The place of 'self-reliant' India in South Asia

Economic weakness will affect India's strategic position in the region

How will an economically be­leaguered India find its way strategically in the changing and contested world, now battling the deadly coronavirus? India can’t change its strategic geography. It has border disputes with neighbouring Pakistan and China. Facing multiple socio-economic shocks, India has been concerned about the deaths of its military personnel in the recent terrorist attack in Kashmir, the unpredictability of China’s recent moves on its northea­stern border, China’s military and economic influence in its Indian Ocean ne­ighbourhood and the strategic implication of the US’s decision to quit Afghanistan. Defence spending has de­clined over the last few years; it is