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Modern India, since its creation in 1947 after the decolonization by the British, has always had a major role to play in world politics, being the seventh largest country in the world and the second most populous country in the world. India has always been rich in natural resources. Being riddled with rivers and fertile plains, it has been one of the hotbeds of civilizations in the world, being the cradle to the Indus Valley Civilization, the first major civilization in South Asia and has always been one of the major centers of research and development in the world.

After India was liberated from the British Empire in 1947, it first faced the crisis of the Cold War, which began in the wake of World War II. The then Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru chose to remain neutral, and therefore began the Non-Aligned Movement, along with Josip Tito of Yugoslavia, and Abdel Nasser of Egypt, therefore rejecting to ally with either the U.S.A. led Western Bloc or the U. S. S. R. led Eastern Bloc, in the year 1961. This created an image of a neutral India to the world, and the country maintained good relations with both the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R., and leaving the occasional diplomatic rifts aside, relations between India and these two countries have been cordial on the face of it, although the diplomatic reasons for it being this way may be different for each country.

As the years went by, India had wars with two of its neighbours: China and Pakistan, and in both cases, it was due to attacks made by both countries on India’s borders. India has never started a war with any of its neighbours. During the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, India sent forces to erstwhile East Pakistan to help with the freedom struggle and played a...

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...m this relationship. India and Russia’s views on terrorism are similar, that is, there is no justification for it, and must be fought against, and has collaborated with each other on this issue. Such collaboration is to be further expected, with terrorism becoming a larger threat day by day.

But the military relationship that exists between India and Russia may have a negative impact on India. It is true that Russia has shared military technology with India, India being Russia’s second largest military customer, however, it is also argued that the military technology that has been sold to Russia has been outdated. It is also of paramount importance to a country of the stature of India to be militaristically independent, but sadly, it is not so. To improve its image as a self-sufficient democratic nation, India should work at reducing its independence on Russia.