Annual Report 2007 - Observer Research Foundation

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EMAJOR EVENTS (left to right) ● Mr. A.B. Bardhan, CPI General Secretary, at the India-China conference in Kolkata. ● Mr. Brajesh Mishra at the India-China conference. ● Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, Union Minister for External Affairs, speaks at the India-China conference. “The next decade will reveal to us many more miracles not only in China but also in India. India and China have a very long tradition and these traditions had kept us together” INDIA-CHINA RELATIONS: THE NEXT DECADE – ORF CONFERENCE IN KOLKATA 9 SEPTEMBER 2006 (EXCERPTS FROM THE INAUGURAL SESSION) RK MISHRA, CHAIRMAN, ORF On January 17 and 18, 1992, we had organised a two-day conference in this city in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. India was then facing a grave economic crisis. ORF organised a series of national dialogues in Delhi and other major cities to discuss how to take the country out of that crisis. The two-day seminar in Calcutta was inaugurated by the then Chief Minister Comrade Jyoti Basu. Dr. Manmohan Singh, then Union Finance Minister, had delivered the keynote address and set the tone for the seminar. The then Commerce Minister, Dr. P.Chidambaram, delivered the valedictory address. Leaders from various walks of life, business, trade unions, academia, administration and politics contributed to the deliberations. I am very happy that we are revisiting this vibrant city in partnership with Calcutta University. We are grateful to the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ashish Banerjee, and the Pro Vice Chancellor, Mr. Suranjan Das, for partnering with ORF in organising this seminar. I thank Prof. S.D.Muni who is guiding ORF’s academic activities for making this partnership possible. This seminar marks the launch of ORF’s China Studies Programme. Ultimately, we hope it will grow into a Centre of China Studies. I hope the deliberations of this seminar will mark the beginning of an in-depth and long-term study of that country, the region and the subject. AB BARDHAN, GENERAL SECRETARY, COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA I consider this a very important seminar. I think the results of this seminar will be very helpful to all of us for coming days. We are talking of the next decade and the next decade will reveal to us many more miracles not only in China but also in India. India and China have a very long tradition and these traditions had kept us together. We never saw any war, any conflict except when we stepped into the modern world and borders and all these things became rather important. That is precisely when a conflict took place and you know that conflict led to a period of hostility, suspicion and so forth, which I think has really inhibited the tremendous partnership that could have been there between two countries and the tremendous progress that could have been made. It is good that the visit of the Chinese Prime Minister brought about a situation when we again started finding avenues to increase bilateral trade and the 34 Observer Research Foundation ◆ Annual Report 2007
“In his recent book, ‘The Argumentative Indian’ Dr. Amartya Sen has referred to the close collaboration between India and China in the field of religion, education,arts, literature..” economic relationship. For instance, now the trade is exceeding I think 18 billion US dollars and very soon the target that was set for 2008 of 20 billion dollars will be crossed perhaps in 2007 itself. This is a very good development. It has outstripped whatever we had projected and this will always be true with regard to India and China. The people of both the countries once regarded as ‘a sick man of Asia’ are some of the best people that can build up the economy and politics of the world. There is another important thing that we should take into account—Russia- China-India. They are the biggest landmass which is contiguous to each other. Moreover, they represent more than onethird of the population of the world. They represent some of the best sources of raw materials. Together they can exercise a tremendous influence in the world for peace and for development. All over the world, this will be a force that can ensure that the world no longer remains unilateral, as some would like it to be, but really becomes multilateral as it should be. I feel that in the coming days to come, India and China coming together will themselves ensure that by the later half of this century, Asia will become the centre of political gravity of the world. PRANAB MUKHERJEE, UNION MINISTER FOR EXTERNAL AFFAIRS There was a time when the Kolkata Port was a transit point for the supply of goods to Tibet and China through the traditional silk route through Nathu La Pass. The city, in fact, was a gateway for the Tibetan and Chinese in this part of the world and once again that Nathu La Pass has been opened and the Third Indo-China Trade Mart has been opened on the border, the first two being Shipkila and Lipulekh. Before the trouble of 1962, the city of Kolkata had a small but vibrant Chinese diaspora. The diaspora is still there and is well known for its contribution in dental treatment and leather industry. Even before Independence, at the initiative of Rabindranath Tagore, at the Vishwa Bharati University in Shanti Niketan, a full-fledged Department of Chinese Studies and Language was established, where hundreds of young students mastered the tough Mongolian language and made their contributions to the development of Sino-Indian cultural ties. In his recent book, ‘The Argumentative Indian’ Dr. Amartya Sen has referred to the close collaboration between India and China in the field of religion, education, arts, literature and science and Bengal was intimately involved in this process. This year is marked as the year of India-China friendship. I am sure that deliberations in this seminar will help deepening mutual understanding between the two most populous nations of the world, which are also set to play a defining role in the global political and economic arena. History is cyclic in nature. The last 300 years have seen the global epicenter shift from Asia to Europe to America. That was an era of industrialization, an era of rapid growth of global financial markets, an era of colonial dominance and, regrettably, an era of global power rivalries, violence and bloodshed. EMAJOR EVENTS Annual Report 2007 ◆ Observer Research Foundation 35
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Page 3 and 4: Contents Chairman’s Message .....
Page 5 and 6: “ORF has been reaching beyond the
Page 7 and 8: While ORF was founded over 17 years
Page 9 and 10: A joint programme with Asia Society
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Page 13 and 14: The Pakistan Army is arguably the m
Page 15 and 16: Events organised during the year un
Page 17 and 18: 18/9/2006 Talk by Mr. Strobe Talbot
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Page 21 and 22: INSTITUTE OF SECURITY STUDIES ‘Ar
Page 23 and 24: The Chief of the Naval Staff, Admir
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Page 27 and 28: aries need to be maintained and exp
Page 29 and 30: REPORTS & PUBLICATIONS ORF Energy N
Page 31 and 32: International seminar on “Maritim
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Page 35: Nasscom vice-president Rajdeep Sahr
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Page 41 and 42: THE YEAR GONE BY HAS BEEN A SUCCESS
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Page 45 and 46: During 2006, ORF brought out 28 pub
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Page 54 and 55: • Declassified Documents • Othe
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