PYQ Vault · Paper 2 · India & the Global Centres of Power — Part 1
“India and USA have become such strong strategic partners that they need not become formal allies.” Comment.
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
routes support is owed > treatment of an ally without the status of one R2 claim right about where the partnership stands — wrong about why alliance stays away — obligation is the price India will not pay
Body flow
partnership delivers most of what alliance would — GSOMIA / LEMOA / COMCASA / BECA → interoperability without Article-5 > ten-year Framework, Oct 2025 → what alliance adds is obligation > freedom of manoeuvre + non-aligned record — Parpiani and Pant, autonomy through partnerships > Jaishankar, partner not subordinate ally
Counter-view
Counter- the design has a price 2025 tariffs at fifty per cent, half for view — Russian oil-> framework signed while tariffs stood > February 2026 reset to eighteen – Pant and Bommakanti, 2026 NDS silent on India and the Quad
Conclusion routes
Conclusion _R1 alliance would not have stopped the tariffs + a burden-shifting routes Washington promises little more R2 India’s reply was capability and hedging, not a treaty — deep in capability, shallow in obligation, both prefer it there
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
