India's External Relations — Notes

India became independent in the early years of the Cold War, when many Asian and African countries were also gaining freedom. Jawaharlal Nehru was both Prime Minister and Foreign Minister from 1947 to 1964.

Objectives: keep the sovereignty won in the freedom struggle; protect territorial integrity; achieve rapid economic development.

The Directive Principles (Article 51) ask the state to promote international peace and security, just relations between nations and respect for international law.

Non-alignment means keeping out of the military alliances of the two Cold War blocs while taking an independent, active part in world affairs. It is not isolationism and not neutrality.

Afro-Asian unity: Asian Relations Conference (New Delhi, March 1947); support for Indonesia's freedom; Asian-African conference at Bandung (1955).

NAM: first summit at Belgrade, 1961; leaders usually named as founders: Nehru, Tito, Nasser, Sukarno, Nkrumah.

Debates: critics spoke of a Soviet tilt, especially after 1971; the Janata government (1977) promised genuine non-alignment; after the Cold War its relevance was debated.

• India recognised the People's Republic of China soon after its founding (1949).
• Panchsheel (1954): five principles of peaceful coexistence — mutual respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, peaceful coexistence.
• Tibet: China took control in 1950; after the 1959 uprising the Dalai Lama came to India and received asylum, which China resented.
• Boundary: rival claims in the western sector (Aksai Chin) and the eastern sector (NEFA, now Arunachal Pradesh).

• Fighting in both sectors in October 1962; Indian forces faced reverses; China declared a unilateral ceasefire in November.
• Effects in India: blow to morale and to Nehru's standing; defence spending raised and forces modernised; Defence Minister V. K. Krishna Menon resigned; first no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha (1963), which the government survived; differences over China contributed to the CPI split (1964).
• Normalisation: full diplomatic relations restored in 1976; Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi visited China in 1988.

• 1947–48: fighting in Kashmir; the ruler acceded to India; India took the matter to the UN; a ceasefire line in 1949. The two countries have held conflicting positions on Kashmir since.
• Indus Waters Treaty (1960): signed by Nehru and Ayub Khan, mediated by the World Bank.
• 1965: Rann of Kutch clashes (April), larger offensive in Jammu and Kashmir (August–September); UN-backed ceasefire; Tashkent Agreement (January 1966) with Soviet mediation — forces returned to pre-war positions. PM Lal Bahadur Shastri.
• 1971: Awami League (Sheikh Mujibur Rahman) won the 1970 elections; crackdown from March 1971; millions of refugees in India; Indo-Soviet Treaty (August 1971); war in December; surrender at Dhaka on 16 December; Bangladesh independent.
• Simla Agreement (July 1972): Indira Gandhi and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto; peaceful, bilateral settlement; respect for the line of control.
• 1999: Lahore bus journey (February); Kargil conflict (May–July).

• Beginnings: programme under Homi J. Bhabha from the late 1940s, for peaceful uses; Nehru opposed nuclear weapons and pressed for comprehensive disarmament.
• China's test (1964) raised a security concern.
• NPT (1968): India stayed out, calling it discriminatory — it recognises only the five states that tested before 1 January 1967 as nuclear-weapon states.
• May 1974: first test at Pokhran, described as a peaceful nuclear explosion.
• CTBT (1996): not signed, on similar grounds.
• May 1998: tests at Pokhran; Pakistan tested later that month.
• Doctrine: no first use and credible minimum deterrence; continued support for global, non-discriminatory disarmament.