The Hindu Editorial : For India, It should Be Neighbourhood First

Title: For India, it should be neighborhood first

(While other geopolitical issues are important, New Delhi must give South Asia its fullest attention)

• As India’s salience in global matters grows amply demonstrated recently by the presence of 10 leaders from the ASEAN at India’s Republic Day celebrations, the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to India, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s latest forays to the UAE, Oman and Palestine its leaders also need to contemplate and reflect deeply on what is happening in India’s immediate neighbourhood.

• Far more than East, South-east Asia, or West Asia, it is India’s immediate neighbourhood that directly impacts it geopolitically, geo-strategically and geoeconomically

INDIA-ASEAN

• It was urged to play a pro-active role in the Asia-Pacific region, without needing to take hard decisions.

• India can even afford to skirt the issue as to whether ASEANIndia relations are all embracing in nature or limited only to specific aspects.

INDIA - WEST ASIA

•India could, thus, successfully handle an Israeli Prime Minister’s visit to India just prior to Mr. Modi’s visit to Palestine, and yet avoid a negative fallout.

• It could also separate the technological “blush” of Mr. Netanyahu’s visit without having to take a clear stand on the issue of Jerusalem. Likewise, Mr. Modi, during his Palestine visit could conclude as many as six agreements and express the hope that Palestine would soon emerge as a sovereign independent country in a peaceful manner without having to specifically refer to a “united” and “viable” Palestine.

• With the UAE and Oman, things have been easier. With the former, trade and economic ties as also counter-terror aspects have been on a growth curve.

It is in South Asia where troubles are mounting, where India cannot succeed without looking at some hard options.

How to deal with a new government in Nepal.

• India also needs to now contemplate the prospect of prolonged unrest and possibly violence, both communal and terror-related, in neighboring Bangladesh, prior to scheduled elections in 2019.

• Another and a more imminent challenge for India is to sort out the imbroglio in the Maldives which is threatening to spill out of control.

Across the border

Two other issues, viz., Pakistan and Afghanistan, similarly demand our focussed attention, and that India acts with a sense of responsibility expected of a regional superpower.

• The virtual collapse of a Pakistan policy seems to affect Pakistan less and India more.

• Afghanistan is facing a daily hemorrhaging of human lives due to cross-border firing and terrorist violence from Pakistan.

Conclusion

Today, the focus needs to be on our immediate neighborhood. The outcome of the Israel-Palestine conflict, the turmoil in the East and South China Seas, or other big-ticket issues across the world are important, but it is South Asia and the neighborhood that demands our concentrated attention. If India is not seen to be actively involved in ensuring that the region is at peace and functions in conformity with its worldview, any claims to leadership would amount to little more than treading water.

Andhra Pradesh

Write all the important facts about Andhra Pradesh.

• Rivers = Krishna, Godavri, Tungabhadra

• National Parks = Mrugvani

• Border states = Telangana, Odisha, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu

• State symbols = Blackbuck, Indian Roller, water Lilly, Neem

• Dams = Srisailam Dam, Kalyani Dam, Somasila Dam, Nagarjuna Sagar Dam

Vocabulary :
Salience (noun) = The quality of being particularly noticeable or important (प्रमुखता )

Amply (adv) = Enough, plentifully ( बहुतायात से)

Contemplate (verb) = Look thoughtfully, inspect (विचार करना)

Vicinity (noun) = Neighbourhood, the area near a particular place (आस-पास)

Ambit (noun) = The scope, extent of something (सीमा)

Commemorative (adj) = Memorial (स्मरणीय)

Quadrilateral (noun) = A four sided figure ( चतुष्कोष)

Skirt (verb) = Avoid dealing with (बाज़ रहना)

Embrace (verb) = Accept willingly and enthusiastically (संवमवित करना)

Leeway (noun) = Freedom (छूट)

Manoeuvre (noun) = Manipulation, exercise (पैंतरेबाज़ी)

Contentious (adj) = Controversial, disputable (वििादास्पद)

Pretension (noun) = Aspiration, profession (अविमान)

Imminent (adj) = About to happen (वनकटस्थ)

Imbroglio (noun) = Complication, complexity (उिझन)

Dissimulation (noun) = Misrepresentation (ढोंग)

Muster (verb) = Assemble, especially for inspection (बैठक)

Overture (noun) = An introduction to something more substantial (पहि)

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