Class 12 political Chapter -4

               India's External Relations

International Context

• The world had witnessed a devastating war grappling with issues of reconstruction .
• Another attempt to establish an international body was underway:
• Many new countries were emerging as a result of the collapse of colonialism and most new nations were trying to come to terms with the twin challenges of welfare and democracy .
• Partition created its own pressures , and task of poverty alleviation was already waiting for fulfillment . 

Objectives of Foreign policy 

• India decided to conduct its foreign relation with an aim to respect the sovereignty of all other nations and to achieve security through the maintenance of peace .
• Both domestic and international environment influence the foreign policy of a nation .
• After the second world war , many developing nations chose to support the foreign policy preferences of the powerful countries who were given them aid or credits .
• Cold war was just beginning and the world was getting divided into these two camps .

 The Constitution Principles 

Article 51 of the Indian Constitution lays down some directive principles of state policy on ' proportion of international peace and security .

"The State shall endeavour to - 

1. Promote international peace and security 
2. Maintain just and honourable relations between nations 
3. Encourage settlement of international disputes by arbitration."

The Policy of non - alignment 

• The India national movement was not an isolated process .
• It was a part of the worldwide struggle against colonialism and imperialism .
• It influenced the liberation movement of many Asian and African countries .
• The creation of the Indian National Army (INA) by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose during the Second World war  was the clearest manifestation of the linkages established between India and overseas Indians during the freedom struggle .
• The Noble ideals that inspired India's struggle for freedom influenced the making of its foreign policy .

Nehru's role 

• The first minister , Jawaharlal Nehru played a crucial role in setting the national agenda . 
• He was his own foreign Minister 
• Both as the prime minister and the foreign minister , he exercised profound influence in the formulation and implementation of Indian's foreign policy from 1946 to 1964 .
• The three major objectives of Nehru's foreign policy were to preserve the hard - earned sovereignty , protect territorial integrity , and promote rapid economic development.

Distance from two camps 

• The foreign policy of independent India vigorously pursued the dream of a peaceful world by advocating the policy of non - alignment , by reducing Cold War tensions and by contributing human resources to the UN peacekeeping operations . 
• India wanted to keep away from the military alliances led by US and soviet Union against each other .
• India advocated non - alignment as the ideal foreign policy approach .
• This policy emphasised import - substitution .
• The emphasis on developing a resources base also meant that export oriented growth was limited .
• This development strategy limited India's economic interaction with the outside world .

Afro - Asian unity 

• Nehru envisaged a major role for India in world affairs and especially in Asian affairs .
• Era was marked by the establishment of contacts between India and other newly independent states in Asia and Africa 
• Throughout the 1940s and 1950s , Nehru had been an ardent advocate of Asian unity .
• India convened the Asian relations conference in March 1947.
• India was a staunch supporter of the decolonization process and firmly opposed racism , especially apartheid in south Africa . 
• The Afro - Asian conference held in the Indonesian city of Bandung in 1955 , commonly known as the  Bandung  conference .
• The Bandung conference later led to the establishment of the NAM .
• The first summit of the Nam was held in Belgrade in September 1961.

Peace and conflict with china 

• Free India began its relationship with china on a very friendly note .
• After the Chinese revolution in 1949 , India was one of the first countries to recognised the communist government .
• The Chinese border was guarded by para - military forces not the army .
• 'The joint enunciation of panchsheel , the five principles of peaceful coexistence, by the Indian prime minister Nehru and the Chinese premier Zhou Enlai on 29 April 1954 was a step in the directions of stronger relationship between two countries .

The Chinese invasion , 1962 

• China annexed Tibet in 1950 and thus removed a historical buffer between the two countries 
• Initially , the government of India did not oppose this openly .
• Dalai lama , sough and obtained political asylum in India in 1959. 
• China alleged that the government of India was allowing anti - China activities to take place from within India .

Aksai - chin and Arunachal pardesh 

• India claimed that the boundary was a matter settled in colonial time, but China said that any colonial decision did not apply .
• The main dispute was about the western and the eastern end of the long border .
• Chain claimed two areas within the Indian territory
• Aksai - chin area in the Ladakh region of jammu and Kashmir and much of the sate of Arunachal Pradesh in what was then called NEFA (North Eastern Frontier Agency ) .
• Between 1957 and 1959, the Chinese occupied the Aksai - chin area and built a strategic road there .
• China launched a swift and massive invasion in October 1962 on both the disputed regions.
• China declared a unilateral ceasefire and its troops withdrew to where they were before the invasion began.

Effects of Indo - China War 

• The China war dented India's image at home and abroad .
• India had to approach the Americans and the British for military assistance to tide over the crisis.
• The Soviet Union remained neutral during the conflict .
• It induced a sense of national humiliation and at the same time strengthened a spirit of nationalism .
• Some of the top army commanders either resigned or were retired .
• Nehru 's own stature suffered as he was severely criticized for his native assessment of the Chinese intentions and the lack of military preparedness .
• The Sion - India conflict affected the opposition as well . This and the growing rift between China and the Soviet Union created irreconcilable differences within the Communist party of India (CPI) .
• The war with China alerted the Indian leadership to the volatile situation in the Northeast region .

Wars and peace with pakistan 

• In the case of Pakistan , the conflict started just after partition over the dispute on Kashmir .
• A proxy was broke out between the Indian and Pakistani armies in Kashmir during 1947 
• Pakistan soon emerged as a critical factor in India's relations with the US and subsequently with china 

Cooperation 

• Both the governments worked together to restore the women abducted during partition to their original families .
• A long - term dispute about the sharing of river waters was resolved through mediation by the world Bank .
• The Indian Pakistan Indus Waters Treaty was signed by Nehru and general Ayub Khan in 1960 .

Conflict 

• A more serious armed conflict between the two countries began in 1965 . 
• In April 1965 Pakistan launched armed attacks in the Rann of Kutuch area of Gujarat .
• Pakistan rulers were hoping to get support from the pressure on the Kashmir front , Shastri ordered India troops to launch a counter - offensive on the Punjab border .
• Indian prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and Pakistan's  General Ayub Khan signed the Tashkent Agreement .

Bangladesh war , 1971 

• The country's first general election produced a split verdict - Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's Party emerged a winner in west Pakistan .
• The Bengali population of East Pakistan had voted to protest against year of being treated as second class citizens by the rulers based in West Pakistan .
• The Pakistani rulers were not willing to accept the democratic verdict .
• The Pakistani army arrested Sheikh Mujib and unleashed a reign of terror on the people of east pakistan .
• Pakistan accused India of a conspiracy to break it up .
• Support for Pakistan came from the US and China .
• India signed a 20 year Treaty of peace and friendship with the Soviet Union in August 1971.
• Pakistani aircraft attacks Punjab and Rajasthan , while the army moved on the Jammu and Kashmir front . 
• India retaliated with an attack involving the air force , navy and the army on both the Western and the Eastern front .
• Bangladesh as a free country , India declared a unilateral ceasefire .
• The singing of the Shimla Agreement between Indira Gandhi and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on 3 July 1972 formalized the return of peace . 
• The Department of Defence Production was established in November 1962 and the Department of defence supplies in November 1965 .

India 's nuclear policy 

• The first nuclear explosion undertaken by India in May 1974 .
• Nehru had always put his faith in Science and technology for rapidly building a modern India . 
• Nehru was against nuclear weapons .
• When Communist china conducted nuclear tests in October 1964 , the five nuclear weapon powers , the US , USSR , UK , France ,and China also the five permanent members of the UN security Council 
• India always considered the NPT( Non - proliferation Treaty ) as discriminatory and had refused to sign it . 
• When India conducted its first nuclear test , it was termed as peaceful explosion 
• India argued that it was committed to the policy of using nuclear power only for peaceful purposes .