India and its Other Neighbours

India shares borders with all the other South Asian countries except the two island nations, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. This central geography shapes its relationships — India is the only country that touches every other state in the region. Because of its size and power, smaller neighbours often view India with suspicion, while India itself feels exploited by its neighbours and worries that political instability in these countries allows outside powers to gain influence.

India and Bangladesh

Relations between India and Bangladesh have been marked by several persistent differences:

• River water sharing — The two governments have disagreed over the sharing of the Ganga and Brahmaputra river waters. Bangladesh feels India behaves like a regional bully on this issue.
• Illegal immigration — India has been unhappy with Bangladesh’s denial of illegal immigration into India.
• Support for anti-Indian groups — India accuses Bangladesh of supporting anti-Indian Islamic fundamentalist groups.
• Transit and energy — Bangladesh has refused to allow Indian troops to move through its territory to northeastern India. It has also decided not to export natural gas to India, nor to allow Myanmar to do so through Bangladeshi territory.
• Allegations of interference — Bangladesh believes India encourages rebellion in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, tries to extract its natural gas, and is unfair in trade.
• Boundary dispute — The two countries could not resolve their boundary dispute for a long time.

Despite these differences, cooperation exists on many fronts:

• Economic relations have improved considerably in the last 20 years.
• Bangladesh is a part of India’s Look East policy (renamed Act East in 2014), which aims to link up with Southeast Asia via Myanmar.
• The two states cooperate regularly on disaster management and environmental issues.
• In 2015, they exchanged certain enclaves, resolving a long-standing territorial anomaly.
• Efforts are on to broaden cooperation by identifying common threats and being more sensitive to each other’s needs.

India and Nepal

Nepal and India enjoy a very special relationship with few parallels in the world. A treaty between the two countries allows citizens to travel to and work in the other country without visas and passports.

Yet there have been tensions:

• Trade disputes have occurred in the past.
• India has expressed displeasure at Nepal’s warm relationship with China and at the Nepal government’s inaction against anti-Indian elements.
• Indian security agencies see the Maoist movement in Nepal as a growing security threat, given the rise of Naxalite groups in Indian states from Bihar to Andhra Pradesh.
• Many Nepali leaders and citizens believe India interferes in internal affairs, has designs on Nepal’s river waters and hydroelectricity, and prevents landlocked Nepal from getting easier access to the sea through Indian territory.

Nevertheless, Indo-Nepal relations are fairly stable and peaceful. Trade, scientific cooperation, common natural resources, electricity generation, and interlocking water management grids hold the two countries together. There is hope that the consolidation of democracy in Nepal will lead to improvements in ties.

India and Sri Lanka

Difficulties between India and Sri Lanka are mostly over the ethnic conflict in the island nation. Indian leaders and citizens find it impossible to remain neutral when Tamils are politically unhappy and are being killed.

• After India’s military intervention in 1987, the Indian government now prefers a policy of disengagement vis-à-vis Sri Lanka’s internal troubles.
• India signed a free trade agreement with Sri Lanka, which strengthened relations.
• India’s help in post-tsunami reconstruction has also brought the two countries closer.

India and Bhutan

India enjoys a very special relationship with Bhutan and does not have any major conflict with the Bhutanese government.

• The Bhutanese monarch made efforts to weed out guerrillas and militants from northeastern India operating in Bhutan, which has been helpful to India.
• India is involved in big hydroelectric projects in Bhutan.
• India remains the Himalayan kingdom’s biggest source of development aid.

India and the Maldives

India’s ties with the Maldives remain warm and cordial. …