Innocence in South Block

Innocence in South Block G P Deshpande THE annual report of the Ministry of External Affairs for 1969-70 had proclaimed that "the foreign policy of India could not stand still and remain rigid and inflexible". It one read the latest report of the Ministry for 1970- 71, one would find precious little evidence of this flexibility. The Ministry could well have reprinted the 1969-70 report and added 'ditto'. Of course, whereas the 1969-70 report had 13 chapters, the latest report has 15. The additions are chapters on "cultural centres" and "protocol matters" which give the valuable information that diplomatic missions in New Delhi now number 75 and that the administrative control of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations has been transferred to the Ministry of External Affairs, As for the rest, little seems to have changed.