Regional Cooperation: India's South Asia Policy

South Asia is no longer the back water of global politics and India with Prime Minister Modi's assumption of Prime Minister's office is no more a disinterested power.The imperative is in the hands of rising India to re-craft its South Asia policy to re-engage with its neighbours broadly.If economic solutions provide security solutions as understood by commercial liberalism denoting the practice the free trade that says,Free Trade has economic benefits,as it allows each country to specialise in the production of goods and services that it is best suited to produce,the ones in which they have a comparative advantage and free trade is important in drawing states into a web of economic interdependence that means that the material cost of international conflicts are so great that warfare becomes virtually unthinkable,then inter-state business among SAARC countries should be increased.The South Asian region is much more complicated and hence confusing whether here economics will follow security or vice versa.SAARC will be entering in three decades of its formation,but unlike other regional associations like EU or ASEAN,it has been much less able to emerge as a success story as the region has much potential.The integration level of South Asian nations has not been as expected.One of the reasons is that because the eight partners in SAARC are unmatched in terms of economy,military powers or geopolitical significance,problems among more prominent states like India and Pakistan have always stood in the way of a larger cooperation between them all.Improvement of Indo-Pak ties has become a pre-condition for a successful SAARC.Many timesIndia's own image of being a stronger member in the SAARC has led to uneasiness among other SAARC members regarding a potential growht of India as a South Asian hegemon.This fear of Indian dominance has been apprehend since there has been long time unresolved issues among India and its neighbours like Bangladesh in case of Tista water river disputes and infiltrations concerns,with Nepal regarding porous border issues and insurgency problems with Indo-Sri Lankan issues of maritime fishing concerns etc.

All of this implies that there is lack of vital trust among members of SAARC in general with India in particular.Such issues have come in the way of a more fruitful trade and economic handlings.Though under SAARC auspices or even bilaterally economic arrangements are made through the lowering of trade barriers,it is the implementation part that suffers.The basic problem lies in the dichotomy between the technical arrangements of the cooperation and its practical implementation.SAARC's attempt to deliberately overlook political issues and concentrate on economic sector is flawed and for that a smooth operation of the cooperative environment among SAARC members has always been a difficulty.The lack of trust factor among member countries has been an obstacle for a successful South Asian cooperation.India's south asia policy would definitely make its geopolitical position stronger but not at the expense of the SAARC members.India and Pakistan,the SAARC members often view it as part of a zero sum game,which is not true.India has already emerged as a strong regional power in South Asia,which is an established position.With the new government in New Delhi,India position itself on the development agenda and on the economic front the South Asian region appears.India's exports to South Asia at $17.3 billion in the last fiscal year which has potential to increase to higher levels.South Asia is a highly volatile region in terms of the presence of difficult issues among its members as known to south asian region already.Indian Prime Minister Modi seems to be open about India addressing these issues be it Bangladesh water sharing agreement or diplomatic moves towards Sri Lanka's Tamil issue.India cannot ignore Sri Lanka's maritime significance in an attempt to connect Sri Lanka in diplomatic way.

The attendance of SSARC member heads in the swearing ceremony of India's Prime Minister is equally important because it depicts their respect and desire to engage with India at newer and higher bilateral levels.In a way the smaller SAARC countries are appreciative of India's position at the regional and global arena.India's bilateral cooperation towards SAARC members like Nepal,India is to offer $ 1 billion line of credit to Nepal and a similar offer to Bangladesh explains New Delhi's wish to closely cooperate with SAARC countries and as such renew the relations.Bilateral visits are significant in a way that they denote willingness of a state to engage with the other and as such Modi's first official foreign visit being Bhutan and Nepal in early August 2014,a country visited by Indian Prime minister since 17 years.India needs to develop long term economic strategies with South Asia Republics and India will aim to develop a strategic partnership with countries of this region and not limit itself to Pakistan.

Place- New Delhi Date- 19th December,2014 Anil Kumar Upadhyaya