India & Neighbourhood (International Relations).
Syllabus: UPSC Mains GS2: India & neighbourhood, groupings, international institutions, diaspora
Indus Waters Treaty for UPSC: Indus system, eastern and western rivers, India's rights, Indus Commission, Kishenganga and Ratle, and the 2025 abeyance.
India-Pakistan relations for UPSC: Kashmir 1947, wars of 1965, 1971 and Kargil, Simla Agreement, Indus treaty in abeyance, terrorism, Pahalgam, Sindoor.
India-Nepal relations for UPSC: 1950 treaty, open border, Gorkhas, Kosi, Gandak, Mahakali treaties, hydropower trade, Kalapani-Lipulekh map row and China.
India-China relations for UPSC: 1962 war, LAC sectors, 1993-2013 border agreements, Doklam and Galwan, 2024 disengagement, trade deficit, Brahmaputra and BRI.
India-Bangladesh relations for UPSC: 1971, 2015 Land Boundary Agreement, Ganga treaty and Teesta, trade, connectivity, border, migration and post-2024 strains.
India-Sri Lanka relations for UPSC: shared history, 13th Amendment, IPKF, Katchatheevu and fishermen, China and Hambantota, 2022 crisis aid, 2025 defence pact.
On 19 October 2026 China’s Commerce Ministry announced export controls on tunnel boring machines (TBMs) and related items from 18 November, calling them clearly dual-use. India imports TBMs for metro, rail and border tunnels and has faced customs delays on Chinese machines since 2024. China also announced controls on some drones.
UPSC angle: Prelims: export control regimes, SCOMET, Wassenaar, MTCR. · Mains GS-II/III: China dependence and supply-chain resilience.
19 Oct 2026
On 19 October 2026 the Ministry of External Affairs rejected references to India in resolutions adopted at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers in Baghdad on 17–18 October. It called them ‘malicious, biased and false’, said Pakistan orchestrated them, and said the OIC has no locus standi on India’s internal matters.
UPSC angle: Prelims: OIC facts, J&K Reorganisation Act, UN Charter Article 2(7). · Mains GS-II: India, OIC and Pakistan.
19 Oct 2026
On 5 October 2026 a barge with 540 tonnes of methanol from Assam Petro-Chemicals, Namrup, left Bogibeel terminal in Dibrugarh for Dhaka. It travels about 768 km on National Waterway-2 and then the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route, about 1,300 km in all. It is the first cargo from upper Assam to a foreign port since 1947.
UPSC angle: Prelims: NW-2, IBPR, places. · Mains GS-III: inland waterways; GS-II: India-Bangladesh.
5 Oct 2026
On 23 September 2026 the Ministry of External Affairs rejected references to India in the joint communique of the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir. It said the OIC has no locus standi on matters internal to India and that J&K and Ladakh are an integral and inalienable part of India.
UPSC angle: Prelims: OIC. · Mains: India and the Islamic world.
23 Sep 2026
The 13th edition of the India-Sri Lanka bilateral maritime exercise, SLINEX-26, was held at Visakhapatnam from 17 to 21 September 2026. INS Kavaratti, an indigenous anti-submarine warfare corvette, and the fleet tanker INS Jyoti took part for India, and SLNS Sindurala for Sri Lanka. SLINEX was conceptualised in 2005.
UPSC angle: Prelims: SLINEX = Sri Lanka.
20 Sep 2026
On 16 September 2026 the MEA rejected the so-called Pakistan-China Boundary Joint Commission as having no legal basis. It said there is no boundary between Pakistan and China, the whole of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh are integral parts of India, and India has never recognised the so-called China-Pakistan Boundary Agreement of 1963.
UPSC angle: Prelims: 1963 China-Pakistan Boundary Agreement. · Mains: India's position on PoK.
16 Sep 2026