Modi's Era

Modi Doctrine

Modi Wave

• The year 2014 saw Modi coming to power as the Prime Minister of India.
• Modi invited the heads of South Asia (SAARC leaders) during his oath taking ceremony in New Delhi in 2014. This gesture reflected of what awaited ahead in the high-powered diplomatic ventures he was about to undertake.
• The earliest signs of Modi’s diplomacy date back to his tenure as the Chief Minister (CM) of Gujarat. During his decade-long stint as the CM, he travelled to various countries to get investment for his state.
• During his foreign visits, he developed astyle of personal diplomacy where he emphasised building of strong personal relationships with leaders of the states he visited.
• This style of personal diplomacy is now recognised as the hallmark of Modi’s way of engaging with the world.
• Modi’s diplomatic skills were further strengthened when Vajpayee, as the PM, deputed Modi to travel abroad for party work where he always displayed avid interest in learning how foreign states solved problems related to infrastructure, roads and rivers etc. and applying that learning to Indian situations.
• This ability of learning from foreign states to replicate the same in India is visible in his style of India First diplomacy.

Retail Diplomacy

(People to people contact – Retail diplomacy)

• He has effectively developed contacts with followers at all levels.
• When he travels abroad, he does not restrict his engagement with merely the heads of states but widens his reach to include private sector firms to monks to students to workers in factories.
• His idea of foreign policy or diplomacy is that it should not just be perceived as the art of government-to-government interaction but more as a leader-to-people interaction.
• Diplomacy involving leader-to-people interactions is called retail diplomacy.
• In retail diplomacy, the state leader interacts, meets and shakes hands with a wide spectrum of scholars to monks to workers.
• Retail diplomacy not only enhances the perceived approachability of the leader in the eyes of the public but also helps in developing very strong interpersonal relationships.
• While interacting with world leaders, Modi ensures that he develops a strong personal chemistry with them. Modi’s idea is that a strong personal bond helps India to bargain its national interests at the highest level possible

4D Model

Modi has adopted Democracy, Demography and Demand as key drivers to highlight India’s economic powers abroad. However, Diaspora is the oxygen to his foreign policy.

• Modi has, from day one, addressed concerns related to the Indian diaspora. On any foreign tour, Modi makes it point to address a gathering of the Indian diaspora.
• There are two purposes of addressing the diaspora.
• To engage diaspora in developmental work.
• To show Indian Diaspora’s strength to foreign government His intention is to attract the interests of the diaspora back home and affect a reversal from brain drain to brain gain.

Diaspora Diplomacy

• First, he addresses the diaspora to not only reconnect with them as a messenger from their homeland but also to convey to them the problems India faces in the twenty first century.
• In most of his addresses to the diaspora, Modi outlines domestic issues of India and government initiatives to tackle them.
• He often discusses issues like lack of manufacturing base in India, issues related to cleanliness and so on. In the address, he apprises the diaspora of initiatives the government has taken, ranging from Make in India to Swachch Bharat and so forth.
• The intention of this exercise is to convince the diaspora that they can emerge as effective stakeholders in the problems faced by India.
• He intends to convey to the diaspora that their contribution is imperative for India’s development story and its rise as a global power.
• Second, his address to the Indian diaspora in foreign countries are a message to the governments of those countries - ‘if you take care of this constituency, they will take care of your governments in elections’.

Economic Diplomacy

• Another very crucial dimension of the Modi doctrine is his thrust on economic diplomacy. All diplomatic engagements undertaken by Modi till date are driven by the economic thrust of making India a commercial power.
• The value of economic diplomacy was imbibed by Modi from Gujarat. Trade was natural to Gujarat and this had emerged as a crucial element of the Modi doctrine.
• Modi understood well that domestic growth rates cannot be boosted by domestic initiatives alone and that geostrategic imperatives arising out of external engagement with rest of the world are a key to India’s growth story.
• The economic diplomacy strategy of Modi is based on a model where domestic growth is to be propelled by FDI in the manufacturing sector.
• To make FDI absorption easy, the ‘Make in India’ initiative and ‘Skill India’ initiatives have been launched and steps have been taken to improve India’s performance in the ease of doing business.

Neighbourhood First Policy

• Under the new neighbourhood first policy, Modi’s key focus vis-à-vis India’s relations with its neighbours is economic trade.

The Policy Aims to

• Modi believes that aggressive economic trade with neighbours will benefit all and will percolate deep down in the society.
• India is willing to give political and diplomatic priority to its immediate neighbours and the Indian Ocean Island states.
• It will provide support to neighbours with support in the form of resources, equipment and training.
• Greater connectivity and integration to improve free flow of goods, people, energy, capital and information.
• Promoting a model of India led regionalism with which neighbours are comfortable.
• To connect with neighbours through cultural heritage.
• This will bring about a radical shift in the way its neighbours perceive India.
• The erstwhile image of India, projected to its neighbours as a ‘Big Brother,’ will transform into one of a collaborative ally and shall prove positive spill over for the entire region.
• At the neighbourhood level, connectivity has emerged as an inbuilt dimension of economic diplomacy. (BBIN (Bangladesh, India & Nepal) – Free motor vehicle connectivity, IMT (Indian, Myanmar, Thailand) trilateral Highway, Kartarpur, Chabahar Port).
• The government’s Indian Ocean strategy, economic diplomacy, development diplomacy, African Outreach, Pacific Island Outreach and Act East Policy are some of the bold and timely initiatives.
• The 3C formula of Connectivity, Contacts and Cooperation.

Act East Policy

• The Act East Policy was set in motion by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the East Asia Summit in Myanmar in November 2014.
• India's Act East Policy focuses on the extended neighbourhood in the Asia-Pacific region.

Objective of ''Act East Policy”

• The Objective of ''Act East Policy” is to promote economic cooperation, cultural ties and develop strategic relationship with countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
• Continuous engagement at bilateral, regional and multilateral levels thereby providing enhanced connectivity to the States of North Eastern Region.
• AEP provides an interface between North East India and the ASEAN region.
• Some of the major projects include Kaladan Multi-modal Transit Transport Project, the India Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway Project, Rhi-Tiddim Road Project, Border Haats, etc.
• Apart from ASEAN, ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and East Asia Summit (EAS), India has also been actively engaged in regional fora such as BIMSTEC, Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC) and Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA).
• Closer cooperation in combating terrorism, collaborating for peace and stability in the region and promotion of maritime security based on international norms and laws are being pursued.

Link/Look West Policy

• Along with the Look East or Act East Policy, India has now come up with the Look West or Think West Policy involving the countries of Israel and Arab bloc.
• West Asia is a politically sensitive arena. Historic reasons, global geo-politics, cold war tensions have resulted in conflicts and fragmentation conflicts of the region on the issues of Shia-Sunni, Iran and Israel.
• But the area which is a hub of negative developments can also become a strong player being capable of fundamentally changing the growth trajectory of India.

Significance

• India is in the good position of being trusted by all the major factions in the Middle East; it has good relations with Iran, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Iraq, and the Gulf States.
• It order to contain the pro-Pakistan stance of middle east countries.
• The numbers on trade between India and the Gulf countries are impressive.
• There are large Indian communities in the Gulf States.
• The remittances sent by Indian labour migrants have added to the economic relationship.
• West Asia is crucial for stability and economic growth in India because around 65% of our oil and more than 80% of our gas supplies come from this region.