17 Sep 2026GS2Topic
International relations
Previous year questions
5 as set1 · GS2 201710 marks150 words
“China is using its economic relations and positive trade surplus as tools to develop potential military power status in Asia.” In the light of this statement, discuss its impact on India as her neighbour.
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In 2025 Chinese curbs on rare earth magnet exports stalled Indian car production. The same trade that supplies India also gives Beijing leverage over it.
How the surplus becomes power
The surplus funds the capability: China's trade surplus with India is close to a hundred billion dollars. Its defence budget is the world's second largest.
Lending buys access: Loans under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) produced port rights at Hambantota and a base at Djibouti.
What it means for India
Dependence in critical sectors: Bulk drugs, electronic components and solar modules come largely from China, so a supply decision becomes policy.
Pressure on the neighbourhood: Debt in Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Nepal converts into political weight nearby.
Capacity on the border: Surplus revenue funded roads and airstrips opposite eastern Ladakh, which changed the balance after Galwan.
The deficit is not merely commercial, since it finances the capability that constrains India. Reducing dependence in critical inputs matters more than reducing the trade gap itself.
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Decode
Discuss the impact on India, taking the statement as the starting premise.
Implicit demand
Show the chain from trade surplus to military capability, and then to India.
Architecture
The hook → how the surplus becomes power → what it means for India → verdict.
Articulation
Anchor: the rare earth curbs, the trade surplus, BRI ports, Galwan. Money line: the deficit finances the capability that constrains India.
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The economic picture
India's trade deficit with China has widened steadily, and is now close to a hundred billion dollars.
Around seventy per cent of bulk drug ingredients used by Indian pharmaceutical firms are imported from China.
Solar modules, telecom equipment and electronic components show similar concentration.
China restricted rare earth magnet exports in 2025, which affected automobile and electronics production.
Press Note 3 of 2020 requires government approval for investment from countries sharing a land border.
The strategic picture
Hambantota port in Sri Lanka was leased for ninety nine years after a debt restructuring.
Gwadar in Pakistan and the base at Djibouti extend naval reach into the Indian Ocean.
The China Pakistan Economic Corridor passes through territory India claims.
Infrastructure and border villages opposite eastern Ladakh followed the standoff of 2020.
China's defence budget is several times India's, and the gap has widened over a decade.
India's response
Production Linked Incentive schemes target electronics, pharmaceuticals and solar manufacturing.
The National Critical Mineral Mission and KABIL address mineral dependence.
Quad and the Indo Pacific Oceans Initiative build maritime partnerships.
Neighbourhood lines of credit and connectivity projects answer the lending competition.
Diversification is slow, since Chinese inputs remain cheaper for most Indian manufacturers.
2 · GS2 201815 marks250 words
What are the key areas of reform if the WTO has to survive in the present context of 'Trade War', especially keeping in mind the interest of India?
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The World Trade Organization (WTO) has had no functioning appeal since 2019, since Appellate Body appointments are blocked. Its fourteenth Ministerial Conference at Yaoundé in March 2026 closed without agreement on electronic commerce or fisheries. Most files went back to Geneva.
Dispute settlement comes first
Every other rule depends on being enforceable, so this is the first area of reform. A losing party can appeal into a void, which suspends the ruling indefinitely. Some members use an interim appeal arrangement, though India has stayed outside it. A rules based forum protects a middle economy better than bilateral bargaining does.
Agriculture, where India's interest is sharpest
Procurement for the food security law can breach the subsidy ceiling of ten per cent. The peace clause agreed at Bali in 2013 is only a temporary shield. Support is still measured against world prices of 1986 to 1988, which inflates the calculated subsidy today. India has also sought a safeguard against sudden import surges. No permanent solution emerged at Yaoundé.
The rest of the agenda
Developed members want to end self declaration of developing country status. India defends it as the basis of special treatment. The fisheries agreement entered into force in September 2025, and talks continue on subsidies for overcapacity. The moratorium on customs duties for electronic transmissions lapsed after Yaoundé, which India had long sought. Plurilateral deals among willing members weaken consensus, and India has opposed them.
The WTO survives only if a ruling can be enforced, so dispute settlement must be restored first. For India the test is whether food security and special treatment survive that reform.
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Decode
Identify reform areas, and tie each of them to India's interest.
Implicit demand
Dispute settlement comes first, since every other rule depends on enforceability.
Architecture
The crisis → dispute settlement → agriculture → the rest → verdict. Written as prose, since the areas connect rather than stand as a list.
Articulation
Anchor: the Appellate Body vacancy, MC14 at Yaoundé, the Bali peace clause, the 1986 to 1988 base year, the lapsed digital moratorium. Money line: the WTO survives only if a ruling can be enforced.
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Dispute settlement
The Appellate Body lost quorum in December 2019 after appointments were blocked.
The Multi Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA) is the workaround used by some members, and India is not part of it.
MC13 at Abu Dhabi in 2024 set a target for restoring a functioning system, which was missed.
MC14 was held at Yaoundé from 26 to 30 March 2026, only the second ministerial hosted in Africa.
It adopted decisions on small economies and on special treatment in the sanitary and technical barriers agreements.
A draft Yaoundé package on reform, electronic commerce and fisheries was carried forward to Geneva.
Agriculture
The Agreement on Agriculture classifies support into amber, blue and green boxes.
The de minimis limit for developing countries is ten per cent of the value of production.
The Bali peace clause of 2013 protects public stockholding from challenge until a permanent solution.
Support is measured against an external reference price fixed for 1986 to 1988.
Developed members retain large entitlements under historical commitments, which India calls an asymmetry.
A Special Safeguard Mechanism would allow tariffs to rise temporarily against an import surge.
The wider agenda
The Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies entered into force on 15 September 2025.
Members must adopt a second agreement on overcapacity by 2029, or the first one lapses.
India has sought a long transition and protection for artisanal and subsistence fishers.
The moratorium on customs duties for electronic transmissions expired at the end of March 2026.
India and South Africa had argued that the moratorium costs developing countries tariff revenue.
Investment Facilitation for Development was pursued as a plurilateral, which India opposed.
3 · GS2 201915 marks250 words
'The long-sustained image of India as a leader of the oppressed and marginalised nations has disappeared on account of its new found role in the emerging global order.' Elaborate.
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India once led the Non Aligned Movement (NAM) and spoke for the decolonising world at Bandung. It now sits in the Quad and signs trade agreements with the wealthiest economies.
What supports the statement
Alignment has changed shape: Strategic autonomy has replaced non alignment, and India signs defence logistics agreements with the United States.
The old platform has faded: The Prime Minister has not attended recent NAM summits, which once carried India's moral claim.
Interest leads the agenda: Trade agreements with the Emirates, Australia and Britain show diplomacy organised around market access.
Positions read as realpolitik: Abstentions on Ukraine were defended on energy and defence grounds rather than on principle.
What cuts against it
The constituency is still claimed: India has hosted the Voice of Global South Summit since 2023, speaking for the same group in new language.
Delivery replaced declaration: Vaccine supplies during the pandemic and disaster relief in the region built standing through action.
A concrete win: India's presidency secured permanent membership of the Group of Twenty (G20) for the African Union in 2023.
The old demands continue: India hosted the BRICS summit in September 2026, and its declaration pressed for reformed multilateralism.
Climate equity: Common but differentiated responsibility remains India's position in every climate negotiation.
The vocabulary has shifted from solidarity to partnership. Leadership is now claimed through delivery rather than through opposition to the West. The image has been recast rather than lost.
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Decode
Elaborate a claim. State the case for it, then test it against what India still does.
Implicit demand
The claim is half right, so the answer must separate changed method from changed constituency.
Architecture
Then and now → what supports the statement → what cuts against it → verdict.
Articulation
Anchor: NAM and Bandung, the Quad, the Voice of Global South Summit, the African Union in the G20. Money line: the vocabulary shifted from solidarity to partnership.
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The older role
India shaped the Bandung Conference of 1955 and the founding of NAM in 1961.
It led the Group of 77 in demanding a new international economic order.
Opposition to apartheid in South Africa was a defining position for decades.
Support for Palestinian statehood was among the earliest such positions taken by a large state.
Technical cooperation through ITEC has trained officials from developing countries since 1964.
The newer role
Quad membership and the logistics agreements with the United States mark the change most visibly.
Comprehensive economic agreements were concluded with the Emirates, Australia and Britain.
India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor places India inside a western connectivity project.
The Voice of Global South Summit has been held annually since 2023.
Vaccine Maitri supplied doses to dozens of countries during the pandemic.
The International Solar Alliance and the Global Biofuels Alliance were both launched from India.
The debate
Critics argue that a seat at the high table has muted India's criticism of the powerful.
Defenders reply that capability, not rhetoric, is what the Global South now wants from India.
The shift from aid recipient to development partner changed the language of engagement.
India frames its offer as development partnership without conditionality, unlike western aid.
Comparison with China's lending is the test most partner countries actually apply.
4 · GS2 202010 marks150 words
Critically examine the role of WHO in providing global health security during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a public health emergency on 30 January 2020. It used the word pandemic only on 11 March, and most criticism begins in that gap.
What it did
It pooled what states would not: COVAX bought vaccines for poorer countries, and the Solidarity Trial tested drugs across many at once.
Where it fell short
Advice lagged the evidence: Mask guidance changed only in June 2020, and airborne spread was acknowledged later still.
It cannot inspect or penalise: The International Health Regulations (IHR) rest on self reporting, and the origins mission reached Wuhan only in 2021.
Equity failed anyway: COVAX delivered a fraction of its promise while richer states bought directly from makers.
What has changed
Rules tightened, treaty stalled: The amended IHR took effect in September 2025, while the Pandemic Agreement awaits its annex.
WHO could convene and advise, yet never compel a sovereign state. It was as strong as its members allowed, which is a design fault.
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Decode
Critically examine. Give both the achievement and the failure before judging.
Implicit demand
Separate what the organisation did badly from what it was never empowered to do.
Architecture
The timeline → what it did well → where it fell short → what changed → verdict.
Articulation
Anchor: the January 2020 emergency declaration, COVAX, the IHR, the 2025 pandemic agreement. Money line: it was as strong as its members allowed.
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What it did
A Public Health Emergency of International Concern was declared on 30 January 2020.
The outbreak was described as a pandemic on 11 March 2020.
COVAX was run with Gavi and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.
The Solidarity Trial tested candidate treatments in many countries simultaneously.
Emergency use listing allowed faster national approval of vaccines, including those made in India.
WHO also standardised the naming of variants, which reduced stigma attached to countries.
The criticism
The origins mission reached Wuhan only in January 2021, more than a year after the outbreak.
Early advice discouraged travel restrictions, which many states ignored in practice.
Mask guidance for the general public was revised only in June 2020.
Airborne transmission was acknowledged well after scientists had written publicly about it.
About four fifths of the budget is voluntary and earmarked by donors, which shapes priorities.
An independent panel found the response too slow at national and international levels alike.
The reform since
Amendments to the IHR entered into force on 19 September 2025.
They add a pandemic emergency category and require a national authority for coordination.
The Pandemic Agreement was adopted at the World Health Assembly on 20 May 2025.
It cannot be opened for signature until the pathogen access and benefit sharing annex is agreed.
Those negotiations were extended again in 2026, with a special assembly under consideration.
The core dispute is whether benefit sharing by manufacturers should be binding or voluntary.
5 · GS2 202110 marks150 words
“If the last few decades were of Asia's growth story, the next few are expected to be of Africa's.” In the light of this statement, examine India's influence in Africa in recent years.
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Africa will hold about a quarter of the world's people by 2050. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has created a single market of over a billion.
Where India has influence
Trade and investment: Two way trade was about eighty two billion dollars in 2024-25. India is Africa's fourth largest trading partner.
Concessional finance: More than 190 lines of credit worth over ten billion dollars have funded projects in 41 countries.
People rather than projects: Training under ITEC, tele education links and a diaspora of about three million build lasting ties.
Where it lags
Scale is not comparable: Chinese trade with Africa is roughly three times India's, backed by far larger infrastructure lending.
Attention has been uneven: The fourth India Africa Forum Summit, planned for May 2026, was postponed and has still not met.
India's influence is real in health, training and digital services, and modest in trade and infrastructure. Closing that gap needs execution and sustained political attention rather than fresh announcements.
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Decode
Examine India's influence, using the statement about Africa's rise as the frame.
Implicit demand
Influence must be measured against a competitor, which in Africa means China.
Architecture
Why Africa matters → where India has influence → where it lags → verdict.
Articulation
Anchor: AfCFTA, two way trade, lines of credit, ITEC, the African Union in the G20. Money line: the gap is execution and sustained attention.
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The engagement
India Africa trade stood at about eighty two billion dollars in 2024-25, a rise of seventeen per cent.
More than 190 lines of credit worth over ten billion dollars have gone to 41 countries.
Around 220 projects worth four and a half billion dollars have been completed.
The Duty Free Tariff Preference scheme covers 98.2 per cent of tariff lines for 33 African countries.
India has opened 17 new missions in Africa since 2018, taking the total to 46.
About five thousand Indian peacekeepers serve in United Nations missions in Africa.
India's G20 presidency secured permanent membership for the African Union in 2023.
The competition
China's trade with Africa is several times larger, and its lending funds ports, rail and power.
The Belt and Road Initiative gives Beijing a visible presence in most African capitals.
Turkey, the Emirates and Russia have all expanded their footprint in the last decade.
The European Union runs its own connectivity programme in response.
Indian project execution has been criticised for delay and for weak follow through.
What would strengthen it
Holding the India Africa Forum Summit, whose fourth edition was deferred from May 2026.
Faster disbursal and completion of projects funded by lines of credit.
Backing Indian private investment in manufacturing, not only in extraction.
Sharing digital public infrastructure, which several African states have sought.
Supporting the African Union's own priorities under its development agenda.