Major Challenges in India's Neighborhood Realtions.
Welcome back readers, a very pleasant morning to all aspirants.So, in this blog we will be discussing about the problems our country faced while maintaining good ties with neighborhood countries and the solutions.
As quoted by our late PM Atal Vihari Vajpayee
"You can change friends but not neighbors" so maintaining healthy realtions is beneficial for tranquility and peace of the region i.e, Indian Ocean.
Here we will discuss the challenges infront of our country to maintain a healthy relationship.
Let's Begin👉
📌MAJOR CHALLENGES IN INDIA’S NEIGHBOURHOOD RELATIONS
BORDER DISPUTE-
👉 Civilizational state: Historically, India has been a civilizational state rather than a territorial state. Due to legacy of colonisation, Difficult terrain, Domestic politics India could not solve its boundary disputes with
neighbours.
👉Disputes: India has disputes with Pakistan over Kashmir, with China on Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh and Aksaichin, with Sri Lanka on Kachchatheevu island, with Nepal on Kalapani Area.
👉Success in resolving: Over the past 70 years, it has succeeded to resolve its boundary issues only with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. India also went to war with Pakistan and China over boundary disputes.
👉Threats to security: According to former Foreign Secretary Muchkund Dubey, India faces threats to its security from almost all its neighbours, be it the spill over of their domestic ethnic conflicts, large-scale illegal
migration or providing base for terrorism directed against India.
♦️WAY FORWARD-
👉 BORDER SECURITY- Strengthening border security to control smuggling, illegal migration and terrorist infiltration.
👉Dialogue- India should engage constructively and generously with its smaller neighbours like Nepal to deal with
the border issues.
👉POLICY CONSENSUS- Broader policy consensus at domestic levels needs to be developed in order to maintain continuity in border negotiations and consistency in India’s position.
👉BUILDING REGIONAL ARCHITECTURE- Due to huge asymmetry in power equations, neighbours accuse India of Big Brotherly Attitude. A regional architecture on the lines of SAARC can be established to device broader principles for border negotiations.
👉TRACK 2 DIPLOMACY- can be used to find innovative solutions on border disputes.
RIVER DISPUTES-
👉 In 2016, UNEP claimed that by 2030 almost ‘half of the world’s population will suffer from severe water stress’. In this context river disputes will determine India’s riparian relations with its neighbours: Pakistan,China, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.
Brahmaputra River and India-China-Bangladesh relations
👉Chinese acts: As an upstream riparian region, China maintains an advantageous position and is building dams on Brahmaputra river to intentionally prevent water from flowing downstream.
👉India’s worries: Recently,A draft of China’s new Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), has given green light for first downstream dams on Brahmaputra. Both New Delhi andDhaka worry that these dams will give Beijing the ability to divert or store water in times of political crisis.
👉Dam on Teesta river: On the other hand, India has built dams on the Teesta River, a
tributary of the Brahmaputra, to utilise the flow of the Teesta during the dry season. This is cause of concern for Bangladesh as nearly 100 million Bangladeshis rely on the river during the dry season. Both countries could not sign an agreement on sharing of
water from the Teesta river due to opposition from the West Bengal government.
Kosi River and frayed relations
between Nepal and India
👉India – Nepal: Since 1954, when the Kosi Agreement was signed between India and Nepal, talks between the two governments have stalled and water rights issues have not been addressed. As a result, the first dam had remained neglected for decades and a proposed partnership for a second dam didn’t take off.
Indus water treaty between India and Pakistan
👉 Despite having favourable provisions Pakistan has demanded revision of the treaty.
👉Resentment in India : There is also resentment in India as it conceded 80% of water to Pakistan and there is
demand to revise the treaty.
👉Azad Pattan: India has protested against the construction of Azad Pattan: PoK Hydel Project in PoK and Gilgit
Baltistan, which are territories claimed by India as part of Jammu & Kashmir.
NEED FOR WATER MANAGEMENT
📍 Climate change
📍 Domestic Water politics and its spill over effect on bilateral relation
📍 Enhancing regional cooperation
📍 Hydroelectricity
📍 Livelihood security (As most of south Asian countries are dependent on agriculture)
📍Building India’s soft power.
♦️WAY FORWARD
•📍Regional Mechanism- To decide on mutually agreed principles on water sharing and enforcing of agreements. SAARC could be used to enhance cooperation among riparian states.
📍 Harnessing Hydropower Potential- in the north east part of India and in countries like Nepal and Bhutan.
📍Transparency in data sharing- sharing of data on river water flow in a transparent manner based on mutually agreed scientific parameters.
📍Cooperating on transboundary river management and water conservation.
TRADE BARRIERS
👉South Asia is one of the most poorly integrated region due to multiple factors. The intra-regional trade among South Asian economies is lowest in the world at 5.6% (2017) of their total global trade.
REASONS FOR LOW TRADE
📍 Historical reasons - India adopted socialist model of economy and policy of import substitution and protectionism till 1990s and civil wars and domestic instability in other countries.
📍Poor Connectivity- Due to difficult terrain on borders, poor development of inland waterways, poor border infrastructure like border huts etc.
📍Ineffective regional organisations- Failure of SAARC due to India Pakistan conflict. Both SAPTA and SAFTA have remained ineffective.
📍 Bilateral conflicts- Border disputes, river water disputes, wars between India and Pakistan has affected regional integration and has a spill over effect on regional trade.
📍Lack of political will in countries as the primary focus of countries was on nation building, security and defence of borders.
NEED FOR GREATER INTRA-REGIONAL TRADE
📍Regional Integration- Due to development of functional interlinkages and its spill over effect on other sectors.
📍Economic Prosperity- Through greater trade and development of supply chains. It will also attract greater FDI and technology transfer.
📍Reduction In Trust Deficit- As trade among countries increases, people to people contact and political contacts also increases.
📍 Reduced illegal migration from countries like Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka etc
📍Countering Terrorism as enhanced trade relationships bridge trust deficit among countries and also develops interdependence. It creates scope for close collaboration on counter terrorism.
♦️Way Forward-
• Revisiting Free Trade Agreementso As SAFTA and SAPTA have been ineffective, FTA under BIMSTEC has been under negotiations for more than15 years and India-SriLanka FTA is more than 20 years old. This will require political leadership to sacrifice domestic protectionism in order to pursue long-term
strategic interests of greater trade interdependence with its neighbours.
Enhancing Cross-border Infrastructure
📍 Improvements in cross-border infrastructure such as Integrated Check-Posts (ICPs), road, air and rail links are key to facilitating trade in the region.
📍Improved infrastructure will enable greater connectivity thereby strengthening production networks and value chains in the region.
RISING CHINESE FOOTPRINT
Over the past decade, China has strengthened its economic and military ties with India’s neighbours in South Asia, which could pose a challenge for India.
IMPLICATIONS FOR INDIA STRATEGIC ENCIRCLEMENT
📍 India is encircled by a growing ring of Chinese power and influence.
📍To the north, garrisons, airfields and missile sites linked by modern road-rail networks underpin China’s dominant posture on the Tibetan plateau. Also, the Xining-Lhasa rail link connects with Nepal, where
China has made significant political inroads.📍To the east, China’s Yunan province will gain access to the Bay of Bengal via rail, highway and pipeline, linking it to the deep-water port being built by China at Kyaukpyu in Myanmar.
📍 A parallel endeavour on India’s western flank, through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), will create access to the Arabian Sea from Xinjiang to the Pakistani port of Gwadar via Gilgit-Baltistan.
📍Further west, China has set up its first overseas military base at Djibouti on the Bab el-Mandeb.
📍To our south, China has built a new harbour in Hambantota and modernised Colombo port for Sri Lanka.
📍 Strategic encirclement: There is already news that the PLAN intends to deploy its expanded marine corps to Djibouti and Gwadar. The recent Chinese sale of eight diesel submarines to Pakistan and two to
Bangladesh provides conclusive evidence of India’s “strategic encirclement”.
CHINA CARD FOR NEIGHBOUR
Increased Chinese presence also provides neighbour countries to strike a hard
bargain with India.
• SECURITY CONCERNS- The recent clashes in Galwan Valley highlight China’s Salami Slicing Policy in work.
• CHINESE INTERFERENCE IN DOMESTIC POLITICS- Of countries like Nepal and Sri Lanka has resulted in strained relationship with India.
• TRADE
📍 Over the past decade, China has replaced India as the major trading partner of several South Asian countries.
📍Only Afghanistan, Bhutan, and Nepal have a higher trade share with India compared to China.
📍China’s exports to the region has increased from $8 billion in 2005 to $52 billion in 2018.
📍China has committed around $100 billion investment in the economies of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Maldives, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
📍CHINA-PAKISTAN ALL WEATHER FRIENDSHIP- As seen in CPEC project, China is stalling India’s effort in UNSC to list Masood Azhar as terrorist and Raising Kashmir issue.
📍DEBT TRAP DIPLOMACY- As seen in Sri Lanka where China has acquired Hambantota port on lease for 99 years.
♦️WAY FORWARD
👉NEIGHBOURHOOD FIRST- Giving diplomatic and political priority to the neighbourhood. India can adopt principle of Gujaral Doctrine i.e. Non-Reciprocity.
👉 LEVERAGING QUAD AND OTHER MINILATERALS- Joint implementation of projects with QUAD countries to improve connectivity in the region.
👉FAST COMPLETION OF PROJECTS- Like hydropower projects in Nepal, Bhutan,Kaladan Multimodal project.
TERRORISM THREAT
📍STATE SPONSORED TERROSISM BY PAKISTAN
👉ISIS has presence in Maldives, Sri Lanka as well as in India. The Easter bombings in Sri Lanka highlight the threat posed by it.
📍Poor border infrastructure along borders. For ex- Borders along Nepal, Bangladesh are used by terrorists for infiltration.
IMPACT-
• POOR REGIONAL INTEGRATION
• TRUST DEFICIT between countries due to boundary disputes and other conflicts,
• LOW LEVELS OF TRADE AND ECONOMIC INTERDEPENDENCE
• FEAR OF NUCLEAR WAR between India and Pakistan.
• Impact on India’s global image and status as a rising power.
♦️WAY FORWARD-
📍SAARC - SAARC FORCE with contribution from all countries to conduct coordinated action against terrorists.
📍JOINT MILITARY EXERCISES to enhance interoperability between armed forces and protecting against traditional and non-traditional threats in Indian ocean region.
For more follow us on Instagram,YouTube and Telegram @mr_defence_x
Thanks you for reading it completely.
Hope you like it.
Feel free to share your thoughts on this topic in the COMMENT Section BELOW.
COMMENT BELOW.
Comments
Post a Comment