Question

Elaborate India's relations with Super powers

1. The USA
2. The USSR

Answer 1

India has established relations with nearly all the countries in the world. It is not necessary, nor possible, to have equally good or close relations with all countries. With some countries, the relations are closer or better than with some others

1. The USA - Relations between India and the United States were cordial when India became independent. US President F.D. Roosevelt had supported the case of India’s independence during his negotiations for the Atlantic Charter with the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. However, India and the United States had quite different views of events during the Cold War. As a result, relations between the two remained estranged for most of the Cold War period. India’s independent position on the crises in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, and its criticism of American intervention in Vietnam, were some reasons for the American displeasure. On the other hand, the American 62 position on the Kashmir dispute was a constant irritation for India. Since the 1970s, America’s close relations with Pakistan and China created problems for India. When the Cold War ended and the Soviet Union disintegrated, the relations between India and the United States did not improve immediately. The United States brought pressure on the new state of Russia to stop the supply of space technology to India. Following India’s second nuclear test in 1998, the United States imposed sanctions on India.
2. The USSR - Relationship with the Soviet Union was perhaps the most enduring relationship of India during the Cold War period. Soviet Union provided aid in the form of technology and low-interest credit to India’s heavy industry projects in the public sector. It also provided major weapons to the Indian defence forces and made agreements for licensed-production of some of these weapons in India. Indo-Soviet Friendship Treaty of 1971 was an important milestone in the bilateral relations. During the first few years after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, relations between India and the new state of Russia were not good. They began to improve in the late 1990s. Russia made agreements for a joint venture to produce Sukhoi fighter aircraft and Brahmos missiles. It also agreed to provide reactors for India’s Kudankulam nuclear power plant. Russia sold its aircraft carrier “Admiral Gorshkov” to India, which is now known as “INS Vikramaditya”.Transfer of Russian weapons systems to India continues to be the main foundation of bilateral relations. Besides, both countries have major stakes in Russian oil fields such Sakhalin-1 highlighting importance of energy security.