PYQ Vault · Paper 2 · India & the Non-Aligned Movement
‘Non-alignment’ has been the basic principle of India’s foreign policy since independence. Discuss its relevance in the contemporary context.
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 non-alignment # neutrality → Nehru’s “best judgment” → blocs ruled out, engagement not → relevance judged on two tracks: principle + movement R2 Belgrade 1961, 25 states, bipolar setting → that setting gone → question is which part of non-alignment has dated bipolar order gone + movement weakened (over 120 members, scattered priorities, no permanent secretariat, PM absent from summits) → principle outlives institution → Saran: principles still govern Indian foreign policy → Sreenivasan: core = freedom of judgment and action = strategic autonomy → multi-alignment in practice: Quad + BRICS + SCO, no binding alliance
Body flow
sceptics go further → Raja Mohan: meaning lost even before the Cold War ended → Karnad: revival questionable in an order driven by material power
Counter-view
R1 movement needs reform, policy has already adapted → Sood: “not an abandonment, but a reinterpretation” → each issue judged on own interest R2 relevance now sits in strategic autonomy plus a collective voice for the Global South → survives by redefinition and reform, not by attendance
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
