UPSC - International relations by Vikas Kanukollu
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A byproduct of the main channel- @hinduhighlights Vision : The main channel is evolving to become a one stop solution for being a library of sorts for UPSC aspirants of the coming generations. This channel is meant for UPSC GS-2 : IR and PSIR optional
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Network:📈 Analytical overview of Telegram channel UPSC - International relations by Vikas Kanukollu
Channel UPSC - International relations by Vikas Kanukollu (@upsc_psir_ir) in the English language segment is an active participant. Currently, the community unites 17 032 subscribers, ranking 11 748 in the Education category.
📊 Audience metrics and dynamics
Since its creation on невідомо, the project has demonstrated rapid growth, gathering an audience of 17 032 subscribers.
According to the latest data from 09 October, 2026, the channel demonstrates stable activity. Although there has been a change in the number of participants by -27 over the last 30 days and by 0 over the last 24 hours, overall reach remains high.
- Verification status: Not verified
- Engagement rate (ER): The average audience engagement rate is 25.80%. Within the first 24 hours after publication, content typically collects 12.51% reactions from the total number of subscribers.
- Post reach: On average, each post receives 4 393 views. Within the first day, a publication typically gains 2 131 views.
- Reactions and interaction: The audience actively supports content: the average number of reactions per post is 0.
📝 Description and content policy
The author describes the resource as a platform for expressing subjective opinions:
“A byproduct of the main channel- @hinduhighlights
Vision : The main channel is evolving to become a one stop solution for being a library of sorts for UPSC aspirants of the coming generations.
This channel is meant for UPSC GS-2 : IR and PSIR optio...”
Thanks to the high frequency of updates (latest data received on 10 October, 2026), the channel maintains relevance and a high level of publication reach. Analytics show that the audience actively interacts with content, making it an important point of influence in the Education category.
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Posts Archive
✅Gs-2 : IR-Global Governance & Institutional Reforms- Neocolonialism
✅Gs-3 : Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
⚠️Takeaway = Asymmetrical Global Governance- Use the WHO Pandemic Agreement (PA) negotiations to illustrate the deepening Global North vs. Global South fault lines.Highlight how developed nations push for mandatory compliance metrics while resisting provisions for mandatory technology transfers (such as the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) system).
🅾️Global Initiative for Digital Health (GIDH)=Example of treating health technologies as Global Public Goods.
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The ongoing negotiations surrounding the global Pandemic Agreement highlight that public health diplomacy is no longer just a medical necessity, but a complex geopolitical battleground between national sovereignty and global solidarity." Discuss India’s strategic stakes and options in shaping this framework.🎖VK IAS subject wise channels - Click here ⚠️Subscribe to VK IAS's YouTube channel : Click here
✅Gs-2 : IR-nuclear diplomacy
🛑Master article link for nuclear diplomacy - Click here
📍Video : CLICK HERE
➡️PDF Notes : https://t.me/UPSC_PDF_notes/142
🛑Things to know
🅾️1) What is No first use policy and nuclear doctrine?- Click here
🅾️2) Is there a strategic need to revisit India's nuclear doctrine?- Not a new issue- already discussed- click here
🔰Join
@hinduhighlights for News analysis
@upschighlights for prelims info
🎖Please Subscribe : Youtube.com/vikaskanukollu
✅Gs-2 : IR- India and neighbourhood- India pakistan relations
🅾️Context : collision between INS Kolkata and PNS Hunain in the North Arabian Sea on September 15, 2026.
🅾️INS Kolkata=Guided-missile destroyer(Project 15A, Kolkata class) but PNS Hunain=Offshore patrol vessel (OPV)
📌Article 10 of the 1991 Agreement on Advance Notice on Military Exercises, Manoeuvres and Troop Movements requires the two countries’ naval ships and submarines to avoid closing within 3 nautical miles of one another in international waters
⚜️Purpose: Prevent accidents and reduce miscalculation
⚜️Scope: A specific India–Pakistan obligation, not a universal separation requirement for all navies
📌Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972 (COLREGs)-Part of the Confidence-building measures (CBMs) that reduce uncertainty even when broader political relations remain strained
If you are worried about CONSISTENT and STRUCTURED coverage of Current affairs- please do consider the VERITAS program
✅Gs-2 : IR - West Asia- The Makkah Pact - competing interpretations of the MAKKAH agreement:
⚜️Interpretation A = Greater regional autonomy: New partnerships may reduce reliance on a single external security provider.
⚜️Interpretation B = Burden-sharing within a U.S.-centred order: Regional states may assume more responsibility while continuing to depend on American equipment, intelligence and support.
⚜️MY TAKE = Its basically like Hedging which means maintaining multiple relationships to manage uncertainty and avoid excessive dependence on one power.Similarly A deeper Saudi–Pakistan relationship does not automatically make Saudi policy hostile to India
⚠️China seeks to convert its economic presence in West Asia into greater diplomatic influence AND ALSO limiting the military obligations associated with guaranteeing regional security.
If you are worried about CONSISTENT and STRUCTURED coverage of Current affairs- please do consider the VERITAS program of VK IAS- CLICK HERE
Repost from UPSC Economy by VK IAS (Vikas Kanukollu)
✅Gs-2 : IR
🅾️India should use BRICS to expand its development choices- But we should also make sure that the grouping is not going to become an instrument of Chinese strategic influence. The New Development Bank offers a practical route for making sure of this.
✅Gs-3 : Mobilization of resources- BRICS-NDB
⚜️Strategic Goal: The NDB's 2022-26 General Strategy commits to conducting 30% of its lending and borrowing in member countries' local currencies to reduce reliance on the US dollar.
⚜️India's Next Step- it is time for India to push forward a long-delayed rupee bond, which is tentatively scheduled for a debut issuance by the end of March 2026.
🛑Link between Bond Yields and liquidity?- Click here
🎖VK IAS subject wise channels - Click here
⚠️Subscribe to VK IAS's YouTube channel : Click here
✅Gs-2 : IR- BRICS
🅾️The 18th BRICS Summit highlights the strategic necessity of harnessing the collaborative "POWER" framework
⚠️Dimensions
⚜️Pillar 1: Structural/Institutional Context : The 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi (September 12-13, 2026), under India's presidency, is guided by the "POWER" (Principle, Openness, Win-Win, Engine, Responsibility) strategy advocated by Xu Feihong and steered by leaders like Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi.
⚜️Pillar 2: The Core Challenge/Conflict : Rising hegemonism, tariff barriers, and decoupling threaten the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework and disrupt vital global energy and mineral supply chains.
⚜️Pillar 3: Socio-Economic Impact: Representing ~30% of global output and one-fifth of trade, BRICS is a critical economic engine. Improved India-China ties have yielded concrete results, including the resumption of five direct flight routes and the reopening of border trade after a six-year suspension.
⚠️Gs2-IR/PSIR channel link : https://t.me/UPSC_PSIR_IR
✅Gs-2 : IR- Global Digital Order
🅾️Context : India is one of the world’s largest digital markets but runs on foreign platforms- Digital economy → trade → innovation → national power-India’s problem is not a shortage of scientific talent. It is the weak bridge between research → industry → manufacturing → national power= Click here
📌The biggest structural weakness: low R&D
• India’s R&D expenditure: about 0.64% of GDP
• China: about 2.8%
• US: about 3.5%
❇️Conclusion : China is moving from manufacturing to science; the US is moving from science back to manufacturing. India must build both simultaneously.
⚠️VERITAS Year long Current affairs program - Enroll now : https://www.vkias.com/course/Lekhana20-PrelimsMainsandCAprogram-113214
✅Gs-2 : IR- Extended Neighbourhood- IPDMA
Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness
📍What are the 5 principles for safeguarding maritime domain- PM Modi's vision-Coastal security : Coastal security- Its components : click here
📍What is Underwater domain awareness strategy?-Why sea lanes matter for Indian security agencies and India's status as a blue water navy?- What is Indian maritime security doctrine- Click here
⚠️Gs2-IR/PSIR channel link : https://t.me/UPSC_PSIR_IR
🎖Please Subscribe : Youtube.com/vikaskanukollu
+1✅Gs-2 : IR- Extended Neighbourhood- Mecca pact
🅾️West Asia- The Makkah Pact shows that India’s western flank is becoming a security theatre where energy, maritime routes and Pakistan’s military diplomacy increasingly intersect.
📌Prelims pointers :
⚜️1. I2U2 grouping- short note- click here
⚜️2. Gulf Cooperation Council- Click here
⚜️3. Rise of new regional players in establishing regional stability- Click here
⚜️4. Saudi arabia Nuclear deal - Click here
⚠️Gs2-IR/PSIR channel link : https://t.me/UPSC_PSIR_IR
🎖Please Subscribe : Youtube.com/vikaskanukollu
✅Gs-2 : IR- maritime security
🅾️SHANTI initiatitve
⚜️It is completely understandable that these sound like hollow diplomatic alphabet soup! 😅😅Governments love creating catchy acronyms that often blur together and sound like empty buzzwords. But they are NOT!
📌Let me simplify them for you.
🅾️1. SAGAR is the initial idea: We should safeguard Bay of bengal from threats
🅾️2. MAHASAGAR is the expansion: Realising what happens in pacific ocean can spill over to Indian ocean- its like adding more members to your whatsapp group
🅾️3. SHANTI is the manual: Actual rules for who to call, what to do, and how to share the costs when there's an emergency.
⚠️Gs2-IR/PSIR channel link : https://t.me/UPSC_PSIR_IR
🎖Please Subscribe : Youtube.com/vikaskanukollu
✅Gs-2 : IR- USA- Saudi arabia Nuclear deal
🅾️Understand that Whoever controls the nuclear fuel cycle controls regional power.Logic Flow-Physics → Fuel Cycle → Strategic Capability → Nuclear Law → Regional Balance of Power → Middle East Geopolitics📌Almost every controversy in international nuclear politics revolves around only two stages: ⚜️1. Enrichment- Once a country masters enrichment, the technical barrier to producing higher enrichment levels is much lower than starting from scratch. That is why enrichment capability is treated as a strategic asset. ⚜️2. Reprocessing it for any use- Nuclear tech is dual use technology. ⚠️Saudi wanted to diversify their economy- if US doesnt support, china will . Hence this deal ⚠️Gs2-IR/PSIR channel link : https://t.me/UPSC_PSIR_IR 🎖Please Subscribe : Youtube.com/vikaskanukollu
✅Gs-2 : IR- Diaspora issues- HADR
🅾️Around 23,000 Indian seafarers are estimated to be working in the Gulf region. Many serve on foreign-flagged ships. When geopolitical conflict affects shipping, Indian citizens become exposed even when India is not a direct party to the conflict.India’s diaspora policy must move beyond evacuation after crisis to anticipatory risk mapping of vulnerable Indian workers abroad.
❇️Examples
⚜️Indian workers evacuated from Kuwait during Gulf War
⚜️Operation Raahat in Yemen
⚜️Operation Kaveri in Sudan
⚜️Operation Ajay from Israel
⚜️Vande Bharat Mission during COVID-19
⚜️Indian nurses evacuated from Iraq and Libya
📌India therefore needs a layered response combining naval presence, consular tracking, stronger contracts for seafarers, coordination with flag states, real-time shipping alerts and diplomatic pressure for civilian protection.
⚠️Gs2-IR/PSIR channel link : https://t.me/UPSC_PSIR_IR
🎖Please Subscribe : Youtube.com/vikaskanukollu
Repost from VK IAS by Vikas kanukollu (VK)
Visit the centre directly- you can attend the test strategy session from 11:30 and get an overview of the high yielding current affairs if you have any queries reach out to us on @vk_ias.
Team VK IAS
Repost from VK IAS by Vikas kanukollu (VK)
+1
⚠️Attention : VK IAS DELHI VISIT
Last year i conducted a mock exam in DELHI and this year also... one of the student reached out sending me how useful that test was. Infact he sent me these detailed analysis of the test that he ran through various AI models... I did not want to claim the test had direct hits but felt happy on noticing how people remembered this test..
If I want to conduct one such open mock... will you be interested?- Also you can meet me and get an advice if I can be of some help to you! Express your intent here in this form ..
https://forms.gle/AFSHvxDzhFMB5v6cA
✅Gs-2 : IR- India- Newzealand FTA deal
🅾️India’s challenge is not only producing food, but productivity per animal, quality control, export standards. New Zealand is globally strong in these issues- This FTA can accelerate:
1. Agriculture dimension :
⚜️Smart dairy tech
⚜️Breed improvement science
⚜️Supply chain digitisation
⚜️Sensor-based farming
2. Energy dimension : New Zealand has experience in:
⚜️Geothermal energy
⚜️Grid management with renewables
⚜️Low-carbon agriculture models
⚜️Hydrogen ecosystem experimentation
3. Strategic :
⚜️New Zealand is a gateway to Antarctica research networks-Polar logistics cooperation
⚜️Stronger Pacific outreach
⚠️Gs2-IR/PSIR channel link : https://t.me/UPSC_PSIR_IR
🎖Please Subscribe : Youtube.com/vikaskanukollu
+1
✅Gs-2 : IR- UNCLOS
🅾️The escalating conflict in the Strait of Hormuz represents a breakdown of the rules-based international order, where domestic sanctions and retaliatory maritime blockades challenge the sanctity of Freedom of Navigation in global "choke points."
🅾️Transit Passage: Unlike "Innocent Passage" (where ships cannot be a threat), the Strait of Hormuz is governed by Transit Passage, allowing unhindered transit for all vessels, as it connects two parts of the high seas/EEZs.
🅾️Legal Conflict: International law prohibits unilateral tolls on international straits and requires UN Security Council authorization for interceptions, which the U.S. lacks in this context.
🅾️ Way Forward & Mains Value-Add : Invest in domestic refinery capacity + renewable transition to reduce import intensity (Viksit Bharat 2047 goal: energy security = national security)
⚠️Gs2-IR/PSIR channel link : https://t.me/UPSC_PSIR_IR
🎖Please Subscribe : Youtube.com/vikaskanukollu
+1
✅Gs-2 : IR- India-Iran relations
🅾️Chahbahar Port issue- you need to know
⚜️1. Primary Sanctions: These prohibit U.S. citizens and companies from doing business with Iran.
⚜️2. Secondary Sanctions: They penalize third-party countries or firms (like India’s IPGL) that continue to deal with sanctioned Iranian entities. If India ignores them, Indian banks and companies could be barred from the U.S. financial system.
⚠️Impact = India has spent 23 years developing Chabahar to bypass Pakistan and reach landlocked Afghanistan and Central Asia= Strategic Autonomy (the right to pursue its own foreign policy) VS Partnership with the U.S.
📌Chabahar’s unique value is its location on the Gulf of Oman, outside the Strait of Hormuz. This allows ships to bypass the world's most congested oil "choke point." By ending the waiver, the U.S. is effectively closing a strategic bypass that India spent decades building.
⚠️Gs2-IR/PSIR channel link : https://t.me/UPSC_PSIR_IR
🎖Please Subscribe : Youtube.com/vikaskanukollu
✅Gs-2 : IR- Iran war
🅾️Central argument of the article : India’s current response to the 2026 Iran-Israel-U.S. conflict represents a departure from "Strategic Autonomy" toward an ideologically-driven alignment with the U.S.-Israel axis.
🔰Why did the author say this?
⚜️ A major portion of the argument focuses on the government’s refusal to condole the assassination of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
🚫Comparison Critic's View vs Govt
🔗1. Policy is a surrender to the U.S vs Policy is a pragmatic alignment with the likely winner.
🔗2. India is ignoring a civilisational friend (Iran) vs India is prioritizing its largest trading partner (U.S.).
🔗3.Refusal to condole Khamenei was a diplomatic error vs Avoiding condolences avoids legitimizing a sanctioned regime
🔗4.The Israel visit timing was an ideological blunder vs the visit was needed for strengthening of a security partnership
⚠️Gs2-IR/PSIR channel link : https://t.me/UPSC_PSIR_IR
🎖Please Subscribe : Youtube.com/vikaskanukollu
#Economy #IR
✅Gs-2 : IR- energy security is the primary driver of global geopolitics
🅾️Sudden closure of a critical maritime chokepoint the Strait of Hormuz has forced a massive, opportunistic recalibration of international alliances and trade flows.Strait of Hormuz is the world's most sensitive economic trigger because of :
🔗The Scale: It handles nearly one-fifth (20%) of all oil traded globally.
🔗The Disruption: The military conflict led Iran to block the 33km-wide gateway, immediately causing supply shocks and price spikes (surpassing $110 a barrel).
🔗The Consequence: This single point of failure shifts power from those who control the routes to those who control the surplus (like Russia).Despite its history of sanctions and military intervention, the U.S. is "desperate" to see more Russian oil enter the market to stabilize prices and calm its "gas-guzzling" economy.
⚠️Gs2-IR/PSIR channel link : https://t.me/UPSC_PSIR_IR
🎖Please Subscribe : Youtube.com/vikaskanukollu
+1
#IR
✅Maritime Labour Convention (MLC)- Flag of Convenience (FOC)
🅾️The Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) is an International Labour Organization convention. It was established in 2006.
🅾️It was introduced in recognition that the global nature of the shipping industry means that seafarers need special protection, especially since you can be exempted from national labour laws.
🅾️The Directorate General of Shipping (DGS) is the main office in India that looks after sailors.
🅾️It falls under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways.
🅾️The Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) is supposed to protect sailors, but "Flag of Convenience" ships often find ways to ignore it.
