India Israel Cooperation in Defence, Agriculture, Science
The recent months have seen an expansion of India-Israel cooperation in various fields, with the visit of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the country. The major fields of cooperation inter alia include defence, agriculture and science.
History of India-Israel relations
Although in the initial years i.e. from the time of independence until 1992, India did not support Israel’s stand and indicated a pro-Palestine approach, the situation changed thereafter. In 1992 India decided to set up embassies in Israel and begin its diplomatic ties. It was also the time when the Israel-Palestine peace process was underway. The Oslo Accord for Peace between Israel and Palestine in 1993 was also a major hint for stability in the region. Further, there was US pressure which at that time was a major country on which India was highly dependent especially after the economic liberalization of 1991. So, Israel was included in India’s foreign policy and has since then played a key role in several developments taking place in India. For example, after Pokhran II tests of 1998 when US and other Western countries imposed sanction on India, Israel came out as an alternate to the US arms owing to the close military ties.
India-Israel Defence Relations
The closeness in military ties on in terms of defence cooperation is best understood from the position during Kargil War of 1999. Israel at that time provided India with mortar ammunitions, surveillance drones, laser guided missiles and intelligence inputs with the help of which she was able to defeat Pakistan. The major loopholes in the Indian Defence Department were identified then and Israel had extended cooperation to solve these issues. Thus, the defense cooperation has become the most sought out relation identified between India and Israel. Israel at present sells military equipment worth $1 billion a year to India. In 2012 Israel was recognized as the third largest supplier of weapons to India after US and Russia. Recently, in 2017 India and Israel signed a deal worth $2 billion for an advanced medium range surface to air missile system. This system has the capacity to shoot down any aircraft, missile or drone upto a range of 70 km. The Indian air force has also received an Israel made quick reaction surface-to-air missile named SPYDER. The two countries have also developed a joint working group on counter-terrorism that carries on drills at a regular interval.
India-Israel Agriculture Relations
Agriculture forms the second largest area of cooperation between the two countries after defence. The path breaking event took place in 2008 when Israel had launched the India-Israel Agriculture Project (IIAP). The project aimed at setting up specialized agricultural centres across the country through assistance from Israel. MASHAV is the name of the agency of Israel that assists the Indian Ministry of Agriculture in its efforts. Some of the important contributions being made by the Centres are: developing new varieties of crops by mixing Indian and Israeli varieties, training is being given to farmers and horticulturalists with regard to state-of-the-art technology for growing healthy and price worthy grains and fruits. In other words, it is helping India to modernize agriculture as it supports nearly half of the working population of the country. The irrigation and water management systems developed by Israel are coming of great help to India and cooperation has been entered into to utilize that technical knowhow. India’s largest micro irrigation project in Karnataka has been set up with the help of Israel.
India-Israel Cooperation in Science and Technology
In the recent visit of our Prime Minister to Israel, some collaboration in the fields of science and technology have also been agreed upon. A fund of $40 million has been set up for the purpose of innovation with emphasis on agriculture, energy, water and information technology. It is sought to promote industry led research with the idea of developing new products in the next two years. It shall be a public private partnership with focus on promoting research and development. The first such agreement in this field was entered into in 1993. Some of the areas of science where they cooperate are human genomics, imaging sensor and robotics, advanced material and nanotechnology, solar energy, agriculture and biotechnology, lasers and electro-optics and agricultural and medical biotechnology.
