PYQ Vault · Paper 2 · South Asia: Regionalism, SAARC & BIMSTEC
Discuss the strategic implications of India’s ‘Look East Policy’ transforming into ‘Act East Policy’.
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
eastern policy becomes Indo-Pacific policy — Bay of Bengal as shared security space — BIMSTEC past SAARC'’s paralysis, Pakistan marginalised — Sittwe against Chinese ports — but acting needs ground India does not control — Raja Mohan on slow implementation, weak connectivity — Kaladan + trilateral highway stalled, June 2026 — corridors cross an unsettled Northeast
Body flow
the reorientation itself is real, not rhetoric — what is contested is conversion: trade review open since 2023, and the 2026 regional survey puts distrust above trust in the four maritime states India courts most – reach outrunning delivery
Counter-view
ayia eile &! frame widened, delivery has yet to catch up R2 the verb sigs Changed before the capacity did — Act East reads India’s interests correctly and still awaits the means to serve them
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
