PYQ Vault · Paper 2 · India & the Global Centres of Power — Part 1

Explain the significance of Basic Exchange and Co- operation Agreement (BECA) for Indo-US strategic relations.

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

Route 1 Oct 2020, third 2+2 → last of the four → GSOMIA, LEMOA, COMCASA complete

Route 2 NGA to MoD → partnership shifts from selling platforms to sharing the data they run on

Body flow

content: geomagnetic/gravity, charts, imagery, high-quality GPS → navigation + precision targeting → Oct 2025 ten-year framework → co-production in surveillance, undersea domain awareness → hinge: access ≠ capability

Counter-view

Sinha: no obligation to supply, nothing on Pakistan, China depends on the administration → March 2026 imagery halt → India announces its own Defence Geospatial Agency

Conclusion routes

Route 1 capability + interoperability without a duty to defend → entente, not alliance

Route 2 Pant: 2026 US defence strategy does not name India → better eyes, borrowed, not India’s own

Model answer

Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.

Handwritten model answer — UPSC PSIR 2022, India & the Global Centres of Power — Part 1