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MAINS 2013
GS1
10 marks

Critically examine the compulsions which prompted India to play a decisive role in the emergence of Bangladesh.

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7 min
200 words
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What the examiner wants

Critically examine the pressures that pushed India to intervene in East Pakistan in 1971.

Critically examineWeigh the strengths and the weaknesses, then give a balanced verdict.

Demand-wise check

  1. 1Political trigger: Awami League's majority in 1970 elections denied; Operation Searchlight (25 March 1971)≈30 words
  2. 2Humanitarian and economic: about 10 million refugees burdening India's eastern states≈30 words
  3. 3Security: chance to end two-front threat; insurgency links in the North-East≈30 words
  4. 4Diplomatic: Indo-Soviet Treaty (August 1971) against US-China alignment; US Seventh Fleet deployment≈30 words
  5. 5Critical view: charge of strategic opportunism vs. humanitarian necessity≈30 words

Open in about 30 words and close in about 30.

Answer plan

BackgroundRefugee crisisSecurity calculusDiplomatic preparationWar and outcomeCritical assessment

Where marks usually go

  • Narrating the war rather than the compulsions
  • No critical angle on India's motives

Draw this

  • Map of East Pakistan with refugee flows into West Bengal, Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam

Value addition

  • TreatyIndo-Soviet Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation signed 9 August 1971.Indo-Soviet Treaty, 1971
  • FactAbout 93,000 Pakistani personnel surrendered at Dhaka on 16 December 1971.Instrument of Surrender, 1971

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