Topics
The World since 1991
Key Concepts and Issues since 1991: Globalisation
Key Concepts and Issues since 1991: Humanitarian Issues
Contemporary India: Challenges to Peace, Stability and National Integration
Contemporary India: Good Governance
India and the World
Notes
Africa in the Indian World View:
Africa, in the Indian world view of the fifties and early sixties, focused on support for anti-colonial and national liberation struggles and the question of the Indian diaspora. India supported the fight against apartheid, also provided financial and material aid to liberation struggles in Africa through multilateral agencies. The Action for Resisting Invasion, Colonialism and Apartheid Fund (AFRICA Fund) created at the Nonaligned Summit at Harare also helped African countries.
There are several issues and opportunities in the context of India’s relations with Africa:
- In the changing world order of the 1990s demands for energy security have come to dominate the world today. Currently, about 24 percent of Indian crude oil imports are sourced from the African continent. Indian oil companies are also investing in assets in the region. ONGC Videsh (OVL) has invested in Sudan and Egypt, ONGC-Mittal Energy Ltd. has sought ties in Nigeria, Reliance is negotiating with Nigeria, Angola, Chad, Cameroon, and Congo.
- Indian industry has now started to take interest in Africa. Indian industries are likely to offer technological and material services to the developing countries of Africa.
- The third concern is that of the Indian diaspora in Africa which is approximately two million people in Eastern and Southern Africa which are also now considered an asset by the Indian government.
- There is a concern about the peace and security of the Indian Ocean area. Countries from Somalia to South Africa fall under the Indian maritime strategic perspective. The increasing cases of piracy in Somalian waters as also the problem of terrorism has made this region sensitive to Indian concerns.
- India continues to be one of the destinations for military training in its Defence Establishments including the National Defence Academy, Pune (where the main building ‘Sudan Block’ is a symbol of cooperation between Sudan and India), the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun and the Staff College at Wellin
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