21 March 2024 – The Hindu

Re-examining India’s policy of prioritising its neighbours

• One of the main pillars of India’s foreign policy has been giving priority to its neighbours. India needs to manage its near subcontinental area well in order to grow both in Asia and around the world. India’s ability to tackle wider regional and global issues is limited by the frequent political and economic challenges it faces in its neighbouring countries, which often cause India to return its attention to the subcontinent.
• Recent changes in the political and economic environments of India’s neighbours and the rest of the world present a fresh chance for India to revitalise its Neighbourhood First Policy (NFP), which it ought to take full advantage of. India should expand the warmth and intimacy shown in its relations with Bhutan to the entire near and extended neighbourhood if it is to counterbalance China’s ability to manoeuvre in the area.

What is the “Neighbourhood First Policy” of India?

• India’s foreign policy has been significantly influenced by the Neighbourhood First policy since 1947, which focuses on forging closer ties, encouraging regional cooperation, and resolving shared concerns with its immediate neighbours.
• The Neighbourhood First Policy was first conceived in 2008. India’s policy of ‘Neighbourhood First’ aims to foster amicable and mutually advantageous relationships with all of its neighbours. India participates in numerous projects in these nations as an active development partner.
• India’s strategy for interacting with its neighbours is marked by non-reciprocity, consultation, and an emphasis on attaining concrete results. The aforementioned method places emphasis on improving connection, infrastructure, development cooperation, security, and promoting increased interpersonal interactions.

India’s Adjacent Areas:

• India’s immediate neighbours in South Asia have the same geographical borders, both land and sea. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka are some of these nations.
• India and these nations have shared civilizations, as evidenced by their shared history, culture, and profusion of interpersonal interactions.

Added:

• Geographically distant nations with strong political, economic, cultural, and strategic relations to India include those in the Indian Ocean Region, Southeast Asia, and West Asia. These nations are known as extended neighbours of India.

Goal:

• India and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) members have signed a Memorandum of Understanding. These agreements guarantee unrestricted cross-border movement of labour, commerce, energy, and information.

Enhancing Interactions with the Neighbours:

• Improving ties with South Asia’s immediate neighbours should be a top priority because the region’s development goal depends on peace and tranquilly.
• It emphasises active regional diplomacy through communication and interaction with surrounding countries to foster political connectedness.

Collaboration in the Economy:

• Improving trade relations with neighbours is its main goal. India has contributed to and invested in SAARC as a means of promoting regional development.
• The Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) grouping for energy development, which includes inter-grid connectivity, waterpower management, and motor vehicles, is one such example.

What Does the Neighbourhood First Policy Mean for India?

Combating Chinese Influence:

• India’s strategic interests in opposing Chinese dominance in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) are served by cooperation with its neighbours. This collaboration advances regional stability and security in line with India’s goal of being the region’s “net security provider.”

Assistance in Multilateral Forums:

• India’s leadership role as a representative of the Global South in many global forums, including the UNSC, WTO, and IMF, depends on its cooperation with neighbouring nations.
• India fosters a greater awareness of the region by introducing a regional/sub-regional component to bilateral interactions through participation in international fora.

Maintaining Geographical Integrity:

• India needs the assistance of its neighbours in order to protect its territorial integrity and counteract separatist threats.
• In order to combat the insurgency in India’s northeastern states, for instance, cooperation with Myanmar is essential. This illustrates the need of mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Improving the Safety of Marine Transportation:

• Strengthening maritime security requires efficient collaboration with adjacent nations like the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Myanmar.
• Such cooperation helps India to efficiently police its waterways and combat transnational security issues like terrorism, given the maritime domain’s susceptibility to attacks.

Concerning Energy Security:

• India’s energy security depends on cooperation with nations in the Indian Ocean and its northern neighbours, such as Nepal and Bhutan.
• Since a large amount of India’s imports of gas and oil go by sea, cooperation with neighbours is essential to avoiding interruptions in the flow of energy.

Overcoming Development Shortages:

• The growth of India’s northeastern states is also aided by active contact with neighbouring nations.
• Bangladesh’s consent to allow freight to be transited through and transshipped to the Northeast, for example, shows how regional cooperation can close development gaps.

Making Use of Soft Power Diplomacy:

• India’s soft power diplomacy is based on its strong cultural and historical ties to its neighbours. India is a prime example of the use of soft power diplomacy to improve diplomatic relations since it fosters people-to-people links and expands its influence in the region by highlighting common heritage and encouraging cultural interactions.

What lessons can India’s NFP learn from the relationship with Bhutan?

Mutual Honour and Collaboration:

• Both countries regard one another with the highest regard, see one another as equals, and have long since come to the realisation that size—both geographically and demographically—does not actually matter in the relationships between two independent nation states.
• As a result, India has always accepted Bhutan’s identity, distinctive religious customs, and wish to maintain its own way of life while achieving economic prosperity.
• Bhutan, for its part, has long understood that its southern flank poses no serious challenge to its identity or sovereignty. It has looked on India to support its development, growth, and prosperity.

Collaboration on the Gelephu Sustainable Project:

• Gelephu is intended to function similarly to a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in order to draw in international capital and promote national prosperity. Naturally, a big part of this endeavour is anticipated to come from India, particularly its business entities.
• The Gelephu Mindfulness City aims to prioritise environmental issues, well-being, and sustainability at the same time. It is anticipated that this kind of project will help the people of Bhutan achieve greater income levels while allaying any worries about how it will affect Bhutan’s status as a carbon-negative nation.

Regular and Ongoing Conversations:

• It is widely acknowledged that all relationships, whether they be between people or between countries, require ongoing maintenance, frequent communication, a great deal of consideration, and collaboration.
• The fact that the prime ministers of Bhutan and India visited each other’s countries back-to-back shows how much importance both governments place on their relationship.
• This portends well for the India-Bhutan relationship’s future expansion and advancement. It perfectly captures India’s Neighbourhood First strategy.

Collaboration between Hydropower and Renewable Energy:

• The cornerstone of India’s relationship with Bhutan is hydropower cooperation. Due to the completion of several cooperative hydro projects, including the 1,020 MW Tala Hydroelectric Project, which was put into service by the two governments and supplies India with clean electricity as well as a source of income for Thimphu, the country has been lifted out of the Least Developed Country category.
• Anticipated to be finished in 2024, the Punatsangchhu-II hydropower project is another successful illustration of the government-to-government paradigm of collaboration in the hydropower industry.

India’s Contribution to Development:

• India has also been a significant partner for Bhutan’s development aid, contributing Rs 5,000 crore to its just ended 12th Five Year Plan.
• The fact that India prioritises the needs of the Bhutanese people and pays close attention to their priorities in order to construct projects that will directly benefit them is crucial in this process of development support.

What Issues Does India’s Neighbourhood First Policy (NFP) Face?

Comparing the Closed and Open Neighbourhoods:

• Analysts contend that rather than fostering new connections, India has focused more on managing its current ones with its neighbours. The efficient implementation of regional strategies has been hampered by the absence of a clear policy framework.
• Goals have gone unmet and results are questionable as a result of the dual focus on India’s near and extended neighbours, which has impeded the clear and singular concentration on South Asian neighbours.

Difficulties in Two-way Relations:

• Implementing regional policy has been severely hampered by strained bilateral relations among some of the region’s countries. For instance, Pakistan refused to sign the other two proposed accords, so in the most recent SAARC summit, only one of the three agreements was signed.

Security Issues:

• The rise of extremism in the area, the presence of porous borders, and assistance from Pakistan and other neighbours all play a role in the emergence of terrorist actions within India. In addition, India’s drug trafficking issues are made worse by its proximity to the Golden Triangle and Golden Crescent.

China’s OBOR Initiative’s Impact:

• China’s One Belt One Road (OBOR) programme has led to a substantial growth in trade volume with SAARC countries. The “Chinese card” has occasionally been played by India’s neighbours, including Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, to their detriment while they look for other alliances.

Views on Inequitable Treatment:

• The neighbouring countries of India have long believed that India does not treat them fairly. India’s military participation in nations like the Maldives, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka is still perceived as proof of regional misgivings.

The consequences of inadequate infrastructure:

• Deals promoting free trade and investment are less effective in border regions due to poor infrastructure. For instance, in the 1960s, there were more railway links between India and East Pakistan than there are now with Bangladesh.

About Domestic Politics:

• The neighbourhood policy of India is frequently shaped by ethnic and internal political variables. For example, opposition from West Bengal delayed the Teesta Waters deal with Bangladesh, while ethnic links drove support for the Sri Lankan Tamil struggle.

Challenges in Putting India’s Line of Credit Into Practice:

• There are delays in the implementation of India’s Line of Credit (LOC) projects to its neighbours, despite a large growth in the number of such projects. Frustration, mistrust, and a decline in India’s power in the area may result from this.
• Moreover, the area’s susceptibility to climate change and natural calamities presents additional difficulties for development initiatives.

What Are Some Ideas to Improve the Effectiveness of India’s NFP?

• In July 2023, the Standing Committee on External Affairs turned in its report titled “India’s Neighbourhood First Policy.” Important findings and suggestions for improving its efficacy consist of:

Terrorism and Unauthorised Immigration:

• India has seen tensions, threats, and possible terrorist attacks from its neighbours throughout the previous thirty years. Problems including drug trafficking, smuggling of weapons, and illegal immigration emphasise the necessity for improved border security measures.
• In order to address this issue, the committee recommends keeping an eye on demographic changes brought about by illegal immigration and strongly supports close collaboration between the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs, and state governments.

China-Pakistan relations:

• Controversial concerns have dogged India’s bilateral relations with China and Pakistan; one major worry is the spread of terrorism from Pakistan. The Committee suggested interacting with global and regional bodies to educate them about Pakistan’s role in supporting terrorism.
• The Neighbourhood First Policy calls for the establishment of a shared platform for combating terrorism. Additionally, the Committee suggested that the government forge commercial connections with Pakistan.

Infrastructure Investment at the Border:

• The Committee took notice of the necessity to stabilise and develop border regions as well as the shortcomings in India’s border infrastructure. Connectivity infrastructure, including ports, inland waterways, railroads, and cross-border roadways, needs to be improved in order to facilitate interaction with India’s neighbours.
• It suggested looking into the viability of establishing a regional development fund for infrastructure related to connectivity within regional frameworks.

Keeping an eye on the Line of Credit (LOC) projects in India:

• From USD 3.3 billion in 2014 to USD 14.7 billion in 2020, India’s bilateral trade with its neighbours grew. The Committee noted that 50% of India’s soft loan volume globally is extended to its neighbours.
• It advised the Ministry of External Affairs to implement sensible measures and conduct routine monitoring to ensure that such LOC projects are completed on schedule. By bolstering the Joint Project Monitoring Committees and oversight system, development projects in adjacent countries should be finished on schedule.

Maritime security and defence:

• The foundation of India’s bilateral relations with its neighbours is defence cooperation. There are joint military drills with a number of nations, including Nepal, Myanmar, and the Maldives.
• The Committee suggested that the Ministry launch programmes to raise knowledge of the marine domain throughout India’s wider vicinity.

Progress in the Northeastern Area:

• The Asia-Pacific region’s expanded neighbourhood is the focus of the Act East policy. The northeastern part of India borders numerous neighbouring nations on land.
• The success of the Act East and Neighbourhood First policies depends on the economic growth of the northeastern states.
• The Committee suggested that the Ministry keep these two policies in sync with one another. The Northeastern Region’s connection, economic growth, and security may all benefit from this.
• India has been the main source of visitors to the majority of south Asian nations, including the Maldives, since 2020. A sizable influx of travellers from Bangladesh travel to India in order to receive medical care.
• For religious reasons, a large number of Indians travel to Nepal. In line with the Neighbourhood First Policy, the Committee suggested encouraging investment in tourism, particularly medical tourism.

Organisations on a multilateral scale:

• Regional and multilateral procedures are the driving forces behind India’s interactions with its neighbours. The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) and the SAARC are examples of this.
• The Committee noted that a wide range of effects should be seen locally as a result of the Neighbourhood First Policy. Strengthening institutional and multilateral/regional procedures is necessary for this. The Committee suggested reviewing bilateral and multilateral partnership frameworks on a regular basis.
• Certainly, throughout the last twenty years, India has faced increasingly complicated and potentially dangerous difficulties in its vicinity. Nonetheless, India’s “Neighbourhood First Policy” ought to be predicated on constant participation in all spheres—political as well as interpersonal. Greater effort must be put into pursuing regional connection while security issues are handled by dependable, affordable, and effective technical solutions that are already in use elsewhere in the world.