India and its Neighbourhood: Neighbourhood First, Pakistan, Afghanistan

The India–Afghanistan air freight corridor, agreed in September 2016, was inaugurated on 19 June 2017 when the first cargo flight from Kabul, carrying about 60 tonnes of goods including medicinal plants such as asafoetida, landed in New Delhi. Its purpose was to give landlocked Afghanistan's exporters, especially of fresh and dry fruit and herbs, quick access to Indian markets while bypassing Pakistan, which does not allow overland transit of goods between India and Afghanistan across its territory. It complemented the sea–land route through Chabahar in Iran rather than replacing any road. It was a commercial corridor, not a defence supply line.

The Tashkent Declaration was signed on 10 January 1966 after the 1965 war. The Simla Agreement followed on 2 July 1972 after the 1971 war. The Lahore Declaration was signed on 21 February 1999 during Prime Minister Vajpayee's bus journey to Lahore. The Agra Summit between Vajpayee and General Pervez Musharraf took place in July 2001 and ended without a joint declaration. So the order is 2-4-1-3.

Statement 1 is correct: the Agreement on Strategic Partnership, signed in New Delhi on 4 October 2011 by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Hamid Karzai, was reported as the first strategic partnership agreement Afghanistan signed with any country. Statement 2 is correct: in its political and security pillar, India agreed to assist, as mutually determined, in the training, equipping and capacity-building programmes for the Afghan National Security Forces. Statement 3 is wrong: the agreement did not replace the Treaty of Friendship of 4 January 1950; on the contrary, it reaffirmed the 1950 treaty as the basis of the relationship. The agreement also covered trade, capacity development and people-to-people ties. Hence 1 and 2 only.

Operation Maitri (April 2015) was India's rescue and relief mission after the Nepal earthquake. Operation Neer (December 2014) supplied drinking water to Male when a fire disabled its desalination plant. Operation Brahma (March–April 2025) delivered relief after the 28 March 2025 earthquake in Myanmar. Operation Cactus (November 1988), however, was the military operation that foiled a coup attempt in the Maldives, not Sri Lanka. Hence three rows are correct.

Statement 1 is correct: in its reply to Lok Sabha (Q. 262, 13 December 2024) the MEA called the Neighbourhood First policy 'consultative, non-reciprocal and outcome- oriented', focused on connectivity, development assistance and capacity building. Statement 2 is correct: the MEA's Myanmar brief says India engages Myanmar under both its 'Act East' and 'Neighbourhood First' policies, since Myanmar is the only ASEAN country adjoining India. Statement 3 is wrong: it contradicts the non-reciprocal character of the policy. Hence 1 and 2 only.

Statement 1 is correct: Sri Lanka's Department of Commerce records that the proposal to liberalise trade among SAARC members was first mooted by Sri Lanka at the Sixth SAARC Summit in Colombo in December 1991. SAPTA was meant as the first step towards a South Asian Free Trade Area. Statement 2 is wrong: SAPTA was signed in Dhaka on 11 April 1993, but it entered into force only on 7 December 1995, after the members had ratified it. It exchanged tariff concessions product by product on a positive list, and was later overtaken by SAFTA, whose trade liberalisation programme aims to bring tariffs down to 0–5 per cent. Statement 3 is correct: SATIS, which carries SAARC's agenda from goods to services, was signed at the Sixteenth Summit in Thimphu on 29 April 2010. Hence 1 and 3 only.

The Gujral Doctrine, set out by I.K. Gujral as External Affairs Minister and later Prime Minister, had five principles. The first was non-reciprocity towards Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka, so statement 1 is correct and statement 2 is wrong: Pakistan was deliberately left out of that list. The others were: no use of one's territory against another country of the region (statement 3), non-interference in internal affairs, respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, and settlement of disputes through peaceful bilateral negotiations (statement 4). Hence three statements are correct.

Statement-I is correct: the MEA's SAARC brief (June 2026) records that the 19th Summit, to be hosted by Pakistan in 2016, has not taken place, and the 18th Summit at Kathmandu (November 2014) remains the last one held. Statement-II is correct: after the September 2016 Uri attack, India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan informed Nepal, then SAARC Chair, that they could not attend, and the Summit was postponed. Because SAARC decides by unanimity and half its members stayed away, the Summit could not go ahead, so Statement-II explains Statement-I.