Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic placed enormous stress on the fledgling health infrastructure in the South Asian region. The economic distress compounded the problem as many business houses closed down and people working in the informal sector lost their jobs. The governments in the region, except in Pakistan, went for a complete lockdown to contain the spread of the pandemic. India which prides itself as the ‘Pharmacy of the world’ geared up to provide humanitarian assistance by supplying essential medicines, ventilators and providing rapid-action teams consisting of medical professionals to assist its neighbours as a first responder. It also supplied vaccines to the immediate neighbourhood once they were ready. India’s health diplomacy enhanced its soft-power projection and helped it project itself as a country that is concerned about its neighbours—a major shift in its regional diplomacy, compared to the Cold War period. This article maps India’s regional diplomacy in the historical context and analyses the making of India’s regional diplomacy in the context of COVID-19 pandemic.
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