Exam-useful questions from this chapter, grouped by marks, each with a full model answer. Try writing the answer yourself first, then check it against this one.
1 1-Mark Questions
Q. In which three years did India fight the wars this chapter deals with?
Answer: In 1962 with China, and in 1965 and 1971 with Pakistan.
Q. Who was India’s Foreign Minister while Nehru was Prime Minister?
Answer: Nehru himself. He was his own foreign minister, and held both offices from 1946 to 1964.
Q. What is Panchsheel, and who enunciated it and when?
Answer: Panchsheel is the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, jointly enunciated by Prime Minister Nehru and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai on 29 April 1954.
Q. Which Article of the Constitution lays down the Directive Principles on the promotion of international peace and security?
Answer: Article 51.
Q. Where and when was the First Summit of the NAM held?
Answer: At Belgrade, in September 1961.
Q. Which two areas within Indian territory did China claim?
Answer: The Aksai-chin area in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, and much of the state of Arunachal Pradesh, then called NEFA, the North Eastern Frontier Agency.
Q. Who signed the Tashkent Agreement, when, and who brokered it?
Answer: Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and Pakistan’s General Ayub Khan signed it in January 1966, and it was brokered by the Soviet Union.
Q. How many refugees did India have to bear the burden of during 1971?
Answer: About 80 lakh refugees, who fled East Pakistan and took shelter in the neighbouring areas in India.
Q. When did India conduct its first nuclear explosion, and what did India call it?
Answer: In May 1974. India termed it a peaceful explosion, arguing that it was committed to using nuclear power only for peaceful purposes.
Q. Under whose guidance was India’s nuclear programme initiated, and when?
Answer: Under the guidance of Homi J. Bhabha, in the late 1940s, as a significant component of Nehru’s industrialisation plans.
2 2-Mark Questions
Q. Why did India not join either of the two camps during the Cold War?
Answer: India wanted to keep away from the military alliances that the US and the Soviet Union led against each other, the US-led NATO and the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact, and advocated non-alignment as the ideal foreign policy approach.
Staying out let India take an independent stand on international issues, and it also meant India could get aid and assistance from members of both the blocs.
Q. State the three major objectives of Nehru’s foreign policy.
Answer: They were to preserve the hard-earned sovereignty, to protect territorial integrity, and to promote rapid economic development.
Nehru wished to achieve all three through the strategy of non-alignment.
Q. What was the Bandung Conference, and why does the chapter call it a zenith?
Answer: It was the Afro-Asian conference held in the Indonesian city of Bandung in 1955, and it is commonly known by the name of that city.
The chapter calls it the zenith of India’s engagement with the newly independent Asian and African nations, and it matters because the Bandung Conference later led to the establishment of the NAM.
Q. Give two examples from 1956 to show that non-alignment was a difficult balancing act.
Answer: When Britain attacked Egypt over the Suez Canal issue, India led the world protest against this neo-colonial invasion.
But in the same year, when the USSR invaded Hungary, India did not join its public condemnation. The chapter uses this pair to say that the balance sometimes did not appear perfect.
Q. What did the India-Pakistan Indus Waters Treaty settle, who mediated, and who signed it?
Answer: It settled a long-term dispute about the sharing of river waters, which was resolved through mediation by the World Bank.
It was signed by Nehru and General Ayub Khan in 1960, and the chapter notes that despite all the ups and downs in Indo-Pak relations, this treaty has worked well.
Q. Why did the Communist Party of India split in 1964?
Answer: The Sino-Indian conflict, together with the growing rift between China and the Soviet Union, created irreconcilable differences within the party. The pro-USSR faction remained within the CPI and moved towards closer ties with the Congress, while the other faction was for some time closer to China and was against any ties with the Congress.
The party split in 1964 and the second faction formed the Communist Party of India (Marxist). In the wake of the China war many of its leaders were arrested for being pro-China.
Q. How did the war with China affect the Northeast region?
Answer: The war alerted the Indian leadership to the volatile situation in the Northeast, a region that was isolated and extremely underdeveloped and that also presented the challenge of national integration and political unity.
Its reorganisation began soon after the war: Nagaland was granted statehood, and Manipur and Tripura, though Union Territories, were given the right to elect their own legislative assemblies.
Q. What does the chapter mean by consensus in foreign policy matters?
Answer: It means that although there are minor differences among political parties about how to conduct external relations, Indian politics is generally marked by a broad agreement among the parties on national integration, on the protection of international boundaries, and on questions of national interest.
That is why through the decade of 1962-1971, when India faced three wars, and later too when different parties came to power, foreign policy has played only a limited role in party politics.
3 4-Mark Questions
Q. Describe the international context in which independent India began framing its foreign policy.
Answer: A world in ruins and in transition. The world had just witnessed a devastating war and was grappling with issues of reconstruction. Yet 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.
The Cold War beginning. India’s attainment of independence coincided with the beginning of the Cold War, a period marked by political, economic and military confrontation between the two blocs led by the US and the USSR. The same period saw the establishment of the UN, the creation of nuclear weapons, the emergence of Communist China and the beginning of decolonisation.
The weakness of developing countries. Developing countries lacked the resources to advocate their concerns effectively, so they pursued more modest goals, focused on peace and development in their own neighbourhood, and often supported the foreign policy preferences of the powerful countries that gave them aid or credits. This divided the world into two clear camps.
India’s own inheritance. The British government left behind the legacy of many international disputes, partition created its own pressures, and the task of poverty alleviation was already waiting for fulfilment.
Q. Which developments strained India’s relationship with China, and what was the boundary dispute about?
Answer: Tibet, 1950. China annexed Tibet in 1950 and thus removed a historical buffer between the two countries. The government of India did not oppose this openly at first, but as more information came in about the suppression of Tibetan culture, it grew uneasy.
Asylum, 1959. The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, sought 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.
The boundary claim. 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. China claimed the Aksai-chin area in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, and much of Arunachal Pradesh, then called NEFA.
Occupation and failure of talks. Between 1957 and 1959 the Chinese occupied the Aksai-chin area and built a strategic road there. Despite a very long correspondence and discussion among top leaders the differences could not be resolved, and several small border skirmishes took place.
Q. What were the consequences of the 1962 war for India, at home and abroad?
Answer: Abroad. The 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, and the Soviet Union remained neutral during the conflict.
National mood. It induced a sense of national humiliation and at the same time strengthened a spirit of nationalism.
In the government and the army. Some of the top army commanders either resigned or were retired, and Nehru’s close associate and the then Defence Minister, V. Krishna Menon, had to leave the cabinet. Nehru’s own stature suffered as he was severely criticised for his naive assessment of Chinese intentions and the lack of military preparedness.
In Parliament and at the polls. For the first time a no-confidence motion against his government was moved and debated in the Lok Sabha, and soon thereafter the Congress lost some key by-elections to the Lok Sabha. The political mood of the country had begun to change.
In the party system. The conflict, along with the growing rift between China and the Soviet Union, split the Communist Party of India in 1964, the breakaway faction forming the CPI (M).
Q. Trace India’s efforts at Afro-Asian unity from 1947 to 1961.
Answer: Why India took the lead. Given its size, location and power potential, Nehru envisaged a major role for India in world affairs and especially in Asian affairs, and throughout the 1940s and 1950s he was an ardent advocate of Asian unity.
1947. Under his leadership India convened the Asian Relations Conference in March 1947, five months ahead of attaining its own independence.
1949. India made earnest efforts for the early realisation of freedom of Indonesia from the Dutch colonial regime, convening an international conference in 1949 to support its freedom struggle.
Decolonisation and racism. India was a staunch supporter of the decolonisation process and firmly opposed racism, especially apartheid in South Africa.
1955 and 1961. The Afro-Asian conference held at Bandung in Indonesia in 1955 marked the zenith of India’s engagement with the newly independent Asian and African nations, and it later led to the establishment of the NAM. The First Summit of the NAM was held in Belgrade in September 1961, and Nehru was a co-founder of the NAM.
Q. Describe the course and the outcome of the 1965 war with Pakistan.
Answer: The attacks. By 1965 Lal Bahadur Shastri had taken over as Prime Minister. In April 1965 Pakistan launched armed attacks in the Rann of Kutch area of Gujarat, followed by a bigger offensive in Jammu and Kashmir in August and September.
The hope that failed. Pakistani rulers were hoping to get support from the local population in Jammu and Kashmir, but it did not happen.
India’s response. In order to ease the pressure on the Kashmir front, Shastri ordered Indian troops to launch a counter-offensive on the Punjab border, and in a fierce battle the Indian army reached close to Lahore.
The end and the cost. The hostilities came to an end with the UN intervention. Later, Shastri and Pakistan’s General Ayub Khan signed the Tashkent Agreement, brokered by the Soviet Union, in January 1966. Though India could inflict considerable military loss on Pakistan, the 1965 war added to India’s already difficult economic situation.
Q. How did the conflicts with neighbours affect India’s development planning?
Answer: The plans were derailed. India, with its limited resources, had initiated development planning, but conflicts with neighbours derailed the five-year plans.
Resources moved to defence. The scarce resources were diverted to the defence sector, especially after 1962, as India had to embark on a military modernisation drive.
New institutions. The Department of Defence Production was established in November 1962 and the Department of Defence Supplies in November 1965.
What happened to the plans. The Third Plan (1961-66) was affected and was followed by three Annual Plans, and the Fourth Plan could be initiated only in 1969. India’s defence expenditure increased enormously after the wars.
4 6-Mark Questions
Q. “The conduct of foreign affairs is an outcome of a two-way interaction between domestic compulsions and prevailing international climate.” Explain this with the help of India’s external relations in 1971.
Answer: The idea. The chapter opens with this idea in its own words: just as both internal and external factors guide the behaviour of an individual or a family, both the domestic and the international environment influence the foreign policy of a nation.
The domestic compulsion. Pakistan’s crisis became India’s domestic problem. In early 1971 the Pakistani army arrested Sheikh Mujib and unleashed a reign of terror on the people of East Pakistan, and throughout 1971 India had to bear the burden of about 80 lakh refugees who fled East Pakistan and took shelter in the neighbouring areas in India. India extended moral and material support to the freedom struggle in Bangladesh.
The international climate. Support for Pakistan came from the US and China. The US-China rapprochement that began in the late 1960s resulted in a realignment of forces in Asia, and Henry Kissinger, adviser to US President Richard Nixon, made a secret visit to China via Pakistan in July 1971.
The response that answered both. In order to counter the US-Pakistan-China axis, India signed a 20-year Treaty of Peace and Friendship with the Soviet Union in August 1971, which assured India of Soviet support if the country faced any attack. That single decision was forced by the refugee burden at home and by the new alignment abroad at the same time.
The outcome at home. After the decisive victory, Indira Gandhi’s personal popularity soared further, and assembly elections in most States brought large majorities for the Congress in many states. Foreign policy shaped domestic politics just as domestic politics had shaped foreign policy.
Q. Trace the evolution of India’s nuclear policy from the late 1940s to 1998.
Answer: The beginning. Nehru had always put his faith in science and technology for rapidly building a modern India, and a significant component of his industrialisation plans was the nuclear programme initiated in the late 1940s under the guidance of Homi J. Bhabha. India wanted to generate atomic energy for peaceful purposes.
Nehru’s position on weapons. Nehru was against nuclear weapons, so he pleaded with the superpowers for comprehensive nuclear disarmament. However, the nuclear arsenal kept rising.
The NPT and India’s objection. When Communist China conducted nuclear tests in October 1964, the five nuclear weapon powers, the US, USSR, UK, France and China, who were also the five Permanent Members of the UN Security Council, tried to impose the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty of 1968 on the rest of the world. India always considered the NPT as discriminatory and had refused to sign it, because such treaties were selectively applicable to the non-nuclear powers and legitimised the monopoly of the five nuclear weapons powers.
1974. India conducted its first nuclear explosion in May 1974 and termed it a peaceful explosion, arguing that it was committed to the policy of using nuclear power only for peaceful purposes.
1995 and 1998. India opposed the indefinite extension of the NPT in 1995 and also refused to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. In May 1998 India conducted a series of nuclear tests, demonstrating its capacity to use nuclear energy for military purposes. Pakistan soon followed, and sanctions were imposed on both countries and subsequently waived.
The doctrine today. India’s nuclear doctrine of credible minimum nuclear deterrence professes “no first use” and reiterates India’s commitment to global, verifiable and non-discriminatory nuclear disarmament leading to a nuclear weapons free world.
Q. Give an account of the Tibet question and its effect on India’s relations with China.
Answer: What Tibet is. Tibet is the plateau of the central Asian region, and it is one of the major issues that historically caused tension between India and China. From time to time in history China had claimed administrative control over Tibet, and from time to time Tibet was independent too.
1950. China took over control of Tibet. Large sections of the Tibetan population opposed this takeover, and India tried to persuade China to recognise Tibet’s claims for independence.
1954. When the Panchsheel agreement was signed between India and China, through one of its clauses about respecting each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, India conceded China’s claim over Tibet.
1956 and 1958. The Dalai Lama accompanied Zhou Enlai during the official Chinese visit to India in 1956 and informed Nehru about the worsening situation, though China had already assured India that Tibet would be given greater autonomy than any other region of China. In 1958 there was an armed uprising in Tibet against China’s occupation, which was suppressed by the Chinese forces.
1959 and after. In 1959 the Dalai Lama crossed over into the Indian border and sought asylum, which was granted, and the Chinese government strongly protested. Large numbers of Tibetans have since sought refuge in India; Dharmashala in Himachal Pradesh is perhaps the largest such settlement and is the Dalai Lama’s home in India. In the 1950s and 1960s the Socialist Party and the Jan Sangh supported the cause of Tibet’s independence.
The effect on relations. China’s annexation removed a historical buffer between the two countries, and after the grant of asylum China alleged that India was allowing anti-China activities from within India. The chapter names these as the two developments that strained the relationship before the invasion of October 1962. Tibetans today still dispute China’s claim that the region is autonomous, and oppose the policy of bringing more and more Chinese settlers into Tibet.
Q. Give an account of the Bangladesh war of 1971 and India’s role in it.
Answer: The crisis begins. Beginning in 1970, Pakistan faced its biggest internal crisis. Its first general election produced a split verdict: Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s party emerged a winner in West Pakistan, while the Awami League led by Sheikh Mujib-ur Rahman swept through East Pakistan, whose Bengali population had voted to protest against years of being treated as second class citizens by rulers based in West Pakistan.
The verdict rejected. The Pakistani rulers were not willing to accept the democratic verdict, nor were they ready to accept the Awami League’s demand for a federation. In early 1971 the Pakistani army arrested Sheikh Mujib and unleashed a reign of terror on the people of East Pakistan, and the people started a struggle to liberate Bangladesh.
India’s position. Throughout 1971 India had to bear the burden of about 80 lakh refugees, and it extended moral and material support to the freedom struggle. Pakistan accused India of a conspiracy to break it up.
The international line-up. Support for Pakistan came from the US and China. To counter the US-Pakistan-China axis, India signed a 20-year Treaty of Peace and Friendship with the Soviet Union in August 1971.
The war. A full-scale war broke out in December 1971. Pakistani aircrafts attacked Punjab and Rajasthan while the army moved on the Jammu and Kashmir front, and India retaliated with the air force, navy and army on both the Western and the Eastern front. Welcomed and supported by the local population, the Indian army made rapid progress in East Pakistan; within ten days it had surrounded Dhaka from three sides and the Pakistani army of about 90,000 had to surrender.
After the war. With Bangladesh a free country, India declared a unilateral ceasefire, and the Shimla Agreement between Indira Gandhi and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on 3 July 1972 formalised the return of peace. Most people in India saw the victory as a moment of glory and a clear sign of India’s growing military prowess.
Q. How does the political leadership of a nation affect its foreign policy? Explain with examples from India’s foreign policy.
Answer: Nehru: the policy-maker. The first Prime Minister played a crucial role in setting the national agenda, and being his own foreign minister he shaped policy from 1946 to 1964 with considerable leeway. Non-alignment, the three objectives of sovereignty, territorial integrity and rapid economic development, Panchsheel with Zhou Enlai in 1954, the Asian Relations Conference and the NAM were all his initiatives.
The limits of one leader’s judgement. The same personal dominance cut the other way in 1962. Nehru had thought a Chinese attack exceedingly unlikely, and after the invasion he was severely criticised for his naive assessment of Chinese intentions and the lack of military preparedness. His stature suffered, and the first no-confidence motion against his government followed.
Shastri. In 1965 Lal Bahadur Shastri answered Pakistan’s offensive in Jammu and Kashmir by ordering a counter-offensive on the Punjab border to ease the pressure on the Kashmir front, and then signed the Tashkent Agreement in January 1966.
Indira Gandhi. In 1971 she signed the Treaty of Peace and Friendship with the Soviet Union, took the decision to go to war, declared a unilateral ceasefire once Bangladesh was free, and signed the Shimla Agreement in July 1972. Her personal popularity soared after the war.
Change of government, change of tilt. The Janata Party government that came to power in 1977 announced that it would follow genuine non-alignment, implying that the pro-Soviet tilt would be corrected. Since then all governments, Congress or non-Congress, have taken initiatives for better relations with China and closer ties with the US.
The limit to this. Leadership changes the emphasis, not the core. Because parties broadly agree on national integration, the protection of international boundaries and national interest, foreign policy has played only a limited role in party politics.
Q. How have India’s external relations changed since 1977, and especially after 1990?
Answer: 1977. The Janata Party government announced that it would follow genuine non-alignment, which implied that the pro-Soviet tilt in the foreign policy would be corrected.
The common line since then. All governments, Congress or non-Congress, have taken initiatives for restoring better relations with China and entering into close ties with the US.
Why the shift after 1990. Foreign policy is always dictated by ideas of national interest. In the period after 1990, Russia, though it continues to be an important friend of India, has lost its global pre-eminence, so India’s foreign policy has shifted to a more pro-US strategy. In Indian politics the ruling parties have often been criticised for this pro-US policy.
Economics over the military. The contemporary international situation is more influenced by economic interests than by military interests, and this too has made an impact on India’s foreign policy choices.
India and Pakistan. Kashmir continues to be the main issue between the two countries, but there have been many efforts to restore normal relations through cultural exchanges, movement of citizens and economic cooperation. A train and a bus service operating between the two countries has been a major achievement of recent times.
The setback. None of this could avoid the near-war situation from emerging in 1999, when the Kargil conflict followed the occupation of points on the Indian side of the LoC. Even after this setback, efforts at negotiating durable peace have been going on.
5 Case Studies
(A) 1 mark Who visited China secretly in July 1971, and in what capacity?
Answer: Henry Kissinger, the adviser to the US President Richard Nixon. He travelled to China via Pakistan.
(B) 1 mark What did the treaty of August 1971 assure India of?
Answer: It assured India of Soviet support if the country faced any attack.
(C) 2 marks The passage gives one reason for the treaty. State it, and say whether signing the treaty meant India had abandoned non-alignment.
Answer: The reason the passage gives is specific: India signed the treaty in order to counter the US-Pakistan-China axis that had formed after the US-China rapprochement of the late 1960s realigned forces in Asia.
The chapter itself raises the doubt in a margin note, asking whether India could still be called non-aligned after signing this treaty. Two things can be said on the chapter’s own evidence. The treaty was a response to a specific threat and it was a treaty of peace and friendship, not membership of a military bloc such as NATO or the Warsaw Pact, which is what non-alignment was defined against. On the other side, the Janata Party government of 1977 announced that it would follow genuine non-alignment, implying that a pro-Soviet tilt had in fact developed and needed correcting.
(A) 1 mark What did India try to persuade China to do after 1950?
Answer: India tried to persuade China to recognise Tibet’s claims for independence.
(B) 1 mark Which clause of the Panchsheel agreement is referred to here, and what did India concede through it?
Answer: The clause about respecting each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. Through it India conceded China’s claim over Tibet.
(C) 2 marks What assurance had China given India about Tibet, and how did events between 1958 and 1959 test that assurance?
Answer: China had assured India that Tibet would be given greater autonomy than that enjoyed by any other region of China.
Events went the other way. In 1958 there was an armed uprising in Tibet against China’s occupation, and it was suppressed by the Chinese forces. Sensing that the situation had become worse, in 1959 the Dalai Lama crossed over into the Indian border and sought asylum, which was granted, and the Chinese government strongly protested against this. The chapter adds that Tibetans still dispute China’s claim that autonomy is granted to the region.