PYQ Vault · Paper 2 · India & the Global South
Discuss the major drivers of India’s interests in Africa.
How the answer moves
The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.
Flow snapshot — how the answer moves
Intro routes
R!_ policy born political: decolonisation, anti-apartheid solidarity, AFRICA Fund — drivers now generated at home R2 Africa as an input into India’s own transformation → every major interest traces to a domestic need energy first (Nigeria, Angola, Algeria vs Gulf dependence; Xavier — a third of African lines of credit, 2004-13, to energy) > search widens to critical minerals (Gurjit Singh — electric mobility, semiconductors, defence rest on cobalt /copper/manganese) > market (trade near $100 bn; Bhatia — 2030 target of $200 bn against a decade of sharp fluctuation) → security follows commerce (Xavier — East African coast inside India’s Indian Ocean interest: sea lanes, investment, diaspora; piracy → net security provider) > AIKEYME 2025 gives it operational form — diplomatic weight (50+ African votes on UNSC and WTO reform) → China competition in third spaces sets the pace
Body flow
drivers do not convert on their own – Singh's paradox: Indian- origin firms in African copper, cobalt, tantalum, output moves to China > fragmented engagement against an integrated state- backed system
Counter-view
R1 the drivers are Indian needs, which is itself the risk > Vaidyanathan: move beyond extraction-led engagement to co- developer R2 interest matures into partnership only when
Conclusion routes
African priorities count as drivers too
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
