Modi’s Neighbourhood First Policy -India’s Eastern Neighbourhood

What is Modi’s Neighbourhood First Policy?

Neighbourhood first Policy indicates four things:

• India will be giving political and diplomatic priorities to her immediate neighbours and Indian Ocean Island states.
• India to provide all essential requirements of her immediate neighbours as needed by them.
• To promote greater connectivity and integration in the Indian subcontinent to ensure a free flow of goods and services, people, capital etc.
• To establish an India-led regionalism in the neighbourhood.

How does Modi work out his Neighbourhood first Policy?

Narendra Modi’s decision to invite all South Asian heads of state for his swearing in ceremony signaled that the neighbourhood would be central to his foreign policy. Except for the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, every other head from the neighbourhood attended the swearing in ceremony that showed the positive outlook towards Modi’s government in India by its neighbours.

This instance can also be termed as a geopolitical strategy of Modi as China looms large on the horizon, India has to have a definite role in the Indian subcontinent and ensure its sphere of influence in its neighbouring countries.