Page 343 - SSB Interview: The Complete Guide, Second Edition

India offered generous aid to Pakistan in response to the 2005 Earthquake.
Indian and Pakistani High Commissioners consulted with one another
regarding cooperation in relief work. India sent 25 tonnes of relief material to
Pakistan including food, blankets and medicine. Large Indian companies such

as Infosys offered aid up to $2,26,000. On 12 October, an Ilyushin-76 cargo
plane ferried across seven truckloads (about 82 tonnes) of army medicines,

15,000 blankets and 50 tents and returned to New Delhi. A senior air force
official also stated that they had been asked by the Indian government to be
ready to fly out another similar consignment. On 14 October, India

dispatched the second consignment of relief material to Pakistan, by train
through the Wagah Border. The consignment included 5,000 blankets, 370
tents, 5 tonnes of plastic sheets and 12 tonnes of medicine. A third

consignment of medicine and relief material was also sent shortly afterwards
by train. India also pledged $25 million as aid to Pakistan. India opened the
first of three points at Chakan Da Bagh in Poonch, on the Line of Control

(LoC) between India and Pakistan for the 2005 Kashmir earthquake relief
work. Such generous gestures signalled a new age in confidence, friendliness
and cooperation between both India and Pakistan.

INDO-CHINA RELATIONS

Sino-Indian relations, also called Indo-China relations, refers to the bilateral
relationship between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic
of India. China and India are the world’s most populous countries and also
the fastest-growing major economies. The resultant growth in China and

India’s global diplomatic and economic influence has also increased the
significance of their bilateral relationship.

China and India are two of the world’s oldest civilisations and have

coexisted in peace for millennia. Cultural and economic relations between
China and India date back to ancient times. The Silk Road not only served as

a major trade route between India and China, but is also credited for
facilitating the spread of Buddhism from India to East Asia. During the
nineteenth century, China’s growing opium trade with the British Raj