Indian Foreign Policy

The basic principles of the Indian Foreign Policy were sown at the time of the freedom struggle for Indian independence. The primary tenets of this can be summarized as :-

Keeping faith in maintaining good relations with the neighbors as well as all other countries round the globe.

Strong belief in non-interference with the sovereignty of all nation.

Non-partisan outlook towards world powers with stress on non-alignment.

India believes that the conflicts between the nations can be resolved through peaceful negotiations.

Significant part of Indian Foreign Policy occupies Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). The first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, was one of the main proponents of this movement. NAM stresses on the fact that the countries under this banner would not have any kind of biasness towards any world power. The importance of this movement gained momentum at the time of Cold War between USA and the then USSR.

India considers colonialism as one of the main hindrances in the path of a nation's development. Hence, to pursue its motive in eradicating the evil of colonialism from the global arena, India has taken a leading role in the same. Indian Foreign Policy had initiated the process of raising a special fund called Action For Resistance to Invasion, Colonialism and Apartheid or simply AFRICA, meant for eradicating the racial and colonial discrimination from the world. This initiative was started in the year 1986.

One of the main objectives of Indian Foreign Policy is general as well as total disarmament of all nations around the world. As per India, the main concern of todays world is the race among all the countries of the world in becoming nuclear power. In achieving this end, India has also placed an action plan before the UN General Assembly in the year 1988 for establishing a peaceful world with no threat of nuclear warfare. At the same time Indian Foreign Policy has denounced two discriminatory treaties, namely, CTBT and NPT. These treaties refer to nuclear disarmament without mentioning any course of action for the already manufactured nuclear arms by the Nuclear Power Countries.

In quest of freeing the oppressed people of the world, India has played historic roles in liberating Bangladesh from the oppressive clutches of Pakistan. As Indian Foreign Policy believes in peaceful negotiations in resolving a conflict, so India had implemented two agreements of 1964 and 1974 for establishing the right of people of Indian origin to live in Sri Lanka.

But with the fall of USSR, the priorities along with the policies of the Indian Government have changed. For maintaining its pace with the changed scenario and time, Indian Foreign Policy has also seen certain readjustments.

Some of the main foreign issues that would give an overview of the current trend in Indian Foreign Policy are listed below in the bulleted format :-

Highest emphasis was given in building good as well as productive relationship with the neighbor. Resolving the internal crisis of Nepal through repeated negotiations was brokered by India. Indian Foreign Policy is giving highest priority in the maintenance of peace in the South Asian region for the sake of mutual benefit of countries through profitable trade relations.

India has shown maximum restraint in dealing with Pakistan and has opted the route of repeated round table negotiations between the heads of the states along with their respective foreign affair executives.

Indian Foreign Policy has also stressed in building up long term commercial as well as peaceful relation with China. This process was kicked off through visit of top notches from both the countries to the other.

Indian Foreign Policy has been able to forge an alliance between the fastest growing nations of the world namely, Brazil, Russia and China. This commercial relationship is commonly known as BRIC.

European Union is considering India as an indispensable part of a strategic partnership in the world arena which are expected to be emboldened through joint declaration of political as well as trade related agendas in the near future.

Indian Foreign Policy is on the threshold of sealing a nuclear deal between USA and India which would help it in solving its energy related problems.

Indian Foreign Policy maintained its non-interference policy with the sovereignty of other state in case of Iraq. India had strongly maintained its stand against sending military troops to Iraq.

FDI India