India and its Neighbourhood

What the official syllabus says

Main Examination, Paper III: General Studies II (Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations):

• India and its neighborhood- relations.

Topics in detail

Policy frameworks

• Neighbourhood First policy; the Gujral Doctrine
• Act East Policy (2014, building on the Look East Policy of 1991)
• SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region, 2015) for the Indian Ocean
• Extended neighbourhood: Central Asia, the Gulf and West Asia, Indian Ocean island states

Pakistan

• Partition legacy and Kashmir; wars of 1947-48, 1965, 1971 and 1999
• Simla Agreement (1972); the Indus Waters Treaty (1960) and disputes over it
• Cross-border terrorism; trade, visas and people-to-people contact; the Kartarpur corridor

China

• Panchsheel (1954), the 1962 war, the boundary question and the Line of Actual Control
• Mechanisms: Special Representatives talks, border agreements of 1993, 1996, 2005 and 2013
• Galwan clash (2020) and disengagement; trade deficit and dependence in supply chains
• China’s presence in South Asia and the Indian Ocean; the Belt and Road Initiative and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor; trans-border rivers

Nepal and Bhutan

• Nepal: Treaty of Peace and Friendship (1950), open border, hydropower and connectivity, the Kalapani-Lipulekh boundary issue
• Bhutan: Treaty of Friendship (1949, revised 2007), hydropower cooperation, development partnership, Doklam (2017)

Bangladesh

• Liberation war (1971); Land Boundary Agreement (2015, the 100th Amendment)
• Ganga Waters Treaty (1996) and the Teesta question; border management and illegal migration
• Connectivity: rail, road, inland waterways, energy trade

Sri Lanka and the Maldives

• Sri Lanka: India-Sri Lanka Accord (1987) and the 13th Amendment, Tamil question, fishermen issue and Katchatheevu, economic support during crisis
• Maldives: Operation Cactus (1988), development and security cooperation, shifts in relations

Myanmar and Afghanistan

• Myanmar: Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project, India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway, the Free Movement Regime, insurgency in the North-East, Rohingya refugees
• Afghanistan: development partnership (Salma Dam, the Parliament building), the change of regime in 2021, humanitarian aid, connectivity through Chabahar, security concerns

Extended neighbourhood

• Indian Ocean island states: Mauritius, Seychelles; maritime security, hydrography and coastal surveillance cooperation
• Central Asia: Connect Central Asia policy (2012), the International North-South Transport Corridor, energy and security cooperation
• Gulf and West Asia: energy security, the Indian workforce, Chabahar port in Iran

Cross-cutting issues

• Connectivity and trade in South Asia; low intra-regional trade
• Shared rivers and water treaties; climate and disaster cooperation
• Refugees and migration; terrorism and insurgency across borders
• Development partnership: lines of credit, grants, capacity building

Overlaps

• General Studies III: “Security challenges and their management in border areas”.
• Regional groupings such as SAARC and BIMSTEC: Groupings, Agreements, Major Powers and the Indian Diaspora.