Britain's commonwealth..!

The British empire has collapsed but its relic is still preserved in a grouping of some 50 countries which meet once in a year in the memory of that great empire. The commonwealth has met recently at Port of Spain to chart its future policies.The commonwealth is impotent at its worst & ineffective at its best and its opinions have no takers in the international community. it is increasingly seen as a dying organization which is counting its last few days. The countries like Canada and Australia consider it as their divine duty to serve Britain as their holy master and other countries are too poor to speak against Britain for the fear of sanctions.

India seems to be caught in a limbo with regard to its role in the Commonwealth. while, it is in India's strategic interest that this commonwealth fades away and with it the memory of British empire but geopolitical considerations require that india should continue its membership of commonwealth. It brings with it a plethora of benefits like opportunity of networking with other commonwealth countries and developing strategic relations with other emerging countries of commonwealth. Moreover, commonwealth membership provides certain trade related gains in the form of lower import duties and other benefits in the form of technology transfer.

Thus india needs to devise a comprehensive policy to ensure that we are able to benefit from the membership of the organization and at the same time ensuring our strategic autonomy to pursue independent foreign policy based on long term interests.