28 Evaluation of India’s Foreign Policy

Dr. Suresh Dhanda

Structure of Module

1.  Introduction

2. Objectives

3. Evaluation of India’s Foreign Policy

3.1. In the Context of Policy Making

3.2. In the Context of Working Aspects

3.2.1.  Policy of Non Alignment

3.2.2.  National Security

3.2.3.  International Status

3.2.4.  United Nations and India

3.2.5.  Economic Development

3.3. In the Context of Solution of Problems

3.3.1.  Cold War

3.3.2.  War at Borders

3.3.3.  Economic Development

3.3.4.  Establishing Peace

3.3.5.  Building New Economic World Order

3.3.6.  New World Order

4.  Conclusion

5.  Important Questions

6.  Suggested Readings

1.  Introduction

After an extensive study of India’s Foreign Policy, it becomes imperative to take a look at the successes and failures of the same. On the basis of its evaluation, three important aspects emerge: – (1) what were the shortcomings of India’s foreign policy in the last six decades and in what circumstances it was not effective and what were the reasons behind this? (2) What were the steps taken to remove these shortcomings and how far they were successful? If steps were not taken then what should be done now to improve the situation? (3) Learning from the weaknesses and experiences of India’s foreign policy, and what type of policies should be adopted in future so that India does not have to face disappointment? Besides, after reaching a milestone, it is important to evaluate the past methods also. From this point of view, after 60 years of anchoring of independent India’s foreign policy, it becomes imperative. The position of today’s world is a more important reason in this regard. Many analysts believe that present world order is similar to the situation of 1947 on many accounts. At that time, India had to face a situation of intricate world change, and in present times, the post cold war era can be termed as an era of total change on many accounts. In this context, India needs to reorganize its foreign policy, and in some cases, it needs to follow totally new foreign policy. This evaluation is important on two accounts. First, from the evaluation of past policies and analyses of new ones, it can be judged that how far the new policies are a symbol of continuity and change. In present context, on the basis of such a study, the validity of past policies can be judged. Second, on this basis, the changes in foreign policy become clear and it becomes easy to understand and evaluate these policies.

2.  Objectives

This module will evaluate the successes and failures of India’s foreign policy. The policy making aspect, working aspect and problem solving aspect of India’s foreign policy has been discussed in this module to have a proper evaluation of its achievements and weaknesses. It is only the objective evaluation through which we can overcome the weaknesses and plan to fight the future challenges. Hence, it becomes imperative to study the journey of our foreign policy in an objective manner. The present module is a moderate attempt in this direction. . Important questions and suggested readings have also been provided in the end of the module.

3.  Evaluation of India’s Foreign Policy

India’s foreign policy can be evaluated in three contexts: – (1) In the Context of Policy Making. (2) In the Context of Working Aspects. (3) In the Context of Solution of Problems.

3.1. In the Context of Policy Making

There are mainly two types of factors that are responsible for determining a country’s foreign policy— internal and external. On the basis of these determining factors, the objectives of the foreign policy are settled. In India’s foreign policy the main objectives of regional unity, sovereignty and independence, word peace, economic development, human welfare etc. were decided in 1946 which are relevant even today. For the achievement of these objectives in the context of foreign policy, the role of decision makers is very important. These decision makers decide the strategy under the established system/institutions for the formation and implementation of the policy. So the process of formation of policy is important in the context of evaluation of India’s foreign policy. At the time of independence India received a well defined work culture and bureaucracy from British which was efficient in all sectors. There was only one sector— foreign relations and diplomacy— where India did not inherit anything. The British government never wanted Indian partnership in these areas. Not only this, even Sir Girija Shankar Vajpayee and K P S Menon, who were working as Indian agents general in the embassies of Washington and Shanghai respectively in British period, were not kept in touch with the process of British foreign policy diplomacy.

Therefore, when work on formation of foreign policy began, there was dearth of people with diplomatic experiences, and volunteers from different services were invited. Some of these belonged to Anglo-Indian non military services, or were either princes or belonged to princely states, some were lawyers, journalists or from the field of education. In subsequent years, due to supremacy of ICS officers, there was not much improvement in the relations. But there was one change that the selection of officers started on the basis of competitive services and there was proper arrangement for their training also.In later years, institutional development of foreign policy was taken care of. In this context, Parliament, Prime Minister and Cabinet, Ministry of External Affairs and Department of Foreign Intelligence play an important role in the making of foreign policy.

In view of specialized operations of foreign policy and importance of different sectors of the world, foreign affairs department has been divided into special and different parts. At present, the Foreign Ministry has 18 specialized and subsidiary blocks that are working in the context of specialized issues of foreign policy. The policies related to the countries of the world are kept under group of countries clubbing them on the basis of 13 different regions. Besides, embassies and various missions have been established in foreign countries which are presently 162 with 3,582 employees working in these organisations. So, special arrangements are made to give institutional format to the process of foreign policy making.

To strengthen this process, the BJP government established ‘National Security Council’ as an apex institute in 1998. In fact, such efforts were made during V.P. Singh’s rule, but due to short span of government these could not be given a practical shape. By establishing this apex institute, Government has included foreign minister, related ministers and non government specialists in the process of making of foreign policy so that different types of investments could be included in the planning of foreign policy making.

If we look at foreign policy making process during the last six decades, the following aberrations will become clear-

•  The organizational structure of the foreign policy making has been faulty. The External Affairs Ministry and its missions remained dominated by I.C.S officers for a long time. Though in 1949, the first batch of officers of Ministry of Foreign Affairs was appointed on the basis of competitive services which after a two years training in India and foreign, got appointed in 1951, but it was in 1982-84 when the first officer from 1949 batch, Maharaj Rasgotra, got the opportunity to be the Foreign Secretary. Due to dominance of I.C.S officers, even after so many years of the independence, the nature of execution of foreign policy could not be changed. The situation has not changed much even today as now IAS officers are getting more places in the appointments in important external foreign missions. It has adversely affected the willpower of experts and officers of Indian Foreign Services. Today the issue of foreign policy has become very complex, difficult and serious, so the responsibility should be given only to the experts or the persons associated with it from a long time.
• Keeping the decisions related to foreign policy covert is an important mistake. If the outcomes of the decisions related to foreign policy are placed before experts for evaluation then we can have decisive proof about these decisions that whether they were right or wrong. Besides, if we know the errors we can avoid repeating the same mistakes in similar situations in future. If we look in world context then it doesn’t seem right in India to keep such decisions as secret. Comparatively, such secrets are kept covert in England for 30 years and in America for 20 years but in case of India there is absence of such a time limit. This system is not justifiable. The experts in this field believe that the evaluation of the behavior of Indian officers in United Nations reveals that many times their stand was entirely opposite to India’s established policy. Besides, instead of serving nation’s interest they worked for their personal interests.

Therefore, like UN documents and current provisions in different countries of the world, these decisions should not be spared from objective evaluation in India also in the name of keeping secrecy. Such covert policy will only harm instead of benefitting the foreign policy. In this context, the Foreign Ministry took a commendable initiative and 70,000 files relating to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Indo-Pak war were de-classified and given to National Archives for the use of experts, and 20,000 more files will be placed in National Archives very soon.

• The third important problem related to the formation of foreign policy is lack of institutional development of foreign policy. In 1950, for the planned development of foreign policy, Nehru established historical block in the Foreign Ministry and eminent historian S. Gopal was appointed as its chairman. The objective of this institute was to develop future alternatives of foreign policy and establishing coordination between different departments. But in later years, it was abandoned which led to status quo.

After 1962 war, again the need for research, planning and coordination in this context was felt. In 1966, on the basis of report of Pillai Committee, two institutions were established— Policy Planning Reconsideration Department (PPRD) and Policy Planning Reconsideration Council (PPRC). During the tenure of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, these institutions were not given importance as both had given importance to ad hoc policies. These institutions were amended according to their individual wishes. So in 1971, D.P. Dhar and in 1979 and 1984 G. Parthasarthy were appointed as chairmen of PPRC and were given the status of Minister of State to facilitate their access to Prime Minister. Even during the tenure of Prime Minister P.V. Narsimhan Rao, there was not much change. In this way, personalized equations, conflict of ministers, lack of team work and lack of encouragement in planning of making the foreign policy rendered the institutional programs in the context of planning of policy making a failure. Therefore in present context, a comprehensive institutional development is urgently required in this area.

• In this context, certain changes have taken place in such a way that on the one hand, different organs of the foreign policy have not performed their role and on the other hand, external institutions have become more important and are adversely affecting the working of foreign policy. As far as the organs are concerned, parliament is the most important organ of the foreign policy. During Nehru’s tenure there used to be some debate on matters of foreign policy but after that the level of debate over foreign policy in the Parliament is in accordance with personal or political differences. There is lack of intensive debate in the context of foreign policy. Not only this, there is not much debate even on the Annual Reports of Foreign Ministry.

On the other side, due to development of some new institution, the undue interference in the matters of foreign policy has increased. In this context, first is the increase in the field of activities of PMO. In this context, in the name of ‘committed’ bureaucracy, Indira Gandhi appointed her loyalists as officers in the office. Even Foreign Ministers were changed frequently and autocratic attitude was adopted in the making of the foreign policy. Besides, even transfer of officers in the Foreign Ministry, promotions and their ouster was done on the basis of personal conscience and to the extent of abuse of power. For example, the ouster of A.P. Venkateshvaran in 1987 and of S.K. Singh in 1990 approves this type of attitude. Another institution that is mentioned above is dominance of IAS lobby. On the basis of their increasing dominance, these administrative officers, besides interfering in the matters of foreign policy, have started getting appointed themselves in High Commissions and Embassies. This has heaved jealousies among the regular officers of the Foreign Ministry, and such policies have led to red tapism and opportunist attitudes. With this, unqualified persons with ordinary skills came to forefront and qualified persons were out of process.

To remove the institutional flaws, the National Security Council was constituted in 1998 but still there is scope for improvement in the context of process of decision making and reconstruction of foreign policy. In the face of India’s emergence as a nuclear power state and emerging complex world system, this situation has become very important. In the process of economic reforms initiated since one decade and the practice of mixed governments, instead of taking concrete steps, we are moving away from these objectives. Thus for any government leaving ad hoc foreign policies and developing a regular system in foreign matters under an institutional framework should be the first challenge.

3.2. In the Context of Working Aspects

The second important aspect of evaluation of foreign policy in the last six decades is the working aspect of India’s foreign policy. This includes India’s Foreign Policy’s structure, line of thought, foreign relations, foreign economic policy, international status etc. A detailed study of these reveals the nature of working of these factors. The following aspects are analyzed under this: – (1) Policy of Non Alignment. (2) National Security. (3) International Status. (4) United Nations and India. (5) Economic Development.

3.2.1. Policy of Non Alignment

For the fulfillment of objectives of the foreign policy, India opted for policy of Non-Alignment. This policy was adopted due to many economic, political cultural and strategic reasons. India had to adopt this policy due to internal policies and international environment. This policy was logical, rational and according to the ideology of that time. The evaluation of successes and failures of the policy can be done at two levels- (1) In the context of India’s foreign policy, and (2) on the basis of India’s role in the movement of Third World (Non Alignment).

So far the question of opting for Non-Alignment is concerned, India was aware of its national esteem and the problems of newly formed nations, so even being a victim of colonialism, imperialism and apartheid India did not want to have a permanent rigid stand against anyone through this policy. India established friendly relations with Britain, America, China and Soviet Russia and expressed its faith in establishing a world based on peace and co-existence.

Under this policy, India used diplomacy as a strong medium instead of military power and alignments for India’s security. Consequently, India on the one hand tried to develop equal relations with both the super powers, and on the other hand, tried hard to build friendly relations with the neighboring countries. From the very beginning, India tried to build cordial relations with western countries, especially America, but due to some important paradoxes of American policy, this could not be realized. Initially, there was distance in relations with former Soviet Union also but very soon both developed close relations. By the decade of 1970 both developed similar outlook on some important issues. These issues were- to support the independence of newly formed nations; to counter militarization of Indian Ocean; development of Third World Countries; faith in mainly socialist system etc. Till 1991, the relations were cordial with some differences. India adopted the main structure of Panchsheel in its relations with the neighbors and tried to develop bilateral and regional relations through it, but due to many reasons could not succeed. In this way, so far the question of India’s policy of Non Alignment is concerned, with some failures in the initial years it was a huge success in later years.

As far as the question of India’s role in Non Aligned movement is concerned, the situation has been opposite from the above. In this context, India’s image has been very significant but in later years this image faded. With the founding of Non Aligned movement in the decade of 1960, India has been an important nation raising its voice on the issues of apartheid, castism, imperialism, colonialism etc. This image has augmented India’s esteem in most of the Asian and African countries. Its position has been important internationally also. For raising the important issue of Third World at international platform and due to its leadership, India’s influence in these countries has increased. Though in Indo-China war of 1962 (which took place one year after this movement), India did not receive much support from these countries but in later events, India received cooperation from these countries. After the 1971 Indo-Pak war and 1974 peaceful nuclear tests these countries appreciated India. Besides, the issue of declaring Indian Ocean as a peace zone by India and Sri Lanka has received full support from these nations.

After the decade of 1970 when the movement shifted its focus from political to economic issues even then India’s stand did not change. India was seen as the main player leading these nations. India has always been active in United Nations for setting up New International Economic Order. In the decade of 1980, India’s image of a leader received setback when India did not criticize Soviet interference into Afghanistan. In case of Kampuchea too, the situation remained vague. During Gulf War, India’s perplexity was vivid. After this, in post-cold war situation, the entire base of world politics changed. After the end of bi-polar world order there was a question mark on the movement of non alignment. So, due to important changes in the structure of Non-Alignment policy, now it is not as important as it was in the initial years of India’s independence.

3.2.2. National Security

Before studying about national security, it is important to know that in present context the meaning of national security should be understood extensively. In national security, besides the security of geographical boundaries, the security of political, economic, social and cultural aspects is also included. So far the question of security of India’s geographical boundaries is concerned; the flaws in our foreign policy become clear. The most important issue of Kashmir and of the territory occupied by China is not resolved till today. We have accepted even China’s rights over Tibet without any major dissent. Undoubtedly, by opting for a compromising attitude, India has ignored national interests.

Since the decade of 1970, India has tried to defend its national security by changing its policies at two levels:

• India has tried to achieve self reliance by increasing its military might in terms of weapons. For this, India purchased ultra modern weapons and their technology from foreign countries. The second important step in this direction is indigenous production of weapons by changing the technique. Besides, by opting diversification in trade of weapons we have reduced our dependence on only one country. Pokharan-I (1974), Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (1983) and Pokharan-II (1998) are the clear examples of this.
• Through its diplomacy, India has tried to mould international environment according to its interests or secure its interests in those situations. To secure its interests as per the situations before the 1971 war, India signed a 20 year treaty of friendship and cooperation with former Soviet Union. With this, besides impeding Pakistan’s and China’s conflicting attitude, India succeeded in hampering the adverse effects of America’s anti-India policies. After this, India built its capabilities to fight with the effects of militarization of Indian Ocean and new cold war. Since 1985 as per the changes in Soviet Union, India tried to improve relations with China and America. Finally, in the changed situations due to disintegration of Soviet Union in 1991, in the context of changed international strategic environment to secure its interests in Asia-Pacific region, India established military to military relations with America on one hand and joined ASEAN regional group on the other.

3.2.3. International Reputation

An important aspect of India’s foreign policy has been the maintaining of its international reputation. India has never been in favor of playing a secondary role in international politics rather it wants to be in the lead role. Therefore, from the very beginning, India has expressed not only its reaction but also shown deep interest in the issues related to international peace, security, economic development, independence of new nations etc. During the two decades after independence, India played the role of a leader in context of colonialism, imperialism and sovereignty of new nations. With regard to the problems of casteism and apartheid in African and Asian countries, India not only expressed sharp reactions but also played a lead role in raising these issues and finding their solutions. In the decades of 1970 and 1980 when economic issues replaced political issues in the agenda of international politics, India played its role in this context. In this way, India tried hard to establish ‘New International Economic Order’ at international level.

Though in the decade of 1990, due to its problems, India was not able to perform a significant role, but it has always been aware of its role. In the present era, whether it may be the question of democratization of United Nations or nuclear disarmament, India has always been a significant partner. However, it lacks the fervor and maturity that was in the decades of 1950 and 1960. The decline in importance of India in the Third World countries is mainly because of lack of personalities like Nehru and Indira; doubt over many Indian policies (policy relating to nuclear tests); change in international politics; apathy of non alignment movement etc. Despite these changing standards, India has never been at margin in international politics.

3.2.4. United Nations and India

One more issue related with international reputation is India’s role in United Nations. Since beginning, India has played a very active role in United Nations system. Firstly, India has always favored the cause of international peace. From this point of view, India has not only expressed its faith in this institution but also performed its responsibilities by following its principles, values and policies. In initial two decades, India played important role in the context of non autonomous regions and colonial countries through United Nations. India has played an important role in the context of 18 nations summit called in the context of Indonesia and independence of Italian Somalia, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Cyprus etc. India has played an important role for UN declaration of human rights in 1948. India has been actively trying to eradicate poverty and unemployment in third world countries through UN. Along this, with the help of UN, India has been working for establishing peace zones, disarmament, collective security etc. India has effectively played its role as chairman of Vietnam Commission constituted for solving Indo-China problem and activities performed in the context of peace forces.

Besides above political activities, India’s role in the economic changes in later decades is also important. India’s reactions on the issues like New International Economic Order, North-South dialogue, GATT Summits etc. have been significant. After that, in changing environment, India is now equally aware of present problems. India is equally instrumental in the context of issues supported by UN like problems of environment, terrorism, saving earth, ozone layer, ecological balance and pollution of environment etc as it was in the decades of 1950 and 1960 for the independence of third world countries.

India is facing a major deterrent while performing its role in UN, which is related to the decision making process in the institution. In this institution, no decision is effective unless it is approved by five permanent (veto nations) members. Therefore on many issues, instead of taking a justifiable decision, the decisions are based on the supremacy of these nations. So India is a strong contender of democratization of UN Security Council. Therefore despite many changes, India’s faith in United Nations, its active participation and responsibilities is intact.

3.2.5. Economic Development

An important objective of India’s foreign policy is economic development. So it becomes imperative to evaluate India’s economic foreign policy in these six decades. As far as the question of India’s economic foreign policy is concerned it has been active at three levels- (1) not much importance to foreign trade (1947-65); (2) export promotion policy (1965-85); (3) policy of liberalization and globalization (1985-2011). The main components of these policies have been India’s foreign trade, foreign economic aid, private capital investment and establishing joint enterprise.

Through India’s foreign policy, the process of economic development had to pass through many stages as per the international situations. In the beginning by adopting a mixed economy, India tried to reap the benefits of both capitalistic and socialistic systems. In this context, economic aid, and not economic trade, has been the main basis of India’s foreign policy. By the middle of 1980s, India’s economic condition had stumbled. Many internal and external factors were responsible for it. At international level, change in India’s economic foreign policy was due to adoption of economic reforms even by socialistic countries and connecting with capitalistic countries and disintegration of Soviet Union. Beside internal factors, there was extreme deterioration in economic infrastructure. So India started the process of economic reforms in 1991. Under it, through the process of liberalization and globalization, India connected itself to capitalistic system.

But it does not mean that India has become capable of economic development, as even today the problems of poverty, hunger, disease, unemployment etc are present on a large scale. Therefore, the actual economic development of India will depend on the direction of its development. Despite all efforts, India’s trade is only 1.1 percent of total world trade. The deficit in trade balance is continuously increasing. The burden of foreign debt has increased. 25 percent of its annual budget is spent on payments of interest on loans and services. This indicates that since beginning India’s foreign economic policy is neither clear nor as per Indian situations.

3.3. In the Context of Solution of Problems

India’s foreign policy can be evaluated on the basis of the way it has faced challenges in the last 60 years. In these years, India had to face multiple challenges at multilateral, bilateral and regional level. Only after analyzing in detail about India’s capabilities to fight with these challenges, we can arrive at some conclusion. India’s foreign policy had following challenges: – (1) Cold war. (2) War at borders. (3) Economic development. (4) Establishing peace. (5) Building new economic world order. (6) New world order.

3.3.1.   Cold war

By following the policy of non alignment at international level, India not only succeeded in keeping itself aloof from the power conflict between various military organizations and super powers, but also tried to establish economic relations with both the super powers. At regional level, for maintaining peace and good relations with neighbors, India followed the principles of Panchsheel and created an environment of peaceful co-existence. In this context, even after initial support, India could not establish cordial relations with neighbors. At international level, despite initial inclination towards America, India succeeded in building cordial relations with former Soviet Union only. Due to Indo-Soviet friendship, India could strongly face the politics of cold war, but new cold war increased India’s tensions as this brought the cold war near its borders.

3.3.2. War at Borders

In this short period, India has experienced five wars (1947-48, 1962, 1965, 1971 and 1999) at its borders. In first three wars, India could not protect its interests. In the first war, India lost one third of Kashmir to Pakistan which is now known as Pak occupied Kashmir. In the second war, thousands of kilometers of area were captured by China. In the third war, India had to return the Pakistani area won by it under the Tashkent agreement. So in the first three wars, India did not gain anything rather lost. But fourth war was a determining war in India’s favor which besides changing South Asia’s map, increased India’s reputation in Asia and world. The fifth undeclared war was fought officially between 25th May to 26th July in Kargil region in which as per official statement 461 soldiers and 5 air force soldiers lost their lives, 683 were injured and two are missing. Finally, India’s ‘Operation Vijay’ was successful and Pakistan had to face disappointment at strategic, diplomatic and political level. But even then, the future border disputes and threats from Pakistan and China cannot be denied. For this, first of all, India wants to solve disputes by improving relations with both the nations. Strategically also, government seems capable in this regard. In view of changing environment and destructive power of nuclear wars, India should stress on diplomacy rather on war.

3.3.3. Economic Development

India has tried to face challenges related with economic development also. During cold war, India has tried to make the nation self-reliant by opting mixed features of both the systems (Capitalism and Socialism) as a base of its foreign policy. Besides, for the preparation of basic structure, it received economic help and technology from the external powers. At times, due to circumstances, it had to change economic policies. Besides, keeping international environment in its favor had influenced the process of development of international problems.

In post cold-war era, to tackle the situations that arose due to external pressures like economic pressures due to disintegration of Soviet Union, Gulf war, incidence of oil prices and some internal pressures like political instability, corruption, scandals, bureaucracy etc, India changed its economic policy. It tried to compensate the loss to Soviet Union and Socialist countries through Indian exports. In this context, on the one hand, India adopted East policy and on the other hand, received capital investments from western countries by opting for the process of liberalization, and as a result, it was successful in getting huge economic aid from Breton Wood institutes. What will be the future impact of this on the economic development is a matter of concern.

3.3.4. Establishing Peace

India’s foreign policy has continuously tried for world peace and security. Since beginning, India has been a participant in disarmament process. However, regarding traditional weapons, there is a lack of any agreement, and process of disarmament is not smooth. With a view to put an end to the race of nuclear weapons, three main efforts have been done— partial nuclear test ban treaty, nuclear non proliferation treaty and comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty. But these proposals are not accepted by India as these are biased and are not universal. India has taken initiative in the declaration of peace zones but still these declarations could not be implemented. So in this area, despite its serious efforts, India could not have any remarkable achievement.

3.3.5. Building a New Economic World Order

At the time of finalizing of Breton Wood Model in the context of nature of international economic order, the agreements over two institutes (World Bank and Monetary Fund) were completed but no consensus could be built over International Trade Organization. So GATT came into existence as an ad hoc arrangement which will determine bilateral terms of trade for a limited period. Since 1970, by associating itself with these institutions, India has stressed on the building of a new economic world order based on the principle of justice and equality which is trying to remove the economic differences between developed and developing nations. So these efforts have led to the birth of WTO, but it cannot be said that to what extent this institution will be beneficial for the developing nations. Secondly, still some developed countries impose bilateral trade restrictions through bypassing this multilateral organization. So there are no remarkable achievements in this area, and in future also, no such possibilities are visible.

3.3.6. New World Order

As a consequence of disintegration of Soviet Union and end of cold war, the word order has basically changed. This process of change is still continuing. Due to these changes, India is worried that this new world order should be based on the principles of equality, courtesy, cooperation, friendship, sovereignty and prosperity, and not on the basis of supremacy of one or two powerful nations. If the new system will be based on inequality then developing nations will lag behind and will be on the margin of politics. Whether India will be able to do something in this regard cannot be said. We should view India’s demand of democratization of UN in this context. This is the only way through which India can influence the whole process.

4. Conclusion

In conclusion, after evaluating the above three aspects of India’s foreign policy, we can say that India’s policies have been successful partially in achieving its objectives. The India’s foreign policy is to pass through many phases. If it is to be fully successful then it must take care of following issues:-

• There is need to cover up the lack of institutional development of the policy. It is not possible to have a right and clear policy without institutional development. Institutional development will also help in maintaining continuity in the policy.
• India will have to make a long term foreign policy instead of an ad hoc policy.
• India’s peace and security issues are still not out of worries. The border issues with Pakistan and China have not been resolved yet. The situation of tension prevails with other neighboring nations also in social, economic, strategic and cultural relations at times. It is imperative to improve this.
• Besides political sovereignty, the economic development also needs to be made smooth. In the new changed environment, economic matters have become very important. Therefore, India will have to understand the current economic trends intensively, so that development could be done in the desired direction.

• For the fulfillment of above four objectives, besides other measures, India will have to make its diplomatic policy more sophisticated, so that an intensive study of the nuances and complexities of the new world system may become possible. On the basis of this study, India will have to make efforts for realizing its interests in this new agenda.
• It is very clear that there are deep relations between international events and internal factors. External environment affects internal situations and internal situations affect external decisions. Therefore, in this context, India will have to be empowered and strong internally. Only an economically and politically strong India can play a significant role at international level, and not a weak and fragmented India. For a significant foreign policy, an empowered, internally prosperous, stable and integrated India is required.