India’s External Relations Test - 1

India made earnest efforts for the early realisation of the freedom of Indonesia from the Dutch colonial regime by convening an international conference in 1949 to support its freedom struggle. 

When Communist China conducted nuclear tests in October 1964, the five nuclear weapon powers, the US, USSR, UK, France, and China (Taiwan then represented China)  – also the five Permanent Members of the UN Security Council – tried to impose the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1968 on the rest of the world. 

Under his leadership, India convened the Asian Relations Conference in March 1947, five months ahead of attaining its independence.

The AfroAsian conference held in the Indonesian city of Bandung in 1955, commonly known as the Bandung Conference, marked the zenith of India’s engagement with the newly independent Asian and African nations.

The 1950s and 1960s saw the emergence of the Cold War that is power rivalries and ideological conflicts between the USA and the USSR, with both countries creating military alliances. Hence statement 1 is correct.

NAM was equally important for India and the majority of African nations determined to pursue an independent foreign policy, especially against the backdrop of the bipolar Cold War world. Hence statement 2 is correct.

India tried to persuade China to recognise Tibet’s claims for independence. When the Panchsheel Agreement was signed between India and China in 1954, through one of its clauses about respecting each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, India conceded China’s claim over Tibet.

In the 1977 general election, the party defeated the Congress and Janata leader Morarji Desai became the first non-Congress prime minister in independent modern India's history.

1. NAM has played an active role in preserving world peace.

2. It stands with this principle and proved its repeated relevance with the idea of preserving the independence of every nation.

3. NAM acted as a protector for small countries against Western hegemony.

4. It can act as a bridge between the political and ideological differences existing in the international environment.

The founders of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) were Jawaharlal Nehru of India, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Nasser of Egypt, Sukarno of Indonesia, and Tito of Yugoslavia. The NAM consists of 120 countries, 17 states as observers, and 10 observe organisations.

Apartheid is an Afrikaan word. It denotes a state of apartness, segregation, or separation among different races, believing in the ideology that racial differences are fundamental and different races should be uplifted socially, economically, and politically.