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The 13th BRICS summit is set to be held on September 9 in digital format under India’s chairmanship. This plurilateral grouping comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa is chaired by turn. India held the chair in 2012 and 2016 too.

The grouping is successful in moving towards the desire objectives for which it has come into existence. But currently, there are many challenges engulfing it. This is high time that it should look forward to resolving them and progress towards its desired objectives.

What is BRICS?

• BRICS is an acronym for the grouping of the world’s leading emerging economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
• The BRICS Leaders’ Summit is convened annually. It does not exist in form of organization, but it is an annual summit between the supreme leaders of five nations.

Inception

• On November 30, 2001, Jim O’Neill, a British economist who was then chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, coined the term ‘BRIC’ to describe the four emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China.
• He made a case for BRIC on the basis of econometric analyses projecting that the four economies would individually and collectively occupy far greater economic space and become among the world’s largest economies in the next 50 years or so.

How it has formed?

• The grouping was formalized during the first meeting of BRIC Foreign Ministers on the margins of the UNGA in New York in September 2006.
• The first BRIC Summit took place in 2009 in the Russian Federation and focused on issues such as reform of the global financial architecture.

Who are the members?

• South Africa was invited to join BRIC in December 2010, after which the group adopted the acronym BRICS. South Africa subsequently attended the Third BRICS Summit in Sanya, China, in March 2011.
• The Chairmanship of the forum is rotated annually among the members, in accordance with the acronym B-R-I-C-S.
• The importance of BRICS is self-evident: It represents 42% of the world’s population, 30% of the land area, 24% of global GDP and 16% of international trade.
• The five BRICS countries are also members of G-20.

Significant feats of BRICS

 1. Johannesburg Declaration, 2018

• The 2018 summit saw the BRICS leaders come together and discuss various international and regional issues of common concern and adopted the ‘Johannesburg Declaration’ by consensus.
• The leaders jointly reaffirmed their commitment to the principles of mutual respect, sovereign equality, democracy, inclusiveness and strengthened collaboration.
• The BRICS leaders have used the summit to reject the growing unilateralism and instead reiterate their commitment to the strengthening of multilateral institutions, calling for stronger intra-trade within member states.

2. Focus on New Industrial Revolution

• The other big idea emanating from the summit is to help nations to prepare for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
• Participants embraced it, articulating the need for a new strategy on employment, education and skill development as the digital revolution unfolds.
• The leaders commended the establishment of the BRICS Partnership on New Industrial Revolution (PartNIR).
• It aims to deepen BRICS cooperation in digitalization, industrialization, innovation, inclusiveness and investment and to maximize the opportunities and address the challenges arising from the 4th Industrial Revolution.

3. BRICS Plus

• The BRICS outreach to Africa began at the last summit hosted by South Africa, in 2013. It has picked up momentum now but African leaders want more.
• They need big loans from the New Development Bank (NDB) for their infrastructure projects.
• China introduced the “BRICS Plus” format at the Xiamen summit last year by inviting a few countries from different regions.
• South Africa emulated it, arranging the attendance of top-level representation of five nations of its choice: Argentina, Jamaica, Turkey, Indonesia and Egypt.
• The precise role of “BRICS Plus” countries will take time to evolve but an immediate benefit is the immense opportunities it provides for networking among leaders.

4. Brasilia outcome

• During Brazil’s chairmanship, the grouping reported 30 new outcomes, initiatives and documents.
• The latest summit needed a 73 para-long Brasilia Declaration to spell out the leaders’ shared worldview and spectrum of their work.
• Much to India’s satisfaction, the commitment of BRICS to counterterrorism seems to be getting strengthened.

5. New Development Bank (NDB) projects

• The NDB, the grouping’s flagship achievement, has 44 projects with its lending touching $12.4 billion, in just five years.
• This is not a small gain, but the bank needs to grow as “a global development finance institution”. A move is now afoot to open its membership selectively.
• NDB has opened its regional centers in South Africa and Brazil and will do so in Russia and India in 2020.

6. Local Currency Bond Fund

• With a successful Contingent Reserve Arrangement in the bag, BRICS governments are set to establish a Local Currency Bond Fund.

7. Business promotion

• The BRICS Business Council held a substantive dialogue to foster cooperation in areas ranging from infrastructure and energy to financial services, regional aviation and digital economy.
• Its cooperation with the NDB is being encouraged. The national trade promotion agencies signed an MoU on cooperation among themselves.
• A BRICS Women Business Alliance was also created, both as a women empowerment measure and as a tool to bring “a distinctive perspective on issues of interest for the business community.”

How relevant is the BRICS in today’s world?

New front against western dominance

• The BRICS is group of countries having total population of approximately 3.6 billion which makes 40% of world population.
• Also, the cumulative economy of the group members aggregate to around 17 trillion in nominal term which is 22% of world economy in current context.
• The relevance of the group increases when it is considered as rival of western dominated institutions of World Bank and IMF.

Future power centers of the world

• India and China are today the fastest growing economies and they are considered as future super power of world.
• The group also has Russia the former USSR as a member which was one of the two super power until 1991 when it was disintegrated for various political and economic reason but still retain the hegemony of western, US led military dominance.

A step towards a more democratic world order

• In subsequent summits since its inception the group has taken various initiatives which have changed the world economic order.
• The group pledged a corpus of $75 billion to IMF on precondition of voting rights reform in June, 2012 which is not only the end of US hegemony in institution but also a start of more democratic world order.

New Development Bank

• During its fifth summit at Durban, South Africa in 2013, the member countries agreed to create a new global financial institution which finally came into existence as New Development Bank in 2015.
• It has a head quarter at Shanghai with initial capital of $50 billion and subsequently increased to $100 billion.
• The bank is today considered as rival of World Bank and the bank’s primary focus is to lend for various development projects in member and other developing countries.

Contingent Reserve Agreement

• To save members from immediate economic shocks the group has also agreed to Contingent Reserve Agreement.
• The agreement provide protection to member countries against global liquidity pressure as all the members are developing economies and prone to increased economical volatility in current globalized scenario and is considered as rival of International Monetary Fund.

A bridge between North and South

• The grouping has gone through a reasonably productive journey. It strove to serve as a bridge between the Global North and Global South.

Assuring global peace and security

• The US unilateral withdrawal from Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty and Iran deal has posed a great security threat to global peace.
• BRICS, being a pillar of fairer polycentric world order, can play a significant role in assuring world peace by playing an active role in dispute resolution based on principle of fairness.

Sustainable and inclusive growth and development

• Structural imbalances caused by the global financial crisis of 2008 and new threats to the global economy posed by trade war and unilateral economic sanctions are yet to be resolved.
• The growing contribution of the BRICS to the world economy and the rising importance of the economic relations between the BRICS and other Emerging Market and Developing Countries (EMDCs) create an opportunity for new initiatives.
• This would better help to support sustainable and inclusive growth and development.

Poverty Reduction

• The BRICS contribution to world poverty reduction has been sizeable.
• Continued BRICS growth remains important for poverty reduction as well as for reducing international inequalities.

Issues in its consolidation

• Common ground for the members was built by ensuring that no bilateral issues were brought up, but the contradictions remained.
• Many economists soon grew tired of “emerging” economies that didn’t reach the goals they had predicted.
• Others saw India’s closer ties with the US after the civil nuclear deal as a sign its bonds with BRICS would weaken.
• Meanwhile, Russia, which had hoped to bolster its own global influence through the group, had been cast out of the G-7 order altogether after its actions in Crimea in 2014.
• China, under Xi Jinping, grew increasingly aggressive, and impatient about the other underperforming economies in the group, as it became the U.S.’s main challenger on the global stage.

Long-term prospects

• China’s decision to launch the trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative in 2017 was opposed by India, and even Russia did not join the BRI plan, although it has considerable infrastructure projects with China.
• South Africa’s debt-laden economy and the negative current account have led some to predict an economic collapse in the next decade.
• Brazil’s poor handling during the Covid-19 crisis has ranked it amongst the world’s worst-affected countries, and its recovery is expected to be delayed.
• India’s economic slowdown was a concern even before Covid-19 hit, and government policies like “Aatmanirbhar” were seen as a plan to turn inward.

Issues with BRICS nations

• Concerns about aggressions from Russia in Ukraine and Eastern Europe and China in the South China Sea, the border with India and internally in Hongkong and Xinjiang are clear visible.
• There is creeping authoritarianism in democracies like Brazil and India have made investors question long-term prospects of the group.
• In the market, BRICS has been mocked for being “broken”, while others have suggested it should be expanded to include more emerging economies like Indonesia, Mexico and Turkey, called the “Next-11”.

Importance of BRICS for India

Geo-Politics

• Global geopolitics today represents the case of a tug of war and India finds itself in the middle of it.
• This has made difficult for India to carve a middle path for balancing its strategic interests between the U.S and the Russia-China axis.
• Therefore, BRICS platform provides an opportunity for India to balance Russia-China axis.

Global Economic Order

• BRICS countries shared a common objective of reforming the international financial and monetary system, with a strong desire to build a more just, and balanced international order.
• To this end, BRICS community plays an important role in the G20, in shaping global economic policies and promoting financial stability.

Voice of Developing Nations

• As the western countries are raising challenges on issues ranging from World Trade Organization to climate change, the developing countries are crippling under the onslaught of these policies.
• In recent period, BRICS has emerged as the voice of developing countries, or the global south and playing a significant role in protecting the rights of developing countries.
• Terrorism
• BRICS also provides a platform for India to galvanize its efforts against terrorism and has worked within the grouping to take a strong stand against terrorism and bring about focused consultations on specific aspects relating to terrorism.

Global Grouping

• India is actively pursuing its membership for United Nation Security Council (UNSC) and Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG).
• China forms the major roadblock in pursuing such goals.
• Therefore, BRICS provides an opportunity to actively engage with China and resolve the mutual disputes. It also helps in garnering support of other partner countries.

What are the challenges with the BRICS?

Heterogeneity

• It is claimed by critics that heterogeneity (variable/diverse nature of countries) of the BRICS nations with its diverse interests possess a threat to the viability of the grouping.

China Centric nature of the group

• All the countries in BRICS grouping trade with China more than each other, therefore it is blamed that as a platform to promote China’s interest.
• Balancing trade deficit with China is huge challenge for other partner nations.

Global Model for Governance

• Amidst, global slowdown, trade war and protectionism, the critical challenge for the BRICS consists in the development of a new global model of governance which should not be unipolar but inclusive and constructive.
• The goal should be to avoid a negative scenario of unfolding globalization and to start a complicated merging of the global growing economies without distorting or breaking the single financial and economic continuum of the world.

Not Been Effective

• The five-power combine has succeeded, albeit up to a point.
• However, China’s economic rise has created a serious imbalance within BRICS.
• Also the group has not done enough to assist the Global South to win their optimal support for their agenda.

Contentious issues between India and China

• However, the future of the group seems little gloomy as the two biggest economy India and China of the group are having various contentious issues between them.
• The two countries are often seen as rival on various global forums which degenerate the confidence between each other.
• China is opposed to the entry of India to group like NSG and also a staunch supporter of Pakistan which has a demeaning record fuelling terrorism in India.
• China has also opposed to UN resolution of declaring Masood Azhar a global terrorist who is a mastermind of various terrorist attack in India and globally.
• At the same time India is also opposed to the China’s aggressive policy in South China Sea where various countries like Vietnam, China, Philippines and others in the reason have territorial disputes.

Sanctions on Russia

• In recent times the global slowdown, sanction on Russia since it annexed Crimea and political instability in Brazil has also added burden on BRICS economy.

Priorities/Immediate goals of BRICS

1. Reform of multilateral institutions

• The first is to pursue reform of multilateral institutions ranging from the United Nations, World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to the World Trade Organization and now even the World Health Organization.
• This is not a new goal. BRICS has had very little success so far, although strengthening multilateralism serves as a strong bond as well as a beacon.
• Reform needs global consensus which is hardly feasible in the current climate of strategic contestation between the U.S. and China and the devastation caused by COVID-19 to health, lives and livelihoods.
• BRICS emerged from the desire to challenge dominance (by the U.S.) in the early years of the century. The “counter-dominance instinct and principled commitment to multipolarity in all forms” is “written into the DNA of BRICS.”

2. Resolve to combat terrorism

• Terrorism is an international phenomenon affecting Europe, Africa, Asia and other parts of the world. Tragic developments concerning Afghanistan have helped to focus attention sharply on this overarching theme, stressing the need to bridge the gap between rhetoric and action.
• China, for example, feels little hesitation in supporting clear-cut denunciations of terrorist groups, even as its backing of Pakistan, which is heavily enmeshed with a host of international terrorist groups, remains steadfast.
• In this context, BRICS is attempting to pragmatically shape its counter-terrorism strategy by crafting the BRICS Counter Terrorism Action Plan containing specific measures to fight radicalization, terrorist financing and misuse of the Internet by terrorist groups.
• This plan is expected to be a key deliverable at the forthcoming summit and may hopefully bring some change.

3. Promoting technological and digital solutions for the Sustainable Development Goals

• Digital tools have helped a world adversely hit by the pandemic, and India has been in the forefront of using new technological tools to improve governance.

4. Expanding people-to-people cooperation

• However, enhancing people-to-people cooperation will have to wait for international travel to revive. Interactions through digital means are a poor substitute.

Way Forward

• A close examination of India’s record in BRICS reveals that New Delhi has used its membership to make a substantial contribution to the global financial architecture, while also making efforts to address glaring gaps in areas such as counter-terrorism, the fight against climate change and UNSC reform.
• India is not a free-rider in a system of global governance dominated by the West, and continues to provide a vision of global governance.
• The BRICS needs to expand its agenda for increasing its relevance in the global order. As of now, climate change and development finance, aimed at building infrastructure must dominate its agenda.
• For BRICS to remain relevant over the next decade, each of its members must make a realistic assessment of the initiative’s opportunities and inherent limitations.
• BRICS should promote comprehensive development of all states — both big and small — and enhanced mutually beneficial cooperation among them on the basis of shared interests.
• Democratization of international issues i.e agreements on global agendas should be reached with the widest and equal participation of all stakeholders and be based on universally recognized legal norms.
• The principle of respect for cultural and civilization diversity of the world should be a top priority.
• BRICS nations should strive for peaceful and politico-diplomatic settlement of crisis and conflict in various regions of the world.

Conclusion

BRICS, being one of the pillars of the emerging fairer polycentric world order, plays an important stabilizing role in global affairs. In the storming ocean of world politics, BRICS can contribute significantly in maintaining international stability and ensuring global economic growth, and becoming a united center of the multipolar world.

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India and Sri Lanka have a legacy of intellectual, cultural, religious, and linguistic interaction, and the relationship between the two countries is more than 2500 years old. Trade and investment have grown and there is cooperation in the fields of development, education, culture, and defense.

India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy towards Sri Lanka had resonated with Sri Lanka’s ‘India First’ foreign and security policy in 2020.

However in recent times, due to Chinese intervention, the ties between the two countries have plummeted. The condition is likely to worsen with Sri Lanka declaring a state of emergency in the country.

Brief background of India-SL relations

• India is the only neighbor of Sri Lanka, separated by the Palk Strait; both nations occupy a strategic position in South Asia and have sought to build a common security umbrella in the Indian Ocean.
• There are deep racial and cultural links between the two countries. Both share a maritime border.
• The India- SL relations have been however tested by the Sri Lankan Civil War and by the controversy of Indian intervention during the war.
• In recent years Sri Lanka has moved closer to China, especially in terms of naval agreements.
• India has signed a nuclear energy deal to improve relations and made a nuclear energy pact with Sri Lanka in 2015.

India’s role in the Lankan Civil War

• In the 1970s–1980s, the RAW and the state government of Tamil Nadu were believed to be encouraging the funding and training for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a separatist insurgent force.
• In 1987, faced with growing anger amongst its own Tamils, and a flood of refugees India intervened directly in the conflict for the first time.
• This was after the Sri Lankan government attempted to regain control of the northern Jaffna region by means of an economic blockade and military assaults; India supplied food and medicine by air and sea.

Why did India intervene?

• Indian intervention in Sri Lankan civil war became inevitable as that civil war threatened India’s unity, national interest and territorial integrity.

Outcomes

• The peace accord assigned a certain degree of regional autonomy in the Tamil areas with a body controlling the regional council and called for the Tamil militant groups to lay down their arms.
• Further India was to send a peacekeeping force, named the IPKF to Sri Lanka to enforce the disarmament and to watch over the regional council.
• The accord failed over the issue of representations. The result was that the LTTE now found itself engaged in military conflict with the Indian Army.

Areas of cooperation

Economic Relations

• India and Sri Lanka enjoy a vibrant and growing economic and commercial partnership, which has witnessed considerable expansion over the years.
• India and Sri Lanka are member nations of several regional and multilateral organizations such as the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme, South Asian Economic Union and BIMSTEC.
• India is Sri Lanka’s third largest export destination, after the US and UK.
• India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (ISFTA): More than 60% of Sri Lanka’s exports enjoy the benefits of the agreement, which came into effect in March 2000.
  • Sri Lanka remains among the largest trade partners of India in the SAARC.

Development co-operation

• Line of Credit: India is active in a number of areas of development activity in Sri Lanka. About one-sixth of the total development credit granted by India is made available to Sri Lanka.
• Development Partnership: India’s development partnership with Colombo has always been demand-driven, with projects covering social infrastructure like education, health, housing, access to clean water and sanitation, besides industrial development.
• Concessional financing of about $2 billion has been provided to Sri Lanka through various Indian government-supported Lines of Credit across sectors for railway connectivity, infrastructure, etc.
• Foreign direct investment (FDI) from India amounted to around $ 1.7 billion over the years from 2005 to 2019.
• Fishing Sector: Projects for providing fishing equipment to the fishermen in the East of Sri Lanka and solar energy aided computer education in 25 rural schools in Eastern Sri Lanka are under consideration.
• Healthcare: India has supplied medical equipment to hospitals at Hambantota and Point Pedro, supplied 4 state-of-the-art ambulances to the Central Province etc.
• Tourism: Indian governments have also showed interest in collaborating with their Sri Lankan counterparts on building tourism between the two countries based on shared religious heritage.

Defense and strategic cooperation

• India and Sri Lanka conducts one of the largest joint Military exercises called ‘Mitra Shakti’. Both conducts joint naval exercise called ‘SLINEX’.
• India is the largest provider of defense training program to Sri Lankan soldiers and Defence officials
• India, Sri Lanka, and Maldives have signed trilateral maritime security cooperation in the Indian Ocean region.
  • The cooperation aims at improving surveillance, anti-piracy operations and reducing maritime pollution

Cultural relations

• India and Sri Lanka have a shared legacy of historical, cultural, religious, spiritual and linguistic ties that is more than 2,500 years old.
• In contemporary times, the Cultural Cooperation Agreement signed between the two governments forms the basis for periodic Cultural Exchange Programmes between the two countries.

People-to-people ties

• Buddhism is one of the strongest pillars connecting the two nations and civilizations from the time when the Great Indian Emperor Ashoka sent his children Arhat Mahinda and Their Sangamitta to spread the teachings of Lord Buddha at the request of King Devanampiya Tissa of Sri Lanka.
• Underlining the deep people-to-people connect and shared Buddhist heritage, the venerated relics of Lord Buddha from Kapilawasthu discovered in 1970 in India have been exhibited two times in Sri Lanka.
• India in 2020, announced USD 15 million grant assistance for protection and promotion of Buddhist ties between India and Sri Lanka.
  • It may be utilized for construction/renovation of Buddhist monasteries, education of young monks, strengthening engagement of Buddhist scholars and clergy, development of Buddhist heritage museums, etc.

Plummeting relations

• The ties began to worsen between the two since February, 2021 when Sri Lanka backed out from a tripartite partnership with India and Japan for its East Container Terminal Project at the Colombo Port, citing domestic issues.
  • However, later, the West Coast Terminal was offered under a public private partnership arrangement to Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones Ltd.
• Sri Lanka in a state of economic emergency: Sri Lanka is running out of foreign exchange reserves for essential imports like food. It has recently declared a state of economic emergency.
  • Covid Impact:
    • Sri Lanka increased policy rates after the covid pandemic in response to rising inflation in August 2021 caused by currency depreciation.
    • Tourism sector has suffered since the Easter Sunday terror attacks of 2019, followed by the pandemic.
    • Earnings fell from $3.6 billion in 2019 to $0.7 billion in 2020, even as FDI inflows halved from $1.2 billion to $670 million over the same period.
    • Sri Lanka’s fragile liquidity situation has put it at high risk of debt distress. Its public debt-to-GDP ratio was at 109.7% in 2020, and its gross financing needs remain high at 18% of GDP.
    • Its gross official reserves slipped to $2.8 billion, which is equivalent to just 1.8 months of imports. More than $2.7 billion of foreign currency debt will be due in the next two years.

Major outstanding issues

 Fishing disputes

• There have been several alleged incidents of Sri Lankan Navy personnel firing on Indian fishermen fishing in the Palk Strait, where India and Sri Lanka are only separated by 12 nautical miles.
• The issue started because of Indian fishermen having used mechanized trawlers, which deprived the Sri Lankan fishermen (including Tamils) of their catch and damaged their fishing boats.
• The Sri Lankan government wants India to ban use of mechanized trawlers in the Palk Strait region, and negotiations on this subject are undergoing.
• So far, no concrete agreement has been reached since India favors regulating these trawlers instead of banning them altogether.

Alleged political interference

• A media report from Colombo soon after Rajapaksa’s defeat in the January 8 elections of 2015 had said that an Indian Intelligence official was instrumental in uniting rival political parties — the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP) — against him during the polls.
• In October 2018, President Sirisena alleged that Indian intelligence agencies were plotting his assassination.

Katchatheevu Island

• It is an uninhabited island that India ceded to Sri Lanka in 1974 based on a conditional agreement called “Kachchativu island pact”.
• Later on, Sri Lanka declared Katchatheevu, a sacred land given the presence of a Catholic shrine.
• But Tamil Nadu claimed that Katchatheevu falls under the Indian Territory and Tamil fishermen have traditionally believed that it belongs to them and therefore want to preserve the right to fish there.

China factor

• Sri Lanka has a history of taking independent decisions even if they cause misgivings in India.
• In the period of low profile relationship between the two nations, Sri Lanka apparently started favoring China over India.
• China is Sri Lanka’s largest bilateral creditor: China’s loans to the Sri Lankan public sector amounted to 15% of the central government’s external debt, making China the largest bilateral creditor to the country.
  • Sri Lanka has increasingly relied on Chinese credit to address its foreign debt burden.
• China’s Exports surpasses India: China’s exports to Sri Lanka surpassed those of India in 2020 and stood at $3.8 billion.
  • India’s exports were $3.2 billion.
• Infrastructural Investment by China: Owing to Sri Lanka’s strategic location at the intersection of major shipping routes, China’s investment stands at $12 billion between 2006 and 2019.
  • Unable to service its debt, in 2017, Sri Lanka lost the unviable Hambantota port to China for a 99-year lease.
  • Sri Lanka passed the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Act, which provides for establishing a special economic zone around the port and also a new economic commission, to be funded by China.
  • The Colombo port is crucial for India as it handles 60% of India’s trans-shipment cargo.
• Shifting interests due to economic crisis: Sri Lanka’s economic crisis may further push it to align its policies with Beijing’s interests.
  • This comes at a time when India is already on a diplomatic tightrope with Afghanistan and Myanmar.
  • Other South Asian nations like Bangladesh, Nepal and the Maldives have also been turning to China to finance large-scale infrastructure projects.

Why is Sri Lanka important to India?

• India is Sri Lanka’s closest neighbor. Both sides have built upon a legacy of intellectual, cultural, religious and linguistic interaction.
• Sri Lanka has always been politically and economically important to India given its strategic geographical position in the Indian Ocean. The relationship has been marked by close contacts at all levels.
• Sri Lanka sits at the epicenter of the arc connecting the Persian Gulf to the Strait of Malacca. An island nation with an economy that’s mainly reliant on tourism and tea exports, Sri Lanka’s blessed geography puts it at a crucial juncture of the busy shipping lanes of the Indian Ocean.
• India also has a vital strategic stake in Sri Lanka for its own security interests. An unfriendly Sri Lanka or a Sri Lanka under influence of a power unfriendly to India would strategically discomfit India.
• For the Indian Navy, Sri Lanka is important as the switching of naval fleets from the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian Sea and vice versa requires the fleets to go around the island nation.
• Both countries share a common broad understanding on major issues of international interest and experience common social-political problems relating to community divides.

What does Sri Lanka expect from India?

• The humanitarian work by Indian agencies like supplies of medicines, doctors and providing refuge to more than 3 lakhs IDP’s during the decade-old civil war has created a sense of mutual cooperation among the countries natives.
• SL is one of the leading recipients of India’s Line of Credits.
• India has always rushed for the relief at the first signs of the rains and floods in SL recently. SL still commends the post-tsunami HADR relief operations carried out by India in the end-2004.
• India’s military, intelligence and security establishment has maintained its relations with its Sri Lankan counterpart, and both sides have been on the same page at all times.
• The security environment in the neighborhood will be discussed in light of the 21 April Easter Church bombings, and lessons learned from it.
• India is also the largest provider of defense training programs for Sri Lankan soldiers and Defence officials.

A greater role for India

 Gathering convergence towards SL

• Delhi needs to invest some political capital in resolving problems such as the long-standing dispute over fisheries.
• Beyond its objection to China’s BRI projects, Delhi, either alone or in partnership with like-minded countries like Japan, should offer sustainable terms for infrastructure development.
• Delhi also needs to contribute more to the development of Colombo’s defence and counter-terror capabilities.

Answering the Tamil Question

• The second structural factor shaping India’s relations with Sri Lanka is the Tamil question.
• Delhi has certainly learned the dangers of being drawn too deep into the domestic conflicts of neighboring countries.
• If the new government in Colombo can advance reconciliation with the Tamil minority, it will be easier for India to strengthen ties with the Gotabaya government.

No china factor indeed

• Labeling governments in Sri Lanka as “pro-China” or “pro-India” is irrelevant. It is evident that China’s economic and strategic salience in the subcontinent is not tied to the regime leadership.
• Previous Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena who considered as pro-India came to power criticizing the Chinese projects in Sri Lanka, but within two years into power, it extended full backing to the Chinese projects.

Harnessing the ray of hope

• Our challenges in Sri Lanka will continue, but we are off to a good start with the new government.
• The new president has made repeated statements that his government would like Sri Lanka to be a “neutral country” and that “Sri Lanka won’t do anything that will harm India’s interests.”
• Gotabaya was also critical of the previous government giving Hambantota Port on a 99-year lease to China.
• He went on to add that giving land as investment for developing a hotel or a commercial property was not a problem but the strategically important, economically important harbor, giving that is not acceptable.
• The Rajapaksas have acknowledged that India has not interfered in the recent elections.
• The first visit abroad by Gotabaya Rajapaksa to India has its own symbolic significance, translating into a diplomatic gesture his statement to the EAM that while China is a trade partner, India is a relative.

Way Forward

• Nurturing the Neighborhood First policy with Sri Lanka will therefore be important for India, albeit with due caution, to preserve its strategic interests in the Indian Ocean region.
• Regional platforms like the BIMSTEC, SAARC, SAGAR and the IORA could be leveraged to foster cooperation in common areas of interest like technology-driven agriculture and marine sector development, IT and communication infrastructure, renewable energy, and transport and connectivity.
• Both countries could also cooperate on enhancing private sector investments to create economic resilience.
• This stability in the Indian government should find synergy with the new Sri Lankan president policy which includes “neutrality” and “non-alignment” between major powers.
• Rather than focusing on building the case against China, New Delhi must step up its efforts to show what it is for.
• India can never match Beijing’s economic wherewithal to make a difference to Colombo’s developmental requirements.
• But it can carve out a niche role in some areas and also partner smartly with likeminded strategic partners like Japan to make an economic and strategic difference in Sri Lanka and make use of and leverage India’s soft power.

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