India and its Neighbourhood Relations

India, located in South Asia, is surrounded by Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal and Bhutan to the north east, and Myanmar and Bangladesh to the east. The region is not only complex and volatile, but also one of the most socially and politically divided regions of the world. The South Asian countries-individually as well as collectively represent a world of historical links, shared legacies, commonalities as well as diversities which are elaborately reflected in their ethnic, linguistic, religious and political fabric.

The South Asian region is also full of contradictions, disparities and paradoxes. In the post-colonial period, the South Asia has been a theatre of inter-state as well as civil wars; it has witnessed liberation movements, nuclear rivalry, military dictatorships and continues to suffer from insurgencies, religious fundamentalism and terrorism, besides serious problems associated with drugs and human trafficking.

India is land where people believe in cooperation and maintain healthy relationship with its neighbour. India has always been known as a “peace-loving country”. India has official political relations with most nations. India is considered as the world’s second most populous and democratic country. Its economy is the fastest growing around the world. With the world’s eighth largest military expenditure, third largest armed force, seventh largest economy by nominal rates and third largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity. India is a regional power, an embryonic global power and has capability to become superpower. India has a developing international influence and a prominent voice in global businesses.

Maintaining good relations with neighbours is the first priority for any country. The credibility of a country’s global posture is undermined if it is seen as embroiled in conflicts with its neighbours. While in theory the need to have a peaceful, stable and friendly neighbourhood is clear, what that means in practical terms is a different question. Can good relations be built unilaterally? Is a smaller neighbour always right in its demands? These are not the only issues that arise in an examination of the conditions in which neighbouring countries relate to each other, the role of external actors in determining those conditions are as critical. In the case of India and its neighbours these considerations matter even more because of historical and geostrategic reasons. How much is India perceived as a regional hegemon and how an external power is inducted into the region to reduce the weight ofthat perceived hegemon and by whom is the subject of this analysis.

Characteristics of India’s neighbourhood/South Asia:

• It is home to 1.89 billion people, more than 20 percent of the world population.
• It is a region that lies between the sea routes of the Indian Ocean (Persian Gulf and the Asia-Pacific) and the land routes of Central Asia connecting Europe to the East.
• It is a large reservoir of natural and human resources, making it a prime destination for finance capital, a lucrative market for trade, and a source of cheap raw material.
• It also sits at the confluence of the richest sources of oil, gas, rubber, manganese, copper, gold, tea, cotton, rice and jute, and is the transit point for most of the resources and manufactures that cris-cross the world.
• Moreover, it is the most heavily militarized and bureaucratized zone in the world and it has a variety of complex and violent primordial ethnic groups.
• The region has been registering a healthy growth (average of more than 6% per annum) during the past several years.
• Democratic forms of governance (howsoever flawed and feeble) are beginning to gain some ground in most parts of the region.

The Ministry of External Affairs is the Indian government’s agency look after the foreign relations of India. The Minister of External Affairs holds cabinet rank as a member of the Council of Ministers. Sushma Swaraj is current Minister of External Affairs. When reviewing historical approach, India’s international influence varied over the years after independence. Indian prestige and moral authority were high in the 1950s and enabled the acquisition of developmental assistance from both East and West. Although the prestige stemmed from India’s nonaligned stance, the nation was incapable to prevent Cold War politics from becoming intertwined with interstate relations in South Asia.

Neighbourhood First Policy

• Under its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy, India is committed to developing friendly and mutually beneficial relations with all its neighbours.
• It is aimed at pursuing vigorous regional diplomacy by engaging with neighbouring Nations and building political connectivity through dialogue.
• Deepening and strengthening the bilateral relations with the neighbours is an important feature of India’s neighbourhood first policy. For example, an unprecedented diplomatic outreach was made by the Prime Minister of India in the swearing in ceremony, when he invited the heads of government of the neighbours, including Pakistan. The day after swearing in ceremony, the PM held bilateral meetings with the leaders of the neighbouring countries, and vowed to work towards making a strong regional block.
• India’s neighbourhood first policy has four aspects:
  • Willingness to give political and diplomatic priority to its immediate neighbours and Indian ocean Island States.
  • Providing them assistance and support in any and every form when required. This is evident when India became the first responder after Nepal earthquake and provided considerable assistance both in term of monetary help, and physical assistance through National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).
  • Develop greater connectivity and deepening integration with neighbours.
  • Promote a model of India-led regionalism with which its neighbours are comfortable.

India has many achievements. But, in the regional perspective, there is neighbours’ bitterness. There are unfair and erroneous perceptions about India floating around in the region. India treats its neighbours as an ignored courtyard. There are vested interests and lobbies for whom being anti-Indian is synonymous with being patriot and nationalist. There are strong institutions within the framework of a more or less failed State in the neighbourhood (Pakistan) which would like to see relations with India in a state of perpetual suspension. India’s intentions are suspected even in cases of innocent proposals for economic cooperation which would lead to win-win situations.

India and China:

India and China are the two great giants of Asia. Besides being the most populous countries, they are also two of the most ancient civilisations of the world. Historically, several historians have successfully traced the cultural linkages dating back to 2nd century BC. As a result of the communist revolution in 1949, China became the People’s Republic of China (PRC), under the leadership of Mao Tse Tung. Nehru regarded India as China’s rival for the leadership of the non-white people of the world. India, on the other hand, tried India and the World its best to come close to China. It was the first non-communist country to recognise communist China in 1949. India fully supported China’s claim for membership in the United Nations. It also acknowledged China’s claim over Formosa (Taiwan). It refused to be a party to peace treaty with Japan without China. In the Korean crisis too, India refused to brand China as aggressor when China intervened on behalf of North Korea. In fact, India supported China even though the Western bloc especially USA was displeased with it. Nehru’s China policy received the first jolt in 1950, when China occupied Tibet in 1950. It is important to remember in this context that India had long term interests in Tibet because
it was a buffer lying between India and China. India even enjoyed certain special privileges in Tibet. Therefore direct Chinese control over Tibet was likely to endanger these, and India’s security. India’s suggestions for a peaceful settlement of the Tibet problem were treated as interference by the communist regime. Gradually the Tibetans grew restless under China’s yoke and rose in revolt in 1959. China ruthlessly suppressed the movement and declared
Tibet as an integral part of China. The head of Tibet, Dalai Lama took shelter in India while Tibet lost whatever autonomy it still enjoyed. The granting of political shelter to Dalai Lama by India added to China’s distrust.

India and Maldives:

India has retained cordial relations with Maldives. Maldives is located south of India’s Lakshadweep Islands in the Indian Ocean. As friendly neighbours, India and Maldives share ethnic, linguistic, cultural, religious and commercial links steeped in antiquity and enjoy cordial and multi-dimensional relations. Indian troops landed in Maley in November 1988 and saved Maldivian hostages who had been detained in a coup. Maldives has been guaranteed by India of its full support and assistance in the economic growth.

India has considerable influence over Maldives’ foreign policy and offers extensive security co-operation especially after the Operation Cactus in 1988 during which India repelled Tamil mercenaries who occupied the country.

As a founder member in 1985 of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, SAARC, which brings together Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, India has vital role in SAARC. The Maldives has taken the lead in calling for a South Asian Free Trade Agreement, the formulation of a Social Charter, the initiation of informal political consultations in SAARC forums, the lobbying for greater action on environmental issues, the proposal of several human rights measures such as the regional convention on child rights and for setting up a SAARC Human Rights Resource Centre. The Maldives also promotes greater international profile for SAARC such as through formulating common positions at the UN.

India and Maldives signed a trade agreement in 1981, which provides for export of vital commodities. Indian exports to the Maldives include agriculture and poultry produce, sugar, fruits, vegetables, spices, rice, wheat flour (Atta), textiles, drugs and medicines, a variety of engineering and industrial products, sand and aggregate, cement for building etc. Indian imports primarily scrap metals from the Maldives. Under the bilateral agreement, India offers essential food items like rice, wheat flour, sugar, dal, onion, potato and eggs and construction material such as sand and stone aggregates to Maldives on favourable terms.

India and Pakistan:

No two countries in the world have so much in common as India and Pakistan. Yet they have perpetually been in a state of undeclared war with varying degree of intensity. Pakistan’s aggression in Kargil (1999) brought the two countries even on the verge of a nuclear confrontation. The legacy of suspicion and mistrust predates the partition of India in 1947. During the freedom struggle the Muslim League, under the leadership of Mohammad Ali Jinnah propounded the two-nation theory, in support of a separate Muslim state. Jinnah insisted that since Hindus and Muslims were two communities, two separate states must be constituted for the two communities. The Indian National Congress (INC)’s long rejection of and reluctant acceptance of partition gave room for suspicion in Pakistan that India would try to undo the partition and divide Pakistan. Moreover, Pakistan was concerned at the possibility of India’s domination in the region and its inability to match India’s power all by itself. Pakistan developed a perception that it is an incomplete state without Kashmir being incorporated into it. On the other hand, India perceives Kashmir’s accession and integration into India as an essential element of its secular and federal
democratic structure.

India and Nepal:

Nepal is also friendly neighbour country of India. There has been a long tradition of free movement of people across the borders. Nepal has an area of 147,181 sq. kms and a population of 29 million. It shares a border of over 1850 kms in the east, south and west with five Indian States – Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and in the north with the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China. Relations between India and Nepal are strong though there are some troubles stemming from border disputes, geography, economics, and the problems in-built in big power-small power relations, and common ethnic and linguistic identities that overlap the two countries’ borders. Mainly relation between India and Nepal are based on century’s traditional cultural ties. India has supported a lot to Nepal in its development projects. The trade and transit treaty issue created some differences between the two neighbours. But the issue has since been resolved. Fortunately, these two neighbours have always good understanding on disputed matters and they resolve intelligently.

In 1950 New Delhi and Kathmandu introduced their intertwined relationship with the Treaty of Peace and Friendship and accompanying secret letters that defined security relations between the two countries, and an agreement governing both bilateral trade and trade transiting Indian land. According to the 1950 treaty and letters, “neither government shall tolerate any threat to the security of the other by a foreign aggressor” and obligated both sides “to inform each other of any serious friction or misunderstanding with any neighbouring state likely to cause any breach in the friendly relations subsisting between the two governments”, and also granted the Indian and Nepali people’s right to get involved in any economic activity such as work and business related activity in each other’s region. Such treaties solidified relationship between India and Nepal that granted Nepalese in India the same economic and educational opportunities as Indian inhabitants.

India and Sri Lanka:

Sri Lanka, earlier known as Ceylon (until 1972), is a small island country situated in the Indian Ocean to the south of India. Its total area is 25,332 sq. miles. Of all countries, it has geographical proximity to India. Only 18 miles wide shallow water in the Palk Straits separates Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka from the Southernmost tip of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Its geostrategic location in the Indian Ocean (at the centre of commercial and strategic sea and air routes) and its closeness to US naval base in Deigo Garcia indicates its importance far beyond its size, population and resources. The history of cultural relations between India and Sri Lanka dates back to the ancient times. Out of the total population of Sri Lanka, about 64 percent believe in Buddhism and about 15 percent believe in Hinduism.
Sri Lanka became a British colony in early 19th century. It was granted independence on February 4, 1948.
India-Sri Lanka relations have generally been cordial, though there have been occasions of tense relations due to the ethnic conflict between Tamils and the Sinhalese. Despite ethnic problems, India has never sought to impose its will on Sri Lanka and has always based its foreign policy towards this southern neighbour on mutual understanding and friendship. An important area of common interest between the two neighbours is the foreign policy of non-alignment. Sri Lanka has generally stood neutral in Sino-Indian disputes. In fact, it made efforts to mediate between India and China after the war of 1962. Sri Lanka also showed understanding when India become nuclear. Recently in 2005, India extended valuable help to Sri Lanka after Tsunami devastated the coastal areas of that country.

India and Afghanistan:

India’s relations with Afghanistan are healthy and there is co-operation in economic, technical and cultural fields. India applauded the UN-sponsored Geneva Agreement on Afghanistan in 1988. India recapped its stand for an independent, non-aligned Afghanistan. Country realized that the Afghans themselves should be allowed to decide upon their future without external pressure. To maintain friendly relations, India provided Rs.10 crore assistance for relief and rehabilitation of Afghan refugees. India is also supporting Afghanistan in public health, small-scale industries, and education. Bilateral relations between India and Afghanistan have been customarily strong and pleasant. While India was the only South Asian country to identify the Soviet-backed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan in the 1980s. Its relations were weakened during the Afghan civil wars and the rule the Islamist Taliban in the 1990s. India assisted the rebellion of the Taliban and became the largest regional provider of humanitarian and reconstruction aid. The new constitutionally elected Afghan government strengthened its ties with India in wake of persisting tensions and problems with Pakistan, which is continuing to shelter and support the Taliban. India espoused a policy of cooperation to boost its standing as a regional power and contain its competitor Pakistan, which supports Islamic militants in Kashmir and other parts of India. India is the major regional investor in Afghanistan, having committed more than US$2.2 billion for rebuilding purposes.

India offers aid programs for Afghanistan include infrastructure development, institutional capacity building, small development projects, as well as food security assistance in the form of ongoing deliveries of wheat to Afghanistan. Since 2001, more than 10,000 Afghan students have studied in India on ICCR scholarships, with approximately 7,000 returning home armed with an education and technical skills, which they are using to drive Afghanistan’s stabilization and development. In the meantime, many officers in the Afghan government have benefited from the technical capacity building programs of ITEC and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, while some 8,000 Afghan students are pursuing self-financed degrees in different fields across India.

Despite many transit obstacles, the volume of Indo-Afghan trade stood at $680 million during 2013-2014, which is continually rising, following the full implementation of the Afghanistan and Pakistan Trade and Transit Agreement (APTTA). Furthermore, air connectivity between the two nations has grown progressively. There are four to five flights operating daily between Kabul and Delhi, bringing to India nearly 1,000 Afghans, many of them medical tourists, seeking treatment in Delhi hospitals.

India and Bangladesh:

Indian government believe in maintaining good relations with neighbouring countries. Bangladesh is one of its close neighbour. India had recognised Bangladesh as a separate and independent state, did so on 6 December 1971. India fought together with the Bangladeshis to liberate Bangladesh from West Pakistan in 1971. Bangladesh and India share a common tradition. They are pleasant and both nations make great efforts to solve the problem of waters of Ganga at Farakka and Tin Bigha corridor in a spirit of give and take. India has helped Bangladesh in the recovery of cyclone victims in 1985. In broad sense, the relations between the two nations continue to be amiable. But major issues in relation with these two nation is that of about 145,000 Chakma refugees who crossed over to India. Bangladesh’s relationship with India has been difficult in terms of irrigation and land border disputes post 1976. Nevertheless, India has maintained favourable relationship with Bangladesh during governments formed by the Awami League in 1972 and 1996. The solutions of land and maritime disputes have taken out nuisances in ties.

At the beginning, India’s relations with Bangladesh have not been stronger because of India’s absolute support for independence and opposition against Pakistan in 1971. During the independence war, many refugees fled to India. When the struggle of resistance matured in November 1971, India also interfered militarily and has helped in bring international attention to the issue through Indira Gandhi’s visit to Washington, D.C. Afterwards India furnished relief and reconstruction aid. India also withdrew its military from the land of Bangladesh when Sheikh Mujibur Rahman requested Indira Gandhi to do so during the latter’s visit to Dhaka in 1972. Indo-Bangladesh relations have been somewhat less friendly since the fall of Mujib government in August 1975. But as the time passed, many issues emerged such as South Talpatti Island, the Tin Bigha Corridor and access to Nepal, the Farakka Barrage and water sharing, border conflicts near Tripura and the construction of a fence along most of the border which India explains as security provision against migrants, insurgents and terrorists. Bilateral relations began to friendly in 1996, due to soft Indian foreign policy and the new Awami League Government. A 30-year water-sharing agreement for the Ganges River was signed in December 1996, after an earlier bilateral water-sharing agreement for the Ganges River lapsed in 1988. Both nations also have cooperated on the issue of flood warning and readiness. The Bangladesh Government and tribal insurgents signed a peace accord in December 1997, which allowed for the return of tribal refugees who had escaped into India, beginning in 1986, to escape violence caused by an insurgency in their homeland in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The Bangladesh Army maintains a very strong presence in the area presently. The army is progressively concerned about problem of cultivation of illegal drugs.

India and Bhutan:

Relations between India and Bhutan are friendly since past and it is strengthened recently. Co-operation in economic field between the two countries has advanced them. India has helped Bhutan in industry development such as in the field of telecommunications, hydel survey, education and forestry. Historically, there have been strong ties with India. Both countries signed a friendship treaty in 1949, where India would support Bhutan in foreign relations. On 8th February 2007, the Indo-Bhutan Friendship Treaty was substantially revised under the Bhutanese King, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck. Whereas in the Treaty of 1949 Article 2 read as “The Government of India undertakes to exercise no interference in the internal administration of Bhutan. On its part, the Government of Bhutan agrees to be guided by the advice of the Government of India in regard to its external relations.” In the revised treaty, it is described as, “In keeping with the abiding ties of close friendship and cooperation between Bhutan and India, the Government of the Kingdom of Bhutan and the Government of the Republic of India shall cooperate closely with each other on issues relating to their national interests. Neither government shall allow the use of its territory for activities harmful to the national security and interest of the other”. The revised treaty also includes in it the preamble.

Challenges faced by India:-

• China’s lead in the Region: China is now becoming dominant in the region. China has established strategic relations with countries such as Myanmar, Nepal, Bangladesh. All these countries are of strategic importance to India. Recently, a controversial political map has been released by Nepal under the influence of China, in which Nepal has shown the Indian territory in its territory.

• Big Brother Syndrome: India is much larger than in other countries in size, population, etc. In this situation, the neighbors of India always have a skeptical attitude towards India and seek out India’s counter in the region.

• India’s asymmetry policy: Countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh are attracted towards China even after India has not completed many projects after signing them.

• India’s internal problems: India is still a developing country. More than 21% of the country’s population lives below the poverty line. India spends huge money on the prevention of the population suffering from malnutrition and diseases. Hence India’s ability to complete projects in other countries decreases.

Way Forward:

• India’s involvement in the internal affairs of its neighbours shall be avoided to the extent it does not harm India’s interest.
• The idea of neighbourhood first policy need not include any irritant like Pakistan which can be dealt separately. There are other institutional mechanisms such as BIMSTEC, Mekong Ganga cooperation, etc. where India can engage with its neighbours multilaterally. Even within SAARC, India must work on a SAARC minus one approach.
• Engage in deeper investment initiatives like Bangladesh Bhutan India Nepal (BBIN) initiative to reap the benefit of connectivity, energy, security and water management.
• India’ neighbourhood policy should be based on the principles of Gujral Doctrine. This would ensure India’s stature and strength cannot be isolated from the quality of its relations with its neighbours and there can be regional growth as well.
• Integrating India’s regional economic and foreign policy remains a major challenge. Therefore, India should resist compromising bilateral relationships with neighbours for short economic interests.
• Regional connectivity must be pursued with greater vigour while security concerns are addressed through cost-effective, efficient and reliable technological measures which are in use in other parts of the world.