Neighbourhood First Policy

Polity & Governance glossary

Topic: India's External Relations, 1947-1999: Non-alignment, Wars and Nuclear Policy · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

Neighbourhood First Policy is India's foreign policy of giving first place to its immediate neighbours. It works through connectivity (roads, rail, ports and border posts), trade, cheap loans for projects, security cooperation and people-to-people links. The idea dates from 2008 and has been pushed strongly since 2014.

It matters because India's security, its trade routes and its competition with China all play out in South Asia first. A Parliamentary committee has said the policy's impact must be "felt on the ground".

Explanation

Roots: how earlier neighbourhood policy led to it

  • Indira Doctrine (informal, 1970s-80s): no outside power should interfere in South Asia. India treated the region as its sphere of influence (an area where one country expects the most say). People often compared it to the Monroe Doctrine.

  • It was a policy of strength, not generosity.

  • Gujral Doctrine (1996-97): India gives to smaller neighbours and accommodates them without asking for anything in return. It also stands for non-interference and settling disputes peacefully.

  • This is the closest earlier idea to Neighbourhood First.

  • Look East Policy (1991, P.V. Narasimha Rao): built ties with South-East Asia and ASEAN. It became the Act East Policy in 2014.

  • Neighbourhood First faces west and north (South Asia). Act East faces east (South-East Asia). The two meet in Myanmar, the Bay of Bengal and India's North-East.

  • Old treaties are the base it stands on: India-Bhutan Friendship Treaty (1949, revised 2007), India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship (1950) and the Ganga Waters Treaty with Bangladesh (1996).

Its main tools

  • Lines of Credit: cheap loans to neighbours for projects.
  • They grew from USD 3.3 billion in 2014 to USD 14.7 billion in 2020.

  • About 50% of India's global soft lending (loans on easy terms) goes to neighbours.

  • Connectivity: cross-border rail, roads, ports and Immigration Check Posts.

  • Example: India and Bhutan signed an MoU on 29 September 2025 for two rail links. These are Kokrajhar-Gelephu (69 km) and Banarhat-Samtse (20 km).

  • Regional groupings: SAARC summits have stalled. So India now uses BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) as its main regional platform.

  • It has 7 members: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

  • Security cooperation: India leads BIMSTEC talks on maritime security, cyber security and space. It also helps neighbours in emergencies. An early example is Operation Cactus (Maldives, 1988).

  • Cultural and spiritual diplomacy: India uses shared heritage, especially Buddhism, to build trust with Himalayan neighbours like Bhutan.

Limits and weak points

  • Slow delivery: projects are announced but often finish late.

  • The Standing Committee asked MEA to finish projects on time. It wanted regular monitoring and stronger Joint Project Monitoring Committees.

  • Treaties under strain:

  • Nepal wants the 1950 treaty revised.
  • The Ganga Waters Treaty runs out in 2026 (renewal: verify current).

  • India put the Indus Waters Treaty "in abeyance" (on hold) in April 2025 (verify current).

  • Values against interests: dealing with undemocratic neighbours, such as Myanmar's military rulers, raises a hard question. Does engagement protect India's interests, or does it reward abuse?

  • Fear of a "big brother": smaller neighbours may see Indian-led projects as India's projects rather than shared ones.

In the Constitution and practice

  • Constitutional base:
  • Article 51 (a Directive Principle, so courts cannot enforce it) asks the state to promote international peace and keep "just and honourable relations" between nations. It also asks the state to encourage settling disputes by arbitration (letting a neutral party decide).
  • Foreign affairs, war and treaties are on the Union List (entries 10-21). So only the Union deals with neighbours.
  • Article 73 gives the Union its executive power in foreign affairs.

  • Article 253 lets Parliament make laws to carry out treaties.

  • Border deals need an amendment: giving away territory needs a constitutional amendment (In re Berubari, 1960). Examples are the 9th Amendment (1960) and the 100th Amendment (2015), which carried out the land boundary deal with Bangladesh.

  • Who runs it:
  • The MEA handles the diplomacy.
  • The Ministry of Defence handles military drills.
  • The NSCS (National Security Council Secretariat) handles security dialogue.

  • In BIMSTEC, the NSCS ran the expert group that linked law-enforcement agencies. The MoD hosts the first BIMSTEC Maritime Security Exercise, held 30 October-3 November 2026.

  • Parliamentary review: the Standing Committee on External Affairs (Chair: P.P. Chaudhary) wrote a report titled "India's Neighbourhood First Policy" (25 July 2023). It recommended:

  • stronger institutional and regional mechanisms
  • regular review of bilateral and multilateral frameworks
  • a study of a regional fund for building connectivity
  • better maritime domain awareness (knowing what is moving at sea) in the extended neighbourhood
  • Neighbourhood First and Act East working together, with development of the North-East at the centre
  • better border security infrastructure against illegal migration and smuggling of weapons and drugs

Don't confuse with

  • Act East Policy: this one looks to South-East Asia and the Indo-Pacific. It came from Look East (1991) and was renamed in 2014. Neighbourhood First looks at India's immediate South Asian neighbours.
  • Gujral Doctrine: a 1996-97 rule that India gives without asking for anything back. Neighbourhood First is a wider policy with many tools, and it does not promise to ask for nothing in return.
  • Indira Doctrine: this one kept outside powers out of South Asia through India's dominance. Neighbourhood First tries to win neighbours through connectivity, trade and loans.
  • Non-alignment: this was about staying out of Cold War military blocs. It concerned the world's big powers, not India's neighbours.

Prelims Hooks

  • The Neighbourhood First concept dates from 2008, and the Act East Policy from 2014 (Look East was 1991).
  • India's Lines of Credit to neighbours rose from USD 3.3 billion (2014) to USD 14.7 billion (2020). About 50% of India's soft lending goes to neighbours.
  • Article 51 is a Directive Principle that mentions arbitration. Article 253 lets Parliament make laws to carry out treaties. Giving away territory needs an amendment (Berubari, 1960).
  • BIMSTEC's members do not include Maldives, Pakistan or Afghanistan. Nepal and Bhutan are members even though they are landlocked. Its Secretariat is in Dhaka.
  • The Standing Committee on External Affairs reported on "India's Neighbourhood First Policy" on 25 July 2023.
  • Trap: "Neighbourhood First means India asks for nothing in return." This is false. That is the Gujral Doctrine (1996-97).

Mains Points

  • Promise against delivery: India now spends much more on neighbours (Lines of Credit grew about four times between 2014 and 2020). But late projects can undo the goodwill. Answers should support the committee's call for project monitoring, regular review and a regional connectivity fund.
  • Regional groupings against bilateral deals: with SAARC stalled, BIMSTEC is where Neighbourhood First and Act East meet. But BIMSTEC is slow. It was founded in 1997, got a working Secretariat only in 2014 and a Charter in force only in 2024. So India's own bilateral deals still do most of the work.
  • Interests against values, and the China factor: dealing with whoever rules a neighbour keeps projects and border security on track. But it can make India look like it accepts undemocratic rulers, as in Myanmar after the 2021 coup. Compare the Indira, Gujral and Neighbourhood First approaches, and the strain on old treaties (Nepal 1950, Ganga 2026, Indus in abeyance).

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