PYQ Vault · Paper 2 · Recent Developments in Foreign Policy — Part 2
Critically examine the continuity and change in India’s Palestine policy in the wake of the ongoing Israel- Hamas War.
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
PRI war didn’t break the policy — exposed two layers already there (declared position stable / weight + method moving) continuity in the two-state creed — change in how far India will spend on it — moral solidarity to interest-led balancing
Body flow
Continuity: anti-colonial ethos / Gandhi 1938 — PLO 1974 — State of Palestine 1988 — two-state / pre-1967 / East Jerusalem — aid + hospital + scholarships through the war — Oct-2023 formula (condemn terror + concern for civilians) — Change: 1992 Israel opening + post-Oslo — “symbolic not substantive” — de- hyphenation (Modi 2017) — uneven voting (Dec-2024 yes — June- 2025 abstain / Asia outlier) — legal caution (out of Genocide proceedings while Bhandari sits with the ICJ majority) — refusal to ban Hamas
Counter-view
the multi-alignment debate — Pant (balance = essence of influence) vs Mattoo (autonomy a stress test) + dependence read vs D’Souza (holds, but nears its limit if war drags)
Conclusion routes
PRI creed survived, will to spend political capital has not — hedged instrument of a multipolar strategy | R2 | two-state principle intact, effort behind it visibly lighter
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
