Foreign policy of INDIA

DONE BY: Team INDIA

V.CHANDRU
R.KARTHIKA
J.YUVAN KUMAR
K.SEENU
 After India gained independence from the united kingdom in
1947, it soon joined the common wealth of nation and strongly
supported independence movements in other colonies like the
Indonesian national revolution.
 During the cold war, India adopted a foreign policy of not
aligning itself with any major power bloc. however, India
developed close ties with the soviet union and received
extensive military support from it. The end of cold war
significantly affected India’s foreign policy . The dissolution of
soviet union in 1991, India began to review its foreign policy in
an unipolar world , and took steps to develop closer ties with
the European union and the unites states.
 Most Indians agree that its first prime minister Jawaharlal
Nehru had defined a unique foreign policy for India at the very
dawn of its independence. Since the 1990s, through the
challenge for the Indian leaders has been to reinterpret Nehru's
ideas to suit the new political context that had confronted it.
 Indian foreign policy has always regarded the concept of
neighbourhood as one of widening concentric circle axis
around a central axis of historical and cultural commonalities.
 As many as 44 million people of Indian origin live and work
abroad and constitute an important link with the mother
country, an important role of india’s foreign policy has been to
ensure their welfare and wellbeing within the framework of the
law of the countru where they live.
1. Preservation of nation interest
2. Achievement of world peace
3. Disarmament have been important objectives of India’s
foreign policy
4. Fostering cordial relation with other countries
5. Solving conflicts by peaceful means
6. Sovereignty and equality of all nation
7. Independence of thought and action as per the principles
of non-align movement or NAM
8. Equality in conducting international relations.
I. Non-Alignment it is integral part of India's foreign policy
even after the end of cold war. The vitality of Non alignment
can realized from the fact that it has not only helped in
securing friendship and cooperation, promoting world peace.
India and NAM countries played a vital role in cold war
politics by acting as third force to reduce the tension.
II. Opposition to colonialism and imperialism:
India firmly stands in opposition to any form of colonialism
and imperialism . It is with this line thinking that India
played a major role in liberating the newly independent
countries of Asia and Africa from colonial shackles.
III. Supporting U.N. in achieving world peace:
India is one of the founding members of the UN (1945). Has
played a major role in its instrumentality to achieve world
peace. She always advocated the resolution of international
disputes be done under the purview of U.N.
IV. Fairness of means:
Inspire by the ideas of Gandhi, India has always emphasized
that their means should be used in the resolution in
international dispute. She has advocated of peaceful and
non-violent methods are opposes war, aggression and power
policies. Panchsheel is an outgrowth of this line of thinking.
V. Friendship with other countries:
without being committed to military alliances, India has
opted for cultivating friendly relation with other countries.
For this purpose she has concluded treaties and bilateral
agreements in the fields of politics, economy, culture of
science and technology.
1) Prime minister’s office:
Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister, promoted a
strong personal role for the prime minister. Nehru served
concurrently as prime minister and minister of external
affairs: he made all major foreign policy decision himself
after consulting of international affairs to senior members of
the Indian foreign service. He was the main founding father
of the panchsheel or the five principles of peaceful
coexistence.
2) Ministry of external affairs
the ministry of external affairs is the Indian government’s
agency responsible for the foreign relation of India. The
ministry of external affairs holds cabinet rank as member of
the council of ministry . Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is current
ministry of external affairs.
3) Indian foreign secretary
the Indian foreign secretary is the had of India foreign service
(IFS) and therefore, serves as the head of all Indian
ambassadors and high commissioners. Shri Vijay Keshav
Gokhale is the current foreign secretary of India.
 India’s desired peaceful and friendly relation with all countries,
particularly the big powers and the neighboring nation, while
signing an agreement with china, on 28 April 1954, India
advocated adherence to five guiding principles known as
panchsheel for the conduct of bilateral relation. It includes the
following:
1. Mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and
sovereignty.
2. Mutual non-aggression.
3. Mutual non-interference in each other’s internal affairs.
4. Equality and mutual benefit.
5. Peaceful co-existence.
 Non-alignment has been regarded as the most
important feature of India's foreign policy.
 Non-alignment aimed to maintain national
independence in foreign affairs by not joining any
military alliance formed by the USA and soviet union
in the aftermath of the second world war.
 The policy o non-alignment won many supporters in
the developing countries as it provided an opportunity
to them for protecting their sovereignty as also
retaining their freedom of during the tension redden
cold war period.
 In the post Cold War era, a significant aspect of India's foreign
policy is the Look East Policy. During the cold war, India's
relations with its South East Asian neighbours was not very
strong. After the end of the cold war, the government of India
particularly realised the importance of redressing this
imbalance in India's foreign policy. Consequently, the
Narsimha Rao government in the early nineties of the last
century unveiled the look east policy. Initially it focused on
renewing political and economic contacts with the countries of
East and South-East Asia.
 At present, under the Look East Policy, the Government of
India is giving special emphasis on the economic development
of backward north eastern region of India taking advantage of
huge market of ASEAN as well as of the energy resources
available in some of the member countries of ASEAN like
Burma. Look-east policy was launched in 1991 just after the
end of the cold war, following the dissolution of the Soviet
Union. After the start of liberalisation, it was a very strategic
policy decision taken by the government in the foreign policy.