Policy Watch: India’s Place in the World – May 2020

This issue of Policy Watch is on the theme India’s Place in the World and it focuses on the first sub-theme – India’s Neighbours – China, SAARC and ASEAN – Trade, Investment and Cultural Relations, with three articles on China, one on SAARC and two on Bangladesh.

The first article on China is an interview with Dr. Santosh Mehrotra, Professor of Economics at JNU, in which he discusses how starting 1978, when India’s per capita income was higher than China’s, India steadily lost ground. He links it to the economic policies adopted by China and the adroit political management of the transformation of the Chinese economy. This article is reproduced courtesy Mr. Anil Nair of The Policy Circle.

The second article summarizes a year-long study by RGICS Senior Visiting Fellow Mona Dikshit on China and India’s trade and investment relationship, particularly the way forward. She concludes that despite the geo-political rivalry between the two countries, India and China will see increasing levels of bilateral trade and investment.

The third piece is an excerpt from Manoj Kewalramani’s Eye on China, courtesy The Takshashila Institution, which describes the ongoing tensions on the India-China border in eastern Ladakh, and delves into the background issues behind these tensions.

Prof. Partha Ghosh, formerly Professor of South Asian Studies at JNU and now a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Social Science, writes on SAARC and traces out the unenviable track record of this formation, which he says is marred by strategic incongruity and power asymmetry. He ends by suggesting a possible way to make the formation more effective.

We carry three articles from Bangladesh:

1. The first by Prof. Rashid Titumir of Dhaka University on how the COVID crisis is impacting this neighbor of ours

2. The second, specially written for Policy Watch by Mr. Humayun Kabir, Secretary for International Affairs, National Executive Committee, BNP, on *Where do Bangladesh-India relations sit post-COVID-19?*

3. The last article is an assessment of the impact of COVID on the macro-economic as well as the household micro-economy of Bangladesh, put together by Feisal Hussain of Nathan and Think Ahead Consulting.

The issue presents a comprehensive look at India’s regional relationships through these carefully curated perspectives.