Dear Readers,
State and local elections had been in the major point of focus amongst the citizens during the past fortnight. Indeed, that must be so because the outcome of these elections reflect the popular mood and would thus guide the Government’s policy implementations and fresh policy formulations.
These have been path breaking elections and PM Modi has emerged as one of the most popular leaders ever since we gained freedom. The people trust him and are depending on him to carry out any reforms which are required, irrespective of how much are they loaded with political risks for him, to lift the nation out of poverty. The likely change in the composition of Rajya Sabha (Upper House) will give PM Modi more freedom to implement his visions for the nation. All in all, these elections have been momentous.
It is said that the elections would be a verdict on the recent ‘demonetization’ of currency notes, which as the indications point out, appears to have passed the people’s muster notwithstanding the troubles they had to bear with. But as we had opined in our website papers, this initiative would deliver only if the follow up measures to cut the roots and branches of black economy is pursued with similar vigour.
On the other end, The Vivekananda International Foundation had been engaged in substantive discussions on the issues of cooperation and stability in the neighbourhood. With the theme of ‘neighbourhood first’ in mind, there was confabulations with a high–powered delegation from Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) during which the bilateral aspirations as well as reservations were brought to the table freely and frankly. In similar vein, there were continued confabulations on the nuances of strategic partnerships with Japan and US Think Tanks. Within the Foundation’s fraternity, we have had some reflections on the regional security matrix, cooperative security and China’s regional engagements which must be factored into our national policy making.
In the articulation of our nationhood, there is much to be satisfied about, even to be proud of the achievements made. In the maze of hard-nosed analyses that we engage in, these bright spots somehow, inadvertently of course, get obscured. We have set about to remedy that misbalance by introducing a new weekly (Friday) column under the heading of ‘Vibrant India’. You would find interesting the topics covered therein. Along with our another regular Tuesday column, ‘Issues and Perspectives’, we offer our readers some indulgence with hard thinking.
Appropriately, during the past two fortnights, our website www.vifindia.org has offered many thoughtful papers and reports, the salient ones being as listed below. I invite you to share these thoughts which, I am sanguine, would strengthen our insight into matters of national attention.
Happy reading,
General N C Vij
Director, Vivekananda International Foundation
New Delhi
Articles:
China’s Increasing Forays in South Asia: Prospect for More Integration?
Jyotishman Bhagawati
Introduction
Notwithstanding its unique advantages of impressive economic growth, young, dynamic and increasingly skilled workforce, large untapped market and strategic location, South Asia has not been able to take off effectively and continues to be among the least integrated regions in the world.
Read more...
Amb Kanwal Sibal, Dean, Centre for International Relations and Diplomacy, VIF
No Indian government so far has found an answer to our unique Pakistan problem. Pakistan was a product of deep divisions - of land, people and religion - accompanied by bloodshed, ethnic cleansing and refugee flows.Read more...
Cooperative Security and Military Intervention: India’s Emerging Role
Brig Gurmeet Kanwal, Visiting Fellow, VIF
China’s Military Assertiveness
China’s growing power and influence and its mounting military assertiveness are causing concern not only to India, but also to most other countries in the Indo-Pacific region. Referring to India’s relations with China while speaking at the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi on January 17th Read more...
War Clouds over Europe: Are we prepared?
Prof R Vaidyanathan, Dean, Centre for Economic Studies, VIF
2013
One wrote in 2013 about “Europe Going Down”, that ‘as Europe goes down we need to be prepared for consequences’. To quote: “The European economic and social crisis is becoming worse with each passing day”.Read more...
Event Report :
A high –powered delegation from Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) led by its President, Ambassador Farooq Sobhan, visited the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) on the 1st of February 2017. Read more...
VIF - JINF ‘Bilateral Dialogue’ on India-Japan Relations, 16 February 2017
The Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) organized a bilateral dialogue with Japan Institute for National Fundamentals (JINF) on 16 February 2017 to deliberate on the changing strategic environment in Asia and enhance India-Japan bilateral ties. Read more...
Talk by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
On 08 February 2017, the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF), for a second time since its inception in December 2009, had the honour and privilege of hosting the Nobel Peace Laureate, His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, the spiritual and temporal leader of the Tibetan people. Read more...
Publish Date : 11th March, 2017