Indian Interests

[RamaY]

^+1

This needs more discussion. What are India's national interests? Unfortunately the discussion gets murkier as some people see India as a post-1947 entity.

Probably we many need to split the national interests in to two groups
1. Interim national interests (next 20-50 years) - Mostly in economic, social and military realms
2. Long-term national interests (civilizational) - The civilizational definition of Bharat is a complicated one. So for the time being we can agree to ensure that majority interests (80% Hindu population) are not compromised in any manner by the interim national interests, while we figure out what it means to save our civilization.

[ramana]

We need to differentiate between interests or goals and means of achieving them.

Economic well being and prosperity for all Indians is a goal or interest all can agree on.

from this flow other interests:
- security to protect the well being/prosperity
- investments to ensure the security
- political harmony to protect the economic well being of all Indians
- means divisive ideologies have to be nipped in the bud
- trade and commerce to ensure the economic wellbeing
- cultural ties to foster trade and commerce and civilizational footprint

und so weiter(so on and so forth)

[Atri]

^^ Precisely. That is an excellent point Ramana ji. What is our national interest? And is it acceptable to ALL Indians?

The answer to this question can carve out his/her own space in politics me thinks.

from here - http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... 7#p1099317

quasi rashtra is term referred to describe regional OR caste based satraps who foster narrower identity than rashtriya one, more and rise to power. Usually on jaati (caste). In history and even today, there are different groups, vying desparately to have larger stake and share in "desh's" property and produce. Its akin to different lobbies trying to win contract. This struck me when I read somewhere that the argument which karunanidhi et al were giving after 2G scam that they brought more money in TN for people of TN. While people have thrown him out of power, showing that there still some good left in the country, this puts a light on how these "rajas" representing their "quasi-rashtras" view "desha" and desha's property.

the GOI functions in similar fashion. Imagine a project is to be discussed to revitalize the transportation of nation and to have a coherent transport policy in India which will efficiently link rail-road-air-ship (riverine and maritime) based means of transport. One has to understand that there is a road lobby, rail lobby, air lobby and two lobbies of ship. these lobbies will fight out with each other like drunk cocks in order to get larger share of funds and more importantly, importance. The problem of India today is importance and money go hand in hand. GOI is infact a place where various lobbies vying for different agendas for India as "desh" on different issues interact with each other (either together or against).

what is good for the dominant lobby in geography of India is good for India as "Desh". For the good of India as a "Rashtra", the thing is altogether different.

Various rajas of various quasi-rashtras behave similarly in course of history. But then if this was a feature of India dominantly, india would have been perpetually balkanized. this is not the case, like europe, India shows cyclical consolidation. Cycles where these quasi-rashtra identities break down to form a huge monolith and subsequent fragmentation of that monolith with fragments of different shapes. It holds equally true for entire subcontinent. Once a common social-economic-spiritual code is enforced throughout, the political unity does not matter much in India. When that common code is endangered, the fragmented political power unites in India (willingly or forcibly, catalyst of this fusion differs in different times).

ROI has to officially state its existence as "guardian" of dharma and Indic Sanskriti. ROI has to officially declare that India is a civilizational state currently in cycle of consolidation. Then the expanse of our culture is expanse of our territory. anything other than this stance now will be the doom of dharma.

[shyamd]

We need to differentiate between interests or goals and means of achieving them.

Economic well being and prosperity for all Indians is a goal or interest all can agree on.

from this flow other interests:
- security to protect the well being/prosperity
- investments to ensure the security
- political harmony to protect the economic well being of all Indians
- means divisive ideologies have to be nipped in the bud
- trade and commerce to ensure the economic wellbeing
- cultural ties to foster trade and commerce and civilizational footprint

und so weiter(so on and so forth)

But saar, trade and commerce of license raj can mean CPM type ideology too ? Afterall this is democrazy, we have to accept the views of all. I feel its easier said than done. Some people don't even see the benefits of industrialisation and development!! Some want Hindu onlee country, if Muslims don't like it they can go away to KSA. When was the last time that people were truely united? Moments that stand out for me are during wartime like Kargil where there was that Kargil spirit (even among the die hard lefties/JNU/Macaulayists!!) and of course during independence. I also think cricket really united our country, the current victory in the WC was big and really got people together and shed their differences.

political and religious harmony is paramount. But you need to unite these people's ideologies. Congress is polarizing the muslim vote in order to secure themselves in power. We have so many religions, tribes etc. When such type of differences occur, theory tells us to go for conscription where everyone is equal and gets to knw each other rich and poor, royal non royal.Thats what they are trying in Oman and Bahrain basically. Also in Kuwait. It increases social order. But I dont think its feasible in iNdia.

When SSwamy says lets get everyone to accept their Indian origins or Hindu ancestory,he is trying to unite everyone. We need a defining leader.

Another thing we have learnt is that too many different ideologies really stop progress and hinder it. see Iraq and US during this debt exercise. Perhaps this S&P downgrade issue could have been avoided if the president signed off on it or something.

I dont know, this is just my random mumblings.

[ramana]

Do leaders shape the environment or the environment throws up the leaders?
Waiting for leader to nite is like "Waiting for Godot!"

If you carefully read my formulation its based on agreed common idea of well being, sort of Maslowian heirarchy.

How does trade and commerce become CPM ideology? Am not advocating licens raj which was a measure to deal with scarce FE resources after Independence and developed life of its own.


The begining question is does the person want to be well off or not?

SSwamy's premise doesnt work for its based on majoritarian basis.

All nationalist Islamic countries don't have an issue for they are all converted.

This dichotomy occurs in divided countries or trans-national countries.

For example each European nation is clear about their national interests.

But is Europe clear about its interests?

Are they national or civlizational interests for Europe?

[shyamd]

Do leaders shape the environment or the environment throws up the leaders?
Waiting for leader to nite is like "Waiting for Godot!"

Of course. We need a leader or a party to implement things to unte te country.

If you carefully read my formulation its based on agreed common idea of well being, sort of Maslowian heirarchy.

I agree with everything u said, I know what you are getting at, but I am saying that each one has adifferent view of how to get there. For some economic development means lefty commie state quota system (believe me I have heard this from some businessmen (with close political links) moaning about their woeful situation).

How does trade and commerce become CPM ideology? Am not advocating licens raj which was a measure to deal with scarce FE resources after Independence and developed life of its own.

What I meant was that CPM and others have a different opinion on how to economicallydevelop. Everyone has an opinion. I know you are not advocating license raj, but my point was that some people believe license raj is the way forward. Remember when left was in the coalition there were times where Left were hindering reforms from being introduced. These forces need to be defeated.

The begining question is does the person want to be well off or not?

Education boss, people need to understand that license raj and leftist ideology doesn't work. But look at the UK today and other countries, people will ask tough benefits as the govt is slashing the budget because its in the best interests of the country. But the people are against benefit cuts, job cuts and budget slashing even though its in the best interest of the country. Democracy can paralyse the system in a way.

SSwamy's premise doesnt work for its based on majoritarian basis.

But isn't this the idea of uniting the country.

All nationalist Islamic countries don't have an issue for they are all converted.

True and also that they are one people and they accept that. Its much harder for us and thats why I said we need to unite everyone in India.

For example each European nation is clear about their national interests.


But is Europe clear about its interests?

Each one cares only for itself in the end as the constituency is local. You'll see that when Germany pull out from the Euro. Its reached breaking point. Same in the US, lobbyists use the phrase "all politics is local politics". i.e. how many jobs does he create in my constituency.

Are they national or civlizational interests for Europe?

It depends... national interests really. Thats the bottom line. When interests converge they call each other and express each others opinion and where there is a convergence they work together. Like now, some of them are planning to pull out of the schengen agreement because Italy's immigration problem is affecting france etc.

[RamaY]

Education boss, people need to understand that license raj and leftist ideology doesn't work. But look at the UK today and other countries, people will ask tough benefits as the govt is slashing the budget because its in the best interests of the country. But the people are against benefit cuts, job cuts and budget slashing even though its in the best interest of the country. Democracy can paralyse the system in a way.

Nationalistic education is the need of the hour.

The current education system is creating more Dhimmis than in history, as we can see all around us. The current dispensation is about self-preservation at society's cost; whereas what we need is social-preservation as a means to self-preservation

[Prem]

'There is an India we don't wish to know'
http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/s ... 110809.htm

There is the India we Indians don't wish to know about and I'd like to throw light on that. Throwing light is ironical in the context of this true incident about a blind man which happened to me.I had reached the train station unusually early that night and with a lazy gait, was walking towards my compartment. All around me were people of all shapes and sizes, scurrying in all directions.Amidst the chaos I saw a young man (let's say Ravi) walking towards me, using a flimsy stick to feel the terrain before him. Just as I was absorbed in my thoughts about what life would be like engulfed in total darkness, I was rudely jostled to the side and before I could gather myself, I saw a long fragment of the flimsy stick roll towards me. The guy who had pushed me aside in a hurry didn't spare the visually challenged man ahead of me and ran straight into his stick which had neatly snapped into two.Instinct told me to chase that heartless soul who couldn't even stop for a second to apologise, but looking at Ravi's frantic attempts trying to realise what struck him, I went and held his hands, which were up in mid air by now, lost.By the time I reached him, around 10 people had easily rushed past Ravi without so much as a glance, making me feel he was quite lucky to be spared from being hit again!We rave about the beauty of the earthy shades of Indian ethnicity, the abundance of natural wealth and mainly the hospitality of the Indian culture that encompasses a myriad diversities from state to state, among a million other things.
India, incredible India indeed!
These aspects make me proud but that's just one side of the coin. This incident probably testifies the India that we don't know about, the other dark side with subjects we condemn when people make movies of. The India that Ravi 'sees'. That we do not wish to see.
I picked up the remnants of the stick and saw the distress on Ravi's face when he felt the broken pieces. For some reason, I could feel a surge of guilt riddle my innards. I walked Ravi towards the compartment for the physically challenged and we got talking. I found out that he worked at an office in Chennai and studied part time at Tanjore, where his parents lived. After the initial reaction, Ravi seemed calm about his stick being rendered useless albeit I was quite anxious as to how he was going to reach Tanjore without it. He told me resignedly that only one stick was given as a gift by his company. A replacement will call for formalities and will take a few months for the process to be completed. His words "But what to do, I must have come in his way inadvertently..." triggered a train of thought making me gauge the worth of my existence.The way he sees it, trains have compartments reserved for the physically challenged, to ease them of the hassles of reservation. To my eyes, the reserved compartment is placed in the farthest end from the entrance. By the time we walked to the last bogie of the train, the seats were already taken by other people who shared Ravi's plight. The way he sees it, people are in a hurry and he should be wary of others who are going about their way. To my eyes, they are in such a great hurry that anyone who obstructs their path is a minion who can be b

[Prem]

http://www.rediff.com/news/aug/04rajeev.htm
On the persistence of time: the use and abuse of history
(old Article)
Commentary/Rajeev Srinivasan

On the persistence of time: the use and abuse of history
As India celebrates fifty years of Independence on August 15th, there is a lamentable tendency, especially on the part of the Western media, to act as though India had only existed for those fifty years. That it is merely the blink of an eye in 5,000 years of Indian history is somehow ignored. But then, it is unfair to blame foreigners when we ourselves display abysmal ignorance in this matter. In a perceptive column in The Hindu on May 20th, Rizwan Salim bemoaned the fact that Indians do not have a historical consciousness. I agree wholeheartedly: this is most regrettable, for, in my opinion, the study of history is the most valuable of pursuits. It is art because, as in the hands of a Herodotus or a Thucydides or a Gibbon, history comes alive as brilliant literature; yet science because you can use the scientific method with it, albeit rather imperfectly. A scientific study of history allows us to create hypotheses and then compare reality with the predictions of the hypotheses. Like the weather, there are so many variables that it is a highly perturbable system -- thus unpredictable. Maybe someone will invent a computer powerful enough to calculate the future based on the past. That would truly be the 'end of history', in Francis Fukuyama's notable phrase. As Mark Twain said once, the obituary is somewhat premature! For now, we have to live with our imperfect understanding of history. For reasons I don't fully understand, Indians have never cared for history. I can only conjecture that it is because of the ancient Indian concept of the vastness of time; after all, if the universe were 4,320,000,000 years old, how important could the events of a mere 50 years be?
Then again, it might be because of humility -- after all, how insignificant we mere mortals are when compared with the universe. Therefore, our anonymous scientists cared not to sign their names to their inventions -- thus, we know not who invented that most subtle of concepts, the zero. And our writers, too: we must depend on obscure clues to deduce that Dharmakirti, the severe Buddhist logician, is the same Dharmakirti who wrote surpassingly beautiful erotic poetry. This humility is altogether charming, of course, but also altogether misplaced in a world where, as we shall discuss, history plays such a large part. Those who have mastered the past master their own futures and those of others. For example, the British were able to enslave us because they correctly identified our history of being fractious, fragmented and fratricidal. Those who don't have history manufacture it: for example, the United States. But what is more common is someone hanging on to their histories over centuries. The Economist, in an excellent article on the misuse of history, pointed to festering ancient animosities and grudges. People -- except Indians -- don't forget.

[ramana]

Very verbose and pedantic prose to talk about a small incident.

Yes people with handicaps have it tough and the teeming millions make it more so.

If he had talked to the guy who brushed against the visually impaired man (Ravi) he would have most likely found that he was in a hurry to reach home to take care of his own sick family members.

The writer should take heart in Ravi's attitude and have an optimistic outlook. Ravi doesn't feel bad so why does the writer feel so? Ravi knows the ropes.
Its condesension disguised as sympathy.

[svinayak]

Do leaders shape the environment or the environment throws up the leaders?
Waiting for leader to nite is like "Waiting for Godot!"

If you carefully read my formulation its based on agreed common idea of well being, sort of Maslowian heirarchy.

How does trade and commerce become CPM ideology? Am not advocating licens raj which was a measure to deal with scarce FE resources after Independence and developed life of its own.

It is the first step but later the ideologies have to be tackled to take care of national interest and nationalism.
For the national interest all ideologies have to be sub-servant to the greater national interest.

India from the independence had to carry a burden of the humanity. It had to create a global citizen image but had to lose its national interest focus. The national leader forgot the purpose of the independence was to take care of the country first.

[svinayak]

Commentary/Rajeev Srinivasan

On the persistence of time: the use and abuse of history
As India celebrates fifty years of Independence on August 15th, there is a lamentable tendency, especially on the part of the Western media, to act as though India had only existed for those fifty years. That it is merely the blink of an eye in 5,000 years of Indian history is somehow ignored. But then, it is unfair to blame foreigners when we ourselves display abysmal ignorance in this matter. In a perceptive column in The Hindu on May 20th, Rizwan Salim bemoaned the fact that Indians do not have a historical consciousness. I agree wholeheartedly: this is most regrettable, for, in my opinion, the study of history is the most valuable of pursuits. It is art because, as in the hands of a Herodotus or a Thucydides or a Gibbon, history comes alive as brilliant literature; yet science because you can use the scientific method with it, albeit rather imperfectly.

A scientific study of history { a naive view of history}allows us to create hypotheses and then compare reality with the predictions of the hypotheses. Like the weather, there are so many variables that it is a highly perturbable system -- thus unpredictable. Maybe someone will invent a computer powerful enough to calculate the future based on the past. That would truly be the 'end of history', in Francis Fukuyama's notable phrase. As Mark Twain said once, the obituary is somewhat premature! For now, we have to live with our imperfect understanding of history. For reasons I don't fully understand, Indians have never cared for history { High quality brain washing}. I can only conjecture that it is because of the ancient Indian concept of the vastness of time; after all, if the universe were 4,320,000,000 years old, how important could the events of a mere 50 years be?

He has not understood the power of social engineering and media/history textbook control.

on the part of the Western media, to act as though India had only existed for those fifty years. - this is exactly syncs with the textbook inside India and how the India media describes India. How is that possible.

[ramana]

As long as folks use the word "history" to mean "itihasa" they are lost.
Itihasa is the way it happened or chroncile

History is a linear progression for normatization of mankind taken from Bible. If you read Hegel and waste sleepless nights on the meaning of Hegel they you will get it.

The odd thing is even now there are so many books on what did Hegel mean, because they read him without the Bible.

[brihaspati]

shyamd wrote
Another thing we have learnt is that too many different ideologies really stop progress and hinder it. see Iraq and US during this debt exercise.

Have to be careful! Something very similar was declared by Der Fuhrer Adolf Hitler.

[shyamd]

shyamd wrote
Another thing we have learnt is that too many different ideologies really stop progress and hinder it. see Iraq and US during this debt exercise.

Have to be careful! Something very similar was declared by Der Fuhrer Adolf Hitler.

and also Lee Kuan Yew and the middle eastern governments (one of which turned into a constitutional democracy - which can't make a decision and another can't even decide to provide electricity to its people because of the parliament), South Korea's Park Chung Hee, that Keralite in Malaysia - Mahathir? and the list can go on with good and bad ones.......

Of course in africa, why hasn't certain oil rich nations developed like perhaps the arab ones have? Some of them are democratic - the leaders chose to enrich themselves. So ultimately after you analyse you will realise that it is down to the individuals in power - do they have national interest at heart or do they just want to enrich themselves? Its the same in both democracy and autocracy if you think about it. Corruption needs self restrain more than a system. It exists everywhere, but you minimize it through accountability.

Anyway, after you do the research into both you will realise that autocracy with reciprocal accountability and the right balance of democracy is the best.

Good luck

[ramana]

and vice versa

Democracy with right amount of autocracy i.e. stop discussing/sabotaging once a consensus is reached.

[brihaspati]

shyamd ji,
I did not say I disagreed with you. I said something similar two years ago - and drew virulent criticism. Just sort of drew your attention.

[Prem]

Down the memory lane
http://www.rediff.com/freedom/09viswa.htm
Poornam Viswanathan cleared his throat, controlled his emotions and announced India's freedom to the outside world in a radio broadcast. At five thirty on the morning of August 15, 1947, young Viswanathan became the first Indian to make that external broadcast from All India Radio to East Asia. That moment has stood still in his memory since. Fifty years after that historic event, 76-year-old Viswanathan spoke about those memories and the turbulence of pre-Independent days with

When did you know that you were to broadcast the news of India's independence?
I was a news reader for All India Radio from 1945 onwards. You can call it a strange coincidence, rather a divine coincidence. When the duty list was announced, my name was scheduled for the night of August 14. The broadcast began at 5.30 in the morning for the East Asian listeners and I was to read the first bulletin. It was my great fortune, I must say. How did I feel then? I felt elated.
Was there a lump in your throat then?
As a news reader I am not supposed to feel any any lump at all. I controlled my feelings till I finished the news bulletin. Later I cried with joy.
Really?
Yes, I cried for two reasons. One, India was free; secondly, I was selected to read the news bulletin announcing India's independence.
Do you remember the first line?
"India is a free country," was the first sentence. This was followed by repeating Nehru's Tryst with destiny speech.
Did you read Nehru's speech in English or in Tamil?
In Tamil.

[brihaspati]

ramana ji,
even that has problems - it is officially the method in "communist" parties. We know how that turns out.

[shyamd]

and vice versa

Democracy with right amount of autocracy i.e. stop discussing/sabotaging once a consensus is reached.

True. But I also feel democracy opens the door to a lot of lobbying and ultimately weakness. Think about what reliance and Tata's were doing back in the day. Each MP received Rs25k as long as they didn't ask any question about them. Not to mention nations. We are lucky in India we have the core people who have indian interests at heart and no matter how hard the west try they can't change the system - MRCA was an example right sir?

Dr APJ Kalam did say we should have a 2 party system and he got a big shouting from the Left.

[shyamd]

shyamd ji,
I did not say I disagreed with you. I said something similar two years ago - and drew virulent criticism. Just sort of drew your attention.

B ji, Glad we agree on this

[svinayak]

x post

Almost all our Indian officially enthroned analysts somehow never realize in their confusion - that they yet do not have resolved an inner confusion. They are not yet aware of their own dilemma that they are constantly mixing up "Indian interests" with "global humanitarian interests". India is faced with the impossible task of simultaneously thinking of the "good" for "all human beings" and the "good" of "Indians" as a nation.

Sophistry of "vasudhaiva.." extended to enforce global humanitarian concerns at the cost of "Indian" concerns - or making global concerns Indian - clouds all our official think tanks.

[Prem]

Danny Gatton & Buddy Emmons - Song of India
[youtube]23XD7zNvQSA&feature=related[/youtube]

[Prem]

Mario Lanza- Song of India
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yua3bdXQ ... re=related
[youtube]Yua3bdXQjzU&feature=related[/youtube]

[Prem]

Sadko - Song of India (Gegam Grigorian).
[youtube]SN7VM2nwgO4&feature=related[/youtube]

[RamaY]

Outlook: Gunned Down



Efforts by Indian states to equip their police forces with modern weapons have hit a roadblock.

Germany and Austria have refused to give export licences to their weapon manufacturers wanting to sell to certain Indian states which they believe have a poor human rights record.

States on the blacklist include Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Manipur, Orissa and Jammu and Kashmir
...
It is absolutely wrong for these nations to withhold export licences," says a home ministry official. In meetings with the home ministry, embassy officials of these nations said domestic political compulsions-pressure from green parties that support their ruling governments-were responsible for the blacklist. There is no ban, however, on the National Security Guard (NSG), which is equipped with both the Glock and MP-5. The home ministry initially considered a proposal to get the NSG to import the weapons and distribute them to the states. It now plans to directly import and redistribute the weapons to the states.

INC is going to pay very dearly for playing against Gujarat in international stage.

Now every two-bit nation is going to deal with India on state by state basis. This is not in Indian interests.

When will these retards in Delhi learn to be self-respecting and self-confident?

[brihaspati]

^^^Ahh...You must keep trust in the divine intelleigence of the gods of foriegn policy who populate the corridors of power in New Delhi. Whatever they do, has a deep centuries and millenia spanning perspective, and deep objectives, which you and I are not capable of understanding, and which we will never actually see being ever implemented. We will never know whether what we actually see happening - is the result of complete bungling, hidden ideological skullduggery, special fondness for special pet ideologies, or plain and simple laziness and opportunism - or really well thought out long term plans.

If anything appears positive - it of course part of the hyperfine almost divine policy-intelligence that always remains hidden. If things go wrong, it was the fault of this or that individual and wrong implementation and unforeseen international hostility.

[shyamd]

So whats your point?

[brihaspati]

My point was replying to RamaY ji.

[RamaY]

So whats your point?

Too much patriotism makes people react that way. One should be only 'moderately' patriotic. Otherwise he will not have his peace of mind

[ramana]

Black lentils only.

Why did Brajesh Mishra in front of MKN, KS Bajpai and even MMS with his harking back to Mrs. G's language speak the same message of Indian isolation and need for getting on US bandwagon?
I havent seen such congruence on message.


Either its all lifafa or real threat.

What do the other oped makers think?

[shiv]

I have some views on "Chankianism" which I post for anyone to take FWIW. Reject if you don't agree.

Being "Chankian" is all about gaining the maximum benefit for your nation no matter what. In my opinion being "Chankian" means first and foremost to know what is best for your country whether your country can get it or not. There is no question of "sour grapes" in aspirations. There is no question of diluting aspirations because they are not easily achievable. By that I mean that if you feel there is something your country needs but cannot get because some other country will stop you, I am not going to dilute my nation's demands or aspirations just because some force is preventing my nation from taking that route today. The demands and aspirations remain the same. And I am not going to show any dilution of demands or "understanding" of the other nation's viewpoint when I keep my nations aspirations foremost.

Chankianism is NOT about bending to accommodate someone at the drop of a hat and being "understanding" of the other persons power, needs, compulsions and demands at the expense of your own nations ultimate and total benefit. If I have to dilute my expectations for my nation on those grounds then all I am doing is meeting some expectations of the other country and not meeting the requirements of my nation fully. No "alliance" should do this to my nation. No nation gets to the top by accommodating everyone else's needs. Nations get to the top only by keeping their own self interest foremost and always on top, openly and shamelessly, without apology or wavering. All nations at the top are like this. If we are not at the top, we would do well to understand this fact about the nations at the top.

These are my views. Anyone is welcome to disagree.

[shyamd]

The simple fact is some people can't trust their decision makers and can't accept the fact the decision maker has access to info via intelligence or the IFS etc. I wonder what it would take for them to understand it, maybe they should run for politics.

[Sanku]

The simple fact is some people can't trust their decision makers and can't accept the fact the decision maker has access to info via intelligence or the IFS etc.

ShyamD, I am quite surprised to hear the "trust" word coming from somebody who has access to the cloak and dagger part of Govts.

Surely you are joking Mr Shyam?

Trust is killing, never trust. Bad idea.

[abhishek_sharma]

P. C. Alexander: Getting along with the Gandhis

[shyamd]

ShyamD, I am quite surprised to hear the "trust" word coming from somebody who has access to the cloak and dagger part of Govts.

Surely you are joking Mr Shyam?

Trust is killing, never trust. Bad idea.

Sanku ji, Trusting your rulers is the same in every country. We don't have access to all the info that the decision maker has right? So you trust that the decision he/she makes is in national interest.

[Sanku]

Sanku ji, Trusting your rulers is the same in every country. We don't have access to all the info that the decision maker has right? So you trust that the decision he/she makes is in national interest.

You missed the point Sir.

[nachiket]

ShyamD, I am quite surprised to hear the "trust" word coming from somebody who has access to the cloak and dagger part of Govts.

Surely you are joking Mr Shyam?

Trust is killing, never trust. Bad idea.

Sanku ji, Trusting your rulers is the same in every country. We don't have access to all the info that the decision maker has right? So you trust that the decision he/she makes is in national interest.

No. Not when you can see that his/her decisions are obviously hurting India's interests and its people. That would just be foolish.

[Vipul]

India needs more foreign policy experts.

India needs hundreds of new foreign policy scholars and experts to tackle the challenges of the current global situation, says eminent foreign policy expert and secretary of the Kolkata-based Global India Foundation (GIF) Omprakash Mishra.

'During the past 60 years, India has produced only around 7,000 scholars in international relations. It is too insufficient for a country of 1.2 billion people which is striving to have a major role in the new global order,' Mishra told IANS here.

Besides the old study centres at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University and Kolkata's Jadavpur University, two new centres have come up in the southern states of Kerala and Puducherry, he noted, adding: 'But that is not enough for a big country like India.'

The discourse on foreign policy 'should be spread through the country' and not limited to Delhi, said Mishra, whose GIF organised a national conference on 'India's Engagement with the Global Order' here recently.

Mishra felt that 'civil society and ordinary citizens should come under the ambit of foreign policy' framework.

Besides the South Block (the office housing external affairs ministry in New Delhi), think tanks and research institutes across the country should have a role in policy formation, he said. 'External affairs discourse should expand beyond New Dehi and South Block,' he said.'But the government should not control the think tanks and they should be given academic and functional freedom like abroad,' he stressed.

The 'think tanks should supplement and complement the government thinking' and research resources, said Mishra, who is a former vice chancellor of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi, and currently a professor of international relations at the Jadavpur University.

If India wants to strengthen its case for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, it should be prepared to shoulder new responsibilities, he said

'If India wants to be a global power, it should be a global player,' Mishra said, pointing out that the country's diplomatic activities are not seen in some regions and several fields of global diplomacy.

Last week, the GIF organised the first K. Subrahmanyam memorial lecture in New Delhi, which was delivered by former national security advisor (NSA) Brajesh Mishra. According to Brajesh Mishra, India was not a 'player in the current global order' as the government lacked innovative action.

Subrahmanyam, India's eminent strategic thinker, died Feb 2 this year.

The lecture, which was presided over by West Bengal Governor M.K. Narayanan -- another former NSA -- was attended by several diplomats inlcluding Arundhati Ghose, India's former envoy to the United Nations Conference on Disarmament.

[ramana]

Need to blame the MEA, MOD/RM, UGC and the babucracy for the above fiasco.

Krishna Menon setup up over 25 area studies programs in utys all over India* in order to develop Indina expertise in India. However both the MEA and the Rm did not use or support in any manner the area studies and let them die on the vine so to speak. The UGC in its commie/left bias also turned the centers towards social and non-national security/Foreign Policy related studies.

JNU was not a area studies center. Its was a deemed uty from the begining and a sinecure for babus and their children.


The MEA and the RM could have given non-priority topics for the centers to research and keep the interests alive. But they would rather write their own papers and suffer from group think.

*For Example Sri Venkateswara Uty in Tirupati is supposed ot specialize in South East Asia.

Cochin I forget.