Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
influence - not on Pakistan, nor Afghanistan nor China'. Some foreign diplomats suggest
that their Indian counterparts do not have a sense of direction or purpose and are reluctant
to discuss issues, maybe because they are under-briefed and (or) are ambivalent about In-
dia's role in the world. India has also disappointed countries in Southeast and eastern Asia
by not doing enough to build relationships beyond routine diplomatic exchanges, despite a
look-east policy adopted in the 1990s. In practice, India is drawn in different directions by
its wish to be a player, as it has been, for example, on climate change, and still carry the
non-involved tag.
There is also criticism inside India as well as outside that the country lacks internation-
ally recognized foreign affairs think tanks that could produce consistent analysis compar-
able to America's Brookings Institute and the Heritage Foundation. The importance of an
occasional thematic speech like Menon's in August 2011 illustrates the potential. There
are many small policy institutes in Delhi on defence as well as foreign policy issues, hap-
pily headed by retired foreign secretaries and other diplomats and the occasional admiral
or general, but none has the authority at home or abroad of a major centre of thought and
analysis. The Observer Research Foundation in Delhi, founded and partially funded by the
Reliance Industries of Mukesh Ambani, fills some gaps but it has a far wider remit than
foreign affairs, while the long-established Centre for Policy Studies has small rooms hous-
ing bright experts but does not aspire to collective clout.
Brahma Chellaney, a Delhi-based strategic affairs specialist, criticizes India from a dif-
ferent angle, arguing that it 'gives, and gets nothing in return', and does not recognize that
'reciprocity is the first principle of diplomacy'. He lists India's generosity on land issues
ranging from surrendering British-inherited extra-territorial rights in Tibet in 1954, to giv-
ing back strategic gains after the 1965 and 1971 Pakistan wars and, more recently, facing
pressure to cede control on the Siachen Glacier where the two countries have had a high
altitude confrontation since 1984. Chellaney is an expert on the region's river water dis-
putes and says that the 'world's most generous water-sharing pact is the 1960 Indus Waters
Treaty, under which India agreed to set aside 80.52 per cent of the waters of the six-river
Indus system for Pakistan, keeping for itself just the remaining 19.48 per cent share'.
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Power of the States
India's relations with its neighbours are becoming disrupted by the politics and attitudes of
its states that border the other countries and increasingly interfere in national diplomacy.
This raises the question of how much - or how little - support Delhi can expect from re-
gional politicians, and whether it has the will, patience and skill to involve them in the de-
velopment of foreign affairs. It is a question that has yet to be tackled by the policy makers
