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RBSE SS Political Science study materials
RBSE SS Political Science study resources

RBSE SS Political Science: Contemporary South Asia and India's Neighbourhood

RBSE SS Political Science · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

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Contemporary South Asia and India's Neighbourhood

Contemporary South Asia and India's Neighbourhood

The exam tests regional organisation, bilateral disputes and India's neighbourhood policy. South Asia here means India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Afghanistan, with Myanmar treated as a connecting case rather than a SAARC member.

Core rules and concepts

  • SAARC was founded in Dhaka in 1985; its secretariat is in Kathmandu; Afghanistan joined in 2007. Decisions need consensus, and India-Pakistan tension has repeatedly stalled summits. SAFTA came into force in 2006.
  • India-Pakistan: Partition, Kashmir, wars in 1965 and 1971, Kargil in 1999, the 2003 ceasefire, the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 brokered by the World Bank, and stalled composite dialogue. India granted MFN status to Pakistan in 1996; Pakistan did not reciprocate.
  • Bangladesh: India recognised Bangladesh in December 1971; the Land Boundary Agreement was implemented in 2015; Teesta water sharing remains unresolved.
  • Nepal: 1950 Treaty, open border, Kalapani dispute, and tensions over the 2015 constitution. Bhutan: the 1949 treaty was revised in 2007; Doklam confrontation occurred in 2017.
  • Sri Lanka: ethnic conflict, the IPKF 1987-90, the 13th Amendment, and China's Hambantota port role. Maldives: India First policy amid political flux and Chinese influence.
  • The Gujral Doctrine (1996-97) offered non-reciprocal concessions to smaller neighbours, no use of territory against them, and bilateral dispute settlement, but it was not a blanket unilateral surrender.

Worked example

Why did the Gujral Doctrine not settle all disputes? India signed the Ganga Water Treaty with Bangladesh in 1996, showing non-reciprocal goodwill. But with Pakistan, reciprocity and security concerns dominated. Reasoning: the doctrine was aimed at smaller neighbours and could not override strategic disputes with a nuclear-armed rival.

Traps

Placing Myanmar inside SAARC; forgetting Afghanistan's 2007 membership; treating the Indus treaty as a favour without a dispute clause; equating the Gujral Doctrine with unconditional concessions to Pakistan.