India -Israel Relation
Background of India-Israel Relations:-
- India accorded formal diplomatic recognition to Israel on September 17, 1950. Soon thereafter an immigration office was established in Bombay (present-day Mumbai), which was later converted into a consulate.
- Embassies were opened in the year 1992 with the establishment of full diplomatic relations. After this, amazing progress was seen in the relations between the two countries.
- Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited India in January 2018, marking 25 years of the establishment of relations between India and Israel in 2017.
What is no contact policy?
- It is known that physical distancing has proved to be an effective way to prevent the spread of corona virus.
- The process of greeting 'Namaste' in India is a great example of physical distancing, in which no physical touch is done during the greeting.
- Israel has adopted the process of greeting by no contact policy to prevent the spread of the corona virus. Which is a symbol of the strengthening relations between India and Israel.
Areas of cooperation between India-Israel :-
health sector
- India is ensuring the supply of essential medicines to Israel to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Government of India to ensure supplies to send medical team to the Israeli pharmaceutical industry and N-95 face masks and other medical devices for raw materials approved it.
defense sector
- In March 2020, India signed a defense deal with Israel worth Rs 880 crore. In this defense deal, 16,479 light machine guns have been ordered for the Indian Armed Forces.
- India invited Israel's defense companies for joint production in 'Make in India', as there are good investment opportunities for Israel in the field of defense production in India.
- If Israel invests in the defense production sector, it will save India billions of dollars, which is spent on importing weapons from Israel.
- It is to be noted that Israel is the second largest arms supplier to India after Russia.
- Investments in defense production will benefit domestic manufacturing, reduce dependence on bureaucratic state-owned ordnance factories, and acquire new technology.
- India offered Israeli companies to joint production to take advantage of India's liberal foreign direct investment policy in the defense sector.
cooperation in agriculture
- During the visit of the Agriculture Minister of India to Israel last year, the two countries had decided to enhance bilateral cooperation in the agriculture sector.
- In view of the commitment to further enhance cooperation in agriculture and allied sectors between the two countries, a program in the field of horticulture is being implemented since 2015.
- Under this program, 27 centers of excellence are being set up in 21 states for cultivation of various fruits and vegetables, most of which have been completed.
- Due to the scarcity of water in Israel, drip irrigation method is used for irrigation.
- India has benefited greatly from Israeli technology in horticulture, farming, plantation management, nursery management, micro-irrigation and post-irrigation management.
- It has been widely used in Haryana and Maharashtra.
water resources management
- India has adequate availability of water as compared to Israel but the water management there is much better than ours.
- Due to the low availability of water, Israel has gained proficiency in sewage processing and brackish water sweetening.
- Israel has set up several plants in India to make salt water potable.
- In Israel, the use of recycled water is more in agriculture, industry, irrigation, etc., so the people there do not have to face the shortage of water.
- In a developing country like India, 80 percent of the population's water needs are met by groundwater and it is also true that the groundwater being used is polluted.
- Apart from this, the need for sharing of experiences and expertise in the areas of mutual agreement as well as in the areas of waste water reuse, desalination, water conservation methods and water resource management was also mentioned.
- Some time ago it was also agreed to set up a joint working group to explore areas of cooperation between the two countries.
Other areas of cooperation:-
- A large number of citizens of both the countries were trapped due to the lockdown implemented to prevent this global epidemic, to which the Air Force of both the countries made an agreement.
- Israel is a leader in terms of innovation and global strengths in technology, while India's creative talent is particularly rich in scientists etc .
- There is also scope for cooperation in cyber security and border monitoring mechanism between India and Israel.
- India can also take help of Israeli expertise in infrastructure development and smart city projects.
- Israel is also known as a 'start-up' hub that can help India's new IT companies grow and become a market leader.
Israel's stand on free trade agreement:-
- Israel sees India's middle class as an opportunity to increase its exports. India is a major export market for Israel.
- Israel believes that the strengthening ties with India will move from exporting defense products to increasing trade in goods and services.
- The Indian economy is becoming a major destination for Israel exports.
- About 300 million citizens of India's 1.3 billion consumers are in the middle and upper middle classes.
- Their purchasing power is similar to that of Western economies and they are very important for Israel.
- This has long been skeptical because of barriers to free trade agreement negotiations.
- Negotiations on the issue of a free trade agreement between the two countries began seven years ago, when its first round was held in May 2010.
- Israel believes that India is re-evaluating about this long-pending agreement.
- Until this happens, other efforts are being made between the two countries to take advantage of their economic potential.
India's stand on the issue of Palestine remains the same
- Many feared that India-Palestine ties could be affected by the growing ties between India and Israel, but India has made it clear that there has been no major change in its stand.
- Recently, when the US put forward a controversial proposal to accept Jerusalem as Israel's capital in the United Nations, 128 countries, including India, opposed the proposal, while only nine countries voted in favor and 35 countries abstained.
- In this resolution, it was said that there should be talks about the status of Jerusalem, and regretting the change, the US decision was declared invalid.
- India and Palestine relations have been strong for many decades and this was probably the reason why India voted against Israel in the United Nations.
De-hyphenation diplomacy:-
- Prime Minister Modi visited Israel in July 2017 but did not visit Palestine during this visit. Diplomatic experts believe that this step is contrary to the policy adopted by India in the past. Earlier Indian politicians have been visiting both the West Asian countries together.
- Diplomatic experts name this policy adopted by India regarding Israel and Palestine as ' de-hyphenation' .
- The policy of de-hyphenation is influenced by the policy adopted by the US in the context of India and Pakistan (ignoring the mutual tension between India and Pakistan, giving different importance to relations with the two countries).
Conclusion:-
Israel has invested in agriculture, irrigation and renewable energy in India and is exploring investment opportunities in the field of manufacturing in India. If the relations between India and Israel are to progress rapidly beyond the defense sectors, then for this there should be a free trade agreement between the two countries, through which many Indian companies can try to make a mark at the global level in Israel's partnership. Israel had demanded Reform, Perform & Transform, which India has tried to fulfill to a great extent. The economies of the two countries may complement each other in the current global conditions, but both countries need to take more steps to tap the bilateral potential and trade and investment.
