UPSC EDITORIAL ANALYSIS : Chabahar’s opportunities and challenges
Kartavya Desk Staff
Source: The Hindu
Prelims: Current events of international importance, Chabahar Port, India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), Arabian gulf, Gulf of Oman, mapping of west asia and Europe etc
Mains GS Paper II: Bilateral, regional and global grouping and agreements involving India or affecting India’s interests.
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
• India and Iran concluded contract which gives India rights to invest in and operate the Shahid-Beheshti terminal at Chabahar Port for another 10 years,
INSIGHTS ON THE ISSUE
Context
Chabahar Port:
• It is Iran’s only oceanic port.
• It is situated in Sistan and Baluchistan Province, on the Makran coast.
• There are two main ports in Chabahar: The Shahid Kalantari port The Shahid Beheshti port.
• The Shahid Kalantari port
• The Shahid Beheshti port.
• The Shahid Kalantari port was developed in the 1980s.
• Iran had offered India the project of developing the Shahid Beheshti port which was well received by India.
Importance of Chabahar project:
• It is an important endeavour for both economic and strategic reasons.
• Chabahar, for India, represents its thinking from the perspective of an extended neighbourhood, and not necessarily as part of its West Asia outlook.
• The port is a fulcrum of the International North–South Transport Corridor, a project looking towards seamlessly linking India with Central Asia and Russia, bypassing Pakistan.
• Chabahar is tuned into the ‘new’ realities of Afghanistan. The Taliban-led interim government in Kabul are offering an investment of $35 million. In 2023, Taliban leader visited Chabahar, with Shahid-Behesti visible in the background.
• The Taliban-led interim government in Kabul are offering an investment of $35 million.
• In 2023, Taliban leader visited Chabahar, with Shahid-Behesti visible in the background.
Challenges between the India and Iran:
• Both country’s views of their national, regional, and geopolitical interests.
• Older projects such as the gas field Farzad-B which was discovered by Indian state-owned enterprise ONGC Videsh, have now been written off.
• The IranoHind shipping company, was dissolved in 2013 because of sanctions.
• India’s Adani Group has invested in a large port project in Israel. The company bought Israel’s Haifa port on the Mediterranean Sea for $1.2 billion. This latest conflict in which both Israel and Iran exchanged missile fire and came critically close to a full-scale conflict may impact projects.
• The company bought Israel’s Haifa port on the Mediterranean Sea for $1.2 billion.
• This latest conflict in which both Israel and Iran exchanged missile fire and came critically close to a full-scale conflict may impact projects.
• Recent remarks from the U.S. over potential sanctions against Chabahar.
Way Forward
• Chabahar deal is not only a testament to Indian diplomacy but also for the U.S. to also recognise that this kind of access which New Delhi has is beneficial, and not detrimental, to Washington.
• India’s relations with Iran and the continuity of Chabahar’s development offers access to difficult political terrain such as Central Asia, and even Afghanistan It could bring in a significant level of integration and help in building alternatives to China-backed projects.
• It could bring in a significant level of integration and help in building alternatives to China-backed projects.
• Iran is a quintessential survivalist state and plays a diverse set of cards in its playbook of geopolitics.
• The port project cannot be the singular major play in the bilateral relationship. The concentration of interests is volatile.
• The concentration of interests is volatile.
• The U.S. must move towards being accommodative on sanctions against Chabahar. Viewing the port as a collateral against problematic Iranian policies in West Asia It would not be an accurate understanding of the big picture of India’s own outreach towards its extended neighbourhood which could benefit larger American aims as well.
• Viewing the port as a collateral against problematic Iranian policies in West Asia
• It would not be an accurate understanding of the big picture of India’s own outreach towards its extended neighbourhood which could benefit larger American aims as well.
QUESTION FOR PRACTICE
The long sustained image of India as a leader of the oppressed and marginalized nations has disappeared on account of its new found role in the emerging global order.’ Elaborate(UPSC 2019) (200 WORDS, 10 MARKS)