The foreign policy of India started taking shape immediately after

independence in 1947. Owing to centuries of suppression and autocracies,

India started its foreign policy on very cautious and careful note. India's first
Prime Minister Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, who was at the helm of external affairs
of India, along with the leaders of those times nurtured the India's foreign
policy with the incorporation of legacy of Indian culture and aspirations of
freedom struggle. To start with, some of the prominent objectives of India's
foreign policy can be enlisted as follows:

 Avoiding reliance on external powers

 Decolonisation and fight against imperialism
 Non-interference in the matters of other states
 Domestic development as the subtle objective behind any foreign policy
 Peaceful and mutual existence and cooperation with other countries of the
world
 Neutrality and non-alignment
Evolution of Indian Foreign Policy
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However, with changing times and its own requirement the perspective of
Indian foreign policies have changed considerably. From NAM to inclination
and 20 years treaty with USSR; from survival to assertion of authority in
South Asia (as evident in the liberation of Bangladesh); from reliance on
foreign powers for arms and ammunitions to being a nuclear power and from
a marginal country to a leading country in G20, India's perspective as well
as aspirations have been changing to formulate and change its foreign policy
to cater to the changing world and changing times. India has been
increasingly becoming proactive and vocal in the external arena. Having
already proven its worth in regional authority, it now aspires to play and has
been playing a superpower role in the world forum.

Even while sticking to the basic ethos and objective, India's foreign policy
have taken a paradigm shift in the contemporary era. With the opening of
the economy, advantages of demographic dividend, boom in the service
sector, formulation of WTO, emergence of regional economic grouping,
waiver from NSG and so on, it has been highly imperative for India to adopt
to the need of the hour. In light of these, for the contemporary foreign policy
aspirations, Gujral Doctrine, Manmohan Mantra and current prime minister
Narendra Modi's views should be highlighted as follows:

Gujral Doctrine
This doctrine was given by former Indian Prime Minister I K Gujral, when he
was the Minister of External Affairs in 1996-97, to establish India as a
substantial power in the neighbourhood. This doctrine emphasized on
the unilateral accommodation of other states (especially smaller
ones) for amicable relation with India. Gujral doctrine has been summarized
under following five principles:
1. With South Asian Nepal, Bhutan, neighbours like Bangladesh, Maldives
and Sri Lanka, India will not ask for reciprocity, but gives and accommodates
what it can in good faith and trust.

2. The territory of any South Asian country should not be allow to be used
against the interest of another country of the region.

3. All South Asian countries must respect each other’s territorial integrity
and sovereignty.

4. There should not be any interference in the internal affairs of another

country.

5. Bilateral negotiations should be the theme to solve any problems with

the South Asian countries.

India's foreign policy was substantially impacted by a decadal

tenure of ex-prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh in the era of increasing
economic affairs. These can be summarized as following 'Manmohan
Mantra':
1. It is to be recognized that India’s relations with the world i.e. both
major powers and our Asian neighbours are being increasingly shaped by
our developmental and growth priorities. Therefore, to create a global
environment conducive to the well-being of our great country thereby
developing it all around should be the single most important objective of
Indian foreign policy.

2. India will immensely be benefited because of the greater integration

with the world economy, which in turn will enable our people to realize their
creative potential.

3. India has the desire and intention to seek stable, long term and
mutually beneficial relations with all major powers. Therefore, India is highly
prepared to work with the international community and international
organizations to create a global economic and security environment for the
welfare of the whole world.

4. Indian sub-continent had uniform culture and hence share same

destiny. Therefore, it requires greater regional cooperation and connectivity.
India must strengthen regional institutional capability and capacity and
invest in connectivity in order to live up to above aspirations.

5. It is not only the interests but also our values which defines the foreign
policy.

India's foreign policy currently is being shaped by our prime

minister Narendra Modi and his minister of external affairs, Sushma Swaraj.
With the fast changing scenario, even the policies to deal with external
affairs keep on changing. Narendra Modi, has been very aggressive in
pursuing his foreign policy and engaging with other nations of the world.
Modi's procative diplomatic activities therefore can be summarized by
following points:

1. Prioritizing an integrated neighbourhood; i.e. “neighbourhood First.”

2. To promote India’s domestic development, international partnerships

have to be built and leveraged .
3. A gradual transition from "Look East" to "Act East" and thereby to
ensure a stable and multipolar balance of power in the Indo-Pacific.

4. Containing Pakistan from supporting the menace of terrorism.

5. Showcasing India as the leaders of global good governance.

India, has fast emerged as a force to reckon with on international platform.

Third largest economy, massive military strength, important members and
leaders of various international forum and presence across the planet require
India's foreign policy to be robust, sustainable and effective. India aspires to
be the world leader of this century on its own merit and strength. Hence, a
well crafted meticulous foreign policy is the need of the hour to cater to
following aspirations of India:
1. Permanent seat of United Nations Security Council

2. Membership of groups like NSG, Australian group, Wassenar

arrangement etc.

3. Resolving its international border issues with negotiations.

4. Say and importance in organizations like Arctic Council, G20, World

Bank, IMF etc.

5. Molding WTO so as to benefit India's agriculture and services sector

along with other developing nations.

Our Neighbours

India's neighbour had been a part of a homogenous culture prevailing in the

Indian subcontinent for last five thousand years. India, along with its
neighbours as have been organized in SAARC form a unique region and
culture of the world. However, in spite of the close proximity in culture,
region, aspirations and values India's relationship with its neighbours have
been far from satisfactory.
India's neighbours include Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka,
Pakistan, Afghanistan and Maldives, which are bounded by SAARC barring
Myanmar. India defines its extended neighbourhood as China, Mongolia,
South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Brunei,
Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Mauritius, Iran, Gulf
countries and so on. It is a member of various groups having regular
interactions with its neighbours as in BIMSTEC, Mekong Ganga Cooperation,
East Asia Summit, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, IOR and so on.
Apart from the economy and trade cooperation, India also aspires to have
warm relation with its neighbours and extended neighbours in the field of
education, health, fighting terrorism, disaster management, employment for
its citizens, curbing organized crimes, technology development and so on.
Though, India has not had massive success vis-a-vis the cooperation with its
neighbours, but still it is gradually coping up the pace to enahnce affinities
with its neighbours with increasing engagement and proactiveness. India has
picked up the pace to reflect the maxim - "The closer geographically,
economically and culturally relations you have, the greater is the need for
closer interaction and reconfiguration of foreign policy and strategic
interests.

Regional leadership

Owing to its huge population, massive and fast emerging economies,

enormous military strength and relatively better position to influence other
states on international forum, India has naturally emerged as an inherent
leader in South Asia. India has been giving massive aid to Bhutan and has
been acting as a guardian for this small Himalayan neighbour. It has also
been giving training to the police and bureaucrats of Nepal, Bhutan,
Afghanistan and Maldives. From time to time, India has shown exemplary
leadership in helping its neighbour come out of the crisis situation as evident
in the form of liberation of Bangladesh from the autocracy of Pakistan,
saving Maldives from LTTE attack, helping its neighbours in natural disasters
and so on.
However, the biggest impediment in the regional leadership of India has
been Pakistan. It has not only watered down India's ambition of showing
leadership in its own backyard but has also posed as a challenge to India's
assertions on various matters. SAARC has failed miserably due to Pakistan's
regular objection and obstruction in India's genuine leadership. Moreover,
China too has countered India's leadership effort by luring smaller countries
with its heavy economic muscle. In the form of 'String of Pearls', 'One Belt
One Road', 'Maritime Silk Road', 'China Pakistan Economic Corridor' etc.
China has hugely diluted India's aspirations of regional leaderships

South Asian Countries

Barring few incidents, India has had very cordial and warm relation with all
its South Asian neighbours except Pakistan. A brief relation between India
and its neighbours can be discussed with the help of following paragraphs.

India enjoys the warmest relation with Bhutan, who it supports financially,
militarily and strategically. Inturn Bhutan always tries to act as its
protectorate and has helped India drive out its insurgents in the North East.
India shares close proximity with Nepal in terms of culture and relationship.
So much so that, there are no visa requirements for these two countries and
their respective citizens can move into the other country freely. India
supports Nepal financially and strategically. Both these countries have
several hydroelectric projects cooperation, there are marriage alliances
between the citizens of India and Nepal.

Bangladesh owes its very existence to India. Barring few instances,

Bangladesh has had Pro-India government at the center. Bangladesh has
helped India in passage to North East, curbing the menace of insurgency in
the north-east and amicable sharing of river water. Both these countries
have been thriving on trade relations, diplomacy and curbing of terrorism.

Sri Lanka was a part of British India and hence its proximity to India has
been well known. India, however had to face jolts on some of the occasions
because of LTTE. Trade cooperation, cultural and religion ties etc. Have been
very cordial between these two countries.

India has always supported the peaceful and prosperous existence of

Maldives. On innumerable occasion, India has bailed out Maldives from
various crisis it had faced in the past. However, due to Islamic
fundamentalism, China card and adverse government at the center India has
been disappointed on many occasions. However, Maldives has huge stake in
retaining the cordial relation with India.

Afghanistan was the frontier province of British India and had acted as the
bulwark against Russian Empire. Therefore, its proximity and connection
with India is well known. However, due to its internal skirmishes for the last
three decades, India has constantly been helping Afghanistan cope up with
the menace of terrorism and come on the path of development.

India has had persistently thorny relation with Pakistan since the time of
independence, Kashmir issues. Sir Creek problem, Terrorism, Organized
Crimes etc. Have been the prominent issues for the two countries to remain
at loggerhead.

Super Powers

India has been balancing the Super Powers with great care and had been
trying to reap the maximum benefit for its domestic development. India has
mostly been close to the USSR in the past, which in turn has stood firmly to
all its needs. US had never been in the good books of India till last two
decades. However, owing to China factor, India is fast moving to have
strategic partnership with US. With all the rest superpowers of yesteryears
like UK and France, India has persistently warm relation in almost all fields.
With the emergence of BRICS, India is carefully negotiating with world
powers, projecting itself as the Super Power of the future.
International Relations with other Countries

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_____________________________________________________________
Before the 15th of August 1944, India had no foreign policy for she was
under the domination of a foreign power, Indian politicians and public
leaders in an unofficial way discussed the matter but the discussion was
merely an intellectual exercise and had no impact on the policy of the
country. With the achievement of independence, India has come in the grip of
foreign affairs. She has to maintain diplomatic relations with other nations of
the world and had to adopt a definite policy in the international sphere.

In conformity with her traditions, culture and philosophy, India has evolved,
thanks to the genius of Nehru, a code of international conduct which received
a lot of praise and acceptance by a majority of nations at the first instance.
This code was given the technical name of ‘Panch-Sheel’.

1. Mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,

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2. Non-aggression,

3. Non-interference in each-other’s internal affairs,

4. Equality and mutual benefit, and

5. Peaceful co-existence.
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In a fast changing world, it is not possible to define exactly the foreign policy
of a nation. Truly speaking foreign policy is a constant attempt to adjust and
accommodate the changing conditions. Thus foreign policy is necessarily an
ever changing and evolutionary process.

In spite of the fast changing trend of the world politics, every nation has to
base her foreign policy on certain broad principles and general outlook in
foreign affairs. In this respect India has expresses her foreign policy in a
clear-cut way. There are three basic principles of India’s foreign policy.
Firstly, India will oppose imperialism and racial discrimination. Secondly,
India will pursue the path of peace and goodwill. Thirdly, India will remain
neutral by means of non-alignment.

India regards imperialism and racial discrimination a potential threat to world

peace and harmony. In her opinion, imperialism or colonial rule is radically
wrong, a denial of human rights. That is why, she took a leading role in
resolving the Indonesian dispute, and always opposed the policy of racial
discrimination ardently followed by the Malan Government in South Africa.
India supported the cause of Egypt at the time of the nationalization of the
Suez Canal. Many examples can be quoted to support this argument.
Whenever the time has called upon India, she has vehemently but non-
violently opposed imperialism and racial discrimination.

India’s policy of maintaining peace and friendly relations with other nations
is theoretical more than it is practical. Outwardly, every nation of the world is
professing the policy of peace and friendship but inwardly, all the countries
find it necessary to live up with one group or the other in order to maintain a
sort of political balance. India believes in and professes neutrality and refuses
to be a camp follower of either America or Russia; though she is willing to
maintain friendly relations with both.

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India’s policy of neutrality or non-alignment has been a point of great

criticism. Each group, America or Russia thinks that though she is apparently
neutral, yet she is secretly in league with the other. The result is that she has
failed to win political allies and so she cannot cast her full weight in
international deliberations. In the Kashmir dispute against Pakistan, we had
to rely upon the support of Russia, otherwise we had lost the case in United
Nations. On the contrary, to tide over the food crises, we had to knock at the
door to America with an empty bag. How far is our policy of neutrality
successful in view of this dual game?

During the recent past, our foreign policy has been put to test. Our policy of
non-alignment is the legacy of Pandit Nehru which we have inherited in his
political successors. We have failed to maintain our neutrality in the conflict
between U.A.R. and Israel. Losing the balance of mind, we supported the
case of U.A.R. and condemned Israel for no help of ours. Though the policy
of supporting one and opposing the other has pleased the Muslim population
in India, yet it had bad consequences. We could have expressed our views in
a balanced way. We have forgotten that Israel supported us in United Nations
while U.A.R. kept quiet and Iran criticized us when Pakistan attacked us. By
condemning Israel, we have strained our relations with. Britain and the
U.S.A. In the present situation of the world our foreign policy has miserably
failed.

Though Pandit Nehru believed in the policy of non-alignment, yet he was

inclined towards the Russian block. When Russia crushed the movement in
Hungary cruelly, Pt. Nehru maintained silence and did not condemn
suppression and oppression as a true champion of human liberty, equality and
fraternity. For this he was criticized in the world. The Western countries
acted with wisdom and foresight when China made an unprovoked
aggression on India by giving unconditional support to India. Our foreign
policy, in the light of the present situation of the world needs complete re-
orientation.

In order to realize the goal of a positive foreign policy, the Indian

Government should;

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(1) abstain from involvement in the disputes between the power block and at
the same time assure that India would in no case assist an a gressor;

(2) strengthen the United Nations and all its agencies in all such efforts as
might lead to a world of freedom, equality and peace;

(3) endeavour to work for the collective security of that region of the world
which keeps out of alliance of the Atlantic and Soviet camps or any other
aggressive. Conglomeration in particular the belt which stretches from
Indonesia to Egypt.
(4) support freedom movement, in particular those of Africa and attempt to
keep away from both the camps;

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(5) seek to revise all treaties, agreements and charters as have set up an
international caste system of rich and powerful nations on the one hand, and
week and poor nations on the other and thus establish the principle of
equality among nations;

(6) extend support towards popular movements against discrimination

grounds of race, color or religion.