Indian parliament discusses significance of Neighborhood First Policy

In 2014, when Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasized on the effective implementation of Neighborhood First Policy. Over the past 10 years, it has emerged as a central pillar of India’s overall policy when dealing with its neighbors including Nepal. 

The Indian parliament’s external affairs committee has conducted an in-depth study on the implementation of the policy after consultations with the Ministry of External Affairs and experts, and its report highlights immediate neighbors as “the first circle of priority” in India’s relation with the world. The report also recommends all ministries and departments to approach their engagements with the neighboring countries with a proactive perspective.

According to the committee, the Neighborhood First Policy over the years has achieved benefits like greater regional connectivity, improved infrastructures, stronger development cooperation in various sectors. It has also urged the Ministry of External Affairs to ensure that development projects undertaken in the neighborhood are executed on time by strengthening the joint project monitoring committees and oversight mechanism for monitoring the progress of various development assistance projects.

Only successful implementation of the policy, the report says, requires concerted efforts such as timely execution of development projects and enhancing mutually beneficial cooperation.

The committee has also pointed out the lack of parliamentary exchanges between India and its neighboring countries, which is the key to effective implementation of the Neighborhood First Policy. On open borders, the committee says that anyone who has crossed the border between India’s Uttar Pradesh and Nepal or Bihar and Nepal knows that the cross-border movement is extremely difficult due to the absence of basic infrastructure.  The committee is of the view that India needs to invest massively in upgrading infrastructure—from roads to rail, from land waterways to ports, from energy and telecommunication to digital customs.

Regarding the regional organizations, the committee says that India’s engagement with its neighbors under regional frameworks— such as South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC); Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC); and Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal Motor Vehicle Agreement BBIN— is an important element of India’s Neighborhood First Policy.  

The committee has suggested the Indian government to play a more proactive role both in SAARC and BIMSTEC, and formulate a fresh strategy to keep them active and utilize them whenever the occasion arises. The Modi government, however, is not so keen to revive the SAARC process.

According to the committee’s report, SAARC has a strategic importance, so no member country should be allowed to impede its effective functioning, and that collective efforts need to be made by other member countries to thwart any attempts to destabilize it.

The Indian committee has suggested that the Indian government coordinate among the majority of the member countries ignoring one (Pakistan), so that regional cooperation under SAARC is not hampered due to the lack of the response from one country. 

Addressing the parliament, Union Minister of State for External Affairs Raj Kumar Ranjan Singh recently informed the Indian parliament that India accorded utmost importance to expanding connectivity in its neighborhood and beyond, encompassing all elements of physical, cultural economic and people-to-people linkages. 

India’s Act East Policy, Neighborhood First Policy, Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) and BIMSTEC have strengthened connectivity in the region, he added.

Singh said some of the key connectivity initiatives between India and its neighbors include the BBIN; the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway Initiative; Chabahar Agreement between India, Iran and Afghanistan;, and Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor. 

Through Neighborhood First Policy, connectivity, commerce, culture and people-to-people, Singh claimed that linkages with India’s neighbors have been improved.

The Indian parliamentary committee has observed that India’s relations with Nepal have expanded to new initiatives in agriculture, inland waterways, and power sector cooperation.  The Inland waterways between two countries with multi-modal transportation routes via Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh was announced in 2019. Two of the terminals at Varanasi and Sahibgunj have already been completed and work is underway to complete the remaining terminals.

Highlights of the report

 

• India’s bilateral relations with Nepal have expanded to new initiatives in agriculture, inland waterways, and power sector cooperation. The ‘India Nepal New Partnership’ in Agriculture, which focuses on collaborative projects in agriculture education and R&D, was launched in April 2018.

 

• The Inland waterways connectivity between India and Nepal with four multi-modal transportation routes via Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh was announced in 2019. Two of the terminals at Varanasi and Sahibgunj have already been completed and work is underway for the completion of remaining terminals.

 

• The Indian government is in the process of upgrading India-Nepal border trade infrastructure, with an objective to reduce bottlenecks, accelerate clearances and promote the creation of regional economic hubs.

 

• In view of the importance of cross-border railway link between India and Nepal for strengthening of border infrastructure and greater people to people link, India’s parliament committee for external affairs has urged the Indian government for early operationalization of the ongoing rail link projects and completion of the feasibility study of the proposed Raxaul-Kathmandu broad gauge rail link.

 

• India’s engagement with its neighbors under regional frameworks like SAARC, BIMSTEC and BBIN is an important element of the Neighborhood First Policy.

 

• The committee believes while BIMSTEC has emerged as an important regional organization in recent years, not much progress has been made under SAARC due to hurdles created by one member state.

 

• Though SAARC has made good progress in some areas of cooperation, it has not been able to achieve its full potential as several important connectivity and trade initiatives such as SAARC Motor Vehicle Agreement, SAARC Railways Agreement, Agreement on Regional Air Services, Agreement on Trade in Services, etc. are held up since 2014 due to the lack of consensus among all member states.

 

• India should take more initiatives for elimination of destabilizing forces like terrorism, organized crime, drug trafficking, etc. in the region through collective efforts of all neighboring countries.

 

• The parliamentary committee advises the Indian government to implement the BIMSTEC Master Plan for Transport Connectivity at the earliest.

 

• The committee is of the opinion that no member country should be allowed to impede the effective functioning of regional forums.