Understanding India’s Neighbourhood Policy
A peek into India’s foreign relations and policy perspectives with its neighbours
India’s neighbourhood is facing a massive crisis at present. Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh are knocking on the doors of the IMF. Pakistan is still recovering from a devastating flood which put one-third of its area underwater.
China is the new elephant in the room and is facing economic stagnation, a real-estate crisis, a banking crisis, supporting a weakened Russia and facing the wrath of its disastrous zero-COVID policy. Nepal and Maldives are hedging with China.
India has seven land neighbours and two island neighbours.
India is no saint; it does have its own problems, but being surrounded by crisis, India isn’t going to escape the aftereffects of what these countries are facing. Being a big brother in the South Asian region, which most small members do not approve of, India still has a long way to go, especially under a government which claims to have improved India’s outlook amongst the world community.
The neighbourhood is the most important area for any country, and it does play a very important role in your stature in the world order. Take the Americas and Western Europe, which are relatively peaceful neighbourhoods. On the…
