Headlines
Why Israel matters to India (and Modi)
New Delhi, June 8
When Narendra Modi travels to Israel
sometime later this year, he will be the first Indian prime minister
to visit, formalising a relationship often conducted behind closed
doors, through clandestine meetings and secret agreements.
The
announcement is already generating heat, with some criticising it,
others urging caution – with one commentator suggesting a
counter-balancing visit to Israeli arch-enemy Iran – and some seeing it
as an inevitable corollary to the convergence of the ideologies of
Hindutva and Likud, a political movement (rooted in the free market and
Jewish culture) that coalesced into a political party.
While
India recognised Israel on September 17, 1950 – a year after it voted
against UN membership for the Jewish state – full diplomatic ties
were established only in 1992, the reticence flowing from India’s
traditional backing for the Palestinian cause.
Since then, in
the public eye, relationships have been defined by defence deals and the
38,000 mostly young Israelis who visit India each year to de-stress
after their compulsory two-three years of military service. The
traffic isnÂ’t all one-way though, more than 40,000 Indians
visited Israel in 2013, the largest number of tourists from an Asian
country.
Business and technological ties are also growing, and
India and Israel recently agreed to set up a $40 million India-Israel
cooperation fund to promote joint scientific and technological
collaborations.
Here are five things that define the India-Israel relationship today:
1.
Defence.There is no getting away from the defence relationship. Israel
is IndiaÂ’s fifth-largest source of arms, with imports worth $0.21
billion in 2013-14 and $10 billion over the past decade.
The
earliest signs of collaboration came during the 1962 Sino-Indian war,
when Israel gave India military aid. Israel also aided India during the
two wars with Pakistan in 1965 and 1971, according to this article in
the Stanford Journal of International Relations.
India
reciprocated during the Six-Day War in 1967 by providing Israel with
spare parts for Mystere and Ouragan aircraft, as well as AX-13 tanks,
the Stanford report said.
The highlight of the partnership was Israel’s supply of artillery shells during the Kargil war, when India faced a shortage.
In
the late 1990s, a crucial defence deal was the Indian purchase of the
Barak-1, an air-defence missile, bought specifically for its capability
to intercept US-made Harpoon missiles deployed by Pakistan.
IndiaÂ’s
imports of unarmed vehicles (UAVs) have almost all been from Israel. Of
the 176 purchased from Israel, 108 are Searcher UAVs and 68 are Heron
UAVs, as IndiaSpend hasreported.
Israel has also pledged support to the Make in India mission in the defence sector.
Other
major deals include the jointly-developed Barak-8 anti-ship-missile
that the Indian Navy will be testing soon, and the Spyder missile
system, which the Indian Air Force is procuring to counter aerial
threats at low altitude. India and Israel also closely cooperate on
anti-terror activities and have signed agreements, among other
matters, on homeland and public security and protection of classified
materials and information.
2. Diplomacy. Several ministerial
and high-level official visits to Israel precede ModiÂ’s forthcoming
tour. These include visits by then home minister L.K Advani in 2000
and Home Minister Rajnath Singh in November 2014.
Both
countries have signed several bilateral agreements since 1992, which
include cooperation in agriculture, research and development, economy
and industry and security.
3. Agriculture. This has been an
important facet in the Indo-Israel relationship. India has benefited
from IsraelÂ’s expertise in the sector, evident from the number of
bilateral agreements signed between the two nations.
While
Indian agriculture is largely dependent on rain and an erratic monsoon,
Israel, a aglobal leader in drip irrigation, has pioneered desert
agriculture with sparse supplies of water.
India
has benefited from Israeli technologies in horticulture mechanisation,
protected cultivation, orchard and canopy management, nursery
management, micro-irrigation and post-harvest management, particularly
in Haryana and Maharashtra.
An Indo-Israel agriculture action
plan unfolded between 2008 and 2010 and has been extended until 2015
to provide “centres of excellence†in eight states to showcase the
latest technologies to grow fruits, vegetables and flowers.
Nearly
10 India-Israel centres of excellence for cooperation in agriculture
have been set-up so far,of the 30 expected by 2015.
Maharashtra
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis recently visited Israel, seeking
agro-technology to address the farming crisis in the Vidarbha and
Marathwada regions.
4. Water Management. Technologically adept
Israel has developed water-management technologies, located as it is
in a semi-arid region with limited sources of fresh drinking water.
IsraelÂ’s
expertise includes recycling waste water and desalination. Indian
companies and official delegations regularly visit the biannual Water
Technology & Environment Control Exhibition & Conference, which
showcases IsraelÂ’s water and energy technologies.
IDE, an
Israeli company, has built several desalination plants in India,
including a 100-million-litre per day desalination plant at Nemelli in
Tamil Nadu, commissioned in 2013.
5.Trade. India’s total
trade with Israel is $6.06 billion in 2013-14, up 57 percent over
2009-10. The trade balance stood in IndiaÂ’s favour at $1.44 billion in
2013-14.
Mineral fuels and oils are IndiaÂ’s leading export to Israel worth $1.45 billion in 2013-14.
IndiaÂ’s
major imports from Israel in 2013-14 included natural or cultured
pearls and precious stones worth $1.20 billion. Stones and pearls are
the second-largest commodity, in terms of value, exported to Israel from
India after mineral fuels.
The Indo-Israel trade in diamonds increased 98 percent from $1.25 billion in 2009 to $2.48 billion in 2013.
Nearly
40 diamond dealers from India have opened offices at the Israeli
diamond exchange in Ramat-Gan. Some of these dealers have been active in
Israel for nearly 30-40 years.
Since 2010, the two countries
have been negotiating a free-trade agreement for goods and services,
which should boost investments and trade ties.
Israel ranks 44th in terms of foreign direct investment in India, puting in $82 million between April 2000 and February 2015.
(In
arrangement with IndiaSpend.org, a data-driven, non-profit,
public-interest journalism platform. Chaitanya Mallapur can be
contacted at [email protected]. The views expressed are personal)