‘India’s foreign policy is outcome-oriented’
   Date :18-Jan-2023

India’s foreign policy 
 
 
By Vikas Vaidya
“India always had an independent approach as far as foreign affairs are concerned. Under the present government, the foreign policy has become outcome-oriented. For example, all the Indian Embassies and Consulates have been assigned targets to achieve Indian exports. In Germany, we could not only achieve the target assigned to us but exceeded it too. This year, we got an even bigger target to achieve. Similar targets have been introduced in other areas too,” said Consul General of India in Frankfurt, Germany, Dr Amit Telang.
Dr Telang interacted with ‘The Hitavada’ at his residence in Nagpur while on a personal visit.
Dr Telang is a medical doctor. Unlike many of the Civil Servants, Dr Telang completed his Post Graduation, taught for some time and then joined Indian Foreign Service (IFS). He is from Nagpur and completed his medical education from Nagpur’s Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH). During his stay in Nagpur, he was involved in community service and social work out of his own interest.
“In the past, India’s approach towards Indians residing in foreign countries was somewhat indifferent. But in the last few years, we are trying to actively engage with the Indian Diaspora and reach out to them. All the Embassies and Consulates maintain contact with the Diaspora through various means. A lot of emphasis is placed on providing on-line services for their requirements like generating passports, OCI cards etc and we are offering many of such services on-line at the consulate in Frankfurt. We have tried to simplify certain procedures that used to be quite cumbersome for Indians abroad. As a Consul General, I attend many social events to remain in touch with the Indians abroad. We regularly celebrate festivals like Kite Festival, Holi, Diwali to promote Indian culture and traditions. I think this is a major change from the previous manner of conducting foreign policy,” elaborated Dr Telang.
In 2004, Dr Telang cracked Civil Services and joined Indian Revenue Services (IRS) and in 2005 he joined the Indian Foreign Service (IFS). His first appointment was at Berlin in 2007 and he was posted for the second time in Germany in 2020 as the Consul General in Frankfurt. While Berlin was part of the erstwhile East Germany, Frankfurt is located in the western part of Germany or the erstwhile West Germany as it was called before 1990 when the two Germanys united. He knows German too and it is quite useful in his work. He has completed two and a half years in Frankfurt. Before coming to Frankfurt, Dr Telang was in Delhi where he looked after the East Asia division that deals with countries like China, Japan and Koreas.
“Yoga and Ayurveda were present there earlier. But now it is more structured since United Nations declared 21 June as the International Day of Yoga. Due to initiatives like International Yoga Day, the perception about India and Indians is changing considerably. Now people in Germany have started celebrating events like National Unity Day which brings together people from different parts of India. The German people want to know more about Indian culture and traditions. Several language schools create awareness about Indian languages, especially Sanskrit. Number of Indians migrating to Germany has increased, the number of Indian students is on the rise too,” pointed out Dr Telang. The conflict in Ukraine has impacted the energy situation in Germany. Electricity has become more expensive and it has an effect on the export oriented German economy.
Earlier Germany imported cheap gas from Russia, which is no longer possible. Unlike India, Germany has an aging population. Many people are in the age group of eighty and above. Germany requires skilled people to work in various sectors and India’s young and talented people are in demand in Germany.