NCERT Solutions For Class 12 Political Science Part 2 Chapter 4 – India’s External Relations

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110. Write ‘true’ or ‘false’ against each of these statements.

(a) Non-alignment allowed India to gain assistance both from USA and USSR.

Ans. True

(b) India’s relationship with her neighbours has been strained from the beginning.

Ans. False

(c) The cold war has affected the relationship between India and Pakistan.

Ans. True

(d) The treaty of Peace and Friendship in 1971 was the result of India’s closeness to USA.

Ans. False

111. Match the following:


(a) The goal of India’s foreign policy in the period 1950-1954	(i) Tibetan spiritual leader who crossed over to India.
(b) Panchsheel	(ii) Preservation of territorial integrity, sovereignty and economic development.
(c) Bandung Conference	(iii) Five principles of peaceful coexistence
(d) Dalai Lama	(iv) Led to the establishment of NAM

Ans. (a) (ii), (b) (iii), c (iv), (d) (i)

112. Why did Nehru regard conduct of foreign relations as an essential indicator of independence? State any two reasons with examples to support your reading.

Ans. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Prime Minister of India and apart from this he was also the first foreign minister of India:

There were three major objectives of his foreign policy. His first objective was to preserve the sovereignty of India.
The second objective of Nehru was to ensure the territorial integrity of India and the third was to bring rapid economic development in India. These three visions guided his foreign policies.
For achieving these policies Nehru choose the path of Non-Alignment. He did not joined any of the capitalist and communist blocs.
Nehru wanted to pursue his vision of peaceful world and wanted to remain away from the cold war rivalries of the US and USSR.

113. “The conduct of foreign affairs is an outcome of a two-way interaction between domestic compulsions and prevailing international climate”. Take one example from India’s external relations in the 1960s to substantiate your answer.

Ans. It is correct to say that domestic complusion and prevailing international climate influence the foreign policy of a nation. For example- One of the India's objective in the 1960s was the rapid economic development and alleviation of poverty. It needed financial and technical assistance for rapid industrialisation. Thus, India followed a policy of non-alignment and did not join any bloc. India, therefore, was able to get assistance from both the blocs.

Similarly internation climate influences India's external relation. In 1962, China had invaded India and in 1965 there was a war with Pakistan who was an ally of the US. This led to India's growing partnership with the Soviet Union. After 1965 war, the Tashkent Agreement was brokered by the Soviet Union in January 1966.

114. Identify any two aspects of India’s foreign policy that you would like to retain and two that you would like to change, if you were to become a decision maker. Give reasons to support your position.

Ans. Two policies I would like to retain:

There is main focus on ensuring the national integration of the nation. All the states should have a national identity despite having disputes among each other.
The international boundaries of the nation should be ensured proper safety by deployment of forces.
The national interest should guide the foreign policy of India. This is a general trend which is followed by almost every party in power.

The policies I would like to change:

India should enhance its status at the international stage by making efforts to become the permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
India should increase its economic influence at the international level by enhancing its trade with the other nations of the world.

115. Write short notes on the following:

(a) India’s Nuclear policy

(b) Consensus in foreign policy matters

Ans. (a) India conducted nuclear tests in the year 1998 and declared itself as a nuclear power.

India has made the declaration for “no first use” treaty. Under this India will not use a nuclear weapon at first place and will also not use against a nation which do not possess nuclear power.
India has shown its commitment towards a just and non-discriminatory nuclear disarmament to make this world nuclear weapons free.

(b) Some of the areas on which there is general consensus among all parties are:

There is main focus on ensuring the national integration of the nation. All the states should have a national identity despite having disputes among each other.
The international boundaries of the nation should be ensured proper safety by deployment of forces.
The national interest should guide the foreign policy of India. This is a general trend which is followed by almost every party in power.

116. India’s foreign policy was built around the principles of peace and cooperation. But India fought three wars in a space of ten years between 1962 and 1971. Would you say that this was a failure of the foreign policy? Or would you say that this was a result of international situation? Give reasons to support your answer.

Ans. This was not a failure of the foreign policy but these wars were result of international situation.

The reason for these war were as given below:

India had outstanding dispute with China in the Aksai-chin area and NEFA. In 1962 when the Luban-Missile crisis had drawn the attention of the whole world. China found an opportunity to invade India. This led to war between India and China.
In 1965, these was war with Pakistan over Kasmir issue. Pakistan hoped that India had already been defeated by China, it would be easy to defeat India again.
This however, did not happen and India defeated Pakistan.
The third war in 1971 was involved about the question of East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, where people were fighfing a freedom struggle against Pakistan rulers so this was a result of internal conflict of Pakistan and not the faiture of India's foreign policy.

117. Does India’s foreign policy reflect her desire to be an important regional power? Argue your case with the Bangladesh war of 1971 as an example.

Ans. India is one of the most important nations in Asia. It is also very big and powerful as compared to its neighbors. However India do not undermine the status of any nation and act only when the situation goes out of control. We can see this with the example of Bangladesh.

India made all diplomatic efforts to avoid full scale war but that were not successful and ultimately the war started between the two nations in the month of December.
There was an attack from the Pakistan air force on the lands of Punjab and Rajasthan. On the other hand the Pakistan army attacked the regions of Jammu and Kashmir.
There was strong retaliation from the Indians on the Western and Eastern front of the border. Indians make use of the army, navy and air force to counter the attacks of the Pakistan.
The Indian army also received support from the local population due to which it was able to make the Pakistan army surrender within ten days.
There was 90,000 Pakistani soldiers that surrendered to the Indian army. East Pakistan was declared independent and it became the Bangladesh.

118. How does political leadership of a nation affect its foreign policy? Explain this with the help of examples from India’s foreign policy.

Ans. The foreign policy is shaped by the political leadership. However some of the areas like national interest and protection of borders remain constant for every political party. The first foreign policy of India was designed by Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. We can see the highlights of his policy.

Nehru’s first objective was to preserve the sovereignty of India. His second objective was to ensure the territorial integrity of India and the third was to bring rapid economic development in India. These three visions guided his foreign policies. For achieving these policies Nehru choose the path of Non-Alignment. He did not joined any of the capitalist and communist blocs. Nehru wanted to pursue his vision of peaceful world and wanted to remain away from the cold war rivalries of the US and USSR. In his policy of Non-Alignment Nehru received support from several other nations who have been sufferer of the imperial policies of the West. Some of the nations were Ghana, Egypt and Yugoslavia.

119. Read this passage and answer the questions below:

“Broadly, non-alignment means not tying yourself off with military blocs….It means trying to view things, as far as possible, not from the military point of view, though that has to come in sometimes, but independently, and trying to maintain friendly relations with all countries.” — Jawaharlal Nehru

(a) Why does Nehru want to keep off military blocs?
(b) Do you think that the Indo-Soviet friendship treaty violated the principle of non-alignment? Give reasons for your answer.
(c) If there were no military blocs, do you think non-alignment would have been unnecessary?

Ans. (a) Nehru did not joined any of the capitalist and communist blocs. Nehru wanted to pursue his vision of peaceful world and wanted to remain away from the cold war rivalries of the US and USSR.
(b) I don’t think that Indo-Soviet friendship treaty violated the principle of nonalignment. During this time the USA and other western nations was showing support to the Pakistan. India needed the support of a powerful nation to protect its national as well as international interest.
(c) In the absence of ideological drift there would have been no necessity of the nonalignment movement. India would have shown cooperation with all the nations and seek their development goals easily.