Nehru's 97 Major Blunders

by Rajnikant Puranik

Britain rightly realised that Tibet as a buffer was vital to the security of British-India, particularly northern India. However, Britain did not wish to take the trouble of converting Tibet into a protectorate like Sikkim—it did not consider it financially worthwhile to commit resources for the purpose. Britain wanted Tibet to be neither under Russia nor under China. Autonomous or independent Tibet was the best bet to ensure security of northern India, and therefore the strategy was to ensure it remained so. Towards this end, the British took tremendous physical risks in surveying the border areas and sending missions through the difficult terrain to Tibet, spent considerable sum, did meticulous planning through the decades, arranged conventions, signed agreements, adjusted borders to make northern India as secure as possible—even engaged in “cartographic aggression”. Trained Indian surveyor-spies, disguised as pilgrims or traders, counted their strides on their travels across Tibet, took readings at night, and measured the longitude, latitude and altitude of Lhasa and other places.