PYQ Vault · Paper 2 · India & South Asia — Part 1
China’s growing footprint and a tangible shift in power dynamics in Bangladesh has weakened India’s leverage in Dhaka. 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
R1 Doval: most important neighbour — showcase of Neighbourhood First → China has not displaced the record, only ended India’s monopoly as Dhaka's option R2 statement locates the cause outside — leverage has thinned, but the opening was made at home
Body flow
) China’s advantage is procedural → firms indifferent to profit / no conditions on transparency or reform / faster decisions than India manages — Bajpai: disinterested neighbour vs big brother India — dependency theory: reliance as structural inequality, Chinese finance loosens it → India’s own unfinished business → 54 rivers, only two agreements — Teesta framework falls 2011 to West Bengal — Rahman: impasse undermines trust — credit lines and project delivery lagging
Counter-view
erosion is partial → transit dependence runs both ways → land boundary settled, maritime award accepted in Dhaka’s favour
Conclusion routes
fonclusion routes ) R1 what thinned is goodwill, not primacy → Sabharwal: fulfil commitments, expedite projects R2 leverage in Dhaka was never coercive — it returns through delivery, not pressure
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
