India gained freedom soon after the devastation of the second world war. At that time a new internation body the united nations formed in 1945 was in its infancy the 1950 and 1960 saw the emergence of the cold war that is power rivalries and ideological conflicts between the USA and the USSR with both countries creating military alliances. This was also the period when colonial empires were collapsing and many countries were ataninig independence. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru who was also the foreign minister of newly independent India developed free India foreign policy in this context non alignment formed the bedrock of this foreign policy. Led by statesmen from Egypt yugoslavia indonesia ghana and india the non aligned movement urged countries not to join either of the two major alliances but this policy of staying away from alliances was not matter of remaining isolated or neural the fomer means remaining aloof from world affairs whereas non aligned countries such as india played an active role in meditating between the American and soviet alliances they tried to prevent war often taking a humanitarian and moral stand  against war however for one reason or another many non aligned countries including.