|
Papers > People > essay on narasimha rao
Featured Papers from Direct Essays |
|||
1. Hamlet Essay
|
|||
This is a preview of a paper to view the full text you need to signup and login.
essay on narasimha rao |
|||
|
Narasimha Rao: up against all odds J N Dixit, in this part of his series on architects of Indian foreign policy, looks at Narasimha Rao, one of the most effective and creative influences on Indian foreign policy after Jawaharlal Nehru, and this in spite of the tremendous flux that characterised the post-Cold War era P V Narasimha Rao is perhaps the most unlikely and unexpected figure to have influenced the course of Indias foreign and security policies. ... Hailing from an area on the Maharashtra-Andhra Pradesh border, Narasimha Rao was born in 1920 - around the time Mahatma Gandhi emerged on the political scene of India. ... Though he remained a member of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly for a long period, Rao did not last too long as chief minister. ... Narasimha Rao came to be acquainted with the chemistry of national politics, and in the process, with issues affecting foreign relations, when he became a member of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) and the Congress Working Committee (CWC), and general secretary of the ruling party under Indira Gandhi. Rao was unlike other leading Congress personalities of the 1970s and 1980s. ... Rao was a man with a scholarly bent of mind. ... Rao assumed charge as foreign minister of India, at a time when the Cold War once again emerged as an over-arching influence in international politics. ... These were the issues that Rao grappled with as foreign minister and defence minister until the mid-1980s. ... Narasimha Rao had familiarised himself with these issues during his earlier stints as foreign minister in the Indira Gandhi government. An important aspect of Narasimha Raos tenures as foreign minister between 1980 and 1989 is that he was in charge of the portfolio under two prime ministers, both actively interested in foreign policy and national security issues. ... This meant that, despite having the intellectual abilities and functional capacities to contribute to Indias foreign policy, Narasimha Rao had to play a secondary role in the government. ... Narasimha Rao, therefore, was not so much an initiator as an implementer of Indias foreign policy. ... Rao prevented this from happening by ensuring that the professional foreign service and the MEA interacted with the Parliament, its consultative committees, with other concerned ministries and the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) in a manner that nurtured and consolidated the functional position of the MEA. The main foreign policy issues, in which Narasimha Rao played an influential role, were: the Afghanistan crisis, resulting from Soviet military intervention in that country; keeping Indo-Pakistan relations on track to whatever extent possible; delaying the disintegration of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM); outbreak of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka; and attempting mediation in the Iran-Iraq war. Indira Gandhi assigned Rao the role of interpreter and pointsperson for implementing and interpreting Indias Afghanistan policies, and Indian policies towards the then Soviet Union, in the context of the Soviet military intrusion into Afghanistan. Rao had the difficult task of reconciling Indias reservations about the Soviet Union invading Afghanistan, and the need to sustain a meaningful working relationship with the Soviet Union, on which India was enormously dependent for defence supplies and in economic terms. I was witness to Foreign Minister Narasimha Raos exchanges with the Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko in New Delhi and Moscow in 1980-81. In these discussions, Rao was adroitly critical of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. ... " Rao proceeded to stress that while India values its relations with the Soviet Union, and acknowledges the overriding importance of these relations in safeguarding its interests, India would be forced to speak about realities that could impact negatively on the Soviet Union, and even Indo-Soviet relations. Though both he and Indira Gandhi have been criticised for not admonishing the Soviet action in Afghanistan, I believe that Narasimha Rao dealt with the situation with tact and firmness. ... Simultaneously, Narasimha Rao also advocated the resumption of more frequent dialogue with Pakistan, given Pakistans involvement in the Afghan conflict. ... Rao initiated bilateral foreign secretary level talks with Pakistan in June 1980, a process that continued almost till the end of Zia-ul-Haqs tenure as president of Pakistan. ... Rao himself visited Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi in the summer of 1981, where he met the top leadership of Pakistan. ... Rao was also the first emissary to be sent to President Jayawardene of Sri Lanka, immediately after the large-scale anti-Tamil riots there. Rao pointed out the threat to Sri Lankas unity and territorial integrity if the government does not meet Tamil aspirations. ... It is important to mention here that Narasimha Rao was opposed to Indira Gandhis decision to give political and material support to the Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups. ... Rao also had reservations about Indian armed forces being inducted into Sri Lanka. ... Rao, along with Isidoro Malmierca Peoli, Cuban foreign minister, undertook a shuttle diplomacy in 1983 to mediate between Iran and Iraq on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). ... Rao took on this assignment only because Indira Gandhi felt that India, as chairperson of the NAM, was obliged to make an effort in a situation where two non-aligned countries were at each others throats. Rajiv Gandhi moved Rao to the ministries of education and human resources development in 1985, and brought him back to the external affairs portfolio in 1987. In the late 1980s, Narasimha Rao advised Rajiv Gandhi on the need to refocus on problems of general disarmament and elimination of weapons of mass destruction. ... Rajiv Gandhis initiatives to redefine the NAM terms of reference in the late 1980s, and his initiatives to resume high-level political contacts with China, though primarily personal decisions, were underpinned by the practical and thoughtful advice given by Narasimha Rao. ... Rao continued to drift away from mainstream national politics during these 18 months. ... Senior party leaders chose Narasimha Rao as the leader of the Congress Partys election campaign, in an attempt to transcend the assertive factional leaders jockeying for power. Political gossip about the goings in the ruling party had it that Narasimha Rao was a compromise candidate, who would at most be allowed to remain in power for about a year, after which he would be elevated to the post of president. ... The Congress won the elections, and the party nominated Narasimha Rao for the prime ministers post. ... Rao lasted for a full term of five years, till June 1996, as one of the most effective and creative prime ministers of India. As prime minister, Rao orchestrated and structured a paradigm shift in Indias foreign policy. ... During these five years, Rao brought about profound changes in Indias foreign and national security policies. It would be pertinent to refer to the period immediately preceding Narasimha Raos assumption of office to assess his overall contributions to Indias foreign policy. ... Ultimately Narasimha Rao was elected acting president of the Congress, and later, prime minister. The broad challenges Rao faced in the formation of Indias foreign policy in the second half of 1991 were: • To restructure the basic orientations of foreign policy in the context of totally transformed paradigms and terms of reference, born out of the change in the international situation. ... These are the 11 broad challenges that Prime Minister Narasimha Rao had to cope with during his tenure in office from 1991 to 1996. ... Narasimha Rao therefore functioned in effect as his own foreign minister. Raos contributions to Indian foreign and security policies could be summed up as follows: • Because of the disintegration of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War, Rao consciously developed equations with all the important centres of power in the world, namely, the US, Western Europe and Japan, while sustaining relations with the Russian Federation. |
|||
To link to this page, copy the following code to your site:
Paper Information |
|||||
Title: essay on narasimha rao
|
|||||
Signup & Login |
|||||
If you don't currently have a login then Signup here |
|||||
| Pre-Written Papers | |||||
|
|||||
| Custom Papers | |||||
|
|||||
Copyright 2003-2008 doingmyhomework.com. All rights reserved.