Basics of Indian Foreign Policy: From non-alignment to strategic autonomy

'The India Way: Strategies for an Uncertain World' (2020) by S. Jaishankar argues that India should 'engage America, manage China, cultivate Europe, reassure Russia', a statement of multi-alignment. 'Why Bharat Matters' is his later book (2024). 'Choices' is by Shivshankar Menon, and 'Nonalignment 2.0' (2012) is a report by independent analysts.

ITEC was instituted by a decision of the Union Cabinet on 15 September 1964, and that date is observed as ITEC Day by Indian missions. It is run by the Development Partnership Administration of the MEA and offers training, expert services and project assistance to partner countries.

As described by the MEA and RIS, the Global Development Compact works through trade for development, capacity building, technology sharing, project-specific concessional finance and grants, all based on partner countries' own priorities. It is explicitly framed to keep partners free of adverse conditionalities, so item 4 is not a modality.

Resolutions 3201 (S-VI) and 3202 (S-VI) of 1 May 1974, adopted at the Sixth Special Session, set out the NIEO Declaration and Programme of Action. The Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States is resolution 3281 (XXIX), adopted by the General Assembly on 12 December 1974, not at UNCTAD-I in 1964. So only statement 1 is correct.

The first VOGSS (12-13 January 2023) was held virtually during India's G20 Presidency with the theme 'Unity of Voice, Unity of Purpose'. The third summit (17 August 2024, also virtual) saw the PM propose the Global Development Compact. The summits have been virtual, not physical, so statement 1 is wrong. The DAKSHIN Centre of Excellence at RIS grew out of the second summit.

The G-77 was born on 15 June 1964 when seventy-seven developing countries signed the Joint Declaration at the close of UNCTAD-I in Geneva. Its first Ministerial Meeting at Algiers (October 1967) adopted the Charter of Algiers. The name stayed for history, but membership grew far beyond 77, so statement 1 is wrong.

The IBSA Fund (India, Brazil, South Africa) was set up in 2004 and became operational in 2006; the UN Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) is its fund manager and secretariat. The India-UN Development Partnership Fund, created in 2017, is led by India and also managed by UNOSSC. Both statements are correct.

Statement 1 is correct: the resolution of 16 April 1999 recites that the Government had set up a Task Force under K.C. Pant in April 1998 to work out the constitution, role and functions of a National Security Council, and that its recommendations were considered before the NSC was constituted with the Prime Minister as Chairman and the Ministers of Home, Defence, External Affairs and Finance among its members. Statement 2 is wrong: the same resolution makes the Strategic Policy Group the principal mechanism for inter-ministerial coordination, but it is chaired by the Cabinet Secretary, not the NSA; its members include the three Service Chiefs, the Foreign Secretary and the RBI Governor. Statement 3 is correct: the National Security Advisory Board, approved in December 1998, consists of a Convenor and other persons of eminence outside the Government with expertise in foreign affairs, defence, economics and related fields. The NSA functions as the channel for servicing the Council and is described by PIB as its Secretary.