Non Aligned Movement(NAM)

News:Vice-President of India will represent India at the 18th Non Aligned Movement(NAM) summit in Baku,Azerbaijan marking the second time that Indian PM will skip the summit.

Facts:

About NAM:

• The concept of Non Aligned Movement(NAM) originated in 1955 at the Asia-Africa Bandung Conference held in Indonesia.
• The NAM was formed after the Second World War by countries that did not seek to formally align themselves with either the United States or the Soviet Union but sought to remain independent or neutral.
• The first NAM Summit Conference took place in Belgrade,Yugoslavia in 1961.
• The NAM was created by the heads of Yugoslavia, India, Egypt, Ghana and Indonesia.
• It consists of 120 members states.There are 17 countries and 10 international organizations that are Observers at NAM.

India and NAM:

• India has been one of the leaders of the movement since the beginning of NAM.
• NAM had played an important role during the Cold War years in furthering many of the causes that India advocated like Decolonisation, End to apartheid, Global nuclear disarmament among others.
• But it could not prevent India-Pakistan and Indo-China wars.During the war, NAM members adopted diplomatic positions that were not favourable towards or supportive of India.

Relevance of NAM:

• According to the critics, NAM is no longer relevant because of the changed international environment from bi-polar to unipolar and now multi polar.
• Emergence of new regional groupings like the G20, BRICS which have clearly laid down scope and objective of engagement and outcome overshadows NAM.
• Most of the NAM countries are facing domestic political, social and economic crisis.