At the regional and global levels, India and China are on the same page. Both have emerged as lynchpins of most influential global acronym BRICS. India has joined the Chinese led Asian Investment Infrastructure Bank (AIIB) as second highest contributor and both countries are acting as pivot of the new BRICS bank. Furthermore, India's "Act East" is finding a lot of common ground with China's "Silk Road Economic Belt" initiative. The two countries are growing cooperation on global issues such as climate change and restructuring of international financial systems.

Such turnaround in the relationship has yielded many positive results in other spheres as well. For instance, as a mark of growing trust, China recently opened access to the Nathu La Pass for thousands of Indian pilgrims to visit the holiest Kailash Mansarovar. Similarly, yoga has found growing acceptance in Chinese society as a number of local governments organized events to kick-start the first International Yoga Day on June 21, 2015.

However, the most unexpected positive outcome of new Sino-Indian bonhomie is increased connections in civil society. The author is privy to this new development. As part of a delegation to China recently, along with five other experts from the media and think tanks, I was allowed to meet experts in China's premier defense establishments including the PLA Navy and Army and the rare privilege was bestowed upon us by the Chinese authorities to inspect the PLA's main battle tanks and naval fleets. This is an unprecedented step and it clearly shows the greater degree of trust and understanding between the two governments.

These positive turnarounds notwithstanding, the India-China relationship still has to cover a long distance. The clearest missing link in the India-China story is low level people-to-people contacts and exchanges. Two countries that account nearly 2.7 billion populations see little over half a million people travel between each other's countries. According to a study by the Brookings Institution, only 168,952 Chinese nationals visited India in 2012 compared to 610,194 Indians who travelled to China (excluding Hong Kong). Similarly, notwithstanding the deepening in business relations in recent years, less than 500 Indians live in Beijing and far fewer Chinese citizens live in Delhi. If the relationship is to blossom and mature, such a trend at the people to people level is grossly unacceptable. This must change to make the relationship sustainable.

Niranjan Sahoo is a senior fellow with the Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi based think tank. He was part of a recent delegation to China at the invitation of the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

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