What is meant by Gujral doctrine? Does it have any relevance today? Discuss.

The Gujral Doctrine is a set of five principles for India's neighbourhood policy articulated by I.K. Gujral as External Affairs Minister in 1996 and pursued during his prime ministership (1997–98). Its core is generosity by the larger power.

The Five Principles

• With Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka, India does not ask for reciprocity but gives what it can in good faith and trust.
• No South Asian country should allow its territory to be used against the interests of another country of the region.
• No country should interfere in the internal affairs of another.
• All countries must respect each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty.
• All disputes should be settled through peaceful bilateral negotiations.

Relevance Today

• Its most tangible fruit, the Ganga Waters Treaty with Bangladesh (1996), endures; the 2015 Land Boundary Agreement continued the same accommodative spirit.
• Neighbourhood First and SAGAR institutionalise non-reciprocity — Vaccine Maitri, nearly USD 4 billion support to crisis-hit Sri Lanka in 2022, and financial backstops to the Maldives.
• The insistence on bilateralism still anchors India's rejection of third-party mediation, including on Kashmir.
• Limits: the doctrine consciously excluded Pakistan, and goodwill alone cannot offset cross-border terrorism or China-financed leverage; critics also argue it traded security vigilance for goodwill.

The doctrine survives less as dogma than as disposition — an India that is generous, non-hegemonic and bilateral in method serves its own interest in a stable periphery.