International Relations

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) — to which both Iran and Oman are parties — enshrines the doctrine of 'transit passage' for...

The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) is the apex body in India's national security decision-making architecture. It is chaired by the Prime Minister and...

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS, 1982) is the comprehensive international legal framework governing the use of the world's...

The International Emergency Economic Powers Act was enacted by the US Congress in 1977 to grant the President authority to regulate international commerce...

India imports approximately 87% of its crude oil requirements, making it one of the most import-dependent large economies in the world. This dependence is...

India has a long and expanding tradition of mounting large-scale evacuation operations to bring citizens home from conflict zones. These operations have...

India's Strategic Petroleum Reserve Limited (ISPRL), under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, operates three underground rock cavern facilities.

International Humanitarian Law (IHL), codified in the Geneva Conventions (1949) and Additional Protocols (1977), grants special protected status to medical...

The National Critical Mineral Mission was announced in the Union Budget 2024-25 (July 23, 2024) and formally approved by the Union Cabinet on January 29...

The SR mechanism is the highest-level political channel between India and China dedicated to resolving the boundary dispute. It was formally constituted in...

India and the European Union concluded negotiations for a comprehensive free trade agreement on January 27, 2026, at a summit in New Delhi attended by PM...

India and France have one of India's deepest and most comprehensive bilateral defence relationships, built on strategic autonomy and shared geopolitical...

India and Russia upgraded their bilateral relationship to a 'Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership' in 2010, reflecting the depth of ties spanning...

The Islamic Republic of Iran is founded on the political doctrine of Velayat-e Faqih (Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist), formulated by Ayatollah Ruhollah...

Operation Sankalp was launched on June 19, 2019, by the Indian Navy in response to the deteriorating security situation in the Gulf of Oman following...

The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman, approximately 33 km wide at its narrowest point. It is the world's most important oil...

The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow maritime chokepoint between Oman and Iran through which roughly 20% of the world's oil trade passes. India imports...

First adopted at the Second Ministerial Conference in Geneva in 1998 as part of the Global Declaration on E-Commerce, the moratorium prohibits WTO members...

India's foreign exchange reserves are managed by the Reserve Bank of India and serve multiple strategic purposes: financing imports, intervening in the...

Freedom of navigation is a principle of international maritime law established under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS, 1982). It...

Energy diversification refers to India's long-standing policy of reducing overdependence on any single country or route for hydrocarbon imports. India now...

India's foreign policy has evolved from Non-Alignment during the Cold War (articulated by Jawaharlal Nehru at the Bandung Conference, 1955) to 'strategic...

Strategic Petroleum Reserves are emergency oil stockpiles maintained by governments to cushion the impact of supply disruptions. The IEA's 90-day reserve...

The India-UAE CEPA, signed on February 18, 2022, and operational from May 1, 2022, is one of the most successful bilateral trade agreements in India's...

The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) is an informal strategic forum comprising Australia, India, Japan, and the United States. It was initially...

Rules of Origin (RoO) are criteria used to determine the national source of a product in international trade. Under FTAs, only goods that meet specified...

Rules of Origin are criteria used to determine the national source of a product in international trade. They are critical in preferential trade agreements...

Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 authorises the US Trade Representative (USTR) to investigate and take action against foreign trade practices that are...

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification is one of three conventions to emerge from the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, alongside the UN Framework...

Artificial intelligence refers broadly to computational systems that perform tasks requiring human-like cognition — pattern recognition, language...

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), established in 1979 after the Iranian Revolution, operates as a military force parallel to Iran's regular...

India has maintained a multi-aligned position, engaging both Russia (as a major defense supplier and oil source) and the West. The deepening China-Russia...

India is the world's largest importer of vegetable oils, spending approximately $15-20 billion annually on edible oil imports. The country imports over...

India's trade policy evolved from a closed, import-substitution industrialisation (ISI) model post-Independence to progressive liberalisation after the 1991...

The India-UK CETA, signed in July 2025 after over a decade of negotiations, is a comprehensive free trade agreement covering goods, services, investment...

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed in July 2015 by Iran and the P5+1 (US, UK, France, Russia, China, Germany), aimed to restrict Iran's...

Maritime chokepoints are narrow strategic waterways through which large volumes of global trade and energy shipments must transit, making them...

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), founded in Baghdad in 1960, is an intergovernmental organisation of 12 oil-exporting nations....

In April 2020, immediately following the COVID-19 pandemic and the Galwan border crisis, India issued Press Note 3 (2020) under the Foreign Exchange...

The Quad is an informal strategic grouping comprising India, the United States, Japan, and Australia. It is not a formal treaty alliance but a minilateral...

The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman-UAE, connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea. At its narrowest...

The DCC is a bilateral agreement ensuring that professionals temporarily working in the other country do not pay social security contributions in both...

The Russia-Ukraine war has been called the first large-scale 'drone war' — both sides have extensively used unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for...

Exercise MILAN (Multilateral Indian-Led Assembly of Navies) was inaugurated by the Indian Navy in February 1995 at Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands...

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was established in 1957 as an autonomous body within the UN system, headquartered in Vienna, Austria. Its...

India is the world's third-largest consumer and importer of crude oil, importing approximately 85% of its requirements. The Gulf — particularly Saudi...

India's heavy dependence on imported crude oil (approximately 89% of consumption) makes source diversification a critical component of energy security...

India's approach to energy procurement is a direct expression of its strategic autonomy doctrine — diversifying suppliers to avoid dependence on any single...

India's foreign policy doctrine has evolved through three distinct phases: Non-Alignment (1947-1991), Strategic Autonomy (post-1991), and Multi-Alignment...

India's continued Russian oil purchases are an expression of its long-standing strategic autonomy doctrine — one of the most testable concepts in GS2...

India's foreign policy has evolved from classical Non-Alignment (Cold War era) to a doctrine of 'strategic autonomy' — the freedom to engage with multiple...

West Asia (Middle East) is of multi-dimensional strategic importance to India: it hosts over 9 million Indian diaspora (the largest source of remittances —...

The India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) was signed on 10 March 2024 between India and the four EFTA (European Free Trade Association)...

The 'Axis of Resistance' is Iran's strategic network of allied state and non-state actors across West Asia, serving as the principal vehicle for Iran's...

The Line of Actual Control (LAC) is the de facto border between India and China, spanning approximately 3,488 km from Ladakh in the west to Arunachal...

The NPT is the cornerstone of international nuclear non-proliferation architecture, and Iran's compliance with IAEA obligations is central to the dispute.

The Paris Agreement (2015) replaced the top-down Kyoto Protocol with a bottom-up system of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) — voluntary climate...

Press Note 3 (2020), issued by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) on April 17, 2020, amended India's consolidated FDI...

The Raisina Dialogue is India's flagship annual geopolitics and geo-economics conference, organised jointly by the Ministry of External Affairs and the...

Section 301 is found in Title III (Sections 301–310) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. §§ 2411–2420). It authorises the USTR to investigate and take...