The Gujral Doctrine in India's foreign policy is associated with which idea?
- A.Nuclear first use against a conventional attack
- B.Accommodation of smaller neighbours without insisting on reciprocity
- C.Joining a military alliance led by a superpower
- D.Ending all trade with countries outside SAARC
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B. The Gujral Doctrine was set out by Inder Kumar Gujral in 1996, when he was Minister of External Affairs and later Prime Minister. Its core is non-reciprocity: India, as the largest country in South Asia, should accommodate its smaller neighbours in good faith without demanding equal return, because a settled neighbourhood serves India's own security. Its other elements include non-interference in each other's internal affairs, respect for territorial integrity and the settlement of disputes through talks. Option A is wrong because India's declared nuclear doctrine is no first use with credible minimum deterrence, and it is not called the Gujral Doctrine. Option C is wrong because keeping out of superpower military blocs is the essence of non-alignment, the opposite of joining one. Option D is wrong because no Indian doctrine has proposed cutting off trade beyond South Asia.
Read the full article: India's Foreign Policy: Panchsheel, NAM and Act East
Practice Questions
View allThe Panchsheel principles were first set out in an agreement signed between India and China in which year?
- A.1950
- B.1952
- C.1954
- D.1956
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The five principles of Panchsheel appear in the preamble to the Agreement on Trade and Intercourse between the Tibet region of China and India, signed on 29 April 1954 by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai.
Read the full explanation →The first summit of the Non-Aligned Movement was held at which city?
- A.Bandung
- B.Belgrade
- C.Cairo
- D.Havana
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The first summit of the Non-Aligned Movement met at Belgrade, then the capital of Yugoslavia, in 1961, with Josip Broz Tito as host and Jawaharlal Nehru, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Sukarno and Kwame Nkrumah among the leading figures.
Read the full explanation →Which Article of the Indian Constitution directs the State to promote international peace and security?
- A.Article 48
- B.Article 50
- C.Article 51
- D.Article 53
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Article 51, among the Directive Principles of State Policy in Part IV, asks the State to promote international peace and security, to maintain just and honourable relations between nations, to foster respect for international law and treaty obligations, and to encourage the settlement of international disputes by arbitration.
Read the full explanation →The Tashkent Declaration of 1966 was signed between Lal Bahadur Shastri and which Pakistani leader?
- A.Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
- B.Muhammad Ayub Khan
- C.Yahya Khan
- D.Liaquat Ali Khan
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The Tashkent Declaration was signed on 10 January 1966 by Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and President Ayub Khan of Pakistan to settle the war of 1965, with Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin as host and mediator at Tashkent, then in the Soviet Union.
Read the full explanation →In which year was the Look East Policy launched?
- A.1985
- B.1991
- C.1998
- D.2014
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The Look East Policy was launched in 1991 under Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao, when the collapse of the Soviet Union removed India's closest partner and economic liberalisation created a reason to seek markets in South East Asia.
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