Negotiating for India : Resolving Problems Through Diplomacy (Seven Case Studies 1958-1978)

Contents: Acknowledgements. Introduction. 1. Catalyzing graduated modernization through diplomacy: Nehru's Trek to Bhutan - 1958. 2. Diplomatic advocacy in a crisis of mutual misperceptions: negotiating the India-China boundary question - 1960. 3. Diplomacy for compensation for Indians: negotiating with Idi Amin's government - 1975. 4. Diplomacy to restore severed links and mutual confidence : the normalization of India-Pakistan relations - 1976. 5. Fresh water diplomacy for resource optimization: The Salal Hydel Project - 1976. 6. Diplomacy for equitable allocation on international riparian flows: the sharing of the Ganga waters at Farakka - 1976-1977. 7. Diplomacy between landlocked and unequal countries: separating transit and trade with Nepal - 1978. 8. Some unforgettable diplomatic contemporaries. Index.

"The book is a chronological compilation of the author's diplomatic experiences when, during his foreign service career, he was involved in seven unconnected negotiating responsibilities. No other officer was entrusted with comparable burdens but he acknowledges that they came to him by bureaucratic happenstance. Most negotiations were with unequal neighbours, which required anticipating the perceptions (and misperceptions) of the sovereign partners. Suspicions--justified or exaggerated--of coercion and hegemonism had to be assuaged.

Mehta also recalls the personalities of select colleagues and negotiating opposite numbers, the ablest amongst whom was Chang-Wen-Chin, his Chinese counterpart. According to Mehta dueling all day intellectually but toasting each other's nations after sundown, symbolizes the unique calling of professional diplomacy." (jacket)