Neighbours’ neighbour

losing economic primacy in the region to a rising China. It will be no surprise if Iran, which is now being welcomed into the Saarc family as an observer, seeks to promote its own disruptive ideological agenda in the subcontinent. India’s ability to drive a positive South Asian agenda has been hampered for too long by both the right and the left. In their obsession with “reciprocity”, the hawks have allowed our negative neighbours to define the pace of regional integration. The doves instinctively are against trade liberalisation. As a result, the subcontinent that was a single market until 1947 is the least integrated region of the world today. India must take much of the blame for erecting such huge protectionist barriers against the neighbours.

The prime minister will get a third cheer, when the government implements his offer on liberal visas and duty free access. India is notorious for backing off from promises, even those made at the highest political level, to its neighbours. The Indian bureaucracy is adept at taking back with the left hand what it holds out on the right. The impact of India’s new approach can be assessed only when the ministries of commerce and home add the fine print to PM’s sentiments. A failure to follow through would imply India is abandoning its duty to build a prosperous South Asia. That, in turn, would clear the way for other powers eager to fill the vacuum.