Chapter – 4

India’s External Relations

In this post we have given the detailed notes of class 12 Political Science Chapter 4 (India’s External Relations) in English. These notes are useful for the students who are going to appear in class 12 board exams.

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Foreign Policy

• Every country establishes relations with other countries according to a particular policy, this policy is called foreign policy of that country.
• India also made a policy of making relations with all other countries, this is called India’s foreign policy.

Two major elements of India’s foreign policy

• Respect the sovereignty of all nations     
  • (as it is clear from the word that sovereignty means to be sovereign of oneself, it means that the rule of a country should be run according to its policies and no other country or power should have any authority over it)
• Maintaining one’s security through peace
  • Jawaharlal Nehru had a major role in India’s foreign policy, he was the one who shaped India’s foreign policy and as he was always the been the supporter of peace therefore India focused avoiding war and solving problems with peace.

The main elements of Nehru’s foreign policy were-

• Maintaining territorial integrity
• Maintaining sovereignty
• Growing rapidly

Main principles of India ‘s foreign policy

Policy of non-alignment

• As we know that India became independent at the time when the cold war was going on in the world, in such a situation there was a danger of coming under any one superpower. To avoid such situation, India followed the policy of non-alignment and created a third world by making distance from both the superpowers.

Respect for democracy

• India respected democracy from the very beginning therefore democracy was established in India and was successful even after many problems.

Respect for human rights

• Since independence, India has given human rights as fundamental rights to all its citizens and also made efforts to establish human rights in other countries of the world.

Efforts for world peace

• As we know that securing peace is the main element of Indian foreign policy, therefore India actively participated in efforts to establish peace in different countries of the world.

Opposition to imperialism and colonialism

• India opposed imperialism and colonialism from the very beginning, because India itself had become independent by fighting similar circumstances.
• (imperialism or colonialism is called the situation when a country occupies a small country and runs its own system of governance and exploits the resources in it)

Promote world peace and friendship

• India has been striving to promote peace and friendship in the world from the very beginning. India’s efforts for peace during the cold war is one of them. Along with this, India always sent its army in the peace operations of UNO, which shows the seriousness of India towards world peace.

Afro Asian Unity

At the time of India’s independence, many other countries in the world became independent which were poor like India and were facing many other problems. In such a situation, Nehru made efforts to increase the unity of Africa and Asia.

• India organized the Asian relations conference in 1947 under the leadership of Nehru
• Tried for independence of Indonesia
• Protested against apartheid in south Africa
• laid the foundation of NAM at the Bandung conference

All these facts show the active and positive role of India in international politics.

India and china

Panchsheel agreement (The Five Principals for Peaceful Coexistence)

In 1954 Panchsheel agreement was signed between India and china.

There were 5 principles in this agreement

• Respect for each other’s integrity and sovereignty
• Mutual non-aggression
• Not to interfere in each other’s internal affairs
• Equitable and mutually beneficial relationship
• Peaceful coexistence

Tibet’s problem

• Tibet is a small country located between India and china. China has been asserting its authority over Tibet from the beginning, but India’s belief was just the opposite.
• On 24 April 1954, India accepted china’s right over Tibet with some conditions and china promised that Tibet would be given more autonomy but it did not happen.
• An armed rebellion broke out against the chinese rule in Tibet. This rebellion was suppressed by the chinese forces. 
• Seeing the situation deteriorating, Tibetan religious leader Dalai Lama sought shelter from India in 1959 and came to Dharamshala.
• China called this move interference in its internal affairs and strongly opposed this move.

India and china border dispute

• The border dispute between India and china was over Aksai chin in Jammu and Kashmir and NEFA (North-East Frontier Agency) area of ​Arunachal Pradesh.
• China expressed its right over these parts of India and India said that this matter has been resolved at the time of British rule but China denied this. 
• Between 1957 and 1959, china occupied some parts of Aksai chin and started building roads there.
• A lot of discussions took place between the leaders of both the countries but the problem could not be resolved. Many times, there were skirmishes between the armies of both the countries but no solution was found.

Due to Panchsheel agreement and trust in china, Nehru never felt that china could attack India, but this time Nehru was proved wrong and in 1962 china attacked India.

India and china war

China attacked India in 1962. Due to this sudden attack, India did not get any chance of preparation and the chinese army came deep into India. In the end, a sudden ceasefire was declared by china and India had to face defeat in this war.

Results of war

• India lost
• Indian foreign policy criticized
• Many senior military commanders resigned
• Defence minister VK Krishna Menon resigned from the cabinet
• For the first time a no-confidence motion was brought against the government
• The communist party of India was divided into two parts
• Nehru’s image was damaged.

India and Russia

• Relations between India and Russia have been good since the beginning.
• Russia has been helping India from the very beginning.
• Both dream of a multipolar world
• Both countries believe in democracy
• 80 bilateral agreements were signed between India and Russia in 2001
• India is biggest Russian arms buyer
• India imports high amount of oil from Russia
• Russia is helping India in many scientific projects
• Russia’s always supported India on the Kashmir issue

India and America

The relations between America and India have been bad from the beginning due to the closeness between India and the Soviet Union, but after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the relations between India and America improved and at present the relations between India and America are quite good.

Relations between India and America

• 65 percent of Indian software exports to the US
• 35 percent of the employees of American company Boeing are Indians.
• Over 3 lakh Indians work in silicon valley.
• High contribution of Indians to American companies

Relations between India and Israel

• India-Israel relations started in 1992
• Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited India in 2017
• At the same time, Israel has been helping India on many occasions.
• Cooperation between India and Israel
  • Israel is the second largest arms supplier to India after Russia.
  • There is cooperation between the two countries in the agriculture sector as well.
  • India has been helped by Israel to improve irrigation methods and productivity of agriculture.
  • For water conservation, water sanitation plants have been built by Israel in different areas of India.
  • Israel is one of the few major importers of India in the economic sphere.
  • Economic relations of both the countries are very good.
  • If seen in the health sector, India exported essential medicines to Israel during the ongoing coronavirus.
  • Simultaneously, the export of other essential goods was also allowed.

India and Pakistan

There has been lot of problems in the relations between India and Pakistan since the post-independence partition. Till date there have been 4 wars between India and Pakistan and India has won in all the four wars

Reasons for war between India and Pakistan 

• Kashmir dispute
• Border dispute
• Support of terrorism by Pakistan
• Pakistan’s promotion of separatism
• River water sharing

Wars between India and Pakistan

• 1947 (Kashmir Dispute)

  • War started between India and Pakistan soon after independence
  • The reason for this war was Kashmir.
  • India won this war

• 1965 (River water division)

  • India’s problems did not end after the 1962 china war
  • In 1965, a war broke out between India and Pakistan over the problem of water division.
  • In the end, India defeated Pakistan very comfortably.

The Tashkent agreement was signed in 1966 by the prime minister of India, Lal Bahadur Shastri and the president of Pakistan, Ayub khan and agreed to settle all disputes through negotiations.

• 1971 (Bangladesh)

  • 1971 war started between India and Pakistan due to the problem of east Pakistan
  • The war ended with the victory of India, the independence of east Pakistan and the creation of a new country, Bangladesh.

In 1972, the Shimla agreement was signed between prime minister Indira Gandhi of India and president Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in Pakistan with the aim of resolving all disputes through dialogue and maintaining peace.

• 1999 (Kargil War)

  • It was due to the deployment and infiltration of troops in the Kargil region by Pakistan in 1999. Operation Vijay was launched by India to drive out the infiltrators and in this 60-day long war, India completely destroyed the Pakistan army.
  • In 1999, the Lahore agreement was signed between the two countries to maintain stability and peace. It was signed by prime minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee and prime minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif. 

India and Nepal

Conflict

• There have been differences between India and Nepal regarding trade in history.
• India’s concern is also about the friendship between china and Nepal.
• India considers the growing Maoist supporters in Nepal as a threat to itself.
• India is also not happy with Nepal not taking action against anti-Indian elements.
• Nepal feels that India interferes in their internal affairs.

Support

• Cooperation in the field of science and business
• There is an agreement of free movement between both the countries, according to which any person can move from India to Nepal and Nepal to India without passport and visa.
• Nepal is being helped by India in many schemes.

India and Bhutan

• India and Bhutan have very good relations.
• Bhutan drove the anti-Indian extremists from its region, which helped India.
• India is helping Bhutan with projects like hydroelectric power.
• India gives maximum grant for development in Bhutan.

India and Bangladesh

Conflict

• Illegal entry of thousands of Bangladeshis into India
• Ganga and Brahmaputra river water sharing
• Non-export of natural gas by Bangladesh to India
• Bangladesh’s support of anti-Indian Muslim jamaat
• Do not give way to the Indian army to go to eastern India.

India and Sri Lanka

Conflict

• Tamil status
• In 1987, a peacekeeping force was sent by India, which the people of Sri Lanka considered interference in internal affairs.

Support

• There is a free trade agreement between the two countries.
• Help by India during the tsunami in Sri Lanka.

Relations between India and Maldives

• In 1988 some soldiers from Sri Lanka attacked Maldives.
• Maldives asked India for help and India sent its army to help Maldives
• Helped in the economic development of Maldives.
• India’s support Maldives’ tourism and fishing industry

India and nuclear weapons

• The process of manufacturing nuclear weapons in India started under the leadership of Homi Jehangir Bhabha.
• Meanwhile, in 1968, the permanent members of the security council of the uno tried to impose the nuclear non-proliferation treaty NPT (non-proliferation treaty) on world.
• According to this treaty, only those countries can have nuclear weapons which have tested them before 1968, except that no country can be given the status of a nuclear state. India opposed this treaty by calling it discriminatory and did not sign it.
• India conducted its first nuclear test in 1974 in Pokhran, Rajasthan, this test was unsuccessful and after that India did its second nuclear test in 1998 at the same place. This test was successful and India became a nuclear power country.

India’s nuclear policy

• Use of nuclear weapons for safety.
• Use of nuclear power for peaceful purposes.
• India’s assurance not to use nuclear weapons first

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