India-Bhutan Relations

Bhutan PM's five-day visit to India in March 2024 which was followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to Bhutan is expected to ease mutual concerns about a possible border agreement with China.

• Sneha M
• March 28, 2024
• IDSA Comments

Prime Minister Narendra Modi seemed aware about the nuances Pthat underpin India's cultural and political obligations in Asia. By making Bhutan as his first visit abroad followed by a visit to Nepal, he has effectively invoked the deeper imperatives to revitalize India's national interests.

• P. Stobdan
• 2014
• IDSA Occasional Papers

Trafficking of drugs takes place overwhelmingly through land borders followed by sea and air routes. Given the vulnerability of the borders to drug trafficking, India has tried to tackle the problem through the strategy of drug supply and demand reduction, which involves enacting laws, co-operating with voluntary organisations, securing its borders and coasts by increasing surveillance, as well as seeking the active cooperation of its neighbours and the international community.

• Pushpita Das
• 2012
• IDSA Occasional Papers

• 2010
• Book

Hydropower cooperation between India and Bhutan should not only help achieve the larger aspirations of the Bhutanese people for peace, prosperity and happiness but also further strengthen bilateral bonds.

• Opangmeren Jamir
• May 26, 2022
• IDSA Comments

The Doklam episode should prompt India and Bhutan to rethink their hitherto overlooked issue of resituating Menser and Darchen-Labrang in their academic discourse and policy positions.

• P. Stobdan
• February 16, 2018
• Policy Brief

A visa is issued to facilitate an individual’s travel to another country in a regulated way. There are agreements between some countries on a no-visa regime; however, most countries do follow some sort of visa system. Typically, a visa allows a person to travel to the destination country as far as the port of entry (airport, seaport or land border crossing) and advises the immigration officer to allow the visitor to enter the country.

• Sandeep Chakravorty , Sumit Chaturvedi
• May 2015
• Strategic Analysis

Modi’s visit to Bhutan is politically significant. After inviting SAARC leaders to his swearing in ceremony; his choice of Bhutan as the first country came as no surprise. Bhutan is also the only country where the bilateral relationship is free from tension and expectations from each other are also easy to attain.

• Smruti S. Pattanaik
• June 18, 2014
• IDSA Comments

Given Bhutan’s strategic significance India needs to respond sensitively to its Himalayan neighbour so as to create further goodwill for the long term.

• Medha Bisht
• February 01, 2013
• IDSA Comments

The article argues that as India and Bhutan have moved into the second phase of power cooperation, it is important that the two countries revisit their policies and identify approaches that will be sustainable in the long term. The article emphasises that a sub-regional energy grid between Bhutan, India and Bangladesh can become an effective conduit for strengthening sub-regional diplomacy and help in addressing the latent but underlying concerns of Bhutan, which have the potential to impact India–Bhutan bilateral relations in the long term.

• Medha Bisht
• September 2012
• Strategic Analysis