Background of the Operation Kaveri

Sudan has been plagued by conflicts and instability for decades, with two civil wars between the central government and the southern regions, a continuing conflict in the western region of Darfur, and several military coups and protests. In 2019, a popular uprising led by the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) toppled the long-time dictator Omar al-Bashir and paved the way for a power-sharing agreement between the military and civilian forces. The agreement established a transitional government headed by General al-Burhan and Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, with a mandate to hold democratic elections by 2024.

However, on 15 April 2023, the RSF, a paramilitary group led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (also known as Hemeti), launched a surprise attack on multiple Sudanese Army bases across the country, including in the capital Khartoum. The RSF claimed to have captured key strategic locations such as Khartoum International Airport, Merowe Airport, El Obeid Airport, and a base in Soba. Clashes between RSF and Army forces erupted at the Presidential Palace and at the residence of General al-Burhan, with both sides claiming control over the two sites. The RSF accused the transitional government of corruption, mismanagement, and betrayal of the revolution, while the Army denounced the RSF as traitors and coup plotters.

The violence and chaos triggered a humanitarian crisis in Sudan, where millions of people were trapped without access to basic services such as food, water, electricity, health care, and communication. The United Nations estimated that more than 1.5 million people were displaced and more than 2,000 people were killed or injured due to the conflict. The international community condemned the coup attempt and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and a return to civilian rule.

Role of Indian Air Force in Operation Kaveri

India has close historical and cultural ties with Sudan, where more than 4,000 Indians live and work, mainly in Khartoum. India also has significant economic interests in Sudan, where it has invested in oil exploration, infrastructure development, agriculture, education, health care, and capacity building. India has also contributed to peacekeeping missions in Sudan under the UN umbrella.

As soon as the conflict erupted in Sudan, India expressed its deep concern over the situation and urged all parties to exercise restraint and respect the democratic transition process. India also activated its contingency plan to evacuate its citizens and foreign nationals from Sudan as soon as possible. India named its evacuation operation as Operation Kaveri, after the river that flows through southern India.

The IAF played a crucial role in Operation Kaveri by providing airlift support for the evacuees from Sudan to Saudi Arabia and India. The IAF deployed two C-130J Super Hercules aircraft on standby in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia as part of preparations for evacuation. The C-130J is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft that can carry up to 92 passengers or 64 paratroopers. It can operate from short and unprepared runways and can perform various missions such as airlift, airdrop, air-to-air refueling, special operations, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief,
and medical evacuation.

The IAF also coordinated with other friendly countries such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey to facilitate its evacuation operations. On 25 April 2023, Saudi Arabia safely evacuated 91 foreign nationals from Port Sudan by sea, out of which 66 were from friendly countries including India. The evacuees were transported by an Indian Navy ship INS Sumedha to Jeddah. On 27 April 2023, Turkey allowed an IAF C-130J aircraft to land at Wadi Seidna Air Base near Khartoum to evacuate 121 Indian nationals. The flight was dangerous, as fighting was going on in the area and a Turkish plane had come under fire there earlier. The IAF pilots used their onboard electro-optical and infrared sensors to ensure that the runway was free of obstructions and no hostile forces were in the vicinity.

The IAF continued its evacuation operations till 6 May 2023, when it brought the final batch of 47 passengers home by a C-130J flight from Jeddah. The IAF successfully evacuated a total of 3,862 people from Sudan, out of which 3,741 were Indian nationals and 121 were foreign nationals from 18 countries. The IAF also transported essential supplies such as food, water, medicines, and blankets to the evacuees in Sudan and Saudi Arabia.

The IAF played a vital role in Operation Kaveri by providing airlift support for the evacuees from Sudan to Saudi Arabia and India. The IAF displayed its professionalism, courage, and humanitarian spirit by conducting the evacuation operations in a timely, efficient, and safe manner. The IAF also demonstrated its operational readiness, strategic reach, and interoperability with other friendly forces by operating from different locations and platforms. The IAF earned the gratitude and appreciation of the Indian government, the evacuees, and the international community for its role in Operation Kaveri.

Before we delve into how the future looks for Afganistan today, we must look at the events of history which brought Afghanistan in the state it is today.

After the withdrawal of Soviet Troops in 1989, the country was thrown in state of civil war. From this civil war, emerged the a group better known as ‘Taliban’ now. After a long and bloody civil war of 10 years, Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 1998. They vowed to fight corruption and improve security, but also followed an austere form of Islam.

They enforced their own hard line version of Sharia, or Islamic law, and introduced brutal punishments. Men were made to grow beards and women had to wear the all-covering burka. TV, music and cinema were banned. During this time, several fundamental Islamic organizations like Al Qaeda found safe haven in Afghanistan.

In 2001, Al Qaeda, conducted biggest terrorist attack on US in which nearly 3000 people were killed. Officials identified Islamist militant group al-Qaeda, and its leader Osama Bin Laden, as responsible. Bin Laden was in Afghanistan, under the protection of the Taliban. When they refused to hand him over, the US intervened militarily, quickly removing the Taliban and vowing to support democracy and eliminate the terrorist threat.

In 2004, with help of US, a democratic government was established in Afghanistan and Hamid Karzai became first president of the country. Taliban and other Islamic groups regrouped and Taliban attacks continued.

In 2014, at the end of what was the bloodiest year since 2001, Nato’s international forces ended their combat mission, leaving responsibility for security to the Afghan army. That gave the Taliban momentum and they seized more territory.

Peace talks between the US and the Taliban started tentatively, and the agreement on a withdrawal came in February 2020 in Qatar. The US-Taliban deal did not stop the Taliban attacks – they switched their focus instead to Afghan security forces and civilians, and targeted assassinations. Their areas of control grew.

US president Joe Biden announces that all US troops will leave Afghanistan by 11 September 2021. In just over a month, the Taliban swept across Afghanistan, taking control of towns and cities all over the country, including Kabul. Afghan security forces collapsed in the face of the Taliban advance.

A couple of months after US withdrawal, Afghanistan’s future appears grim.

It faces severe economic stress and humanitarian crisis. Experts warn Afghanistan could soon become the world’s worst, and a relentless threat of terrorism.

The current semblance of government in Afghanistan is led by brutal Taliban organization. And this time, all the terrorist groups like Haqqani Network et al, have become part of the government.

What is expected?

Predictions about what the future holds for Afghanistan must take into account a complex mix of political, social, religious, economic, and cultural issues.

• The international aid enjoyed by Afghanistan has been scaled back which has resulted into acute economic and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. Taliban are struggling to address these complex challenges.

• Even though the Taliban regime vows to give shelter and prevent any group from using Afghan soil as a base for terrorists attacks on any country. It will be difficult to ensure this, since many of the militant organizations are now part of Afghanistan government.

• Taliban is moving towards imposing strict Sharia laws in the country which means human rights of the citizens will be severely affected, especially those of women.

• Emergence of the regional branch of the Islamic State group – ISKP (Khorasan Province) which the Taliban oppose may lead to another civil war like situation in the country.

• Taliban is a Sunni group and comes mostly from the Southern part of the country. They are against the Shias and other thnic communities like Hazaras. These communities are expected to face brutal backlash from Taliban.

• Education, Media and Cultural arts like music and dancing are not allowed by Taliban.

• The Taliban’s takeover may encourage other extremist groups to copy the Taliban model. Jihadist groups that operate in Syria, Yemen, Somalia, and Libya believe that their resilience may lead to victory against the governments they have fought.

• Afghanistan has been one of the most corrupt countries in the world. The Taliban government in Afghanistan is likely to behave the same way. They use Islamic laws to legitimize their corrupt activities.

• Afghans weary of persecution by the Taliban will be desperate to leave the country, creating more opportunities for human-smuggling networks. Human-smuggling networks will thrive in the region.

Overall Afghanistan is going to remain flux. Most likely, Afghanistan will become a haven again for salafi-jihadist terrorist groups, the government will continue to grapple with difficult political and economic issues, the drug trade will flourish, and Afghans will be persecuted under Taliban’s twisted version of sharia law.

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China and India are the two most populous countries and fastest growing major economies in the world. Last month India-China marked 70 years of diplomatic relations on April 1, 2020. India was the first non-communist country in Asia to establish diplomatic ties with the People’s Republic of China on April 1, 1950. Despite the fact, India was one of the first countries to recognize Mao Zedong’s communist regime, India-China relations have seen its ups and downs.

Contemporary Relations between India and China

Relations between contemporary China and India have been characterised by border disputes, resulting in Sino-Indian war of 1962 and couple of smaller military conflicts in 1967 and 1987 respectively. However, since the late 1980s, both countries have successfully rebuilt diplomatic and economic ties. In 2008, China became India’s largest trading partner and the two countries have also extended their strategic and military relations. Despite growing economic and strategic ties, there are several hurdles for India and China which include global economic competition and resolving the border disputes.

In recent times, especially after the outbreak of global pandemic of COVID-19, Beijing’s open intimidation of those pointing out its duplicity has unmasked its true character. The world has suddenly woken up to the threat Chinese regime poses to the world, including India.

Future Outlook of India China Relations

China, since last few decades, following Deng Xiaoping’s policy, has been silently building their capacities both economically and militarily. Soon after, Xi Jinping became the president; China started asserting their economic and military prowess to project themselves as next super power. China aims to change the status quo of world being uni-polar where USA is the sole super power to being bi-polar where China is the other super power. China is projecting power by intimidating smaller countries and USA equally in South China Sea, trade disputes have come up between China and USA; coercive activities to influence smaller nations caught in its debt trap. And China has up these ante’s in the since the outbreak of COVID-19

India is not only a competitor to China on global stage also a rival in the regional space. India poses one of the biggest threats to China’s emerging supremacy. Since the COVID-19 outbreak most global companies are looking for an alternate to China for their supply chain. India seems to be the prime candidate. This does not go well with China. On diplomatic front, India and USA have strengthened their relations in last few years. India has also developed strong strategic relations with regional powers like Japan and Australia. Increasing support from all these countries to India to contain China is not hidden from Chinese regime. The balance of power between China and India, which is tilted heavily in favour of China, could shift to become less uneven if the Chinese economy takes a bad knock as a fallout of COVID and India gains.

These aspects will add to the existing complexity between India and China. Although Covid-19 may not have had an immediate and direct impact on India-China ties, it has the potential to create incremental damage to China-India relations. With the growing uncertainty, New Delhi-Beijing ties will only get more strained. Further discord is expected amid heated dynamics over decoupling between the US and China, given the position of India as a US ally and a stakeholder to possible movements of global supply chains. As it moves past 70, India-China ties will see more flux and be under greater strain, even as the two countries seek to maintain peaceful coexistence.

India pledged to develop the Chabahar port with initial investment of $500 million as a part of trilateral engagement between India, Iran and Afghanistan, when Indian Prime Minister Narender Modi visited Iran in 2016. The first phase of Chabahar port was inaugurated in December 2017.

Significance of Chabahar Port

The Chabahar Port is one project that has assumed significant economic and strategic importance in recent times. Before independence India had direct access to the central Asian countries. However, after creation of Pakistan, India lost its direct connection with central Asia. Even though, trade with central Asian countries is possible via Pakistan, it has not been possible due to the strained relations between India and Pakistan.

The first and foremost significance of Chabahar port is that now India can bypass Pakistan in transporting goods to Afghanistan and other central Asian countries. Indian cargo transported via the sea will now be offloaded at Chabahar, from where trucks and trains will carry it to Afghanistan and then onward to the CARs. In addition to opening up new markets for India in Afghanistan and the CARs, Chabahar will boost their economies, too, and strengthen India’s economic relationship with Iran.

With Chabahar port becoming functional, there will be a significant boost in the import of iron ore, sugar and rice to India. The import cost of oil to India will also see a considerable decline. It is estimated that the port will help India to halve the time and cost of doing business with Central Asian countries.

Chabahar port is not just about providing a gateway linking India, Iran and Afghanistan. It is a key hub in the International North-South Transport Corridor initiative, a 7,200-km-long multi-modal network of ship, rail and road routes to move cargo between India, Iran, Afghanistan, the CARs, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, and Europe.

Apart from the economic advantages, Chabahar port also provides strategic advantages to India, Iran and other central Asian countries against increasing influence of China in the region. It will provide an alternate mechanism to both BRI and CPEC projects being developed in the region by China.

Chabahar would bring about the biggest breakthrough in Asian transport connectivity with enormous implications for the entire region both in terms of spurring economic prosperity and ensuring political stability.

When the Cold War started in the mid-twentieth century, the two world powers – the Soviet Union and US – responded by organising their allies into rival military alliances. The US founded the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), and shorter-lived alliances. The Soviet Union founded the Warsaw Pact.
Another response among some underdeveloped countries of the third world was neutrality. This led to emergence of a third bloc which decided not to go into a formal alliance with either of the Cold War era power blocs – USA or USSR.

Drawing on the principles agreed at the Bandung Conference in 1955, the NAM was established in 1961 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia through an initiative of the Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru[5] and the Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito.

The purpose of the organization was enumerated by Fidel Castro in his Havana Declaration of 1979 as to ensure “the national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of non-aligned countries” in their “struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, racism, and all forms of foreign aggression, occupation, domination, interference or hegemony as well as against great power and bloc politics.
Today Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 120 developing world states that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. After the United Nations, it is the largest grouping of states worldwide.

Significance of NAM today

Since the end of the Cold War and the formal end of colonialism, the Non-aligned Movement has been forced to redefine itself and reinvent its purpose in the current world order. A major question has been whether many of its foundational ideologies, principles can be applied to the contemporary issues. The NAM has emphasized its principles of multilateralism, equality and mutual understanding in attempting to become a stronger voice of developing and third world countries as well as an instrument that can be utilized and promote the needs of member countries.

We cannot ignore the role of NAM in recent time. They represent nearly two third of the UN members and comprise 55% of the world population. Many of US and USSR former ally partners have become members of NAM. All these factors indicated the importance and relevance of NAM in post-Cold War era. The NAM is an international platform of developing and under-developing countries. The NAM produce a platform as ‘dialogue table’ for developing world and it has done lot of for united these countries. These countries discuss their mutual problem and find a way to resolve these problems.

The termination of cold war doesn’t mean that an end of world power domination/ hegemony. The NAM is too relevant in present context because the third world countries are being subjected to supremacy and exploitation on all kind of issues from economic to political and cultural. The NAM would be proved a platform of developing countries in bargaining with the developed countries. The NAM countries should tackle problems with coordinative approach.

The Nonalignment platform could play a meaningful role for developing countries. This platform is the common voice of third world countries. It is considered as a positive and constructive movement in across the world. India’s efforts for non-aligned countries has appraised by everyone. Therefore, we can say that Non-aligned agenda has immense important for future.

“Look East Policy” of India was launched by the former Prime Minister P.V Narasimha Rao in 1991. The main focus of this policy was to shift the country’s trading focus from the west and neighbours to the booming South East Asian countries. Since the formation of the new government in the centre in 2014, the NDA government upgraded it to “Act East Policy”. The “Act East Policy” was launched at the East Asia Summit in Myanmar in November 2014 by Prime Minister Narender Modi.

India’s approach to Southeast Asia has been lately shifting from one dominated by trade and development to one in which strategic considerations play an important complementary role. This has taken a new form, and is now called the “Act East” Policy, marking also an expansion to include other Indo-Pacific countries.

The policy which was originally envisaged as an economic initiative, has now gained political, strategic and cultural dimensions including establishment of institutional mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation thereby clearly highlighting the new approach of India. Also, India has now upgraded its relations to a strategic partnership with Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Australia, Singapore and ASEAN.

The policy focuses on the extended neighborhood in the Asia-Pacific region. Its primary objective is to promote economic cooperation, cultural ties and develop strategic relationship with countries in the Asia-Pacific region through continuous engagement at bilateral, regional and multilateral levels which would eventually provide enhanced connectivity to the states of North Eastern region.

The policy has also placed an emphasis on India-ASEAN cooperation in India’s domestic agenda on infrastructure, manufacturing, trade, skills, urban renewal, smart cities, Make in India etc. Its primary objective is to promote economic cooperation, cultural ties and develop strategic relationship with countries in the Asia-Pacific region through continuous engagement at bilateral, regional and multilateral levels.

Since then ASEAN-India engagement has become deeper and new dimensions have been added with the relationship. Down the line, ASEAN partnership has scaled new heights. India has not only developed strong bilateral relations with countries such as Bangladesh, Mauritius, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Vietnam, etc., but also steering a number of sub-regional programmes and projects such as the BBIN, the Trilateral Highway, etc., and is actively contributing to the success of several regional initia such as ASEAN, EAS, BIMSTEC, IORA, RCEP, among others.

India and other countries are also stepping up efforts to chip away at one source of ASEAN’s dependence on China – infrastructural aid. India clearly wants to help ASEAN stand up to China because it is in New Delhi’s interest. But while there is little doubt about New Delhi’s desires, ASEAN countries are likely to look for actual deliveries rather than promises. India’s repeated assertion of ASEAN-centrality has so far not given ASEAN countries – especially the smaller ones – sufficient reason to hope that India can be an effective substitute for China.

With NDA government back in power, the ‘Act East’ policy is poised to get more focus and strengthen the already growing relations between India and ASEAN nations.

Today, the Indo-Israel relationship continues to reach new heights with growing ties between Israel and India. The relationship has moved beyond defence cooperation and is also focussed on economic and high end technology cooperation as well as boosting people-to-people linkages through cinema and tourism.

Relations between Jerusalem and New Delhi were not always warm. Although both countries gained their independence from the United Kingdom within months of each other, they found themselves headed in pointedly different directions for nearly four decades – India as a leader in the Non-Aligned Movement that maintained close relations to the Arab world and the Soviet Union; Israel which linked its future to close ties with the United States and Western Europe.

Even though India recognized the state of Israel in 1950, full diplomatic relations were established after four decades in 1992.Since then the bilateral relationship between the two countries has blossomed at the economic, military, agricultural and political levels. Both countries see themselves as isolated democracies threatened by neighbours that train, finance and encourage terrorism, therefore both countries also view their cooperative relationship as a strategic imperative.

Military and Strategic Ties

Israel had always been of great help to India whenever it required urgent supply of arms – whether it was during the war against China in 1962 or the war against Pakistan in 1971. Israel provided India with much-needed imagery about Pakistani positions using its UAVs during the Kargil War with Pakistan in 1999. That was ultimately instrumental in turning the war around for India.

Israel is the second largest supplier of defence equipment to India now. Total defence trade between the two countries is worth more than $ 9 bn. India and Israel has also made several strategic agreements to jointly develop defence equipment like Cruise Missiles, Air Defence Systems as well as Space and Cyber technologies. There also exists a deep cooperation between the two countries in intelligence sharing and and Security training. Forces of two countries frequently carry out joint exercises.

Bilateral Trade

Since 1992, civilian bilateral trade has grown to $5 Billion and with a proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in the pipeline; this is expected to more than double in near future. Israel’s major exports to India include precious stones and metals, electronic equipment, fertilisers, machines, engines, pumps, medical and technical equipment, organic and inorganic chemicals, salt, sulphur, stone, cement, and plastics.

Science and Technology Collaboration

India and Israel have signed several agreements on science and technology. Specific areas of cooperation included information technology, biotechnology, lasers, and electro-optics. More recently the technological and economic cooperation was extended to the fields of agriculture, water management, solar energy, and medical insurance. Collaboration and cooperation between the two countries is also increasing in the space sector. In 2005, Israel’s TecSAR satellite was launched by Indian Space Research Organization on board their PSLV.

Agriculture

India and Israel entered a strategic partnership in the field of agriculture. The partnership aims to introduce crop diversity, increasing productivity & increasing water use efficiency.

Tourism and Cultural Ties

Cultural ties between the two countries go long back. India is considered the only country where Jews have been able to live without any danger and were freely integrated into the society. Indian soldiers were instrumental in liberating the city of Haifa during the second World War.

Over 60000 tourists from Israel visit India every year. An equal amount tourists from India visit Israel now. In 2011, representatives from both countries met in Delhi, and planned to enhance tourism through collaboration in the spheres of destination management and promotion, as well as in manpower development. Plans for tour-operators and travel agents in both countries to coordinate were also discussed.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi became the first sitting Indian PM to visit Israel on July 4, 2017. After this significant visit the relations between the two countries have further strengthened. The security dynamics and challenges in both the countries, along with the rising forces of anti-state actors, terrorism, and extremism, will surely bind the relations stronger. Under such circumstances, military-security cooperation will definitely remain as a key element in the ties. Currently, the political climate is such that the overall ties are only broadening, and as Netanyahu put it, “sky is the limit” when it comes to Indo-Israeli ties.

The council consists of 15 members; five permanent members and ten non-permanent members which are elected on a regional basis to serve a term of two years. The five permanent members, also known as Permanent Five, Big Five or P5 include United States of America, China, United Kingdom, Russia and France. The main difference which separates the big five from the rest is that all the permanent members have ‘Veto’ power.
The “power of veto” refers to the veto power wielded solely by the permanent members, enabling them to prevent the adoption of any “substantive” draft Council resolution, regardless of the level of international support for the draft. The veto is exercised when any permanent member—the so-called “P5″—casts a “negative” vote on a “substantive” draft resolution.

There have been proposals suggesting expansion of the UNSC permanent seats to include new permanent members. India, Germany, Japan and Brazil are the forerunners for a permanent seat on UNSC.

India’s case for permanent seat of United Nations Security Council (UNSC)

India has emerged as one of the top 5 economies in the world. It is a nuclear power state with advance space war capabilities as displayed recently by testing a A-Sat weapon. Also, India is the largest contributor to the UN Peacekeeping Operations (UNPKO), with nearly 180,000 troops serving in 44 missions since it was established. India is also among the highest financial contributors to the UN, with the country making regular donations to several UN organs like the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF).

Also, India believes that the current structure of UNSC which was constituted in 1945 after the World War II does not reflect today’s geopolitical realities of multi-polar world. India’s claim for the permanent seat is supported by 129 countries including 4 out of 5 permanent members of UNSC. China is the only country in big five which is ambiguous about its support India’s bid for permanent seat in UNSC. Ironically, China got the permanent seat on UNSC because of India when Indian Prime Minister refused the permanent seat it was offered in 1950s in favour of China.

What does India get by becoming a permanent member of UNSC?

India would want a permanent membership at UNSC for two reasons. First, the ‘Veto’ Power, which India could use to defend its interests, say against Pakistan (just like Russia did last year over the civil war in Ukraine). Second, the sheer prestige associated with permanent membership of a multilateral forum. India’s elevation will also be an acknowledgment of its rise as a global power, ready to play a key role in the council’s objectives of international peace and security.

China’s continued economic development is dependent on secure routes for energy supplies and the movement of its trade through the Indian Ocean region. In order to mitigate this vulnerability, China has acquired a ‘blue-water’ navy and developed a number of military and civilian seaports in the Indian Ocean region, enabling it to exercise increased maritime influence on the sea lines of communication (SLOCs) within and through the region. This strategy, of developing a series of ports accessible by its navy, has been referred to by Western security commentators as the geopolitical theory of ‘String of Pearls’.

India’s Countermeasures for China’s String of Pearls

An increased Chinese naval presence in the Indian Ocean and possible military use of these so-called ‘pearls’ suggest that China’s military-strategic intentions include the geographic encirclement of India. India imports 70 per cent of its oil and gas energy requirements and depends on free access to sea routes for its trade to ensure its continued economic development. Against the background of the 1962 war with China, as well as continued border disputes with China and Pakistan along its northern border (and conscious of the expanding strategic relationship between China and Pakistan), India understandably feels compelled to counter China’s growing maritime influence and safeguard its maritime interests in the Indian Ocean.

To counter India has taken several measures which include:

1. Evolving India’s Look East Policy, which was initially launched as an effort to integrate India’s economy with South East Asian nations, is now turned into a more robust military to military partnership with important nations in that region. Important military and strategic agreements have been made with Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore.
2. India has agreed to develop Myanmar’s Sittwe port. India has also developed strategic naval relationship with Myanmar to upgrade and train its navy which gives India an increased footprint in the area.
3. India is also developing bilateral military relationships with key countries in Indian Ocean region which include Australia, Indonesia and Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
4. India has good relations with IOR countries like Maldives, Mauritius, and Seychelles and is making efforts to strengthen these ties further. India has aided Maldives government with several battleships and Helicopters. India is in talks with Seychelles to create an Indian military base on one of its Islands. India already has a military base in Madgascar which overlooks Mozambique Channel.
5. India has developed Chhabahar port in Iran, opening a new land sea route to Central Asian countries by-passing Pakistan. Chhabahar give India a strategic postion since it overlooks Gulf of Oman, a very strategic oil supply route.
6. India has made strategic agreements for military cooperation in the region with Japan, Australia and USA. The four countries carry out joint military exercises in the IOR region and are known as the ‘Quad’
7. India has also invested a lot diplomatically in countries like Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Mongolia – all surrounding China.
8. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recast India’s Look East Policy as Act East Policy with emphasis on developing infrastructure in the East Asian countries.
9. Bind the countries on the Indian ocean littoral based on the basis of common history and shared culture under the project names ‘Mausam’. By invoking the historical linkage, this is India‟s attempt to remind the 39 littoral countries that there is a shared cultural heritage among us and therefore let us not be influenced by extra-territorial powers.

The response of India to String of Pearls is well planned and timely execution of the planned strategic initiatives would play a key role in making India’s presence in Indian Ocean a strong Leader.

History of India-Iran Relations

India – Iran have shared relations for more than a thousand years. After the attack of Persian aggressor Nader Shah in 1739, there has been a 300 years of friendship, cordial relations and a great exchange of language, culture, art, architecture and trade between India and Iran.Persian or Farsi has been an integral part of pre-British Indian life, art, language and culture. Even Vedic references to Persian culture and language exist. Indo-Persian architecture in several monuments, specially the Taj Mahal, is a great testimony of our civilizational relations. Sufism in India has Persian roots. Guru Nanak had visited Persia and was influenced by Sufism.

During the modern times, three years after India gained independence from the British, in 1950, India and Iran established their diplomatic relations. It was a relationship which had experienced many ups and downs starting from the Shah era when Iran was part of the US-led Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) on the one hand and India established the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and was close to the former Soviet Union on the other.
Following the 1979 revolution, relations between Iran and India strengthened momentarily. However, Iran’s continued support for Pakistan and India’s close relations with Iraq during the Iran–Iraq War impeded further development of Indo–Iranian ties.In the 1990s, India and Iran supported the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan against the Taliban regime. They continue to collaborate in supporting the broad-based anti-Taliban government in Afghanistan. The two countries signed a defence cooperation agreement in December 2002. And that led to improvement in ties.

Current Outlook

Iran is one of the largest suppliers of India’s requirement of crude oil to meet India’s growing energy requirements. Around one-fifth of all oil and petroleum sales from Iran are to India, pegged at $12 billion a year. India and Iran have inked an agreement by which India will import crude oil from Iran using a rupee-based payment mechanism, 50 per cent of those payments being used for exporting items to Tehran, especially basmati rice.
In May 2016, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a high-profile visit to Tehran where India agreed to invest $500 million in the Chabahar port development and regional road and rail connectivity with Afghanistan and Central Asia. With a plan to further invest an additional $16 billion in the Chabahar, a free trade zone was also signed by both countries. Their bilateral trade is around 14 billion USD in which India imports around $12 billion worth of oil from Iran.

India is helping develop the Chabahar port, which will give it access to the oil and gas resources in Iran and the Central Asian states.Iran plans to use Chabahar for trans-shipment to Afghanistan and Central Asia. India, Iran and Afghanistan have signed an agreement to give Indian goods, heading for Central Asia and Afghanistan, preferential treatment and tariff reductions at Chabahar. The Chabahar port project is Iran’s chance to end its US-sponsored economic isolation and benefit from the resurgent Indian economy. Along with Bandar Abbas, Chabahar is the Iranian entre port on the North-South corridor. A strategic partnership between India, Iran and Russia is intended to establish a multi-modal transport link connecting Mumbai with St Petersburg, providing Europe and the former Soviet republics of Central Asia access to Asia and vice versa.

Iran’s cultural role in India revolves around the Shia clergy inside India the ruling establishment in India is well aware of and even silently endorses it.A growing number of Iranian students are enrolled at universities in India. Iran today expects India to stand strong and resist US pressures in its own long term interests. There can be several areas of investments for India, as in transport, IT, pharma, biotech, etc. People to people cooperation are possible immensely in cinema, culture, education, tourism, etc.

Way Ahead

The future of India-Iran relations looks positive. India has been successfully able to withstand the US pressure and continues to trade with Iran despite US sanctions. Where this has enabled India to fulfil its key energy and trade requirements, Iran sees relations with India as significant since it has helped Iran offset US Sanctions.

Indo-Iran relations can only progress if they are delinked from Western interests in the region and are developed purely in the economic, socio-cultural and geo-strategic interests of Iran and India. Indian government has recently given a list of 120 items that Iran can import from India, sanctions notwithstanding. And India cannot ignore the crude oil and gas imports from Iran, more so in an election year. Further, the historical context and hence the possibilities of people-to-people relations are an icing on the cake.