Indias strengthening relationship
with USA.
29
The Pakistan angle :
Russia is looking at Pakistan as a potential market
of his arms and ammunition is a worrying factor
for India.
Russias supply of lethal armaments like MI 35
attack helicopters and SU 35 aircraft to Pakistan
have raised concerns in India as all such
equipment is ultimately used by Pakistan against
India.
Russias military exercise with Pakistan in 2017
has also antagonized India.
The China angle:
Russia and China are gradually coming closer
owing to their compulsions against West.
The USA angle :
Russia is concerned at the rapidly expanding
ties between India and USA, which started with
the India-US nuclear deal in 2008.
Also the growing defence relationship between
India and USA has caused tensions in the
India-Russia relations. India has so far been
heavily dependent on Russian armaments with
more than 70 per cent of its weapons being
sourced from Russia. Although in absolute terms
Russia is still the largest supplier of defence
equipment to India, its share in overall imports
has progressively declined.
Most recently, Indias reported decision to sign the
three ''foundational'' defence Agreements with
USA, viz., Logistics Support Agreement (LSA),
Communications Interoperability and Security
Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) and Basic
Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA)
for Geo-spatial Cooperation, has surfaced as a
cause of serious concern for Russia.
The latter feels that India is virtually entering into
a military alliance with USA, which will severely
restrict Russia's ability to share sophisticated
defence technology with it.
Way forward for India-Russia relations:
Both the countries should look to consolidate
further the already strong ties and minimize the
recent blemishes.
30 Civil Services Examination
Exchange of visits among reputed and established
Think Tanks of the two countries needs to be
stepped up. Collaboration between educational
institutions also needs to be promoted. Scholars
and academics have always played a critical
role in promoting cooperation between the two
countries.
The recent agreement of India with Iran on
the construction of the Chabahar seaport,
associated rail-road linkages and development
of the International North-South Transport
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
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Corridor has the potential to spur ties between
India and Russia as well. This opportunity must
be capitalized upon properly.
India and Russia are natural allies. It is in
the interest of both countries to have vibrant
relations.The leadership of the two nations
represented by impactful persons as Mr. Modi and
Mr. Putin need to strengthen bilateral ties in the
spheres of strategic, political, security, nuclear
energy, hydrocarbons, defence procurement,
academia and people to people relations.
INDIA-EUROPE
Relationship
The European continent is characterized by high standards of life, developed countries marked by prosperity
and affluence, presence of immense opportunities for learning and growing, strong economic credentials and
robust political institutions. In the light of this background, it becomes imperative for India to establish solid
and valuable links with the European countries. India is seen to achieve the same through her relations with
the European Union at large.
Background of India-European
Union (EU) relations :
India-EU relations date to the early 1960s, with
India being amongst the first countries to establish
diplomatic relations with the European Economic
Community. A cooperation agreement signed in
1994 took the bilateral relationship beyond trade
and economic cooperation. The first India-EU
Summit took place in Lisbon in 2000 and marked a
watershed in the evolution of the relationship. Since
then, thirteen annual Summits have been held with
the latest being held at Brussels in March 2016
adopting the India-EU Agenda 2020. This Agenda
lays down a road map for cooperation on a wide
range of issues including nuclear cooperation,
investments, Internet Governance, climate change,
5G communications etc.
Current Dimensions in India-
Europe
Some Current Dimensions in India-Europe
Relations can be seen as :
1. Brexit and its impact on India :
(a) Meaning of Brexit
(i) It is a word that has become used as a
shorthand way of saying the UK leaving
the EU - merging the wordsBritain
andexit to get Brexit
(ii) A referendum was held in 2016, to
decide whether the UK should leave or
remain in the European Union. Leave
9
won by 51.9% to 48.1%. Thereafter the
process of Britain exiting from the EU has
begun and is expected to take atleast 2
years to reach its completion.
(b) Possible Impact of Brexit on India:
(i) The overall impact in real terms is not
objectively clear at present but it is likely
to be broadly neutral as the flows
of trade and investment would likely
continue in the regular course.
(ii) The Indian manufacturing companies
that have set a broad base in UK
might face some problems in case
UK is slapped with tough EU terms as
conditions for leaving the Union.
(iii) Information technology firms by Indian
companies in UK are also deemed to
lose business as a Brexit may create
recession risks that could dent IT
demand further
(iv) India will feel the heat through heightened
volatility in the global financial markets
due to uncertainty caused by Brexit. This
can also lead to depreciation of global
currencies making the recovery of Indian
exports more difficult.
(v) It is likely that the UK will seek trade
agreements with non-EU partners,
including India. Thereafter, for India, a
bilateral trade agreement with the UK
might become viable as an alternate to
the tough and drawn-out negotiations on
the EU Free Trade Agreement.
32 Civil Services Examination
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY

An initiative of Group

2. Issues regarding India-EU free trade (iii)

liberalise visa norms for Indian
agreement (FTA) : professionals.
The FTA which is known as EU-India Broad- (iv) India is apprehensive about demands
based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) of EU(like further reducing tariffs on EU
has been in consideration between India and EU goods) which might hamper the growth
since 2007. But the two side have failed to arrive of domestic industries.
at a final conclusion of the deal owing to several
More recently Indias Bilateral Investment Treaties
roadblocks. These include :
(BITs) with many European countries are about to
(a) Demands by EU : expire. India thus has formulated a Model BIT to
(i) EU wants India to overhaul its financial apply to all countries which includes some clauses
sector and has requested for various unacceptable to European nations.
regulations pertaining to bank branches,
Indias Model Bilateral Investment Treaty excludes
, foreign ownership, equity ceilings,
matters relating to taxation. Also it states that foreign
voting rights and investments by state-
investors investing in India can seek the option of
owned companies in foreign banks in
international arbitration only when all domestic legal
India removed, among other changes.
routes have been exhausted. These provisions have
(ii) Further EU has asked India to cut taxes
further acted as impediments in finalizing any deal
on wines and spirits and reduce tariff
between EU and India.
on the dairy sector as well as duties on
3. Refugee crisis in Europe :
automobiles.
Europe has been facing huge influx of
(iii) The IPR provisions in India-EU draft FTA
refugees owing to the continuous war in
also raise concerns as they will limit the
the nearby Middle eastern countries. This
capacities of both India and the EU to use
has led to large scale problems in the
public health safeguards and flexibilities
European countries among which many
allowed in WTOs TRIPS Agreement
have put restrictions along their borders in
(iv) Apart from these EU has been imposing
order to stop refugees from coming in. on
non-tariff barriers in the form of technical
the other hand, Germany has been quite
regulations, phytosanitary measures,
supportive in helping the refugees in such
industrial standards, conformity
dire circumstances.
assessments or barriers to services
India has always been sympathetic to the
exports.
cause of refugees. India though has not
(b) Demands by India :
signed the Refugee Convention of 1951 but
(i) Indias demographic advantages have
have always put forward a helping hand for
provided it with a skilled, competitive,
refuges whther in the case of Bangladeshi,
English-speaking workforce, of which
Isreali or Rohingya refugees.
Europe will be lacking in the near
Under such circumstances India hopes that
future. Considering this, India places
the European refugee crisis is resolved at
considerable importance to Mode 4
the earliest and that the European countries
liberalisation. Mode 4 refers to the
take collective steps to deal with the issue.
delivery of a service within the territory of
a member with the service provider being
present as a natural person. In essence,
Recent interactions between India
this enables free movement of individual and major European countries :
professionals by committing to measures
such as relaxation of immigration norms. India-Germany :
(ii) India wants the EU to give it greater The Prime Minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi
market access pharmaceuticals sectors visited Germany to participate in the fourth Inter-
provide data secure nation status Governmental Consultations [IGC] between
(beneficial to Indias IT sector) and India and Germany.
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
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India and Germany have a Strategic Partnership
which the leaders of two countries have resolved
to further strengthen.
Germany is currently also one of the leading
foreign direct investors in India, with around
1,800 German companies operating in India.
From April 2000 to March 2017, various German
companies have invested about $9.7 billion in
India, which is about 3 percent of total FDI flows
the country has witnessed.
India and Germany also cooperate closely on
the issue of the expansion of the United Nations
Security Council (UNSC) within the framework of
G-4 with Japan and Brazil
The India-Germany Defence Cooperation
Agreement, established in 2006, provides a
framework for defence cooperation. The High
Defence Committee meetings at the Defence
Secretary level take place annually and
atlernately in New Delhi and Berlin.
PM Modi and Chancellor Merkel underlined their
common concern about the threat and global
reach of terrorism and extremism. They agreed
on the need to take strong measures against
all those who encourage, support and finance
terrorism
Further, there are strong links between the
two countries in the domain of environment
conservation and mitigating climate change.
Germany has also agreed to share its experience
in cleansing rivers for making Gangas flow pure
in nature .
India-France :
Relations between India and France are multi-
faceted, close and special.
The Prime Minister of India in his four nation
official visit of Europe visited France on 2nd and
3rd June.
As strategic partners, India and France consult
and support each other on international matters in
a spirit of mutual understanding and commitment
to the benefit of the international community at
large.
Leaders of the two countries reiterated their support
to CoP 21 to UNFCCC at Paris and expressed
confidence that the Paris Conference is significant
to fight against climate change issue for the post
2020 period. In the context of Americas decision
33
against Paris summit, both nation reaffirmed
their commitments regarding Paris Summit and
criticized the decision of America.
The Leadersreiterated their strong support
for ongoing efforts aimed at defeating
terrorism.They called for dismantling of the
terrorist infrastructure, denying safe havens to
terrorists, bringing perpetrators and conspirators
of terrorist attacks to justice.
France was the first country with which India
entered into an agreement on Civil Nuclear
Cooperation. France has been a steadfast
proponent and supporter of Indias candidature
for permanent membership of a reformed UN
Security Council
India and France has collaborations in various
fields as :
w Defence : Rafale aircraft, Scorpene class
submarine under Project 75, Joint Army
exercise- EX-SHAKTI,air exercise EX-
GARUDA, naval exercise EX VARUNA
w Space : ISRO and CNES(French space
agency) had jointly developed the Satellite for
ARGOS and ALTIKA (SARAL), Arianespace-
France has been the major provider of launch
services to Indian Geo Stationary satellites.,
CNES MoU on Megha Tropiques satellite has
been a major achievement
w Climate : International Solar Alliance has
been formed under the leadership of India
and France, the Paris climate deal is also an
important source of cooperation.
The dimensions stretch in several directions
reflecting the great bond between the two
countries. These dimensions point towards
further harnessing the available potential which
will be a win-win situation for both the countries.
India-Spain :
The Prime Minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi paid
an official visit to Spain on 30th- 31st May. This was
the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Spain in
almost three decades.
Some of the agreements signed were :
MOU on Technical Cooperation in Civil Aviation.
MOU on Cooperation in organ transplantation
between India's Directorate General of Health
Services and the National Transplant Organization
of Spain.
34 Civil Services Examination
MOU on Cooperation in Cyber Security.
MOU on Cooperation in Renewable Energy
At present Spain is a not a major player in Indias
foreign policy. This can be reversed by increasing
interactions and drawing convergences favourable
to both the countries.
India-Portugal :
Prime Minsiter Mr.Modi visited Portugal in the
month of June.
Interestingly Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio
Costa traces his origin to Goaand was described
by his Indian counterpart as representing the
best of the Indian diaspora across the world.
Mr.Modi also presented the Overseas Citizen of
India card to Mr.Costa.
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
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Major agreements agreed between the two
countries included cooperation in outer space,
double taxation avoidance, nano technology,
improving cultural ties, youth and sports, higher
education, scientific research, and setting up of
a Portugal-India Business Hub and an Indian
Chamber of Commerce
Way forward :
India and Europe stand to gain a lot from each
other. The relationship is particularly beneficial for
India and therefore steps must be taken to resolve
the impending issues like BTIA to fully capitalize
upon the partnership. The differences must be
ironed out by adopting a cooperative path by both
the entities.
INDIA-CENTRAL
ASIA
India has traditionally attached great importance to its relations with Central Asia. But, unfortunately, the
relationship despite close historical & cultural contacts has not progressed to the desired extent. The key
constraint India faces is the lack of direct access to Central Asia. The unstable situation in Afghanistan and a
highly problematic India-Pakistan relation have deprived India from the benefit of relations with Central Asia.
The Central Asian region :
Central Asia, central region of Asia, extends from
the Caspian Sea in the west to the border of western
China in the east. It is bounded on the north by
Russiaand on the south by Iran, Afghanistan, and
China.
The region consists of the former Soviet republics
of: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan,
andTurkmenistan.
Importance of Central Asia for India :
The region is richly endowed with commodities
such as crude oil, natural gas, cotton, gold,
copper, aluminium, and iron, the increasing
importance of the regions oil and gas resources
has generated new rivalries among external
powers.
All Central Asian States are rich and well endowed
potentially with mineral and hydroelectric
resources.
Kazakhstan has the worlds second largest
reserves and is the worlds largest producer
23,000 tons of uranium in 2014. It has almost
all major minerals including iron-ore, coal,
oil, gas, gold, lead, zinc, molybdenum etc. in
commercially viable quantities.
Uzbekistan has large reserves of gas, uranium
and gold.
Turkmenistan is endowed with worlds fourth
largest reserves of natural gas.
Tajikistan is blessed with huge hydroelectric
10
potential. Kyrgyzstan is rich in gold and
hydroelectric power.
These essential features of the region can be highly
beneficial in ensuring Indias Energy Security.
Connect Central Asia policy
Due to increasing presence of China, India
formulated its Connect Central Asia Policy which
is a broad-based approach including political,
security, economic, and cultural connections.
The primary goal behind the Connect Central
Asia policy was re-connecting with the region
which has a long shared history with India.
The key elements of this policy cover many
important issue areas, including political
cooperation, economic cooperation, strategic
cooperation, regional connectivity, information
technology (IT), cooperation in education,
people-to-people contact, medical cooperation,
and cooperation in regional groupings.
Trade and connectivity between India
and Central Asia :
Indias trade volume with Central Asia is less than
USD 1 billion, compared to Chinas 50 billion and
Russias 30 billion with the region.
Indias trade with the region accounts for a mere
0.11 per cent of its total trade.
Similarly, Indias share in Central Asias total trade
is only about one per cent.
This is mainly because Russia and China have
direct physical proximity as well as established
transportation links with Central Asia.
36 Civil Services Examination
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY

An initiative of Group

Even though Indias northern regions are closer to Central Asia than its own states in the South, Indias trade
with Central Asia has fallen short of realising its full potential because of the constraints imposed by geopolitical
factors (Pakistans non-cooperative nature in providing India passage to Central Asia),. This imbalance
suggests an obvious rationale for increasing Indias connectivity with Central Asia.Therefore, India has been
exploring different variants of realistically attainable transport connectivity with Eurasia.

Some of the efforts in this regard can be seen as :

1. International North South Corridor (INSTC) :
INSTC, is a 7200-km-long multi-modal (ship, rail and road) transportation system for connecting the Indian
Ocean and Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea via Iran and thence to Russia and North Europe.

In the absence of viable surface transport connectivity, Indian goods to Russia and Central Asia move
either through the sea route via Rotterdam to St. Petersburg or from the Chinese port of Qingdao that takes
over 50 days.
Recent studies show that INSTC can reduce the time and cost of container delivery by 30-40 per cent.
It can compliment the Chahbahar Port being built by India in Iran and further increase Indias access to the
region.
2. Ashgabat Agreement :
It is an international transport and transit corridor facilitating transportation of goods between Central Asia
and the Persian Gulf. The Ashgabat Agreement has Oman, Iran, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan as founding
members. Kazakhstan has also joined this arrangement subsequently.
Accession to the Agreement would enable India to utilise this existing transport and transit corridor to
facilitate trade and commercial interaction with the Eurasian region.
Further, this would synchronise with our efforts to implement the International North South Transport Corridor
(INSTC) for enhanced connectivity.
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
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National Security in India-Central
Asia
Dimension of National Security in India-
Central Asia relations :
The importance of Central Asia for peace and
stability in the region is immense. This region
if turned as a source of religious extremism and
radical Islam may present a serious threat.
Any advance by Islamic extremist groups could
invigorate similar elements active in Kashmir.
Thus these activities need to be checked.
What is of interest to India and other nations in
this region is the volatile situation in Afghanistan.
Peaceful and stable Afghanistan is a perquisite
for the whole regions stability.
Recent exchanges between India and
Central Asia :
Visit of Kyrgyzstans president to India:
India and Kyrgyzstan agreed to cooperate in
areas like- fight against terrorism and extremism,
defence cooperation(defence exercise Khanjar)
and enhancing trade and economic exchanges
received particular attention. Both sides agreed
to enhance collaboration in fighting the forces of
militarism and violence.
Tourism was identified as an important sector in
which significant untapped potential exists.They
agreed to work on simplifying and facilitating
issuance of visas.
Six Agreements including collaboration in tourism,
agriculture and food industry, youth development,
training of diplomats, National Cadet Corps,
and broadcasting and exchange of audiovisual
programmes were signed. These will further
strengthen official and people-to-people linkages.
Visit of Tajikistans President to India:
What makes Tajikistan particularly significant
and attractive for India is its critical geographical
location on the northern tip of Afghanistan.
37
Security and defence cooperation have emerged
as a significant area of cooperation
Bilateral trade between the two countries is in
the range of USD 55 to 60 million which is much
below potential
The China angle :
In the recent past there has been deepening
in the relations between China and Central
Asia. China already has a much larger share
of trade with the region as compared to India
and is aiming to increase it further by its efforts
to integrate the region with its Belt and Road
initiative.
Chinas primary thrust has been to make use
of Central Asias vast mineral resources for its
economic development to supply the much
needed consumer goods to Central Asia and to
protect itself against the threat of separatism,
extremism and terrorism from its Uyghur
minority from Central Asian territories.
Way forward for India to further strengthen
the relationship with Central Asia:
India should increase the use of the
instrumentality of soft power in Central Asia
to strengthen bilateral ties. There is immense
interest in Indian classical dance, music,
Bollywood films, yoga, literature etc. in these
countries.
More energy and vigour needs to be imparted
to the area of commercial and economic ties.
Indias inclusion in the Shanghai cooperation
Organization (SCO) is deemed to provide a
major boost to India-Central Asia relations.
Strengthening of relations between India
and Central Asia is to the mutual benefit of
all countries involved. It is not directed at
countering Chinas presence in the region.
India is interested in expanding its ties with
the region as it will promote security, stability,
economic growth and development of all
countries.
India-Africa 11
Relationship
Indias relations with African countries are surging ahead in the political, economic and multilateral spheres.
To an extent, this reflects Indias recognition of the economic and political transformation of Africa in the recent
years. Africa presents a huge source of opportunities and India would surely not like to miss upon these. In this
regard India is making strides towards strengthening its partnership with African countries.

Opportunities presented by Africa Blue/Ocean Economy

Infrastructure
In recent years African countries have
Education and skill development
experienced high economic growth. The average
Health / pharmaceutical development
annual growth rate of real output has increased
from 2.6 percent in 1990-2000 to 5.3 percent in Peace and security
the period 2000-2010.
Further according to the World Bank, seven out
The India-Africa Forum Summit :
of ten fastest growing economies in the world These summits are held between leaders of
during the last decade are from Africa. African countries and the Indian Prime Minister
Africa has a significant young population who to further strengthen the ties between the two
can act as agents of change and bring in growth entities.
of the African region provided they are sufficiently It was decided to hold the summits every three
skilled for that. years, alternately in India and Africa.
New Delhi was the venue in 2008 (first IAFS);
Development partnership between India
Addis Ababa in 2011. The third summit,
and Africa :
scheduled to be held in 2014, was postponed
India has forged a development partnership because of the Ebola outbreak and was later
with the African countries. This development held in New Delhi in 2015.
partnership is unique as it is based on a
The 3rd IAFS was a major event with the participation
consultative model and is driven by African
of all 54 countries of the African continent. It led to
needs.
several important decisions like :
The focus of the development partnership is
It reaffirmed that development cooperation was
on human resource development and capacity
the cornerstone of the India Africa partnership
building in Africa.
and offered an additional USD10 billion
New Delhi had become a vigorous provider of
concessional credit over the next five years.
lines of credit as part of its aid programme.
An offer was made of a grant assistance of $600
Domains of cooperation between India million
and Africa : which will include an India-Africa Development
Fund of
Trade and industry
$100 million and an India-Africa Health Fund of
Agriculture
$10 million.
Energy
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
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It was announced that Indias cooperation will
be in line with the objectives set by the Agenda
2063 initiative of the African countries
Given the African focus on education and skills
enhancement, India pledged 50,000 scholarships
for African students over the next five years.
Finally, since security and development are
closely linked, he announced support for African
efforts in diverse fields such as peacekeeping
training, counter-terrorism, maritime, space and
cyber security.
Asia Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC)
The idea of Asia Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC)
emerged in the joint declaration issued by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe in November 2016 at the conference of African
Development Bank ( AfDB). The conference was
itself special because AfDB help its meeting in India
for the first time, marking a significant confidence
on India as a valued partner.
The Asia-Africa Growth Corridor highlights the
growing importance of Africa in Indian foreign
policy and also signals Indias willingness to
partner with like-minded countries, such as
Japan, in this region.
2. Recent attacks on African nationals in
The main objective of the corridor is to enhance
India :
growth and connectivity between Asia and Africa.
The corridor will focus on four areas: Development
Cooperation Projects, Quality Infrastructure
and Institutional Connectivity, Enhancing Skills,
and People-to-People Partnership. Agriculture,
health, technology, and disaster management
have been identified as the main areas of
development cooperation.
Points of concern in the India-Africa
relations :
1. The China angle :
Over the past few decades, Chinas rapid
economic growth and expanding middle
class havefueled an unprecedented need
for resources. The economic powerhouse
has focused on securing the long-term
energy supplies needed to sustain its
industrialization, searching for secure
access to oil supplies and other raw materials
around the globe. As part of this effort, China
has turned to Africa.
39
China is a significant source offoreign direct
investment in Africa; offers development
loans to resource-rich nations, like Angola;
invests in agriculture; and develops special
trade and economic cooperation zones in
several states, including Ethiopia, Nigeria,
and Zambia.
Integration of African continent under
the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is also
planned at a mega scale.
Chinas has also established its
firstpermanent naval installationoverseas
at Djibouti.
However, it seems India has greater
acceptance in Africa as compared
to China. In contrast to the economic
powerhouse China, which has been
accused of exploiting the continent's
vast mineral and energy resources, India
positioned itself as a fairer partner to a
continent tipped as the global economic
growth engine of the coming decades.
India is committed to holistic development
of Africa and ensuring the human resource
development rather than exploiting Africa
for commercial purposes.
African nationals have repeatedly come
under attack in the recent past which has
led to injuries and even deaths in some
cases.
Most of these incidents are seen to have
a prejudiced bias against the African
nationals who are often deemed to be
involved in Drug trafficking and other anti-
social activites.
Though Indian official severely criticised the
violent attack but refused to acknowledge
the racism and projecting such incidents
as cases of urban violence
In order to improve the situation India has
launched a series of racism sensitisation
programmes in neighbourhoods that had
a large African population. There is need
to make concerted efforts to sensitise the
police and the public at large about how
racism contradicts the nations past and
present ideals.
40 Civil Services Examination
Way forward for India-Africa relations :
The journey of cooperation between India and
Africa has been going at a good pace in the last
few decades. There is all round development in
the relations. Trade between the two has grown
from $1 billion in 1990-1991 to $71 billion in
2014-2015
There has been a growing convergence
between India and Africa on peace and
security issues. Africa like India has a long
coast line and is concerned about the threats
such as piracy, drug trafficking and security of
sea lanes. Thus the possibility of India Africa
maritime cooperation are immense.
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
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More recently, there has been a rise of
terrorism in Africa. India has long been a
victim of terrorism and therefore can share its
experience in countering terrorism with the
African countries if they so desire.
Indias interaction with Africa is based on the
principle of bottom-up and not top-down. This
resonates well with Africa, enabling a positive
understanding of India in Africa and auguring
well for India-Africa relations.
With Indias huge acceptance in Africa,
India needs to further increase its presence
in the continent and help it to prosper into a
developed entity.
SAARC
SAARC
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
(SAARC) was founded in 1985, with the signing of
the SAARC Charter in Dhaka on 8th December 1985.
SAARC is an intergovernmental organization and
geo-political union of South Asian nations.
Membership:
It comprises of 8 Members: Afghanistan,
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal,
Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Observers: Australia, China, European Union,
Japan, Iran, Mauritius, Myanmar, South Korea
and USA
Potential future members: Myanmar has
expressed interest in being upgraded from
observer to a full member of the grouping.
Its Secretariat was set up on 17th January, 1987 at
Kathmandu.
Summits:
17th Summit was held in 2011 in Maldives
18th Summit was held in 2014 in Nepal
19th Summit was to be held in 2016 in Pakistan,
but it was cancelled due to 6 countries (all except
Nepal and Pakistan) pulling out of the summit in
the aftermath of the Uri attack in India.
Objectives and Principles:
Objectives of the association as per the SAARC
Charter are:
To promote the welfare of the peoples of SOUTH
ASIA and to improve their quality of life;
To accelerate economic growth, social progress
and cultural development in the region and to
provide all individuals the opportunity to live in
dignity and to realize their full potentials;
To promote and strengthen collective self-
reliance among the countries of SOUTH ASIA;
12
To contribute to mutual trust, understanding and
appreciation of one another's problems;
To promote active collaboration and mutual
assistance in the economic, social, cultural,
technical and scientific fields;
To strengthen cooperation with other developing
countries;
To strengthen cooperation among themselves
in international forums on matters of common
interests; and
To cooperate with international and regional
organizations with similar aims and purposes.
The key principles of the association are:
Cooperation within the association will be based
on sovereign equality, territorial integrity, and
non-interference in internal affairs of other states,
political independence and mutual benefit.
Such cooperation will not substitute, rather it
would complement bilateral and multilateral
cooperation
Such cooperation should not be inconsistent with
bilateral and multilateral obligations.
The charter stipulates that decision would be
taken unanimously.
Importance of SAARC:
The region represents 3% of world's area; 21% of
world's population and 3.8% of global economy.
11 stated areas of cooperation are: agriculture;
education; culture and sports; population,
health and child welfare; environment; rural
development; transport; tourism; science
and technology; communications; prevention
of drug trafficking and drug abuse; women
development.
All the member countries share a natural
boundary in the form of Himalayas and the
Indian Ocean, thus they are termed as natural
allies.
42 Civil Services Examination
All the member countries have several
convergences in terms of culture and a common
history. This makes the grouping more important,
and also provides for many opportunities of
cooperation.
All the countries share common problems like
poverty, unemployment, ethnic and religious
diversities etc., and a common regional platform
can help tackle these issues with far more vigor.
All the countries share borders with India, and
a common market can easily be created among
the members, which could give a boost to intra-
region trade and lead to economic development.
SAARC can develop on the lines of ASEAN, which
is one of the most successful regional grouping.
Developments:
SAFTA: South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA)
was launched in 2006.
w It was envisaged as a first step towards
a Customs Union, Common market and
Economic Union.
w As per the agreement, SAARC members
brought their duties down to 20% by 2009.
SAARC exports increased from $ 206.7
billion in 2009 to $ 354.6 billion in 2012.
SAARC Satellite: India launched the SAARC
satellite, for use by SAARC members. It is a
navigation satellite, and the total cost of launching
the satellite was met by the Indian Government.
w Beneficiaries of the satellite will be: Nepal,
Bhutan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka
and Maldives (all SAARC members except
Pakistan).
w The satellite has a mission life of 12 years.
w PM Modi hailed the satellite as an invaluable
gift from India to South Asia, and that it would
help address South Asia's economic and
developmental priorities.
w The launch of the satellite has been hailed
as a great step in making SAARC grouping
functional again.
2nd SAARC Anti-Terrorism Mechanism was
held in New Delhi in 2016:
w Delegates from all 8 members participated
in the conference.
w The discussion involved key issues of
terrorism and measures needed to strengthen
SAARC anti-terrorism mechanism.
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
An initiative of Group
w The members agreed towards
operationalizing SAARC Terrorist Offences
Monitoring Desk (STOMD) and SAARC
Drugs Offences Monitoring Desk (SDOMD)-
in order to strengthen the combat efforts
against terrorism.
Mahashangarh, a 3rd century BC site in
Bangladesh was declared the SAARC cultural
capital for 2016-17. As the cultural capital, the
historic place will host festivals on films, food,
literature and dances for a year.
BBIN Motor Vehicle Agreement: BBIN consists of
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal. The sub-
grouping aims to promote safe, environmentally
sound and economically efficient road transport
in the sub-region.
w Except Bhutan, the other 3 countries have
signed the agreement.
w SAARC Motor Vehicle Agreement (MVA) was
not signed during the 18th SAARC Summit
due to reservations from Pakistan. But the
SAARC Declaration of the 18th summit
encouraged member states to initiate sub-
regional measures to enhance connectivity,
and thus the BBIN MVA was pursued among
these 4 SAARC members.
Disaster Mitigation:
w SAADMEx (South Asian Annual Disaster
Management Exercise): It is a simulation
exercise on disaster management in the
SAARC region, which is being led by
India.
w It aimed at augmenting current levels of
preparedness (individual as well as joint)
of member countries in rescue, relief and
response operation during disasters.
Analysis:
In more than 30 years of its formation, as
compared to other regional organizations like
EU and ASEAN, SAARC is far behind. Multiple
factors have led to this state, and SAARC is
largely seen as a non-functional body.
It has not yet delivered on its promises. Though
SAFTA was signed, it has had limited impact
on intra-region trade and has not been able to
achieve its potential.
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
International Relations
An initiative of Group
Failure of SAARC can be clearly highlighted
by the fact that in spite of being more than 30
years old, the grouping has failed to come up
with transport linkages among its members. This
should be treated as a priority, as it could give
immense boost to trade in the region.
The reasons for SAARC being retarded are:
w Fear psychosis among SAARC members
viz-a-viz India's achievements in many
spheres (military strength, economic growth,
technology, nuclear strength etc.). Pakistan,
Sri Lanka etc. feel dwarfed by the Indo-
centricity of the region.
w The success of SAARC has remained a
prisoner of Indo-Pakistan rivalry.
w The security and political deviations among
member countries over-shadows
prospects of economic and socio-cultural
convergences. Conflicting issues among the
members operate as a stumbling bloc in the
way of their cooperation.
w Failure of civil society organization, which is
present in the region, to act as a link between
the member states has also led to slow
growth and cooperation among the member
countries.
Inter-regional trade among SAARC members is
very as compared to ASEAN. The reasons for this
are:
w Most South Asian countries are primary
producers, therefore they tend to export similar
items and thus compete with each other.
w South Asian countries (except Sri Lanka) have
high rate of tariff and non-tariff barriers, which
constraints expansion of intra-regional trade.
w The region lacks transport and information
linage among the members, which poses a
serious problem for expansion of trade in the
region.
w There are political differences and a lack of
willingness to create trade complementarities
among the leaders of the member countries,
which is contributing to low level of intra-
regional trade.
Way forward:
A functional SAARC can act as a bridge between
East Asia which is rich in human resources and
technology; and the West and Central Asian
43
countries which are rich in natural resources
and finance. SAARC's massive population and
educated population could complement the
needs of both the areas (East and West).
India should address the genuine concerns of
the member countries, as it is the leading and
largest country of the region. It should try to
address the power differentials and gain trust of
other member countries.
SAARC Charter should be amended, and the
clause of bilateral and conflictual issue not being
discussed on the forum should be removed. An
effective dispute resolution mechanism could
help shrink areas of conflict and expand areas of
trust and cooperation.
Member countries should change their security
perceptions, and aim to tackle the common
the
issues they face like: poverty, unemployment,
economic slowdown, decreasing sec ratio,
corruption, environmental threats etc.
If SAARC members make sincere efforts to make
the grouping a strong dispute settlement forum, it
can help make SAARC a very successful regional
organization. SAARC countries should come out
of the 'state-centric model' and move towards
regional mindset to bring about development of
the entire region.
ASEAN
Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN)
was established on 8th August, 1967 in Bangkok,
Thailand. The Founding Fathers of ASEAN
(Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and
Thailand) signed the ASEAN Declaration (or Bangkok
Declaration) to establish it. (2017 marks the 50th
anniversary of ASEAN).
The grouping was formed to accelerate economic
growth, cultural development, social progress, and
promote peace and security in the South East Asian
countries.
Membership:
It has 10 members presently.
Members are: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia,
Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam
Observers: Papua New Guinea, East Timor
Permanent Secretariat is present in Jakarta, Indonesia
ASEAN is an official United Nations Observer.
44 Civil Services Examination
Summits:
ASEAN Summits are held by the 10 member
South East Asian countries annually.
28th and 29th Summit was held in September
2016 in Laos.
30th Summit was held in April 2017 in Philippines
31st Summit will be held in November 2017 in
Philippines.
Aims and Purposes:
As per the ASEAN Declaration, the aims and
purposes of ASEAN are:
Importance of ASEAN:
To accelerate the economic growth, social
progress and cultural development in the
region through joint endeavors in the spirit of
equality and partnership in order to strengthen
the foundation for a prosperous and peaceful
community of Southeast Asian Nations;
Promoting regional peace and stability through
abiding respect for justice and the rule of law in
the relationship among countries of the region
and adherence to the principles of the United
Nations Charter;
Promoting active collaboration and mutual
assistance on matters of common interest in the
economic, social, cultural, technical, scientific
and administrative fields;
Providing assistance to each other in the form of
training and research facilities in the educational,
professional, technical and administrative spheres;
Collaborating more effectively for the greater
utilization of their agriculture and industries, the
expansion of their trade, including the study of
the problems of international commodity trade,
the improvement of their transportation and
Developments:
communications facilities and the raising of the
living standards of their peoples;
Promoting Southeast Asian studies; and
Maintaining close and beneficial cooperation with
existing international and regional organizations
with similar aims and purposes, and explore all
avenues for even closer cooperation among
themselves.
The grouping is based on the following
fundamental principles:
Mutual respect for independence, equality,
territorial integrity, sovereignty and national
identify of all nations
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
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Non-interference in internal affairs of other
countries
Settlement of differences or disputes by peaceful
manner
Renunciation of threat or use of force
Right of every state to leads it national existence
from external interference or coercion
Effective cooperation among the members
themselves
Decisions are taken through consultation and
consensus.
The region has a population of approximately
625 million people, covering an area of 1.7 million
square miles (3% of the land area of the Earth),
and having a combined GDP of $ 2.8 trillion. If
ASEAN would have been a single entity, it would
have ranked as the 6th largest economy in the
world.
The grouping promotes pan-Asianism,
intergovernmental cooperation and it facilitates
political, economic, military and cultural
integration among its members and Asian
countries.
Though the individual member countries of
ASEAN are small, collectively they have become
highly successful. The collectivity is seen as a
string force in Asia and at the international level.
ASEAN is an important part of Indian diplomacy,
USA diplomacy as well as Chinese diplomacy.
The formation of East Asia Summit (EAS) is an
example of the importance of ASEAN for the
other countries.
ASEAN Charter was adopted in 2007, which
provided the grouping with legal status. The
charter sets a blueprint for a community built on
3 branches:
w ASEAN Economic Community
w ASEAN Political-Security Community
w ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community
Regional Security: ASEAN faces security
challenges like border disputes, natural and
manmade disasters, food security, human
trafficking, cross-border terrorism and
insurgencies. Regional security issues are dealt
through the following ASEAN led forums:
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
International Relations
An initiative of Group
w ASEAN Plus Three: ASEAN, China, Japan
and South Korea are its members.
w East Asia Summit (EAS): Its members are
ASEAN, Australia, China, India, Japan, New
Zealand, Russia, South Korea, and USA. It
seeks to promote security and prosperity in
the region.
w ASEAN Regional Forum: It is a 27 member
multilateral grouping, which was formed
to facilitate cooperation on political and
security issues, and for regional confidence
building, and preventive diplomacy.
Analysis:
The end of Cold war in 1991 allowed ASEAN to
exercise greater political independence in the
region, and it has emerged as a leading voice on
regional trade and security issues.
w ASEAN adopted a declaration to resolve
disputes in the South China Sea, it promoted
dialogue on regional security aspects by
establishing the ASEAN Regional Forum.
ASEAN Free Trade Area was created in 1992 by
its members to reduce intra-regional tariffs and
ease restrictions on foreign investment.
ASEAN Economic Community's 4 pillars are:
creation of a single market with free flow of
goods, services, labour and investment; fair
economic competition; sustainable economic
development; and integration of ASEAN into the
global economy.
Economic cooperation has been highly successful
for the region. As per Asian Development Bank,
the bloc's economy is expected to grow by 5.3%.
USA sees ASEAN as being vital to the success of
its strategic rebalance to Asia.
ASEAN has contributed significantly towards
regional stability by building norms and fostering
a neutral environment to address shared
challenges. The Treaty of Amity and Cooperation
signed among its members to promote peace,
friendship and cooperation to build solidarity
is a proof of their commitment to peace and
prosperity in the region.
Issues and Challenges:
w Biggest challenge the bloc faces is
negotiating a unified approach to China,
especially in response to the widespread
maritime claims of China in the South China
Sea.
45
w Many experts have argued that the
emphasis on consensus, not losing face,
and voluntarism has meant that the politics of
the lowest common denominator has tended
to prevail, and difficult problems have been
avoided rather than confronted.
w Maritime disputes in South China Sea are
seen as the biggest irritant among the
member countries.
w ASEAN members have been divided by their
ties with USA and China. The region lacks
investment, which is needed for infrastructure
development. China has moved to fill this
void, but many members are anxious of
becoming over-reliant and dependent on
China, and they are looking towards the USA
for support. This rift between countries is
also a very big issue.
w ASEAN countries have varying economic,
political and social systems. Such diversity
means that full agreement on an issue is very
difficult.
w ASEAN has failed to confront human rights
issues like that of repression in Cambodia, or
the Rohingya refugee crisis.
Way forward:
In the economic sphere, ASEAN is doing great
and is seen as an example by other groupings
including SAARC.
But several experts argue that ASEAN should
relook its decision making process, and remove
the condition of unanimity in decisions, which is
difficult to come about due to the huge diversities
among the countries.
Its Secretariat should be strengthened, and it
should be empowered to take decisions.
Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO):
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is
a permanent intergovernmental international
organisation, the creation ofwhich was announced
on15 June 2001 inShanghai (China).
The founding members were China, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Except for Uzbekistan, all other countries were
members of Shanghai Five group, which was
founded in 1996.
46 Civil Services Examination
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Charter
was signed duringthe St. Petersburg SCO Heads
ofState meeting inJune 2002, and entered intoforce
on19 September 2003. This is the fundamental
statutory document which outlines the organizations
goals and principles, aswell asits structure and
core activities.
New members: India and Pakistan joined the SCO
as full members on 9th June, 2017 during the Astana
Summit held in Kazakhstan.
Membership:
SCO comprises 8 member states: India, China,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan,
Uzbekistan and Pakistan.
4 Observer states: Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran,
Mongolia
6 dialogue partners: Azerbaijan, Armenia,
Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey and Sri Lanka.
Summits:
2016: Tashkent, Uzbekistan
2017: Astana, Kazakhstan
Theme: Future Energy
Purpose and structure:
SCO's main goals are:
Strengthening mutual trust and neighborliness
amongthe member states;
Promoting their effective cooperation inpolitics,
trade, the economy, research, technology and
culture, aswell asin education, energy, transport,
tourism, environmental protection, and other
areas;
Making joint efforts tomaintain and ensure
peace, security and stability inthe region; and
Moving towardsthe establishment ofa
democratic, fair and rational new international
political and economic order
SCO pursues its internal policy based onthe
principles ofmutual trust, mutual benefit, equality,
mutual consultations, respect forcultural diversity,
and a desire forcommon development, while its
external policy is conducted inaccordance withthe
principles ofnon-alignment, non-targeting any third
country, and openness.
Heads of the State Council is the supreme decision
making body in SCO.
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
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Main areas of cooperation:
Political and diplomatic cooperation
Trade and economic cooperation
Cultural and humanitarian cooperation
Cooperation on security: SCO is centered on its
member nation's Central Asian countries security
related concerns. The problems they face are
that of terrorism, separatism and extremism.
w SCO signed the Collective Security Treaty
Organization (CSTO) in 2007 to broaden
the cooperation on issues such as security,
crime and drug trafficking.
Military activities: The organization's activities
are expanding towards increased military
cooperation, intelligence sharing and counter
terrorism. Member countries are also taking up
joint military exercises.
Relations of SCO with the West:
Many people are of the belief that the original
purpose of SCO was to serve as a counterbalance
of NATO, and also to avoid conflicts that would
give an opportunity to the USA to intervene in areas
bordering Russia and China.
Recent developments:
India and Pakistan were admitted as full
members in 2017 during the Astana summit. With
the expansion of the grouping, the SCO will now
represent over 40% of humanity and nearly 20%
of the global GDP.
w With the expansion, SCO has become the
world's most populous and largest regional
cooperative organization, which will bring
unprecedented development capacity and
cooperation potential.
SCO focused its attention in combating
terrorism in Central Asia and especially at
the borders of Xinjiang, Chinas Uygur Muslim
province where Beijing is battling against
separatist East Turkistan Islamic Movement
(ETIM).
In Astana, SCO leaders signed a convention on
combating extremism and a declaration on joint
fight against international terrorism.
China will assume the rotating presidency of the
SCO after the Astana summit and will host the
organizations next annual gathering in 2018.
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
International Relations
An initiative of Group
Benefits for India joining SCO:
India, one of the largest energy consuming
countries in the world, is also likely to get greater
access to major gas and oil exploration projects
in Central Asia as many of the SCO countries
have huge reserves of oil and natural gas.
With India as its member, SCO can play a major
role in addressing the threat of terrorism in the
region.
India is keen on deepening its security-related
cooperation with the SCO and its Regional Anti-
Terrorism Structure (RATS) which specifically
deals with issues relating to security and defence.
Analysis:
SCO is being seen as an organization which
can bring about change in the world order and
international organizations due to its membership
which includes of India, China and Russia.
All members of SCO are facing terrorism; hence
such a grouping can play a very great role in
combating terrorism. The recent convention on
combating extremism, and the declaration on
joint fighting against international terrorism are
proofs that SCO is heading towards the right and
much needed direction.
Some issues that the grouping is facing are:
w Lack of an economic agenda has limited the
scope of Shanghai Cooperation Organization
(SCO).
w SCO has not been able to develop a
constructive economic agenda:
s Energy cooperation (one of the key
goals of SCO) has remained dormant.
Most energy cooperation between SCO
members is happening bilaterally.
s China had proposed a SCO Development
Bank in 2010, which remains a non-
starter till now.
w One of the key reasons behind the SCOs
stunted growth in regional economic
and strategic matters is the complicated
dynamics between China and Russia.
Neither has been willing to concede each
other greater turf. Indias entry in the forum
at this point in time would be visualized as a
balancing factor for both.
47
Way forward:
The combined population of China and India
makes it an international grouping covering
largest populations.
SCO is the only platform where India, China and
Pakistan come together, hence the grouping
can be used to improve the bilateral relations
between these countries.
SCO can play a key role in stabilizing Afghanistan,
which is country of interest to almost all its
members.
SCO should cooperate with United Nations and
other international organizations to tackle issues
of security and drug trafficking from Afghanistan
and surrounding areas.
In the face of rise of protectionism and regional
security, SCO should adhere to and support
trade liberalization, and facilitate and promote
the process of economic integration.
SCO should promote security cooperation to
combat the "three forces" of terrorism, separatism
and extremism in a more precise and efficient
manner, so as to safeguard the sovereignty and
homeland security of all members and maintain
the regional peace and stability.
The SCO has the potential to play a strategically
important role in Asia given its geographical
significance.
The economic relations between the countries
need to be strengthened so that one of the
primary objectives of forming the grouping is
attained.
BIMSTEC
Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical
and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a regional
organization which comprises of 7 member states
which are in the littoral and adjacent areas of Bay
of Bengal, thus constituting a contiguous regional
unity.
Formation: Formed in 1997 through the Bangkok
Declaration. It was initially formed with 4 member
states (Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand).
Myanmar became a member in 1997, followed by
Nepal and Bhutan in 2004. BIMSTEC is celebrating
20 years of its formation in 2017.
48 Civil Services Examination
Membership:
South Asian countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan,
India, Nepal and Sri Lanka
2 South east countries: Myanmar and Thailand
Headquarters: Dhaka, Bangladesh
Summits:
1st Summit was held in 2004 in Bangkok, Thailand
2nd Summit was held in 2008 in New Delhi, India
3rd Summit was held in 2014 in Myanmar
4th Summit will be held in 2017 in Nepal
Objective:
As per the BIMSTEC Declaration, its objectives are:
To create an enabling environment for rapid
economic development through identification
and implementation of specific cooperation
projects in the sectors of trade, investment
and industry, technology, human recourse
development, tourism, agriculture, energy, and
infrastructure and transportation.
To accelerate the economic growth and
social progress in the sub-region through joint
endeavors in a spirit of equality and partnership.
To promote active collaboration and mutual
assistance on matters of common interest in the
economic, social, technical and scientific fields.
To provide assistance to each other in the form of
training and research facilities in the educational,
professional and technical spheres.
To cooperate more effectively in joint efforts that
are supportive of and complementary to national
development plans of Member States which
result in tangible benefits to the people in raising
their living standards, including generating
employment and improving transportation and
communication infrastructure.
To maintain close and beneficial cooperation with
existing international and regional organizations
with similar aims and purposes.
To cooperate in projects that can be dealt with
most productively on a sub-regional basis and
make best use of available synergies among
BIMSTEC member countries.
It was formed to harness shared and accelerated
growth through mutual cooperation in different
areas of common interests by mitigating the
onslaught of globalization and by utilizing regional
resources and geographical advantages.
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
An initiative of Group
It is a sector driven cooperative organization,
with 14 sectors identified for cooperation. Some
of these sectors are: energy, transport, tourism,
counter-terrorism, environment, culture, people
to people contact, climate change, agriculture,
poverty alleviation etc.
Founding principles of BIMSTEC are:
w Cooperation within BIMSTEC will be based on
respect for the principle of sovereign equality,
territorial integrity, and political independence,
no-interference in internal affairs, peaceful co-
existence and mutual benefit.
w Cooperation within BIMSTEC will constitute
an addition to and not be a substitute for
bilateral, regional or multilateral cooperation
involving the Member States.
Importance of BIMSTEC:
BIMSTEC countries are home to around 1.5 billion
people, constituting 22% of global population,
and represent a combined GDP of 2.7 trillion $.
The region constitutes a bridge between
South and South East Asia, and represents a
reinforcement of relations among these countries.
BIMSTEC has established a platform for intra-
regional cooperation between SAARC and
ASEAN members.
Importance of BIMSTEC for India:
w India is the biggest member of BIMSTEC;
therefore India has to make BIMSTEC effective
to show leadership at the international level.
w With SAARC being rendered virtually
ineffective as a bloc, largely due to non-
cooperation from Pakistan in many areas,
India is giving more importance to BIMSTEC
in recent times.
w BIMSTEC is an opportunity for India to engage
with Southeast Asian countries.
w It provides India with scope for:
s Direct connectivity with Southeast Asia
via North East India, and Myanmar
s Potential access to alternative energy
resources in Myanmar
s Economic opportunities which are
available in ASEAN region
s The PM recently described BIMSTEC
as a natural platform to fulfill India's key
foreign policy priorities of 'Neighborhood
First' and 'Act East'.
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
International Relations
An initiative of Group
Connectivity projects are of importance:
w Kaladan Multimodal Projects: It seeks to link
India and Myanmar, by connecting Kolkata to
Sittwe port in Myanmar, and then to Mizoram
by river and road.
w Asian Trilateral Highway: It seeks to connect
India and Thailand via Myanmar. The highway
will run from Moreh (Manipur) to Mae Sot
(Thailand), and represents a significant step
towards establishing connectivity between
Indian and South East Asian countries.
w BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and
Nepal): The 4 countries have signed a pact
for movement of goods and vehicles among
them (Bhutan Parliament has refused to
sign it citing environmental reasons; other 3
members have signed it).
Developments:
BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach summit was held
at Goa in October 2016. This highlights the
importance of BIMSTEC for India.
India has announced that it is seeking to expand
UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) scheme to
BIMSTEC countries.
The grouping has identified 14 priority sectors,
and has signed a Free Trade Agreement (in 2004),
and a Convention on Cooperation in Combating
International Terrorism, Transnational Organized
Crime and Illicit Drug Trafficking (in 2009).
India has signaled its renewed interest in the
grouping. It is already the lead country for 4 priority
sectors: transportation and communication,
environment and disaster management, tourism,
counter-terrorism and trans-national crimes.
BIMSTEC is trying to sign a Convention on Mutual
Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters.
Goa declaration stated that BIMSTEC needs to
have a Coastal Shipping Agreement to allow
member states to trade feely within the sub-
region.
Indian Cabinet has approved a proposal for
signing a MoU with BIMSTEC member states for
establishing BIMSTEC grid inter-connections.
Issues/Challenges:
Despite its huge potential in terms of enhancing
regional cooperation, BIMSTEC has long suffered
from lack of resources and proper coordination
49
among its member states. This can be seen by
the fact that so far only 4 summits have been held;
and it took 17 years for BIMSTEC to establish its
permanent secretariat in Dhaka in 2014.
Country specific criticisms are:
w Thailand and Myanmar are criticized for
ignoring BIMSTEC in favour of ASEAN.
w India (largest member in the grouping) has
been criticized for not providing a strong
leadership to the grouping.
Key institutional factors which held back BIMSTEC
were absence of a permanent secretariat for a
long time, and lack of commitment to invest in
several priority areas.
Way forward:
The renewed interest among the members should
be harnessed by India by providing the grouping
a strong leadership, and taking initiatives.
The ongoing projects should be implemented
efficiently, and new projects should be initiated.
For BIMSTEC to become an enabler of regional
cooperation, it would have to evolve as an
organisation that works through a bottom-up
rather than a top-down approach.
People centric approach might work for BIMSTEC
as it seriously lags behind ASEAN and other
regional organizations in terms of people-to-
people contacts.
The organization needs to focus on fewer priority
areas for purpose of better implementation.
Projects which are economically feasible and
result-driven should be taken up at this point.
This would make BIMSTEC more credible, and
boos the enthusiasm of its members.
BIMSTEC region is notable for its diversity, so
its member states should build on the regional
synergies, and work towards utilizing the
available resources in the most optimal manner.
BRICS
The acronym BRIC was formulated by Jim O'Neill
of Goldman Sachs in 2001, in a report on growth
prospects of Brazil Russia, India and China, which
together represent a significant share of the world's
population and GDP. As per the report, these
countries would be amongst the world's largest
economies in the next 50 years. BRIC converted to
BRICS with the addition of South Africa in 2010.
50 Civil Services Examination
All the 5 members of BRICS are leading developing
or newly industrialized countries, but they have
distinct features like large, fast-growing economies
having significant influence on regional affairs, and
all the 5 are member of G-20.
Membership:
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa
Summit:
1st Summit: Russia, 2009
2nd Summit: Brazil, 2010
3rd Summit: China, 2011
4th Summit: India, 2012 (New Delhi Summit:
Proposal to create a joint BRICS Development
Bank was introduced)
5th Summit: South Africa, 2013
6th Summit: Brazil, 2014 (Fortaleza Summit: This
summit led to creation of the New Development
Bank or BRICS Bank)
7th Summit: Russia, 2015
8th Summit: India, 2016
Objectives:
The grouping was formed for mutual interest in the
economic sphere, but the agenda of BRICS has
widened over the years to encompass topical global
issues too.
The objectives of BRICS are:
It aims to enhance market access opportunities
and facilitate market inter-linkages
It aims to promote mutual trade and investment,
and create a business-friendly environment for
investors and entrepreneurs in all BRICS countries.
They aim to strengthen macro-economic policy
coordination, and build resilience to external
economic shocks
They strive for inclusive economic growth in
order to eradicate poverty, and address issues
of unemployment and promote social inclusion
Overall, the platform aims to promote peace,
prosperity, security and development in a
multipolar, interconnected and globalized world.
With respect to the world, the objectives of BRICS
are:
BRICS countries act as a group to promote a
more legitimate international system, including
advocacy for reform of the UN Security Council.
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
An initiative of Group
BRICS is a South-South framework for
cooperation.
It aims to act as a bridge between developed
and developing countries. Example, in WTO,
BRICS countries are trying to promote a fair order
regarding the agricultural policies.
BRICS can play an increasingly important role
in assisting developing countries in gaining
an advantage in trade and climate change
negotiations at the global level.
Creation of New Development Bank and
Contingency Reserve can increase the
bargaining power of developing countries.
All these countries have a shared interest in
challenging the current governance of Western
financial institutions like IMF and World Bank.
Principles:
BRICS works on the following principles:
Full respect for the sovereignty of the member
states
Commitment to international law and recognition
of the central role of UN on peace, security and
development
Bilateral relations among these countries have
been conducted on the principles of non-
interference, equality and mutual benefit.
Openness, sharing of information and consensus
in decision making
Recognizing the multipolar nature of global
economic and financial system
Importance:
The 5 countries combined represents 43% of
global population, their combined GDP is 30% of
global GDP, and they have a 17% share in world
trade.
BRICS represents Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin
America which gives their cooperation a trans-
continental dimension which makes it more
valuable and significant.
BRICS economies have been regarded as
the engines of the global economic recovery,
which underscores the changing roles of these
countries in the contemporary world scenario.
In the aftermath of the recent financial crisis,
BRICS countries were influential in shaping the
macro-economic policies in the G-20 meetings.
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
International Relations
An initiative of Group
In the present multipolar world, BRICS countries
are helping the cause of developing countries
and are key stakeholders in global decision
making involving developing countries.
With negotiations in WTO and climate change
becoming important, the coming together
of BRICS as a grouping has become more
significant
Developments:
BRICS bank or New Development Bank (NDB)
has been set up.
BRICS agrees to set up credit rating agency: to
set up an independent rating agency based on
market oriented principles. This would further
strengthen the global governance architecture.
There is proposal for establishing a BRICS
Agriculture Research Platform, BRICS Railway
Research Network, BRICS Sports Council, and
various youth-centric fora; and also to fast track
the setting up of a BRICS Rating Agency based
on market-oriented principles to further bridge
the gap in the global financial architecture.
BRICS Business Council was established to
represent many industries and economic sectors
of these 5 countries.
BRICS perceives power concentration in hands
of Bretton Woods institutions as unfair and seeks
to promote alternative models of development.
They have targeted governance of IMF in every
summit since 2009, including Goa. They have
asked for a new quota formula that would ensure
that the increased voice of the dynamic emerging
and developing economies reflects their relative
contributions to the world economy.
BRICS agreed to intensify cooperation against
terror groups like IS in West Asia and North Africa
region (WANA).
BRICS Think Tanks Council (BTTC) in 2013 was
an important milestone in the institutionalization
agenda.
South Africa to host BRICS office: South Africa is
set to reinforce its position as a regional economic
hub as it prepares to open a regional office that
would channel funding drawn from the New
Development Bank (NDB) of the Brazil-Russia-
China-India-South Africa (BRICS) grouping. The
office to look at funding for South Africa and the
nearby region.
51
BRICS Bank
Structure
New Development Bank will have an initial
subscribed capital of $50 billion which will be
raised to $100 billion.
The five members will have an equal share for
each in the bank, so no one member dominates
the institution.
Headquarters Shanghai
Bank will have African Regional Center in South
Africa
India has assumed the first presidency of the
bank.
Chairman of Board of governance will be Russian
The emergency reserve fund - which was
announced as a "Contingency Reserve
Arrangement" will also have $100bn and will help
developing nations avoid short-term liquidity
pressures.
It will have $41 billion from China, $5 billion from
South Africa and $ 18 billion from remaining
nations.
Need of a BRICS bank
Global financial institutions like IMF and world
bank are dominated by U.S and western
countries
IMF and world bank follows different voting
power based on quota system. Though China is
second largest economy after U.S it has fewer
voting rights.
The financial institution created by BRICS
will reduce the importance of US dollar as a
global currency and eventually it will increase
importance of Yuan
IMF cash assistance program is conditional. If a
country's foreign policy clashes with US then it
will be difficult to obtain a loan.
It will provide resources for infrastructure
development of developing countries.
Analysis:
BRICS has been seen as a very important force
in the present multi-polar globalized world.
They have been able to put pressure on IMF
to bring about reforms in quota, and they are
trying successfully to reform other global level
institutions and make them more relevant as per
the contemporary world.
52 Civil Services Examination
The establishment of BRICS Bank is a step in
the right direction, and has created pressure
on the global architecture to accommodate the
developing countries further.
But many Western commentators have already
declared its failure to sustain itself due to its
inability to institutionalize and therefore implement
a programmatic agenda. Without commitment
towards institutions, multilateral forums have a
very slim chance of success.
Overall, BRICS has been performing well,
but it has far more potential than what it has
accomplished till now.
There are multiple issues surrounding BRICS
countries which have limited their ability to
perform as per expectations. They are discussed
below:
Issues:
w China related issues:
s The dominance of China in BRICS is
a major issue for others. The Chinese
economy is now not only the second
largest in the world but also larger than
the economies of all the BRICS together.
s China's political aspirations are creating
challenges that have made it difficult for
it to make consensus.
s Manipulation of its currency by China
has resulted in significant problems
for the manufacturing sectors of other
emerging powers. Central banks of other
countries have registered protest against
undervalued Yuan
s Chinas not so peaceful rise, alongside
its growing economic and military muscle,
its growing strategic congruence with
Way forward:
Russia, and a further tightening of its
links with Pakistan pose a pre-eminent
challenge for India in the competition
of influence in the region and beyond.
It may have other graver implications as
well.
s The One Belt, One Road initiative and
the new Maritime Silk Route/Road also
have the potential to bottle up India and
Indian initiatives in Asia.
w Due to diverging interests, there is doubt
if BRICS can emerge as a unified political
force.
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
An initiative of Group
w BRICS is a loose grouping of countries
that share interests in particular areas
but that play by different rules. It is not a
formal international alliance. This has led
to speculation of BRICS not being very
effective.
w Security issues: They maintain a low profile
on security issues. BRICS will never attempt
to make the group into a traditional security
framework.
w The BRICS have little in common. The
Chinese economy is 28 times the size of
South Africas. Income per person in India is
one-tenth that in Russia.
w Types of government: Brazil, India, South
Africa are democratic countries while Russia,
China are authoritarian regimes
w Russia, Brazil and South Africa export
different commodities, while China exports
manufactured goods and India exports
services.
w In the case of BRICS, the weakening of the
so-called strategic triangle between Russia,
China and India does affect its image.
s Diminishing economic fortunes of
Russia, Brazil and South Africa, of late,
have also dented its image as a flag-
bearer of newly emerging economies.
s Still, the idea of BRICS remains valid
though it will require hard work and skilful
diplomacy to reproduce the previous
plan, and avert a pincer move against
India by Russia and China as they move
closer strategically and economically.
As the BRICS grouping continues its institution-
building mission, it is important to remember
that equity, redress and fairness should become
cross-cutting ideals informing all initiatives.
It is very likely that unless China is effectively
checked, BRICS (like the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization) will become another vehicle to
advance Beijings global agenda. Against the
backdrop of these developments, Indias instinct
might be to declare BRICS irrelevant and opt out
(as it is doing with SAARC and the Non-Aligned
Movement). However, this is unlikely to serve
Indias long-term interests.
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
International Relations 53
An initiative of Group

Opting out of existing groupings will simply

w Germany and Japan) aspirants to the UN Security
allow China a free hand (even in those
organizations where it is not a member but
has loyal proxies). Instead, it might be better
for India to remain engaged and to counter
China where possible.
Clearly, there is a need to revive the forgotten
India, Brazil, South Africa group (IBSA)-perhaps
enlarge it to include Turkey, Indonesia, South
Korea and the like to develop alternatives to
China-centric groupings.
Similarly, India also needs to invest more in
building groups that bridge the north-south
divide. One such group is the G4 (Brazil, India,
Council.
w The group has solely focused on UNSC
till now, might be time for them to enlarge
agenda to other avenues.
BRICS countries should now begin to work
together on establishing Free Trade Area (FTA).
BRICS, like ASEAN and SCO, can invite 'dialogue
partners and observers' from various parts of the
globe, especially the developing countries. This
would provide them with greater responsibility of
the developing countries, and might give them
with a much needed enthusiasm to fast track
processes and institutionalization.

TPP, TTIP and RCEP

TPP TTIP RCEP
Full form Trans-Pacific Partnership Transatlantic Trade and Regional Comprehensive
Investment Partnership Economic Partnership

What is it TPP is an agreement among Proposed trade Proposed free trade

the Pacific ocean countries agreement between agreement between ASEAN
to deepen economic ties European Union and USA and 6 other countries.
among them.

Members 12 countries: All 28 countries of EU and 10 ASEAN countries (Brunei,

USA USA. Cambodia, Indonesia,
Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
Japan
Philippines, Singapore,
Australia Thailand, Vietnam) and
Peru 6 countries with which ASEAN
Malaysia has free trade agreements:
Vietnam Australia
New Zealand China
Chile India
Singapore Japan
Canada South Korea
Mexico New Zealand
Brunei
54 Civil Services Examination
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY

An initiative of Group

TPP TTIP RCEP

Aim Pact aims to deepen
economic ties between
its member countries,
slash tariffs and foster
trade to boost growth. It
may also lead to a closer
relationship on economic
policies and regulations.
It could lead to creation
of a single market, like
the EU.
It also aims to balance
the trade dominance of
China and India in East
Asia.
To promote trade It is viewed as an alternative
and multilateral to TPP, and aims to promote
economic growth in trade and economic growth
the Trans-Atlantic for the member countries.
countries. It is one of
the largest bilateral
trade agreements ever
negotiated.
It would liberalize one-
third of global trade,
and create millions of
new jobs.

Intended It removes tariffs on As per the European It could boost the trade
benefits goods and services, sets Commission, TTIP could among the member countries,
reciprocal trade quotas, boost EU's economy by and lead to increased intra-
and removes non-tariff 120 billion Euros; it could region trade and investment.
barriers to trade. boost the US economy by
It is expected to increase 90 billion Euros and rest
exports by $ 300 billion of the world's economy by
per year by 2025. 100 billion Euros.

It has the potential to

create a huge number of
jobs.

Issues Agreement regarding
patents will reduce the
availability of cheap
generics, which could
have an impact on the
developing countries and
poor people.
It has been argued that
Free trade agreements
contribute to income
inequality.
It sets very stringent
intellectual property
rights, and labour laws.
It has been criticized Criticized for forcing India
for reducing regulatory to end its cheap supply of
barriers to trade for generic medications.
businesses, which The negotiations include
include food safety countries which have
laws, environment divergent interests, which
legislations etc. which is delaying the negotiation
can have a negative process.
impact.
It has been criticized
for being closed
door discussions,
thus making it
undemocratic.

Present USA has withdrawn from It is being negotiated. It is being negotiated.

status the agreement; hence it has
not come into force as of
now, and might die out due
to USA withdrawal.
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
International Relations 55
An initiative of Group

TPP TTIP RCEP

Impact on TPP was expected to have
India a negative impact for India
in the short term, and could
have led to reduction of
exports from India to the
members of TPP.
Also, the agreement has
very stringent intellectual
property right rules, which
will impact India's trade
with the member countries
significantly.
USA and EU account RCEP is expected to give a
for 29.6% of India's boost to Indian exports, but it
exports, therefore TTIP could also lead to an increase
would have a negative in dumping from China due to
impact on India's exports. lower tariffs.
Indian exporters will India is against any clause
be disadvantaged which may impact the generic
should the TTIP facilitate drug industry present in
the emergence of an India, and this is a point of
integrated, and arguably contention till now.
more inward-looking,
trans-Atlantic market.

United Nations Convention on exploration rights and research rights on a given

the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
Why it was in news?
United Nations Convention on the Law of the
Sea (UNCLOS), also called the Law of the Sea
Convention had nullified Chinese claims on
practically the whole of South China Sea and
their right to Spartly islands.
India to lose permanent membership at
Commission on Legal Continental Shelf part of
UNCLOS due to failure to apply on time for the
elections.
Introduction
United Nations Convention on the Law of the
Sea (UNCLOS) or Law of the Sea Convention
defines the right of the countries with regards
to the water bodies surrounding them and the
distribution of marine resources among the
nations of the world.
It acts as guideline in case of any marine disputes
and international institutions like Permanent Court
for Arbitration uses it to pronounce its judgments.
It became effective in 1994 and has 160
signatories to it.
The purpose of the convention was to settle the
disputes arising due to the territorial claims on
water bodies by nations.
It sets the territorial limits, navigational limits,
transit regimes, Exclusive economic zones,
continental shelf , sea bed mining and deep sea
ocean area.
UNCLOS and INDIA
India became a member of the UNCLOS in 1982.
India was among the first nations to sign the
UNCLOS.
India has always respected the decisions by
the UNCLOS in terms of all maritime disputes.
India respected the decision of UNCLOS on the
maritime dispute with Bangladesh.
In the recent South China Sea dispute India
has urged China to respect the decision of the
Permanent Court of Arbitration as the decision is
based on UNCLOS.
United Nations Commission
on International Trade Law
(UNCITRAL)
India hosted the 50th anniversary celebrations for
UNCITRAL at New Delhi.
Introduction
United Nations Commission on International
Trade Law or UNCITRAL was established in
1966 by the United Nations General Assembly
(UNGA) to promote and harmonize international
trade by developing an international trade
mechanism.
In international trade it is UN`s core legal body. It
specializes in commercial law.
56 Civil Services Examination
The term of membership is of 6 years and it has
a total of 60 members. The member distribution
is 14 from Asia, 14 from Africa, 10 Latin American
and Caribbean, 8 Eastern European and 14
western European and other states.
Its prime objective is to reform, modernize and
develop a consort for the international trade and
business. By this UNICTRAL wants to achieve
faster growth, higher living standards, and new
opportunities through commerce.
UNICTRAL has tried to achieve this objective by
making new, relevant, equitable and harmonized
rules on business and trade transactions.
w UNICTRAL has tries to achieve its objective
by:
w Universally acceptable conventions, model
laws and rules.
w It provide support in law making and has also
made model Legal and legislative guides
and recommendations for the same
w Database is maintained by UNICTRAL for
uniform commercial law and is periodically
updated.
w Case laws are also updated and maintained
under CLOUT (Case Law on UNCITRAL
Texts).
w Knowledge sharing sessions for spreading
awareness about uniform commercial law are
conducted at both regional and international
level in form of seminars
UNCITRAL and India
India from the past has been the supporter of
Uniform commercial law. This commitment was
shown in case of it being the founder member of
UNICTRAL.
India has based its major international trade
laws on the basis of UNICTRAL laws. The
Indian Arbitration and Conciliation act,1996; the
Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial
Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act,
2002 etc
Being a member of the UNICTRAL has helped in
India put considerable influence in international
trade law. With the help of UNICTRAL it has helped
in trying to make business accessible to all and not
a party to some.
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
An initiative of Group
United Nations Human Rights
Council(UNHRC)
Why it was in news?
During the universal periodic review (UPR) at the UN
Human Rights Council (UNHRC), the peer-based
scrutiny of a nations human rights situations in a
nation, New Delhi again came under fire for growing
case human rights cases in India. It has also urged
India to change the recent amendments to FCRA
which has let to crackdown on foreign funding of
NGO`s.
Introduction
United Nations Human Rights Counci (UNHRC)
is an intergovernmental body that deals with
the promotion and the protection of Human
rights based in the universal human ideals of
dignity.
It is a United Nations System.
It has 47 members that are elected for 3 year
terms.
UNHRC helps the nation to educate, promote
and uphold human rights.
UNHRC has four major divisions
w Research and Right to Development Division
(RRDD)which is responsible for the research
and development of the policy for the guiding
various stakeholders and world for better
human rights
w The Human Rights Treaties Division
(HRTD)assists stakeholders in making
human right related treaties
w The Field Operations and Technical
Cooperation Division (FOTCD) it is the
engagement team on ground of the UNHRC
which helps countries with promotion
and implementation of human rights and
monitor for possible violation of human
rights.
w The Human Rights Council and Special
Procedures Division (HRCSPD) helps in the
organizational support of UNHRC and sister
institutes, meetings and procedures like
the Universal Periodic Review mechanism
and special procedures for UNHRC and its
subsidiary institutes.
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
International Relations
An initiative of Group
Indian and UNHRC
India as a nation has always been committed
towards protection and promotion of human
rights. In the 1947-48 India took an active part
in Drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.
India was the one of founding members of
UNHRC and has one of the 47 seats at UNHRC
from its inception.
India has been an active member of the UNHRC
Suggestions for the issues:
and participated in the all the issues that were
raised during the Universal Periodic Reviews.
United Nations Security Council
(UNSC)
Why it was in news?
India is eyeing a permanent seat at the United
Nations Security Council through its expansion.
Introduction
The UN charter puts the United Nations Security
Council (UNSC) at the center of the maintenance
of international peace and security.
It is the second most important unit of the
United Nations after its United Nations General
Assembly.
It is a powerful body as in case of dispute
among nations it can issue ceasefire directives,
dispatch military observers or a United Nations
Peacekeeping Force(UNPKF) to help reduce
India and United Nations Security
tension, enforcement of sanctions of economic
and military in nature, sever diplomatic ties,
Council (UNSC)
put a blockade or even take collective military
action.
It was established in 1946 and has 15 members-5
Permanent (China, France, Russia, United
Kingdom, United States) and 10 members
elected for a term of two years.
Issues related to UNSC
There has been a clamor for need for the
expansion of UNSC permanent council to
accommodate the changing global political
scenario. The reforms are needed in the power
sharing, structure, norms and rules of the UNSC.
Lack of representation from the African and Latin
American countries to the UNSC.
57
The unchecked power given to the permanent
member through veto power has been another
bone of contention between the nations. The
reforms to UNSC are generally blocked by the
Veto power.
Perception problem: The UNGA has always
seemed to be subordinated by the UNSC in
terms of maintenance of international peace and
security.
Expansion of the Permanent group of UNSC:
It is a general consensus among the UNGA that
it should be expanded. The expansion should
be done either by accepting the proposal to add
new permanent members or adding members
which have equal rights on a 4 year renewable
basis as suggested by blueprint for Security
Council reform by the United Nations Panel.
Reforms in the veto power given to the
permanent member: The veto power should be
reformed to have a cool off period once used.
There should be case to review the veto power
by the UNGA. The UNGA can also be given an
overriding power over the veto.
The perception that UNGA is subordinated by
UNSC should be done away with. There should
be a balance of power between decisions made
by UNGA and UNSC. In some cases overriding
should be given to UNGA for decisions made by
the UNSC.
India has been a member of UNSC since 1950
and been a temporary member 7 times.
India has always held the just UNSC positions at
all times.
India is the largest contributor of United Nations
Peacekeeping Forces.
Indian has been bidding for permanent seat at
UNSC table for a long time. It claims can be
substantiated by:
w India was one of the founding member of
United Nations
w It is largest contributor of United Nations
Peacekeeping Forces.
w India has an image of a soft power and a non
aggressor which suits the mandate of UNSC.
58 Civil Services Examination
w It is the largest democracy of the world and
has 1/6 of world`s population.
w India is 3rd largest economy in terms of
Purchasing power Parity and 6th largest in
nominal terms and such a large economic
force can also not be kept out.
w It has support from majority of the UNGA.
However its claims have been countered by
w India not taking substantial leadership roles
at the global arena.
w India`s soft power status has often been
taken as a weakness to take hard decisions.
w China as a permanent Council member will
leave no stone unturned to block India`s
entry.
How can India further strengthen its claims
w India can outmaneuver China diplomatically
by using its new relationships with the United
States, Japan, Russia, The EU, United
Kingdom etc.
w India should keep on increasing its support
from the members of UNGA.
w India should also play the emerging nations
no representation card at the UNSC and ask
for reforms.
w India should take up more global leadership
roles like the International Solar Alliance.
International Criminal Court (ICC)
Why this was in news?
Burundi, South Africa and Gambia have quit
ICC. They justified its decision to quit theRome
Statute of ICCwas due to the apparent conflict
with its obligations to the African Union to grant
immunity to serving heads of states. Partiality
towards African nations. The African Union has
been persuading its member nations to withdraw
from the ICC over the courts alleged institutional
bias against Africa and its leaders.
Russia withdrew from International criminal court
after published a report on Crimea`s annexation
of Russia and declared it as an occupation by
Russia. Russia countered charges by saying
that Crimea voluntarily joined Russia after a
referendum. The report declared this as an
occupation because according to the report the
report the referendum was a hasty one.
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
An initiative of Group
Palestine has formally joined the International
Criminal Court (ICC).
Introduction:
What is the International Criminal Court?
The International Criminal Court (the ICC or
the Court) is a permanent international court
established to investigate, prosecute and try
individuals accused of committing the most
serious crimes of concern to the international
community as a whole, namely the crime of
genocide, crimes against humanity, war
crimes and the crime of aggression.
Why was the ICC established?
Many of these violations of international law have
remained unpunished. The idea of a system of
international criminal justice re-emerged after the
end of the Cold War. However, while negotiations
on the ICC Statute were underway at the United
Nations, the world was witnessing the commission
of heinous crimes in the territory of the former
Yugoslavia and in Rwanda. In response to these
atrocities, the United Nations Security Council
established an ad hoc tribunal for each of these
situations. These events undoubtedly had a most
significant impact on the decision to convene
the conference which established the ICC in
Rome in the summer of 1998. The ICC does not
replace national criminal justice systems; rather,
it complements them.
What is the Rome Statute?
On 17 July 1998, a conference of 160 States
established the first treaty-based permanent
international criminal court. The treaty adopted
during that conference is known as the Rome
Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Among other things, it sets out the crimes falling
within the jurisdiction of the ICC, the rules of
procedure and the mechanisms for States to
cooperate with the ICC. The countries which
have accepted these rules are known as States
Parties and are represented in the Assembly of
States Parties. Over 120 countries are States
Parties and have agreed to the Rome Statute.
The seat of the Court is in The Hague in the
Netherlands.
The Court is funded by contributions from the
States Parties and by voluntary contributions
from governments, international organizations,
individuals, corporations and other entities.
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How does the ICC differ from other courts?
International Court of Justice: ICC tries
individuals on basis of crime of genocide,
crimes against humanity, war crimes
and the crime of aggression where as
International Court of Justice tries States for
the settlement of disputes between States.
Ad Hoc Tribunals: ICC is a permanent
autonomous court while the ad hoc courts are
temporary.
The ICC is an independent body whose mission is
to try individuals for crimes within its jurisdiction
without the need for a special mandate from
the United Nations
ICC`s jurisdiction: The Court may exercise
its jurisdiction in situations where the alleged
perpetrator is a national of a State Party or where
the crime was committed in the territory of a State
Party. Also, a State not party to the Statute may
decide to accept the jurisdiction of the ICC. ICC
has jurisdiction only with respect to events which
occurred after the entry into force of its Statute
on 1 July 2002. If a State becomes a party to
the Statute after its entry into force, the Court
may exercise its jurisdiction only with respect to
crimes committed after the entry into force of the
Statute for that State, unless that State has made
a declaration accepting the jurisdiction of the
ICC retroactively
Structure of the ICC: The ICC is composed of
four organs: the Presidency, the Chambers, the
Office of the Prosecutor and the Registry.
Crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC
w According to Rome Statute, Genocide
means any of the acts committed with
the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a
national, ethnical, racial or religious group.
w According to Rome Statute ,Crimes against
humanity include murder, extermination,
enslavement, deportation, imprisonment,
torture, rape, sexual slavery, enforced
prostitution, form of sexual violence,
persecution against an identifiable group
on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural,
religious or gender grounds, apartheid.
w War crimes include grave breaches of
the Geneva Conventions and other serious
violations of the laws and customs applicable
in international armed conflict and in conflicts
59
not of an international character, when they
are committed as part of a plan or policy or
on a large scale.
w Crime of aggression means the planning,
preparation, initiation or execution of an act
of using armed force by a State against the
sovereignty, territorial integrity or political
independence of another State.
Problems with ICC:
Founding member nations withdrawing:
Russia, South Africa and Burundi have recently
withdrawn themselves from the Rome Statute
sighting ICC as a biased body. This has led to
the loss of credibility of the nation.
Inadequate jurisdiction: It does not have
jurisdiction on some of powerful nations like India,
the permanent members of UNSC, Israel etc.
Lack of enforcement agencies and
investigation units: It was seen that
investigations led to flawed results as they were
not done properly by the ICC`s investigating
units. The infrastructure for punishments used by
the courts is the state machinery only which can
be manipulated by the culprits.
Political prosecutions: In some cased the
prosecutions have been found to be politically
motivated by the State parties. These cases
further debase the credibility of ICC.
Need for state`s help in the case: ICC cannot
prosecute a case successfully without successful
state`s participation. So a convict knows if he
becomes the head of the state he hamper the
ICC`s case a lot.
Suggestions to the above problems:
Increase the jurisdiction of ICC to cover all the
nations of the world.
ICC should have dedicated investigative
agencies with greater autonomy so that cases
can be investigated without any interference.
The permanent members of UNSC should be
brought under its ambit.
ICC should make it clear that ICC does not
replace national criminal justice systems; rather,
it complements them.
ICC should develop a correct funding
mechanism which cleans its image of being a
stooge in the hand of its funders.
60 Civil Services Examination
ICC should try to shun the perception of being
politically motivated while giving its judgments.
India and ICC
India is not a member to Rome Statute the enabler
of ICC. The reasons o are :
w Since ICC does not have jurisdiction on
major powers so it fails in its purpose as an
international criminal court.
w Terrorism and nuclear weapons usage is not
in the purview of ICC.
AFSPA, abuses in Naga movement, Kashmir
conflict, atrocities in the Naxalite region would be
some of the cases India would have to deal with
if it comes under ICC.
International Court of Justice
Why this was in news?
Kulbhushan Jadhav case: Pakistan claims
is an Indian RAW agent, was found guilty and
awarded death sentence at a military court.
India claims he was allegedly kidnapped from
Iran and says Jadhav is a businessman with no
links to government of India. India had moved
to International Court of Justice (ICJ) for an
immediate injunction against the death sentence
on the basis of for violating the Vienna
Convention on consular relations. India has
won the case and the ICJ has granted consular
access to India.
Introduction:
Article 33 of the United Nations Charter lists the
following methods for the pacific settlement of
disputes between States: negotiation, enquiry,
mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial
settlement, and resort to regional agencies or
arrangements, to which good offices should also
be added.
After the failure of the Permanent Court of
International Justice, at the end of the second
world war the Four Powers at Dumbarton Oaks
i.e. China, the USSR, the United Kingdom and the
United States made a declaration that resulted in
the publication on 9 October 1944 of proposals
for the establishment of a general international
organization, to include an international court of
justice.
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In pursuance of powers conferred upon it by the
Statute, the ICJ has drawn up its own Rules of
Court. It is an organ of UN with the UNSC having
Veto powers its decisions,
It is seated in the Peace Palace in The Hague,
Netherlands.
The court settles legal disputes submitted to
it by states and provides advisory opinions on
legal questions submitted to it by duly authorized
international branches, agencies, and the UN
General Assembly.
The composition of ICJ: The ICJ is composed
of fifteen judges elected to nine-year terms by
the UN General Assembly and the UN Security
Council from a list of people nominated by
the national groups in the Permanent Court of
Arbitration. The ICJ could also appoint Ad hoc
judges when the parties feel they the judges may
be biased for any reasons.
The Funding for ICJ is done by the United
Nations.
Jurisdiction of the ICJ: It is the function of the
ICJ to decide in accordance with international
law disputes of a legal nature that are submitted
to it by States. Its objective is to bring about the
settlement of disputes by peaceful means and
in conformity with the principles of justice and
international law. Only member States can
be party to the cases in ICJ not individuals,
corporate or a group of people. A case can only
be submitted to the Court with the consent of the
States concerned. There are two types of case
the ICJ Deals in,
w Contentious issues: An contentious cases
(adversarial proceedings seeking to settle a
dispute); the ICJ produces a binding ruling
between states that agree to submit to
the ruling of the court. Only states may be
parties in contentious cases. Individuals,
corporations, parts of a federal state, NGOs,
UN organs and self-determination groups are
excluded from direct participation in cases
although the Court may receive information
from public international organizations.
w Advisory opinions: Anadvisory opinionis a
function of the Court open only to specified
United Nations bodies and agencies. On
receiving a request, the Court decides which
states and organizations might provide useful
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information and gives them an opportunity to
present written or oral statements. Advisory
opinions were intended as a means by which
UN agencies could seek the Court's help in
deciding complex legal issues that might fall
under their respective mandates.
Problems with ICJ:
Acceptance of cases by ICJ only when both
state parties to case agree. The ICJ cannot
entertain a case when one of the parties to the
case is in disagreement to go to ICJ.
Veto by the permanent members on UNSC
on ICJ`s decisions. This dilutes the purpose of
having an international court of justice.
Only state party to the charter of ICJ can
apply for cases at ICJ. No individuals, NGO`s
and private enterprises could file a case in ICJ.
Lack of autonomy: The ICJ lacks autonomy in
choosing the judges as the seats are fixed region
wise and have representatives of permanent
members who are huge in number and hence
may influence the decisions made by the ICJ.
No enforcement agencies: There is no, agency
to enforce and implement the decisions of the
International Court of Justice and in needs to
look up to United Nations. This again dilutes
the purpose of having an international justice
mechanism.
Overlapping jurisdictions by other
international courts like the International
Criminal Court. These overlapping jurisdictions
have led to the dilution of purpose of the
International court of Justice.
Suggestions to the above problems:
The ICJ could take cases even in the parties
don`t agree as their might be cases of States
using this to not participate in any cases at all.
There should be provisions made that may allow
individuals, NGO`s and private enterprises
could file a case in ICJ.
The ICJ should gain more autonomy and the
veto power of the UNSC permanent council
should be done away with.
The ICJ should at least have the power to
enforce its decisions or an agency of its own to
do the same.
The overlapping jurisdiction mechanisms should
be done away with. There should be only one
international justice mechanism for a given
purpose.
India and the ICJ:
India has been a member of the International
Court of Justice since its inception and many
of the cases have been arbitrated by the
International court of Justice for India.
w Right of Passage over Indian Territory
(Portugal vs. India, 1955): In 1960, the ICJ
ruled in India's favor, saying that 'Portuguese
sovereignty over the enclaves was subject to
the regulation and control of India'.
w Appeal relating to the jurisdiction of 'civil
overfly' treaties(India vs. Pakistan, 1971)
w Trial of Pakistani Prisoners of War(Pakistan
vs. India, 1973)
w Aerial Incident of August 10, 1999(Pakistan
vs. India, 1999)
Justice Dalveer Bhandari currently serves as
permanent judge at ICJ.
India has always tried to abide by the decisions
of the ICJ and helped in the smooth functioning
of the international justice body.

International Court Of Justice International Criminal Court

Established 1946 2002

Headquarters Peace Palace, Hague, Netherlands Hague, Netherlands

Relationship With U.N. It comes under the United nations No relation to United Nations

Jurisdiction Only adjudicates for Member states. Can Individuals only

give advisory opinions to UN bodies.

Deals In Cases All international laws Only in crime of genocide, crimes

against humanity, war crimes and
the crime of aggression.
62 Civil Services Examination
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International Court Of Justice International Criminal Court

Established 1946 2002

Was formed under The United nations Charter and gets its Rome statute and gets its powers
powers from the charter only from that only

Appeal mechanism Decision is binding if accepted by the Appeal mechanism is there

parties involved. No appeal mechanism

Funding mechanism United nations fund it No proper funding mechanism. The

Court is funded by contributions
from the States Parties and by volun-
tary contributions from governments,
international organizations, individu-
als, corporations and other entities.

Autonomy Permanent members of UNSC may veto Enjoys slight more autonomy than
its decisions. ICJ. Although Permanent members
of UNSC may veto its decisions.

Enforcement agency United Nations No enforcement agency. Depends

on the party states for enforcement
of the decision

South Asia Sub regional facilitation, economic corridor development

Economic Cooperation (SASEC)
Why this was in news?
Myanmar becomes a member of SASEC: South
Asia Sub regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC)
program of Asian Development Bank (ADB) is
expanding towards the East with Myanmar formally
becoming the 7th member of SASEC in 2017.
Introduction:
South Asia Sub regional Economic
Cooperation (SASEC) program is an initiative
of Asian Development Bank which was stated
in 2001 and is headquartered at Manila,
Philippines.
The participating members are Bangladesh,
Bhutan, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal and
Sri Lanka. They are seven in number.
TheSASEC program is a project-based
partnership to promote regional prosperity
by improving cross-border connectivity,
boosting trade among member countries
and strengthening regional economic
cooperation. The various projects have been
implemented in field of energy, transport, trade
and information, communications and
technology sectors by the assistance of the
Asian Development Bank (ADB).
In the year 1996, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,
and Nepal formed the South Asian Growth
Quadrangle (SAGQ) aimed at boosting
cooperation in environment, energy and power,
trade and investment, transport, and tourism.
This group was formed as a subset of the South
Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
(SAARC) and was recognized by it.
ADB serves as theSASEC Secretariat, working
with member governments to provide capacity
and knowledge building, provide technical
support and development partners to the
member nations.
SASEC priority areas of cooperation:
w Transport: To create and improve the
regional connectivity and intraregional
connectivity through air, water and land
linkages for bolstering of trade and economic
growth.
w Trade Facilitation: To reduce trade barriers
like tariffs, speeding up border customs
clearances and reducing the cost of trade
between the partners.
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w Energy: To Improve cross-border electricity
transmission connectivity through power
trade and capacity development. SASEC
will also increase cooperation in energy
efficiency and clean power development.
w Economic Corridor Development (ECD):
ECD will be used to promote synergies and
linkages between economic corridors across
SASEC countries to optimize development
gains. It will also help to link transport
infrastructure with urban and industrial
development. It will help in optimizing
opportunities to bring innovation into public-
private partnerships.
w The final objective of SASEC is to create a
common market like the EU in their region.
Problems with SESAC:
Dependence on ADB for funds: SESAC is too
much dependent on ADB for funds which will
may lead to the group being manipulated to do
projects which only serve ADB`s needs.
India is seen as a dominant member: This
perception may lead to the failure of the group
as a whole as the other individual members may
lose their identity. This big brother image may
also lead the small members to always see India
as a threat to their objectives.
There has been no emphasis on security
collaboration in the SESAC group.
Human Trafficking: This region is notoriously
famous for human trafficking and with more
porous may lead to a significant increase in such
cases.
Drug and Arms trafficking: This region is
notoriously famous for Drug and Arms trafficking
and with more porous may lead to a significant
increase in such cases. The Golden Triangle falls
in this region. This may also lead to terrorism
elated problems in the region.
Suggestions for the problems:
A separate funding mechanism must be
developed by the members of SESAC so that
they may fund their own projects and help in the
betterment of the region
India has to change the perception of being a
dominant player in the group and make the other
members realize that they are all equal partners.
63
There should be agreements for security
measures in the SESAC area as this region is
susceptible to human, drug and arms trafficking.
There could be more emphasis on cultural
contacts between the people which will act as
confidence building measures and help develop
SESAC as a common market.
India and SASEC:
Geo Strategic benefits:
w To counter China`s influence in the
region: Japan and US backed ADB has
invested heavily in this area which will help
India reduce Chinese influence in the region.
w Group may be more effective than SAARC:
Time and again SAARC has suffered as a
group because of hostilities between India
and Pakista
w Gives India more connectivity for North
East: With ADB support, India is presently
developing two priority road corridors. The
first road corridor will connect India with
Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan through the
chicken neck area of North Bengal. The
second road corridor will establish India-
Myanmar connectivity in the state of Manipur.
Economic benefits:
w Reduction in trade barriers:
s Motor Vehicles Agreement: India has
successfully negotiated Bangladesh
Bhutan India Nepal Motor Vehicles
Agreement. This will help in fast and
easy movement of goods through the
region.
s Implementation of Information
Communication and Technology at
trade checkpoints: This has helped in
significantly reducing the time in custom
clearances.
s Integrated Check Posts: Have
improved Land Customs Stations at key
border points with Bangladesh, Nepal
and Bhutan to ease the movement of
goods and people within the sub region.
w East Coast Economic Corridor: This will
help increasing the trade of India`s natural
resources like coal and iron ore and act as
node for extractive and downstream value-
added industries.
64 Civil Services Examination
w Energy trade: India has successfully
negotiated many agreements for trade with
SASEC nations like Nepal, Bhutan for energy
trade.
w Increase tourism significantly: Through
more or less open borders between SESAC
nations tourism has increased significantly
in members like India, Nepal, and Bhutan.
Environment benefits:
w Clean Energy: SESAC is a region with a
huge potential to produce clean energy and
hence will help in the conservation of nature
and protection of environment.
Sagarmala initiative: Sagarmala which is a
major port-led development initiative will get
boost from SESAC as it will help in increasing the
chances of trade in South East Asia.
Non- Proliferation Regimes
Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)
Why this was in news?
Indias bid for getting into NSG was rejected after
China along with New Zealand, Ireland, Turkey,
South Africa and Austria were opposed to Indias
admission at NSG plenary in Seoul in 2016.
India is making attempts to enter the NSG by being
a member to groups like the Wassenaar Agreement,
Australia Group etc
Introduction:
The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is a group
of nuclear supplier countries that seeks to
contribute to the non-proliferation of nuclear
weapons through the implementation of two
sets of Guidelines for nuclear exports and
nuclear-related exports.
Non-Proliferation Principle which states that
supplier only authorises a transfer only when
satisfied that the transfer would not contribute to
the proliferation of nuclear weapons is followed
by NSG.
The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) was
created following the explosion in 1974 of a
nuclear device (Operation Smiling Buddha)
by a non-nuclear-weapon State (India), which
demonstrated that nuclear technology transferred
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for peaceful purposes could be misused.
The NSG has 48 members and every decision
has to be unanimous. It is an informal and
voluntary partnership.
The NSG members are signatory of legally
binding instruments in the field of nuclear
non-proliferation like the treaty on the Non-
Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
The Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
or Non-Proliferation treaty is an international
treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread
of nuclear weapons and weapons technology,
to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses
of nuclear energy, and to further the goal of
achieving nuclear disarmament and general and
complete disarmament. India, Israel, Pakistan,
North Korea and South Sudan are non signatories
to this treaty. The treaty defines nuclear-weapon
states as those that have built and tested a
nuclear explosive device before 1 January 1967.
India and NSG:
India has been trying to be a part of the NSG for a
long time as being a member of NSG allows India to
w Access to state of the art nuclear technology
fromother NSG members. This will allow India
to manufacture nuclear energy equipments
in India.
w It will be able to buy nuclear fuel, equipments
and technology from any country without any
problems
w India can innovate on the advanced
transferred technology and export it also
w Limit China`s growing influence in the Asian
region
w Help in scaling Indias Nuclear power
generation and achieve energy sufficiency
India`s bid was blocked by China on the grounds
that it is not a signatory to NPT rest all states that
blocked wanted to discuss the NPT criteria for
entry into NSG.
What India tends to loses if it is not a
member of NSG:
India will not be able to access to state of the art
nuclear technology from other members
It cannot commercialize production of nuclear
power equipment which leads to economic
losses
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Always depends on NSG to grant waiver for
technology transfer agreements like in the 123
Agreement that was done with United States.
India cannot innovate on the advanced
transferred technology and export it
Way forward for India:
India could diplomatically push for a waiver from the
NSG citing its commitment to Non Proliferation of
nuclear technology. India has a good track record
in nuclear proliferation and distinction of its civilian
and military nuclear programs. India has signed a
pact with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
which lets IAEA inspect the civilian reactors at any
time. India could site France case as it became a
member of NSG without being signatory to NPT.
Missile Technology Control
Regime (MTCR)
Why this was in news?
India became the 35th member of the MTCR in June
2016.
Introduction:
The aim of the MTCR is to restrict the proliferation
of missiles, complete rocket systems,
unmanned air vehicles, and related technology
for those systems capable of carrying a 500
kilogram payload at least 300 kilometers, as
well as systems intended for the delivery of
weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
The Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR)
established in April 1987 by the group of 7 the G7
i.e. Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the
United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
It is an informal and voluntary partnership.
The category of the prohibited materials
according to MTCR are
w MTCR Equipment
w Software and Technology Annex
The MTCR led to the formation of the International
Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile
Proliferation (the Hague Code of Conduct).
India and MTCR:
India formally applied for membership to the
group in June 2015 and got it on 27 June 2016,
65
India will tend to gain a lot from entry in to the
MTCR club.
w Technology transfers:
s It will get access to the latest state of the
art technologies.
s India can now build missile systems
capable of carrying a 500 kilogram
payload at least 300 kilometers and
even take assistance from other MTCR
members. Like India did in increasing
the range of Brahmos with the help of
Russia.
w Economic benefits: India can transfer
technology and missiles to non-MTCR
members. This has led to trade for Brahmos
between India and Vietnam.
w Strategic Advantages: This has led India
to strengthen its position against China in
the region. With MTCR in its kitty India can
now target whole of China and Pakistan
through its missiles. This will create strategic
deterrence against China and Pakistan
Wassenaar Arrangement and
Australia group
Why this was in news?
India has been pitching for NSG for a long and after
rejection from the group it has now pitched in for
the Wassenaar agreement and Australia group for
getting entry to help India`s case at NSG.
Introduction: Wassenaar Arrangement
(WA)
The Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) has been
established in order to contribute to regional and
international security and stability, by promoting
transparency and greater responsibility in
transfers of conventional arms and dual-use
goods and technologies, thus preventing
destabilizing accumulations. The aim is also
to prevent the acquisition of these items by
terrorists.
The Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls
for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods
and Technologies is a multilateral export control
regime (MECR). This also known as Wassenaar
Arrangement (WA).
66 Civil Services Examination
Participating States seek to ensure that
transfers of these items do not contribute to
the development or enhancement of military
capabilities which undermine these goals. This
is done through their national policies.
It has 41 participating states.
The Wassenaar Arrangement was established to
contribute to regional and international security
and stability by promoting transparency and
greater responsibility in transfers of conventional
arms and dual-use goods and technologies, thus
preventing destabilizing accumulations.
It is the successor to Coordinating Committee
for Multilateral Export Controls, and was
established on 12 July 1996.
Every six months member countries exchange
information on deliveries of conventional arms
to non-Wassenaar members that fall under eight
broad weapons categories: battle tanks, armored
fighting vehicles (AFVs), large-caliber artillery,
military aircraft, military helicopters, warships,
missiles or missile systems, and small arms and
light weapons.
Australia group
Australia group is an informal group that seeks
to ensure that exports do not contribute to the
development of chemical or biological weapons
through the harmonization of export controls.
Australia Group participants need to fulfill
their obligations under the Chemical Weapons
Convention and the Biological and Toxin Weapons
Convention to the fullest extent possible.
It has 42 members including the European Union.
Australia group maintains export controls on a
uniform list of 54 compounds that can be used in
the manufacture of chemical weapons.
India and Wassenaar Arrangement (WA)
and the Australia group
Following the debacle at the NSG India has left no
stone unturned to enter into the nuclear regimes.
India is already a member of MTCR. Now India
eyes for the Wassenaar agreement and Australia
group.
India has already made itself compliant with the
norms of both these groups. The government
came out with a Special Chemicals, Organisms,
Materials, Equipment and Technologies
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(SCOMET) which align it with the terms of
Wassenaar Arrangement (WA).
India has tried to make itself complaint with the
Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological
and Toxin Weapons Conventions. India has a good
history in non proliferation and use of Chemical
and biological weapons. After its endorsement
by the US, Australia the entry to Australia group
may not be difficult. The government came out
with a Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials,
Equipment and Technologies (SCOMET) which
align it with Australia group.
With China out of both the groups entry to India`s
opposition to these groups will be minimal but it
will not be a cakewalk,
Advantages:
Advantages that may come with the membership of
Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) and the Australia group:
w Technology transfers:
s It will get access to the latest state of the
art technologies
s India can innovate and build upon the
technologies provided
s India can develop more advance
weapons for commercial use
w Economic benefits:
s India can transfer technology and
weapons to non member nations
s India can develop industries for the
same in India boosting economy and
provide with job creation.
w Strategic Advantages:
s This will create strategic deterrence
against China and Pakistan.
s It will help in making India as a defense
and technology partner to nations.
s India can emerge as a power to counter
China.
Space Diplomacy
Why this was in news?
South Asia satellite (GSAT-9) was launched
recently by ISRO. This satellite was launched in
2017 and was fully funded by India. This satellite
is for South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation region. Along with India Afghanistan,
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Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri
Lanka would be the beneficiaries of the satellite.
In 2017 ISRO from PSLV successfully launched
the 714 kg Cartosat-2 Series Satellite along with
103 other satellites today morning in one go from
Sriharikota. It contained satellites for USA, The
Netherlands, Switzerland, Israel, Kazakhstan
and UAE.
Introduction
India has made giant strides in the area of space
research and technology in the past decade.
From being an importer of space technology and
dependent on other countries it has now grown
into a perfect place to launch satellites in space.
With the cost and technology advantage ISRO
has become one of the pioneer space research
institute of the world and exporter of space
technology to the world. This has made India a
prime force in the field of Space diplomacy.
The major attraction that ISRO has is its cost
effectiveness in launching the space satellites.
The 100% success rate of ISRO from 2010 till
now is phenomenal.
These factors have led to the growth of India as
a preferred destination for satellite launches by
various countries like USA, France, Netherlands,
Indonesia, Singapore, Switzerland, Israel,
Kazakhstan and UAE.
India has taken a step further ahead and used
this space technology in disaster management,
checking on the forest cover, monitoring of the
coastal, rural, urban spreads, finding mineral
deposits, tracking climate change and promotion
of climate smart agriculture.
This has given a huge boost to space cooperation
agreements and collaboration between the world
and India. India has MoU`s in space cooperation
and technology with almost all the developed
nation of the world.
Space diplomacy has been done by India in
following fields of geographical, social, strategic,
economical and technological.
Some of the examples in the fields are:-
Geographical
w Providing with Navigation data: With the
help of NAVIC (NAVigation with Indian
Constellation) or the Indian Regional
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Navigation Satellite System(IRNSS) India can
now provide accurate real-time positioning
and timing services. This has helped India
boost its ties in the SAARC region as it
can help the countries as it reduces the
dependency of these nations on the Global
Positioning System owned by the US.
w Disaster management: India has National
Remote Sensing Centre which has helped in
the prediction and mitigation of the natural
disasters. The Indian National Satellite
System or INSAT helps in the search and
rescue operations. This was used during
the Nepal disaster and has helped Indian
improve its position as a soft power. India
shares remote sensing data with other
nations under the ambit of the United Nations
Platform for Space-based Information for
Disaster Management and Emergency
Response (UNSPIDER).
w Finding mineral resources: With the remote
sensing data of the satellites the mineral
exploration has become more fruitful and
less time consuming.
w Smart agriculture: INSAT has helped in
predicting the weather to high accuracy
and has helped the government to issue
weather related information which in turn has
helped in increasing agriculture productivity.
India can help the South Asian region in
countering the growing threat to agriculture
in the region.
w Setting up of base stations in different
countries: India through its diplomacy has
setup base stations in different areas like
Mauritius, Brunei and Indonesia and plans to
establish ground stations in Fiji. This will help
India in technology transfer and reducing the
cost of satellites launches.
Social
w Help in creating a prosperous
neighborhood: With the help of the space
technology India can significantly improve
the standard of living not only in India but in
the neighboring regions also. It can help in
increasing agriculture, navigations, disaster
management, creation of jobs and boosting
cultural tie ups through cultural exchanges.
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w Solving the problems of basic needs: It
can help achieve the SDG like no poverty,
zero hunger, clean water by solving the
problems of food and water with the help
of space technology. Space diplomacy can
hence improve the quality of life in the region.
w Economical
w Space products services and
technologies: Antrix, the commercial arm
of ISRO and has gained a lot from the recent
success of ISRO in Space products services
and technologies. India has made many
agreements with countries like Singapore, for
assisting in space technology and launching
satellites.
Technological
w Technology Exchange: India has now
become a leading power in affordable space
technology. India has made MoU`s with many
countries like UAE, Armenia, Bangladesh
Qatar, Israel in the fields of space technology
transfer.
w Gaining access to new technologies:
India has now partnered with the leaders of
space technology like Russia, United States
to gain access to new technologies. It will
help India to offer more efficient products
which may help India gain significantly in the
space diplomacy.
Strategic
w Enhanced Soft Power status: India after
its South Asia satellite launch had gained a
lot more as soft power. Prior to India there
were not many examples of such regional
cooperation in fields of Space technology.
This move has made India a champion of
space diplomacy in its neighborhood.
w Countering China:
s Increasing influence in its
neighborhood: India used its Space
programme well to counter China in terms
of regional engagement. The method
id cost effective and very efficient.
When China builds One Belt One Road
(OBOR) which requires the participating
countries to invest in infrastructure what
India did was use its space diplomacy to
counter China.
B I G L E A R N I N G S M A D E E ASY
An initiative of Group
s Monitoring of Indian Ocean: India by
the help of NAVIC has provided good
inputs to its own military, navies as well
as its neighbors in the Indian Ocean. This
has helped in monitoring and countering
the growing Chinese incursions in the
Indian Ocean region.
s Setting up base station in Fiji: It will
give India access to South China Sea
and would be a concern for Chinese
South China Sea ambitions.
The Problems with the Indian space
diplomacy:
Competition from China: If China succeeds
in countering Indian Space diplomacy in the
neighborhood it would lead to huge impact on
India`s neighborhood diplomacy. India could be
again looking at a scenario of Chinese presence
all across itself. This threatens India`s control
over Indian Ocean.
Competition from the Private Players:
Recently the private players like SpaceX have
launched a reusable rocket which has significant
reduced the cost of launching a satellite per
kilometer. This cost advantage is on what ISRO
banks upon. If the competitiveness is gone then
the Indian space industry may die a slow death.
Suggestions for the above mentioned
problems:
More investment in Research and
Development: The main thing in Space
technology is to provide the leading technology
at affordable cost. This can be done by investing
in research and development of technology.
Collaborations with the major advanced Space
research centers: Efforts should be made for more
technology transfer agreements in the fields of
Space technology from advanced space research
centers like NASA, Roscosmos State Corporation
by means of collaboration and agreements.
Encouraging private sector to invest in space
technology: India could encourage private
investment in Space sector by liberalizing up
the space sector and promoting it by giving
concessions like subsidies or tax waivers,
providing them with infrastructure and training
the human capital.