To many, ‘Non-Alignment’ was a senseless policy adopted by Jawaharlal Nehru soon after Independence. During the Cold War years, the country pretended not to side with any of the two blocks, though for practical purpose India was ‘aligned’ with the erstwhile Soviet Union, at least for its defence requirement and the manner of managing a planned economy.  Instead of pretending to be neutral, but betting on the Soviet support and then running to the US the minute it was attacked by China in 1962, India could have ‘aligned’ with both blocks.