Indian Foreign Policy, International Organizations and Global Affairs
The exam tests the constitutional basis of foreign policy, the Panchsheel and NAM, and India's membership of particular organisations.
Objectives and principles
Article 51 (DPSP) directs the State to promote international peace and security, and Art. 253 empowers Parliament to legislate to implement treaties. India's policy rests on non-alignment, Panchsheel (1954, with China), opposition to colonialism and apartheid, support for the UN and disarmament, and the Gujral Doctrine of non-reciprocal concessions to smaller neighbours. Current slogans: 'Act East', 'Neighbourhood First', 'strategic autonomy', 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam'.
Organisations to know
India was a founding member of the UN (1945) and holds no permanent veto. It is not a party to the NPT but is an IAEA member; it joined the MTCR (2016), Wassenaar Arrangement (2017) and Australia Group (2018), but not the NSG. Regional and plurilateral bodies: SAARC (1985, Dhaka), BIMSTEC, BRICS, SCO (2017), G20 (India held the presidency in 2023), Quad. Economic bodies: WTO (1995), IMF and World Bank, and the Commonwealth (India joined in 1949 as a republic).
Worked example
Why has India refused to sign the NPT? Reasoning: the treaty, opened in 1968 and in force from 1970, recognises only five nuclear-weapon States and requires others to forgo nuclear weapons; India calls it discriminatory, argues it freezes an unequal status, and links disarmament to a time-bound framework. India therefore stayed out while accepting IAEA safeguards and the 2005 India-US civil nuclear agreement.
Traps
Non-alignment does not mean neutrality - India took sides against colonialism. Do not confuse the IAEA with the NSG. Panchsheel dates from 1954, not 1962.