E-Journal of Social and Strategic Studies

Pawns in a Board Game: Prisoners of War

noreply@blogger.com (E-Journal of Social & Strategic Studies) — Thu, 10 Dec 2020 10:21:00 +0000

Dr R Srinivasan

India returns Chinese soldier

On 18 October 2020, Corporal Wang Ya Long of the Chinese PLA strayed across the LAC in Demchok sector and was apprehended by Indian Army. Army sources confirmed the apprehension and also issued a statement that he would be released after completing specified formalities[i]. Forty eight hours later, Corporal Wang Ya Long was handed over to PLA front line troops at Chushul-Moldo meeting point, which was corroborated by Chinese media in their press releases[ii].

Though the above incident did not cause any stir in public minds, not to say scholarly discussions, it is an important of dimension to be looked at in the light of Sino-Indian skirmish at Galwan in May this year. The board game of chess that commenced at that time remains in spotlight what with both the countries moving their pawns in manners that are testing each other’s will.

India and China are both signatories to the Geneva Conventions 1949. While India ratified the Conventions in 1950, China ratified them in 1956[iii]. Under Article 118, first paragraph, of the 1949 Geneva Convention III (GC III): “Prisoners of war shall be released and repatriated without delay after the cessation of active hostilities.” Being signatories to the Convention, both India and China have an International legal obligation to repatriate PsOW, should and whenever conflicts between the countries occur. Interestingly, GC III applies only in conflicts that are declared as war.

Technically speaking, a soldier in uniform (with or without weapons) straying into another country is deemed as a mercenary and is liable for criminal prosecution in the country where he is apprehended. Should that person be not in uniform, he is deemed as a spy and is likely to be prosecuted accordingly. Both these conditions could apply in situations where armed conflicts not declared as war by respective countries prevail. ICRC and the larger international community of scholars have always advocated fair treatment and return of soldiers even under these circumstances, though such opinions are at best looked upon as humanitarian appeals rather than mandates of GC III.

China and Indian PsOW

Immediately after the 1962 Sino-Indian operations, the Indian Red Cross handed over a list of 3968 names of Indian soldiers as having been would, killed or captured to the Chinese Red Cross. China refuted the claims and delayed its responses till 1963. After an intensive diplomatic and international intervention, courtesy Rajkumari Amrit Kaur and Maj Gen CK Lakshmanan, China accepted that it held 1132 POW and had returned 715 wounded earlier with 13 dead bodies. On January 25, 1963, the ICRC's executive director wrote to General Lakshmanan to draw the IRC's attention to the announcements of the China News Agency that 2,156, (or 3,350) Indian POWs were still in Chinese hands.

On 6^th February 1963, President ICRC himself took up the matter with Marshal Chen Yi, the then Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs. Marshal Chen intimated ICRC two weeks later that “Since the Sino-Indian border clashes, the Chinese government has all along given good treatment in every respect to the Indian military personnel who were captured in the course of their attacks on the Chinese frontier guards.”[iv]China maintained that it was Indian troops that had attacked ‘unsuspecting’ border guards of the Chinese Army in Tibet and Sinkiang!!

Importantly, as Claude Arpi noted in his report, China found it “most regrettable that the India PoWs 'captured in the course of the Chinese frontier guards's counterattacks in self-defence' were equated with the 'law-abiding overseas Chinese illegally detained by the Indian authorities.' On 27^th February 1963, the ICRC confirmed to General Lakshmanan that the total number of Indian prisoners of war still in Chinese hands was 3,319, excluding the 716 wounded and sick who have been repatriated and the 13 bodies returned by the Chinese Red Cross.” [v]From 1963 onwards, China announced that it will release PsOW in batches. As of now, there does not appear to be any clear document or report by either governments whether all PsOW have been repatriated. Such an action by Chinese took nearly eighteen months after considerable international pressure.

India and PsOW

India’s actions to repatriate 93000 Pakistani soldiers who surrendered at Dacca after 1971 Indo-Pak war stands testimony to the commitment to International Law and Humanitarian Principles that India stands by. Repatriating Wang Ya Long now reiterates India’s position on such issues.

In contrast, during 1962, the Chinese had even pointed out that there was no ‘Declaration of War’ between India and China. They used this line of international legal logic to deny ICRC the right to visit China and inspect their internment facilities. Initiatives taken by President ICRC, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur as President of Indian Red Cross and Maj Gen Lakshmanan eventually melted down their cold denial.

Conclusion

Clauswitz famously said, “War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means”[vi].While the common perception is politics sans morality, war is not fought on barbaric terms. The soldiers partaking in war are merely executing the will of the polity. They have neither personal enmity nor do they entertain culturally induced hatred. Therefore, a polity when it chooses to defy international norms such as laid down in Geneva Conventions, indulges in acts that humanity has always held as abhorrent.

India’s action to return Wang stands as a testimony to the nation’s vibrant culture that upholds non-violence and forgiveness as core principles even in international relations where geopolitical compulsions give rise to temptations and vanity resulting in irresponsible acts by political actors.

Acknowledgement: This article was earlier published by the author on Defence Research and Studies website at https://dras.in/pawns-in-a-board-game-prisoners-of-war/ on 24 Oct 2020.

[i]Spl Corr. (2020, October 19). Army apprehends Chinese soldier in Demchok sector—The Hindu. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/army-apprehends-chinese-soldier-in-demchok-sector/article32892047.ece

[ii] Krishnan, A., & Peri, D. (2020, October 21). India hands over Chinese soldier who crossed LAC. The Hindu. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-hands-over-chinese-soldier-who-crossed-lac/article32906023.ece

[iii] ICRC. (n.d.). Treaties, States parties, and Commentaries—China. Retrieved October 21, 2020, from https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/vwTreatiesByCountrySelected.xsp?xp_countrySelected=CN

[iv] Arpi, C. (2019, December 6). Exclusive! How China released Indian troops after the 1962 War—Rediff.com India News. https://www.rediff.com/news/special/how-china-released-indian-troops-after-the-1962-war/20191206.htm

[v]Ibid.

[vi] Clausewitz: War as Politics by other Means—Online Library of Liberty. (n.d.). Retrieved October 21, 2020, from https://oll.libertyfund.org/pages/clausewitz-war-as-politics-by-other-means

Webinar on Changing Dynamics of International Order & India's Foreign Policy Choices, Challenges and Options: 31 Oct 2020

noreply@blogger.com (E-Journal of Social & Strategic Studies) — Mon, 23 Nov 2020 17:06:00 +0000

The recording of the webinar on India's Foreign Policy hosted by EJSSS and BITS Pilani Goa Campus jointly on 31 Oct 2020 is uploaded in YouTube for the benefit of research and scholarly community.

Personally, it was a great learning experience for me. Amb Raghavan is DG ICWA, and he set the tone for discussions in a comprehensive (yet concise) manner outlining the whole gamut. Specially, he emphasised on Maritime dimension.

Amb Fabian was the hero of evacuation of Indians from Kwait during Iraq War 1990. He personally met and extracted a promise from Saddam Hussein for the safety of Indians and Air India crew who flew them out.

Prof Roger Liu's analysis of Sino-Indian situation and role Taiwan can play is enlightening.

Amb Thomasz of Poland eloquently talked about strengthening Indo-EU ties.

Amb Viswanathan's case and examples of growing Indo-Latin America ties are revelations.

Prof Shivkumar's case for integrating Area Studies Program into policy planning structure is thought provoking.

Dr Sumit Seth, Director PPR, MEA, succinctly explained how MEA goes about Foreign policy keeping national interests at heart. This part is a must for IR students!

Please circulate among the student and research community that you are associated with. The Link address is:

https://youtu.be/y2XFSWdi-TU

World Maritime Day Webinar 24 Sep 2020

noreply@blogger.com (E-Journal of Social & Strategic Studies) — Mon, 12 Oct 2020 14:38:00 +0000

UGC Centre for Maritime Studies and Electronic Journal of Social and Strategic Studies jointly hosted a webinar on 24 September 2020 to commemorate 43rd World Maritime Day. The theme for the webinar was:

India, IOR and Indo-Pacific: Perspectives, Challenges and Opportunities

Prof Gurmeet Singh, Vice Chancellor, Pondicherry University chaired and delivered Presidential Address. Former Ambassador Rajiv Bhatia and Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Arun Prakash PVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSM, ADC, delivered the Special and Commemorative Address. Prof P Moorthy, Dean School of Social Sciences & IR, delivered the Felicitation Address.

The webinar was held in two sessions.

Session 1 covered India & IOR. Prof SK Mohanty (RIS), Prof PV Rao (Prof Emeritus, NALSAR), and Cmde Srikant Kesnur (Director, MWC Mumbai) delivered talks on India's Economic Interest in IOR, India's Maritime Power and The Wide Arc of Indian Maritime Diplomacy, respectively.

Session 2 covered India & Indo-Pacific. Prof Sanjay Chaturvedi (South Asian University), Cmde RS Vasan (Retd) (Chennai Centre for China Studies), Capt SS Parmar (Executive Director, National Maritime Foundation) and Prof PR Pradhan (BITS Pilani-Goa) delivered talks on Geopolitics of Shifting Alliances in the Indo-Pacific: Perspectives from and on India, Changing Dynamics of Power Play in Indo-Pacific Post Covid, India in Indo-Pacific: Exploring Engagement Matrices and Island Chains & the Great Game of Maritime Infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific.

Lt Gen AS Lamba PVSM, AVSM, PhD, former Vice Chief of Army Staff and current President of IPCS Delhi, delivered the Valedictory Address.

Vice Adm Ganesh (Retd) of Asian Centre Bangalore, also shared his perspectives in the end.

Prof A Subramanyam Raju, Coordinator, UGC Centre for Maritime Studies, Pondicherry University delivered the Convener's and Concluding Address.

Dr R Srinivasan, Managing Editor, Electronic Journal of Social and Strategic Studies moderated the sessions and delivered Note of Thanks.

The webinar witnessed 138 registrations from India, Bangladesh, US Embassy, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Eminent scholars, professors and practitioners, along with members of leading Think Tanks attended both the sessions. Student scholars from various institutions also partook.

Publish Your Scholarship!!

noreply@blogger.com (E-Journal of Social & Strategic Studies) — Sun, 06 Sep 2020 15:47:00 +0000

What do we do with our PhD thesis, once we embark into a career in research or in academia?

In the course of our thesis work, we also come across a number of facts, data and observations which have the potential to grow into a research work in their own merit. But the complacency of having secured employment, together with the 'pressures' of the environment prevent us from re-visiting those notes.

Many of us do not even consider the option of converting our thesis into a book or at least the synopsis into a research paper which could ignite the academic curiosity of the larger research community around the world.

EJSSS believes that many a potential research ideas remain in the dusty volumes of our thesis and more in the volumes of notes/data we had collected. In order to reach those potential ideas into the world of emerging scholarship, EJSSS invites synopsis of completed thesis work in all the subjects of interest to our journal.

Please Note: Synopsis will be accepted only after at least the provisional degree has been awarded. Should you have queries, please mail: submission.ejss@gmail.com

Inaugural Issue EJSSS

noreply@blogger.com (E-Journal of Social & Strategic Studies) — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 09:59:00 +0000

We are happy to announce to announce that the 1st Issue of Electronic Journal of Social and Strategic Studies (EJSSS) with 06 papers on IR, Strategic Studies, History and Edn & Trg, one research opinion on Security Studies and 02 Book Reviews on IR is online. EJSSS is an OA Journal committed to promote interdisciplinary research in Social Sciences/Strategic Studies. We are a member journal of CROSSREF.

Visit us at www.ejsss.net.in

EJSSS specifically hopes to encourage young and emerging scholars to undertake interdisciplinary research and publication. We firmly believe that a knowledge driven society is the only hope for a promising and sustainable future that all of us aspire for.

The contents of our First Issue are as below:

CONTENTS

Articles

1. Security-Development Nexus - China’s Policy Framework towards Africa by

Dr Bertha Z. Osei-Hwedie and Napoleon Kurantin

2. Reminiscing an African Connect: The Impregnable Janjira

Dr CS Anuradha

3. Bangladesh Playing Chinese checkers with India

Group Captain AV Chandrasekaran (Retd)

4. Covid-19 Lockdown: An Opportunity to Explore New Frontiers for

Online-Training

Dr DK Pandey

5. India-ASEAN Cooperation in the Evolving Regional Mechanisms

Dr M Prayaga

6. Implications of Multitudinous Multilateral Institutions for Southeast Asia

Prof. Y. Yagama Reddy

Perspective/Commentary

7. Paradigm shift in Coastal Security in India

Commodore RS Vasan IN (Retd)

Book Reviews

8. Rise of the Indo-Pacific: Perspectives, Dimensions and Challenges

by Prof. Chintamani Mahapatra (Ed.)

Farhat Jahan

9. International Relations Today: Concepts and Applications

by Prof. Aneek Chatterjee

Masom Jan Masomy

COVID19 and Citizenship

noreply@blogger.com (E-Journal of Social & Strategic Studies) — Sat, 09 May 2020 15:01:00 +0000

COVID19: State Power and Citizenship[1]

Introduction

COVID19 has led to universal lockdown in various levels in over 185 countries. As of today over 2.6 million cases have been reported with over 50000 deaths in United States alone. While responsible governments are battling the pandemic with every possible means at their command, there are countries which are also being accused of using the opportunity to impose restrictions that serve their diabolical regimes.

We are witnessing mobilization through social media in developing countries like Algeria to help prevent aggravation of pandemic situation. We are also witnessing street level agitations in developed nations like USA against the preventive restrictions. A holistic view of both these phenomenon provide an interesting insight into citizenship by posing certain questions. The primary question that arises concerning citizenship is: Are governments within their right to restrain personal liberties in the prevailing condition?

The State and the Citizen

In the opinion of Thomas Hobbes, the concept of state power over citizens or “introduction of restraint upon themselves…is the foresight of their own preservation, and of a more contented life thereby; that is to say, of getting themselves out from that miserable condition of War, which is necessarily consequent to the natural passions of men, when there is no visible Power to keep them in awe, and tie them by fear of punishment to the performance of their covenants, and observation of those Laws of Nature . . .”^{^[i]}. Arguing on the point of state control over citizen’s life, Rousseau said, “Each of us puts his person and all his power in common under the supreme direction of the general will, and, in our corporate capacity, we receive each member as an indivisible part of the whole.”^{^[ii]}.

Perhaps TH Marshall’s statement that citizenship is "a status bestowed on those who are full members of a community. All who possess the status are equal with respect to the rights and duties with which the status is endowed"^{^[iii]}, should merit consideration at this juncture.

If citizenship bestows equal status with respect to the rights and duties, then our next point of consideration should be on “duties”. In Arizona, Colorado, Montana and Washington State, people have taken to streets proclaiming that the lockdown conditions are impinging on their individual rights and freedoms[iv]. What does the duty of a citizen entail then, in conditions of such pandemic?

The concept of citizenship has undergone tremendous change from the time the industrial revolution set in. Earlier, serfs had only subsistence rights at the pleasure of their masters in the western hemisphere. In the East, though the concept of slavery was not unknown, larger cultural precepts like compassion and charity together with the duties of kings to provide for the desolate somewhat offset the impact of slavery. However, decolonization (which by itself we must credit as the biggest event in history towards empowerment and human rights) and the shocks to human conscience by the events in Nazi concentration camps, brought up the issue of human rights and freedoms to the fore front.

Commencing from UDHR to the innumerable international instruments, rights and freedoms have been handed down and even enforced through collective action (as in former Yugoslavia). Human Rights and freedoms todays are the bedrock of all dialogues on democracy everywhere. With the onset of human rights as a non-derogable condition, the concept of citizenship has also undergone sea change. Individual citizens everywhere are vested with political, civil and social rights that are enforceable by law.

To presume therefore that individual rights are inviolable would however be against the very concept of human rights itself. The concept of human rights does not rest on one individual by himself/herself. It rests on the principle of membership of a community or society. Nor does it rest on the power of a sovereign to give it to an individual, for, as the UDHR says in the opening stanza of its Pramble, “Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world”, human rights are inherent to every human being.

An individual’s right to freedom however, cannot be the basis for endangering another human being’s right to good health. For, the whole argument in favor of human rights rest but on a single pillar called equality. What every individual in the society cannot be allowed to indulge, no single human can claim it as his freedom and right.

Looking Beyond State Control

We are neither the first to think so, nor will we ever be the last to state this as a wish. Equality before law is a principle enshrined in every constitution of every country and upheld by every court of law as sanctimonious. Be it the Supreme Court of India (Indra Sawhney v Union of India[v] ) or the Supreme Court of USA (Brown v Board of Education), equality and equal treatment are fundamental to democracy. However, the constitutions do not merely envisage equality as a standalone principle. Right to equality is contingent upon a more important right – the Right to Life. No individual citizen by himself or in conjunction with one or more number of people can indulge in any activity that will endanger the right to life of other citizens. For without the Right to Life, there can never be any meaning in other rights and freedoms. The Supreme Court of India in fact gave substantial meaning to this statement in Sunil Batra v. Delhi Administration, when it said, “the “right to life” included the right to lead a healthy life so as to enjoy all faculties of the human body in their prime conditions”[vi].

Conclusion

The discussion above highlights dimensions in the concept of citizenship in a world that is fighting a pandemic threatening to engulf humanity. Good citizenship, as the provisos of the constitutions and contents of the case law show, incorporates the sense of responsibility and duty towards fellow citizens, without which it would be rendered hollow.

Sociologists and political scientists need to engage in deeper studies that would enrich citizenship in the post-COVID19 world for democracy and human rights everywhere.

[1]The author is an independent researcher with abiding interest in developing young scholarship through Electronic Journal of Social and Strategic Studies at www.ejsss.net . Should any reader wish to use the content for his/her research, they are free to do so. A reference to this Blog will be appreciated. APA style reference for this entry is:

Srinivasan, R. (2020, May 09). COVID19 and Citizenship [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://ejournalofsocialandstrategicstudies.blogspot.com/2020/05/covid19-and-citizenship.html

[i]T Hobbes, (1651). Leviathan. London. Chapter XVII, p 1651.

[ii]Rousseau, Jean Jacques (1913). The Social Contract or Principles of Political Right. Book I. Chapter VI. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co

[iii]TH Marshall, (1950). Citizenship and Social Class, and Other Essays. Cambridge (UK): The University Press.

[iv] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52348288

[v] Indra Sawhney v Union of India Air 1993 SC 447

[vi] AIR 1978 SC 1675

Indo-Pak Relations: A Timeline

noreply@blogger.com (E-Journal of Social & Strategic Studies) — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 07:12:00 +0000

One of the prime objectives of Electronic Journal of Social and Strategic Studies is to enable young scholars to undertake analysis of issues in International Relations with well researched perspectives. Towards this purpose, a timeline of Indo-Pak relations published by Al Jazeera on 01 March 2019 was found to be quite comprehensive. The link is shared below:

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/spotlight/kashmirtheforgottenconflict/2011/06/2011615113058224115.html

Note: Scholars advised to seek prior written permission from Al Jazzera should they desire to reproduce a part or the full article published by them.

Understanding the Evolution of India's Foreign Policy: Pragmatic Purpose to Polemic Principle

noreply@blogger.com (E-Journal of Social & Strategic Studies) — Sun, 19 Apr 2020 07:14:00 +0000

Dr Dattesh D. Parulekar delivered a lecture on Tedx on the topic "Understanding the Evolution of India's Foreign Policy: Pragmatic Purpose to Polemic Principle".

Dr Parulekar is an Assistant Professor of International Relations & Strategic Studies at the Department of IR, School of International and Area Studies, Goa University. He specializes in India's Foreign Policy & Diplomacy, Chinese Political Economy, Sino Indian Affairs in the Indo Pacific, African Affairs and Political Economy of Latin America.

The link to his talk is given below:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NGyeXI5InL60PqcxdX1zl5iZzEjwBLy1/view?usp=sharing

COVID-19: Universities are filling the void in International Cooperation

noreply@blogger.com (E-Journal of Social & Strategic Studies) — Sat, 18 Apr 2020 14:24:00 +0000

COVID-19: Universities are filling the void in International Cooperation[1]

Anushka Saraswat[2]

The COVID-19 pandemic is not only a trial for health systems and public infrastructures but also a test of global cooperation and forbearance. When international organizations like the United Nations, the G20, and the G7 are struggling to carve out a role for themselves in the global response to the deadly pandemic, the global universities are fighting on the frontlines against the deadly virus. Although the universities are far below the haute politique of international relations, they are within the trough wrestling to seek out a vaccine, develop therapeutics, and expedite mass production to effectively dispense the treatments as widely and as fairly as possible.

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has pleaded for a unified global response as nations turn inwards and seal each other off to combat the pandemic. The silence of the Security Council has sent a signal of shambolic disunity, which is resonating quite widely. Universities, on the other hand, are charged with highly qualified teams of researchers who are working tirelessly to find a cure and mitigate the impact of COVID-19.During the time of dire straits, the scientists and scholars have become increasingly connected and interdependent, disregarding concerns such as academic credit.The universities and research centres are sharing data and collaborating across national borders in extraordinary new ways.

Doctors, engineers, scientists, researchers and university students across the world have shifted gears and are applying their skills and knowledge to fight the virus. The Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by volume has partnered with the US-based biotech drug research company Codagenix. The two partners have been working together with the utmost diligence and meticulous efforts to develop a preventive vaccine against the novel coronavirus.

At Oxford’s Jenner Institute, one of the most reputed academic centers for vaccine research in the world, a team led by Sarah Gilbert has identified a nonreplicating viral vaccine candidate and is aiming for success in humans by June. The university has recruited volunteers with human trials already going underway. The human test is set to begin by April 22. The development of a vaccine is a glaringly slow process, however, with the support of the international community the academicians, researchers, and scientists are producing viable candidates and lab research speedily. The vaccine is being simultaneously tested in animal models by laboratories in the United States and Australia. There are plans for large scale productions in China, India, and Italy.

The team of researchers in Harvard’s Precision Vaccines Program is aiming to develop a COVID-19 vaccine for the older population. Many institutes in the U.S. such as Tufts University, Middleburg College and New York University are preparing to convert campus dormitories to temporary hospitals to provide beds for COVID-19 patients displaced from existing hospitals.

The Global Institute on Innovation Districts engaged innovation districts across the world. The institute effectively responded to what extent their research institutions, R&D labs, companies, and other actors are advancing in the development of a vaccine. The institute is focusing on the broad sector of life sciences to include all research specializations that have been tapped to address the pandemic.

The universities are also collaborating with companies and volunteers who are developing new solutions for creating and ramping the production of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE). A few universities like North Western University, University of New Hampshire and Michigan State University are developing 3-D printed face shield projects.

Manu Prakash, who is an Associate Professor of Bioengineering at Stanford University, focused largely on low-cost medical devices. In March, he returned from Europe where the pandemic was taking a toll. After returning he started an open-source project to modify full-face snorkel masks into reusable Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) for health care workers.

Pandemics like COVID-19 eventually generate opportunities for global cooperation. The United States and China should have put aside their differences and tackled the pandemic together. When the COVID-19 threatened the world and WHO stumbled, the two countries could have united for coordinating a global response to the pandemic. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) based in the United States should have assisted China in investigating the origin and nature of the “mysterious virus” when Chinese counterparts were inordinate and required more expertise assistance in the research. As China leads in the manufacturing and exporting of active pharmaceutical ingredients, she could have cooperated with the United States to mitigate the disruption of the drug supply chain. The COVID-19 pandemic is a reflection of the incompetency of international institutions and national leaders and their governments.

Nations eschewed Multilateralism. After inequality persisted for decades, disaffected voters in numerous countries have elected populist leaders in recent years. In authoritarian positions, these leaders turned to nationalist norms and shrugged off the international responsibilities and constraints imposed by international organizations. Defeating the COVID-19 pandemic demands international cooperation on all levels, however, the reinforcement of nationalist trends makes the mechanism of delivery substantially weak.

When health organizations and institutes continue to work on solutions for the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is reminded that this type of global and real-time coordination doesn’t happen in isolation. It’s through communication networks of small geographic innovation in areas of advanced research, rapid prototyping and commercialization that success is achieved.

Many experts in the world warned of humanity’s vulnerability to a pandemic before the coronavirus outbreak. In the famous 2015 TED talk, Bill Gates highlighted the vast financial resources that are employed for nuclear deterrence instead of funding for pandemic preparedness. Contrarily, governments continued to see national security in military and warfare terms, and the production of essential pharmaceuticals was outsourced to the less expensive providers in the name of private profit and public economy. Only strong international universities and institutions can effectively respond to the deadly pandemic. It’s pertinent to exacerbate global inequities and marshal the resources required to effectively contain the future global crisis of this kind. COVID-19 will not be the last pandemic. With more robust global institutions, developed and underdeveloped countries alike can ensure that the next one is less disastrous.

Note: The article was originally published in Geopolitics Magazine on 16^th April 2020. Opinions expressed are those of the Author and republished here with the permission of the Author.

[1] The article was originally published on the Geopolitics Magazine on 16^th April 2020.

[2] Ms. Saraswat is pursuing her Bachelors in Global Affairs (Hons.) at the Jindal School of International Affairs, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India. She can be reached at 19jsia-anushka.s@jgu.edu.in.

Imagining Post-COVID19 World: Forestry, Fishery and Wildlife

noreply@blogger.com (E-Journal of Social & Strategic Studies) — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 15:27:00 +0000

Imagining Post-COVID World:

Forestry, Natural Resources and Pollution Control

Dr N Krishnakumar[1]

The Post-COVID19 world will present challenges that have been compounded by existing environmental issues as well as those that will emerge during this phase when the world is battling to control the pandemic. Some concerns in the mentioned dimensions are briefly mentioned below.

Shift in Priorities: Natural Resources Management

Post Covid19, a lot of shifts in priorities and shifts in sectoral approaches would be needed. Natural resources management should get enough attention like conservation of forest resources, conventional forestry, agriculture, Animal husbandry and allied sectors. There is a need to strictly implement policies relating to use of natural resources in the most prudent way possible.

Investments for NRM has also to be stepped up, though finding financial resources for this may pose challenges. Investments to natural resources management may even shrink further as the priorities now will be in health sector and allied services. There is no doubt that health sector has to get primary attention. Fear looms large that mutated version of corona viruses may surface again, and unless human beings get the herd immunity we may have to face the situation till the situation tapers through a disciplined lockdown.

Diversion of Forest Land for Development

We should put a halt to diversion of forest lands for non-forestry purposes. Every diversion of natural resources have to stop. Doing so may actually help reordering of nature as the lockdown itself has shown recovery of Ozone layer and other such indications.

Pollution Control and Urban Landscape

Urban sprawls have to be regulated. Pollution regulation through strict monitoring of industries is a must. It is heartening to hear that water bodies like ponds, pools, lakes and rivers are improving in the period of lockdown. Taking a leaf out of the lessons in diminishing rate of air pollution, air traffic and road traffic have to be regulated. Pooling of vehicles to decrease pollution have to be encouraged.

Working from homes have to be encouraged. Perceptive analysis of work-from-home experience that is being gained may help in this dimension. However, this should not adversely affect employment rate as it would affect productivity.

Zoos, Wildlife and COVID19

One theory on the origin of Corona suggests that it came from animals and bats to humans. The probability that it could spread back into animal kingdom can therefore be not discounted. Two major concerns in this aspect are:

· Zoonotic diseases remain a serious threat. Bronx zoo had reported corona in a tiger. This calls for extensive screening and testing for corona in zoo and safari animals.

· Impact of corona on free ranging larger wildlife and their habitats required. At least keystone species in important PAs to be covered under a rapid assessment.

Forestry and Fishery

In the forestry and fisheries sector, below mentioned aspects need serious consideration:

· An ecosystem assessment across forest types, in forest soils, pollen and seeds, flowers as carriers to be studied.

· Impact of corona virus after the lock down period, in terms of species recovery, species fluxes and density diversity increases including invasives, due to minimal human interference to be studied, to support management decisions. Impact of hands off forestry in small forest patches and plantations need assessment.

· Impact of stray cattle as vectors ,transmitting diseases in wild life area need study for fine tuning the grazing policy in forests

· Research to confirm status of urban parks ,as green lungs and health zones ,for Covid recovery patients

· Creation of new knowledge base in forests for pests and diseases ,and viruses in particular

· Research on social issues with reference to tribal and fringe villagers ,to asses corona impact in tribal hamlets and schools

· Forest road expansions and extensions to stop.

· Research on forest river and stream fauna,particularly fishes due to corona !!.

· Scale the veterinary research and support staff for management of zoonotics.

· Regulated tourism and ecotourism policy in PAs and forest zones

· Research into medicinal plant based research to support viruses controls

· Existing forest and wild life Acts to be strengthened to safe guard natural ecosystems

Agro, Farm and Homestead Forests

Agroforestry, Farm forestry, homestead forest to be given renewed impetus to prevent urban migration. Rural youth should be discouraged from migrating to urban areas in search of jobs. Rural youth can be engaged as fire watchers, wild life trackers and NTFP based vale addition enterprises initiated in rural areas particularly forest villages.

It is hoped that these aspects will generate a healthy debate in scientific circles to help embark upon a world that would be healthier, greener and more sustainable than the point that we had reached before the pandemic visited the Earth.

[1] Dr N Krishnakumar is a former Indian Forest Service officer who headed the Forest Force in Tamil Nadu as PCCF. The views expressed are his own.

Imagining the Post-COVID19 World: Importance of Educational Reforms

noreply@blogger.com (E-Journal of Social & Strategic Studies) — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 14:22:00 +0000

Imagining the Post-COVID19 World: Importance of Educational Reforms

Dr R Srinivasan

COVID19 figures are just under two million as on date and the universe is already concerned about economic down swing. The credit for the concern, justifiably, must be given to our ability to communicate. It is but natural that saving humanity from the scourge of COVID19 ought to be the immediate objective. The real objective, however, should be to get our engines of economy firing on all cylinders from the day COVID19 is brought under control, if not before.

In the developed West the resuscitation may take lesser time since established knowledge and technical wherewithal for such resurgence already exist. Unless political leadership bungles these so badly, the developed nations should get back to their status sooner the pandemic is under control. In the developing and underdeveloped countries, the story is likely to be different and substantially more difficult.

One of the key challenges that developing world faces is in their ability to transform into knowledge economies. Peter Drucker made an important observation when he said, “Traditional economic factors such as monetary capital, physical labor, and raw material, are becoming less important in comparison to the capability of adding value through knowledge development, improvement, and innovation”[1]. Further he summarized the importance of knowledge capital as a key ingredient in economic growth when he said, “The economic challenge of the post-capitalist society will therefore be the productivity of knowledge work and the knowledge worker”.

Research, innovation and application of science in the developing countries needs to be ably aided by a strong educational system from early school onwards which promotes merit. Schools and higher educational institutions in public as well as private sector must be evolved to become world class centers of knowledge with excellent supportive infrastructure. The purpose of education should not merely be to produce graduates but to produce skill at all levels that can be applied for the development of society.

In the light of the COVID19 environment, we find reports indicating that big firms are leaving Chinese shores and that they will search for suitable countries to relocate. Enthusiastic analysts are either hinting at or openly pointing at India as the most favorable destination. Their arguments include India’s economic potential and infrastructure growth in recent years. They also enthusiastically point out that India can offer a larger and younger pool of manpower almost on par with what was available in China. These forecasts are also getting debated and analyzed across social and print media. Scholarly attention obviously is in tow.

Such a euphoric forecast needs to be also analyzed on the basis of certain realities. Without going into elaborate discussion on the educational sector in India (for, such a discussion would go beyond the space limit here), it would suffice to point at the headlines of some reports:

1. 60% of engineering graduates unemployed – Times of India reported on 18 March 2017 that less than 1% of engineering students participate in summer internships, just 15% of engineering programmes are accredited by the National Board of Accreditation and more than 60 percent of technical graduates remain unemployed[2].

2. In June 2018, the Economic Times reported that 94% of engineering graduates are not fit for hiring[3].

3. On 21 March 2019, India Today reported that Over 80% Indian engineers are unemployable, lack new-age technology skills[4].

4. In so far as non-technical graduates are concerned, a survey by Wheebox, People Strong and CII in December 2019 found that employability of Indian graduates jumps to 47% in 2019 from 33% in 2014[5], a rise of 14 percent over a five year period.

As the moral of these reports show, the challenges present before India (or for that matter, any other nation in the developing part of the world) are: how to revamp the education system in order to produce substantial number of graduates who are skilled and employable? More importantly, can that be done in a short while, since the COVID19 opportunity may not come again (yes, we pray that it never comes again).

There is no doubt that the silver lining from the dark cloud of COVID19 is casting its promising glare on India. Hence, educational sector reform is an important aspect India must look at this juncture. This point is equally applicable to any other nation that is looking forward to gaining from this unique situation created by a pandemic. The strength of the educational sector and its ability to produce skilled and employable man power will significantly decide whether in the post-COVID19 phase a country emerges victorious or not.

Coincidentally, India embarked upon certain important reforms in the educational sector in the recent years like granting 'Institution of Eminence' status to three public and three private institutes in the country; making PhD a must for teaching at university level for the entry-level designation of Assistant Professor from 2021; and, introducing Prime Minister’s Research Fellowships at IITs and IISc. The University Grants Commission has even embarked upon evaluating PhD thesis submitted for qualitative content from 2019. Additionally, the government announced a National Skill Development Mission in 2015. A separate ministry with a set of institutions like National Skill Development Agency (NSDA), National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), and Directorate General of Training (DGT) were also constituted. In 2020 Budget, the government set INR 3000 crore outlay for National Skill Development Mission activities. The above initiatives clearly indicate that the government is fully seized of the importance of knowledge as fundamental to economic progress and greater social justice.

There are innumerable challenges in gearing up to be a world class economy, particularly in the aftermath of a pandemic like COVID19. But then, creating a world class economy can never be worth just an ordinary day’s toil. There are other supplementary challenges too that need to be addressed by the society. Commercialization of education must be stopped by voluntary and regulatory methods. The spirit of the reforms introduced by the government must be further strengthened by private endeavor.

India can fulfill its destiny by becoming a world leader for it is endowed with tremendous potential. To do so, our common objective should be to underwrite the purpose that the HRD Minister said while launching Institutions of Excellence Program:

"The #InstituteofEminence are important for the country. We have 800 univ, but not a single university in top 100 or even 200 in the world ranking. Today's decision will help achieve this. Improving ranking needs sustained planning, complete freedom & public institutes getting public funding (sic),"[6].

Some areas that warrant further contemplation and action in this regard are:

1. Quality of Public Education: More than two thirds of children in India go to government schools[7]. They need quality in infrastructure as well as teaching staff if they are to realize benefits of economic prosperity.

2. Quality in Teacher Training: Even though India has about 17000 Teacher Education Institutes with the capacity to produce 94 lac teachers annually, the quality of teachers turned out by these institutes is in serious question. The CEO of Niti Ayog made a pertinent observation in this regard when he said, “reforms must be driven by administrative will and executed through a well-established governance mechanism, clearly establishing ownership and accountability for set work streams across multiple agencies”[8].

3. Private Sector Involvement in R & D: As compared to developed countries, the number of private sector sponsored R&D institutions in India are few. Also, the number of projects commissioned by them through universities is still fewer. Unless this trend changes where private sector sponsors research not merely in sciences but also in social sciences and humanities, wholesome development of the society will remain an uphill task. In a global comparison, India has a mere 0.63 percent share of Private Sector R&D as compared to Japan (3.28%), USA (2.79%), Germany (2.88%) and South Korea (4.23%) of its GDP[9][figures for 2015).

Mankind has faced larger calamities and braved bigger storms. Small Pox, plague, Spanish Flu, Ebola, HIV are just few examples. When we look around we find that there are a plethora of other challenges too that we are engaged with. Take malnutrition, for example, which claims millions of children annually^{^[10]}.

Unless we emerge victorious from COVID19 better prepared for economic revival as a knowledge economy, we would find it hard to address inequality and social justice, in addition to unemployment and lower growth rates. We must remember that history has portent lessons of countries that foresaw their future and worked for it, before actually emerging victorious.

[1] Drucker, P. F. (1993). Postcapitalist Society. New York: Herper Collins Publishers.

[2] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/60-of-engineering-graduates-unemployed/articleshow/57698133.cms

[3] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/jobs/only-6-of-those-passing-out-of-indias-engineering-colleges-are-fit-for-a-job/articleshow/64446292.cms?from=mdr

[4] https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/news/story/over-80-indian-engineers-are-unemployable-lack-new-age-technology-skills-report-1483222-2019-03-21

[5] https://www.livemint.com/news/india/employability-of-indian-graduates-jumps-to-47-in-2019-from-33-in-2014-survey-11575983561692.html

[6]https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/news/story/12-education-initiatives-taken-by-the-govt-in-2018-to-strengthen-india-s-education-sector-1420340-2018-12-31

[7] 65% of all school-going children in 20 states, about 113 million, continue to get their education from government schools, according to District Information System for Education (DISE) and education ministry data. https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/private-schools-gain-17-mn-students-in-5-yrs-govt-schools-lose-13-mn-117041700073_1.html

[8] https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/government-schools-education-teacher-qualification-exam-hrd-ministry-6297802/

[9] https://www.indiainfoline.com/article/general-editors-choice/india-s-private-and-public-r-d-situation-spending-and-challenges-118113000334_1.html

[10]UNICEF Global Nutrition Report 2018 says, “Nearly a quarter of children under five years of age, 150.8 million, are stunted, 50.5 million children under five are wasted and 20 million newborn babies are estimated to be of low birth weight. At the same time, 38.3 million children under the age of five are overweight. At least 124 of 141 countries struggle with overlapping burdens, while millions of children under the age of five suffer with coexisting forms of malnutrition”. See: https://globalnutritionreport.org/reports/global-nutrition-report-2018/conclusion-critical-steps-get-nutrition-track/

COVID19: A Time for Corporate Introspection

noreply@blogger.com (E-Journal of Social & Strategic Studies) — Sat, 11 Apr 2020 09:56:00 +0000

COVID19: A TIME FOR CORPORATE INTROSPECTION

Dr R Srinivasan

Introduction

Winston Churchill is quoted to have said “An optimist sees an opportunity in every calamity; a pessimist sees a calamity in every opportunity”.

This maxim applies to the corporate sector aptly in all circumstances, especially when the world is locking itself down in the era of COVID 19. World Bank while assessing the global slowdown said, “Global growth is projected at 2.5 percent in 2020, just above the post-crisis low registered last year. While growth could be stronger if reduced trade tensions mitigate uncertainty, the balance of risks is to the downside. A steep productivity growth slowdown has been underway in emerging and developing economies since the global financial crisis, despite the largest, fastest, and most broad-based accumulation of debt since the 1970s. These circumstances add urgency to the need to rebuild macroeconomic policy space and undertake reforms to rekindle productivity”[1]. The Corona Pandemic has not helped the World Bank outlook. On the contrary, there are fears that the economic impact will worsen the global economy and take the levels perhaps below the melt down figures of 2008. Kenneth Rogoff said that 2008 was like a dry run COVID19 in his analysis in the Guardian[2].

The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 6.3 percent, or more than 1,300 points, to close the day at 19,898.92, its first close below 20,000 since 2017 and the broad-based S&P 500 dropped 5.2 percent to finish at 2,398.10, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 4.7 percent to 6,989.84, reported ET[3].

In UK, USA, Japan, India and EU, business is coming to a halt with hardly a trickle of output. Nations are wringing their hands and placing further restrictions while at the same time trying to reach out or enhance medical equipment producers to supplement national reserves. In the organized sector, corporates have downed their shutters. IT majors have asked their people to work from home. Transportation and logistics chain are standing still except for a teeny weeny segment catering for essential services. LOCKDOWN is translating into lockout, though no employer or government is willing to look at the status as a lockout.

In these times of cataclysm, an unforeseen opportunity is available to the corporations and big brother industry – an opportunity that may well translate into higher productivity when the world turns around firmly from the pandemic. The purpose of this article is to look into some of those vistas that a promising future presents. Broadly, we will consider Production and Processes as the two fields we will explore. It is necessary to emphasize that the scenarios being discussed are in the pre-COVID19 scenario when the corporate, presumably, was in its full form of operations.

Production

Maintenance of buildings and infrastructure. A number of compromises are accepted and even ‘unsafe’ equipment are milked to prudent capacity in order to meet production targets. While we work from home, it would be better that those friendly calls from foremen, those little notes from section heads/junior managers or even work men are pulled out and synthesized. A dedicated team (if one doesn’t already exist in the company) now goes through these in order to make detailed plans, identifying suppliers for replacement, contractors for installation, permits and passes that need to be obtained from various authorities, etc.

We should not finalize the plans just by such expert committees alone. This is also an opportune moment to consult with the people who actually work on these equipment hands on and take their advice if they have a better one.

There are two benefits of doing so: one, the man on the field will feel important. Two, the industry may benefit from a more practical suggestion than those availed through ‘experts’.

The scenarios presented in the box are representative. The scenarios will be far truer and lengthier when such a focused “audit” takes place.

Processes

Rarely in the daily life of a corporate can the luxury of time be indulged than during the present calamitous era of COVID19. Many a friends of mine who are up to their neck in the corporate world have, however, a different opinion. COVID or no COVID, they just want to get back to their offices fast. The reason stated by them is the cause of this paper. Their ‘video or con-call’ starts at 0800 and continues till about 2100 or more on a daily basis!! They would rather be at work in their office.

There is no activity more damaging to productivity than a prolonged conference. From Harvard to Timbuktu, there is as yet not even an iota of proof that calls and con-calls have produced anything more than humor, some well-intended and mostly acrimonious[4]. Instead of perennial con-calls (my apologies if the way I spell this appears satirical!), the following activities may serve to bolster productivity and help in the reconstruction of business when COVID19 is bid adieu.

Review Performance: Performance Assessment Reports, by whatever name they are called are a standard HR tool to assess retentions/promotions/adieus. However, most of the managers who write them, like the ones who review them, have been chased and hounded over production targets when these assessments were due. This is a time when the appraisal process itself can be holistically reviewed to see whether it matches the organizational objectives or has come to stay as a bureaucratic tool to chastise angels and celebrate demons, (or vice versa if you please). This is also a time when the senior management, assisted by HR, can re-review them to see if they have missed a man who should have been promoted or raised a man who didn’t much deserve. The luxury of contemplation can be indulged now.

Reinforce Sales/Marketing Ethics. Yes, ethics. A number of middle and lower level managers either step to the left or right of this domain particularly when QE reports are due. A review of sales figures can now be undertaken to find sudden spurts in the third month of any quarter. If consistently seen with reference to a particular Branch or office, time to check. In the process, if it is seen that certain procedures for checks and balances need to be strengthened, now is the time. It is also a time when random sampling can be used to contact high value customers to find out their honest assessment about the marketing/sales team as well as the product.

Cost-to-Process(CTP). This is a concept I would like to talk about at this juncture. We are pretty familiar with CTC, cost of production, cost of sales, etc. However, it is not difficult to appreciate that even processes incur costs. Take for example, the need for certain stores in the production line. How does the workman demand? How fast is it processed? The intangible phenomena is actually worked by people who get paid to move this cycle. Can they actually move it faster than now? With time in hand, this question can be studied and company specific models can be evolved for implementation when normalcy returns. Use the opportunity to propagate to the last man down the line that efficient processes and efficacy of business actually mean the same.

T&D. Training and employee enrichment is an activity that can be done at peace. Virtual Conferences and training sessions, limited in time of course, can be formalized to impart training to employees while they sit at home in front of their mobile/tab/laptop/tv screens. Virtual feedback on how to utilize the knowledge for enhancing productivity would pay dividends.

I am reminded of a boss of mine who would insist a personal interview before and after a training program. He had just two questions to ask.

Before the training session: What do you expect to learn?

After the Training Session: State any one point you learnt and tell me how will you implement?

I had seen many of my colleagues opting not to go for Executive Development Programs so long as he was the boss!!

Compliance Regime. The compulsions of time and targets would have resulted in striking compromises in compliance regime in the so called peace time. While waging the war on Corona, it would be good to visit compliance policies and their execution. Take for example, Effluent Treatment. When global warming is threatening life on earth, it would do well to emerge as a Green Company. Apart from advertisement value, the service to community will set you apart. Innovative ideas to emerge as one during these times can pay rich dividends.

Legal Battles. There is no corporate that doesn’t have a folio of cases and a troop of legal minds to fight its cases in courts. It is time now that the senior executives visit details of each case to review the company stand. It is also time to foreclose cases where a bit of generosity to an employee can bolster company image.

Ancillaries/Subsidiaries. This is the time for senior management to interact with them, notwithstanding the wealth of information already available through middle level managers. What problems do they face in interacting with the company, what their observations for betterment, have they faced any specific trouble with any individual employee (in official capacity), how are they coping with the lockdown? Is there that the ‘big brother’ can do for them? These are but few questions. Interactions at leisure now can yield inputs that may help energize activities in future.

Support staff. are actually what their nomenclature suggests – support. COVID19 time is a good time to tell support staff that we are concerned. Even state/provincial authorities can be approached for centralized assistance to their families in terms of medicines, provisions, etc. A dollar spent on them in their hour of need will repay thousands in due course. We must remember that loyalty is a two way passage. What comes down will certainly go up!! Incidentally, we should not forget the housekeeping/security/other such contractors. Since most of their labour is likely to on daily wages, reaching out to them will earn the kind of goodwill that only a challenging time like now can present.

CSR. Nothing builds company image like good CSR initiatives. In other times, top management may not have the time to innovate. But as Churchill said, CSR is the order of the day in crisis times. An assessment of the outlay having been taken, corporates can divert substantial amounts for substantiating medical and paramedical equipment/accessories. Big house can even create medical facilities, donate ambulances, critical care equipment and carry out huge sanitization drives in conjunction with state administration. Smaller entities can supply and add on to these resources in any manner that is feasible.

CSR can also look to providing for SHGs of women who are into tailoring, for example. Such units can be provided the cloth and raw material necessary for manufacturing safety attire, scarves, masks, aprons, etc for the medical community which is fighting to save mankind. Such an initiative will not merely bolster small and micro industries, but will provide financial relief to families dependent on them.

Conclusion

The objective of this article is to rekindle the thought process of corporate minds. Every success story is necessarily written by blood and sweat. More importantly, it is co-written by the capacity to introspect and evaluate one’s own self in times of crisis. Corporates, it is accepted, exist because some business needs to be carried out and profits earned. But beyond those profits, there is a necessity to introspect from an angle that is out of the box, for such introspection when opportunity affords it, can turn the corporate’s business as well as social image gainfully. By avoiding wasteful exercises in merely consuming time in the lockdown scenario of COVID19, much could be changed for better productivity if we avail the opportunities presented by compulsions of time.

[1] https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/global-economic-prospects

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/apr/08/the-2008-financial-crisis-will-be-seen-as-a-dry-run-for-covid-19-cataclysm

[3] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/covid-19-impact-dow-jones-sheds-more-than-1300-points-in-latest-us-stocks-rout/articleshow/74701979.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

[4]For those who have missed some good humour in the wake of corporate pressures, I recommend Parkinson’s Law by Northcote C. Parkinson. Caution: You may desist calling for a con-call or conference after reading him.

Tale of Three Cities and Three Women

noreply@blogger.com (E-Journal of Social & Strategic Studies) — Sat, 04 Apr 2020 15:00:00 +0000

Story I: Madras

This is a tale of three cities – Madras, Bombay and Calcutta - and three women. In fact these are three stories that together built what would eventually come to be known as “the Crown Jewel of British Empire” – British India.

Madras

Francis Day- for those who are familiar with the history of Madras, along with Andrew Cogan, is the founder of Madras. But then, the raison d’etre for founding Madras was not merely commercial. It was a story of love.

In 1625 AD, the English East India Company (EIC) managed to obtain permission from the Raja of Chandragiri to build a fort on the Coramandal coast 35 miles North of Pulicat Lake, in a place called Durgarajapatnam, One of the main persons who assisted EIC to secure the permission was Arumugam Mudaliar[1]who was the accountant of the village. Grateful to Arumugam Mudaliar, EIC named the fort Armagon – in the manner in which they could pronounce his name!! For the next 14 years, EIC conducted its trade procuring fine cottons, silks and textiles from the areas adjoining Pulicat, including Conjivaram (Kanchipuram).

Francis Day, in his capacity as Factor of Armagon, traveled across the landscape to conduct his trade. In the process, he developed “liaison” with a Tamil lady who lived in a village near the coast of present day Marina beach. His love for the woman grew in time to make it necessary for him to visit her village frequently.

By 1639, Armagon nearly fell into disuse, being struck by malaria amongst other commercial reasons, necessitating the establishment of alternate site since the trade in the area was considerable. So in 1639, 22 August to be precise, Francis Day succeeded in obtaining the grant on lease for two years a ten-mile strip of sand closer to a village called Madraspattinam[2]. In due course, Fort St George was built at the beach by Francis Day. Work on the fort was commenced in 1640[3].

With the establishment of a trading post guarded by a fort, at last, later Sir Francis Day could continue his visits to the lady of his heart without much ado. That Madras, now Chennai, grew into the Presidency town and the seed from which East India Company will go on from a mere trading corporation into the master of Hindustan is of course, a matter of later history.

Story II: Bombay

Bombay

“On 23 June 1661 a marriage treaty agreeing upon the union of Charles II of England and Catherine of Braganza of Portugal was signed. Catherine brought a dowry of £500,000, as well as Bombay, Tangier and the right of free trade with the Portuguese colonies, and also popularized tea-drinking in Britain”[4].

The map and route to ‘Bumbye’, which was part of the marriage contract, unfortunately went missing though the Lord Chancellor believed it to be somewhere near Brazil[5]. Finally, fourteen months after the marriage, Sir Abraham Shipman with 450 men arrived to claim Bombay for his King. His entry into the port was blocked at gun point since the Portuguese Governor of Bombay had received no instruction to handover the port. It would take three more years and the death of Sir Shipman and nearly two thirds of his force (due to fever and heat), for the Portuguese to hand over Bombay to the British. By then, even though he inherited Bombay as his dowry, Charles II did not want the trouble of ruling these islands and in 1668 persuaded the East India Company to rent them for just 10 pounds of gold a year[6].

Twenty years later, the English had grown bold enough in Bombay to even attack Mughal fleet, of an empire that was in its peak military prowess under Emperor Aurangzeb. While they managed to capture over a dozen Mughal ships in 1688, a year later in 1689, the Mughals retorted by landing a large force in Bombay docks and laying siege to the fort. Hundreds fled and many were killed when the fort eventually fell. Thoroughly subdued, the British sued for peace.

Notwithstanding such declines in its life, Bombay became the capital of East India Company in 1687 and continued as such till 1708, after which it shifted the capital to Calcutta.

Reverting back to Catherine of Braganza, Charles II was advised by many and he himself had shown only a ‘disinterested acceptance[7]’ for the marriage with her. But for this marriage, British possession of Bombay would had had to perhaps wait till the final conquest of Marathas by Major General Arthur Wellesley (Duke of Wellington) in 1803 AD.

Catharine of Braganza may never have known India personally. But Bombay (Mumbai now) would never have the history it has, but for her.

Story III: Calcutta

Calcutta

In the aftermath of the catastrophic battle with the Mughals in 1689[8], Mughals had seized all the EIC trading forts at Bombay, Hugli, Kasimbazar, Masulipatnam and Vizagapatnam. The Surat factory, one of the oldest in India, was also closed. British Factors and their men were arrested and kept in chains in Surat castle and Dhaka Red Fort under conditions insufferable to English pride. It is only when Aurangzeb was satisfied that the English had repented and submitted themselves to Mughal authority, he agreed to forgive them[9].

This fiasco led one young Company Factor named Job Charnock to look for alternate place for establishing a trading post in what would in due course became Calcutta. In August 1690, Charnock began building a settlement in the swampy ground between two villages of Kalikata and Sutanuti in Bengal, with the permission of now condescending Nawab of Bengal[10].

Even though Charnock was accused of even brutality to Indian prisoners and mismanagement,[11]he had an interesting personal story.

Charnock had served as the Company Agent in Patna, Bihar, between 1659 and 1664. While on one of his many trips to procure saltpeter for the Company, he chanced upon the Sati of a young widow. Smitten by her beauty, Charnock sent his soldiers to forcibly take her away from her gruesome fate and eventually married her[12]. At the time of rescue, she was reportedly of fifteen years of age and of a Rajput princely family. Charnock christened her ‘Maria’, though she continued to practice her native faith. She even managed to influence Charnock into accepting practices of her faith so much so that when she died later, Charnock buried her and continued to sacrifice a cockerel over her grave in her memory every year[13]. He fathered many daughters by her and they were married into wealthy English families. In fact, Mary, his first daughter was married to Sir Charles Eyre, the First President of Fort William, Calcutta.

There were raging controversies about celebrating Job Charnock as the founder of Calcutta. Primarily the challenge to this distinction came from one of the oldest families in Calcutta, of Lakshmikanta Majumdar and his descendants, who claimed that the land in question belonged to them and it was merely leased to Charnock for 99 years by Lakshmikanta Majumdar. The Hon’ble High Court of Calcutta instituted a commission of five eminent historians to study the issue. Based on the recommendations of the Commission, the High Court ruled in May 2003[14] that Job Charnock cannot be held as the founding father of Calcutta and therefore 24 August 1690 cannot be held to mark its birthday[15].

But there is adequate historical evidence to prove that the young widow rescued by Job Charnock played a key role in his life.

That brings me to the end of the Tale of Three Cities and Three Women who shaped history of India, whether they consciously knew it or not.

Note: This story is also published in the Author's Blog at https;//musings-alittleabouteverything.blogspot.com

[1]http://madrasmusings.com/Vol%2024%20No%203/the-forgotten-harbour.html

[2]Through his Dubash (Translator) Beri Timmappa, whose proximity to Ayyappa Naik, brother of Damerla Venkatappa Naik of Wandiwash (Vandavasi), Francis Day procured the permission. Persian Horses and military protection was offered in returned to the Naik. See: The Madras Tercentenary Commemoration Volume (1994), Asian Educational Services, Chennai. Pp 160-164. ISBN 8120605373, 9788120605374

[3]Dalrymple, William. The Anarchy, Bloomsbury Publishing, London, 2019. P 21.

[4] https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/charles-ii-and-catherine-of-braganza-a-loveless-marriage/

[5] Dalrymple, William. The Anarchy, Bloomsbury Publishing, London, 2019. P 22.

[6] https://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/trading/bombay/history.html

[7]See Footnote 4 above

[8]Popularly known as “Child’s War” named after the British Director of East India Company Sir Josiah Child who believed that the English sword can put the Mughals into place.

^{^[9]}Dalrymple, William. The Anarchy, Bloomsbury Publishing, London, 2019. Pp 24-25.

[10]Dalrymple, William. The Anarchy, Bloomsbury Publishing, London, 2019. Pp 24-25

[11]https://www.britannica.com/biography/Job-Charnock

[12]Alexander Hamilton, A New Account of the East Indies (1727), ed. William Foster, 2 vols (London: Argonaut, 1930), Vol. II, pp. 8–9.

[13]Moorhouse, Geoffrey (1971): Calcutta, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1974

[14]Sabarna Roychowdhury Paribar ... vs The State of West Bengal And Ors. on 16 May, 2003 (citation: (2003) 2 CALLT 625 HC)

[15]For details see: https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/20030602-job-charnock-not-the-founder-of-kolkata-calcutta-high-court-792769-2003-06-02. See also: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Job-Charnock-not-Kolkatas-founder-Expert-committee/articleshow/36080070.cms

Political Citizenship

noreply@blogger.com (E-Journal of Social & Strategic Studies) — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 07:16:00 +0000

A Conceptual Background

Baylis and Smith[1] define citizenship as "the status of having the right to participate in and to be represented in politics". It is a collection of rights and obligations that give individuals a formal juridical identity. T.H. Marshall[2], whose work has long dominated the debates about social citizenship, considered citizenship as "a status bestowed on those who are full members of a community. All who possess the status are equal with respect to the rights and duties with which the status is endowed".

Scholarly attention to both citizenship and social movements developed as full-fledged disciplines from 1960. One of the major reasons for such academic interest were the birth of various movements like black students agitation for equal rights on campuses and anti-war (Vietnam) demonstrations in USA; May 1968 Revolt in France; 1969 ‘Hot Autumn’ in Italy and pro-democracy agitations in Franco’s Spain and communist Prague. It was also a period in which all over the world, women’s rights movements and environmental movements were born to demand equality for women in social space and responsible use of ecological resources. These civil rights, environmental and students’ movements from early 1960s to late 1990s lead to the development of three distinct notions of citizenship as against the standard norm of ‘membership rights and duties’. Heijdon[3]notes that modern citizenship rights drawing from the nation-state typically include civil rights (free speech and movement, the rule of law); political rights (voting and seeking electoral office); and social citizenship rights (welfare, unemployment insurance and health care). In fact, the new crop of social movements across the western world led Meyer and Tarrow[4] to tag the western society as a ‘social movement society’. Russell Dalton[5] further observed that these movements played a pivotal role in the further development of the concept of political citizenship. In his classical study of political citizenship and social movements, Dalton[6]identifies four broad principles that are intertwined with the concept of citizenship:

“First, public participation in politics is broadly considered to be a defining element of democratic citizenship (Dahl, 1998; Pateman, 1970; Verba et al., 1995). Unless citizens participate in the deliberation of public policy, and their choices structure government action, then democratic processes are meaningless. Often this presumes participation in free and fair elections that select government officials, but the range of political participation can be, and should be, much broader. Thus, the norm of political participation should be an essential element of democratic citizenship.

A second related category taps what has been called autonomy (Petersson et al., 1998). Autonomy implies that good citizens should be sufficiently informed about government to exercise a participatory role. The good citizen should participate in democratic deliberation and discuss politics with other citizens, and ideally understand the views of others. Robert Dahl (1998) and others have discussed how access to information and the free debate of opinions is essential to produce meaningful democratic participation. Other researchers have described such items as representing critical and deliberative aspects of citizenship (Denters et al., 2007).

Philosophical discussions sometimes overlook the commitment to social order and the acceptance of state authority as essential elements of citizenship. Even democratic governments emphasize the role of the loyal law-abiding individual as a prime criterion of citizenship. Indeed, acceptance of the legitimacy of the state and the rule of law is often the implied first principle of citizenship, since without the rule of law meaningful political discourse and discussion cannot exist. Political philosophy is replete with those who stress the acceptance of state sovereignty – from Bodin to Hobbes to Hamilton – even before the participatory elements of democracy.

A fourth potential element of citizenship involves relation to others in the polity. T. H. Marshall (1992 [1950]) described this as social citizenship. The expansion of civil and political rights led to new categories of social rights, such as social services, providing for those in need and taking heed of the general welfare of others. Citizenship thus may include an ethical and moral responsibility to others in the polity, and beyond. The framework of distributive justice provides a theoretical base for equality as a basis of citizenship. Unless individuals have sufficient resources to meet their basic social needs, democratic principles of political equality and participation lack meaning. Although initially identified with the European welfare state and social democratic critiques of capitalism, this idea of citizenship has been embraced by liberal interests in America (Shklar, 1991; Walzer, 1983)”.

An inclusive definition of citizenship therefore reveals five dimensions of participation, informed engagement, commitment to social order, acceptance of state legitimacy and right to distributive justice. While all these elements of citizenship evolved through the ages, accepted and incorporated in the constitutional mandates of modern democracies, they still preclude an important element of citizen engagement. The sixth dimension to citizenship therefore is an engaged citizenship. The ‘engaged^{^[7]}’ citizenship adds an important dimension to political rights. From being vested with the mere power to vote or compete for an electoral office, an ‘engaged’ citizen exercises the right participate in naysaying actions as a form of his political expression. In doing so he conveys his dissatisfaction with the status quo and also attempts to influence the political decision in ways that address his concerns. When an ‘engaged’ citizen influences the political process within the confines of his commitment to social order and legitimacy of state, we may say he acts as a ‘political citizen’ or exercises his political citizenship.

[This is an extract from the thesis submitted by the author for his PhD]

[1]J Baylis, & S Smith, (2001). The Globalisation of World Politics. An introduction to international relations. OXford, New York: Oxford University Press.

[2]TH Marshall, (1950). Citizenship and Social Class, and Other Essays. Cambridge (UK): The University Press.

[3]H-AV Heijden, (2014). Introduction: Linking Political Citizenship and Social Movements. In H-AV Heijden, Handbook of Political Citizenship and Social Movements (pp. 1-25). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.

[4]DS Meyer, & SG Tarrow, (1998). The social movement society: contentious politics for a new century. The University of Michigan: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

[5]RJ Dalton, (2015). The Good Citizen: How a Younger Generation Is Reshaping American Politics (Vol. 56). Washington DC: Congressional Quarterly Inc.

[6]RJ Dalton, (2008). Citizenship Norms and the Expansion of Political Participation. Politicl Studies, 56(1), 76-98.

[7] “Engaged citizenship taps participatory norms that are broader than electoral politics. The engaged citizen is more likely to participate in boycotts, buying products for political or ethical reasons, demonstrations and other forms of contentious action (Dalton, 2008)”.

Freedom of Press

noreply@blogger.com (E-Journal of Social & Strategic Studies) — Fri, 14 Jun 2019 09:48:00 +0000

Freedom of Press

R Srinivasan

Two centuries ago, Thomas Jefferson said “If a nation expects to be ignorant & free, in a state of civilisation, it expects what never was & never will be. The functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty & property of their constituents. There is no safe deposit for these but with the people themselves; nor can they be safe with them without information. Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe[1].”

Freedom of the Press is a pillar that holds the citadel of democracy aloft. Together with a fair judiciary, democracy in a country can survive when these two pillars hold its platform. The noble ideals of freedom of expression are enshrined in Article 19 (1) of the Indian Constitution. While Art 19 (1) does not specifically refer to freedom of press, it enjoins freedom of speech and expression. In his debate while tabling the draft constitution in the Indian parliament, Dr BR Ambedkar is stated to have said that under this Article, an individual or citizen or the press enjoys this freedom; therefore a separate provision for the press is not necessary. While adjudicating two of the hallmark cases[2] on press freedom, the Supreme Court of India in 1950, held that “Freedom of speech and of the press lay at the foundation of all democratic organization, for without free political discussion no public education, so essential for the proper functioning of the process of popular government, is possible”.

Studying over 200 countries to construct a methodology to evaluate good governance (Worldwide Governance Indicators-WGI), Koffman & Kray[3]came out with six parameters. The first among them was Voice and Accountability, including a free media. World Bank since 1999, has been using the six indicators developed by Koffman & Kray to assess a country’s eligibility for development assistance.

Beginning with the philosophy expounded by Thomas Jefferson to the economic indicators developed by World Bank, it is evident that freedom of the press is an implicit requirement for a democracy to remain a democracy and also to obtain the end-purpose of a democratic system – development of a healthy political society.

Seen from these perspectives, the editorial in Indian Express today (13 June 2019) draw attention to the necessity for any democracy to evaluate the approach of its institutions towards the press. Even USA, although the oldest democracy in the world, has been accused of journalistic restrictions. Elsewhere, as in Egypt where for two years Al Jazeera[4]has mobilized public opinion against the imprisonment of its correspondent. Former communist bloc countries in any case never enjoyed any good word on journalistic freedoms. In the report of the Reporters without Borders for 2018, Norway ranks as 1^st, UK 40^th, USA 45^th, Japan 67^th, France 33^rd, India ranks 138^th and China 176^th, out of 180 countries[5]. While such surveys may not be the final determinants of freedom of press, they certainly indicate the long way that we need to go before people can actually consider themselves free – from fear of expression.

Is journalistic freedom without limits? Bernard Shaw famously said, “Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it”. United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is considered to be the mother document of all freedoms in international parlance. Eleanor Roosevelt, the First Lady of United States when FDR was the president, is considered the foremost inspirations behind UDHR. She made an eloquent statement about freedom when she said: “Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry his own weight, this is a frightening prospect”. It is evident from these statements that freedom of the press also comes with a responsibility – the responsibility towards the society. The Supreme Court of India, while delivering its judgment on Harijai Singh & Anr vs In Re: Vijay Kumar on 17 September, 1996, made an important statement. It said, “The freedom of Press is regarded as ‘the mother of all other liberties' in a democratic society. Further, the importance and the necessity of having a free press in a democratic Construction like ours was immensely stressed in several landmark judgments of this Court. The case of Indian Express Newspaper v. Union of India[6], is one of such judgments rendered by Venkataramiah, J. (as he then was). Again in another case of Indian Express Newspaper v. Union of India[7]. A.P. Sen J. (as he then was) described the right to freedom of the press as a pillar of individual liberty which has been unfailingly guarded by the Courts”. Having upheld the freedom of the press as fundamental to democracy, the Supreme Court in Y.V. Hanumantha Rao v. K.R. Pattabhiram and Anr[8], debated trial by media. Commenting on the limits to freedom of press, it observed:

“ …… When litigation is pending before a Court, no one shall comment on it in such a way there is a real and substantial danger of prejudice to the trial of the action, as for instance by influence on the Judge, the witnesses or by prejudicing mankind in general against a party to the cause. Even if the person making the comment honestly believes it to be true, still it is a contempt of Court if he prejudices the truth before it is ascertained in the proceedings. To this general rule of fair trial one may add a further rule and that is that none shall, by misrepresentation or otherwise, bring unfair pressure to bear on one of the parties to a cause so as to force him to drop his complaint or defence. It is always regarded as of the first importance that the law which we have just stated should be maintained in its full integrity. But in so stating the law we must bear in mind that there must appear to be ‘a real and substantial danger of prejudice.”

It is evident that the stated legal position and the intellectual disposition is clear: Freedom of Press comes with conditions that aim to strengthen citizens’ right to information. At the same time, the reporting by the press should adhere to moral and ethical standards that do not in any manner adversely affect the moral, social and political health of the society. The Ethical Journalism Network[9] summarizes the responsibilities of the press into five principles: Truth & Accuracy, Independence, Fairness & Impartiality, Humanity and, Accountability. Simple as they may sound, these five principles are the essence and will remain the foundations of Freedom of Press.

[1] The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, Volume 9: 1 September 1815 to 30 April 1816

[2] Romesh Thaper vs State of Madras, A.I.R. 1950 SC 124; Brij Bhushan vs State of Delhi, A.I.R. 1950 SC 129; 1950 SCR 605.

[3] http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/pdf/wgi.pdf

[4] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/12/al-jazeera-mahmoud-hussein-marks-years-egyptian-prison-181223084527884.html

[5] https://rsf.org/en/ranking/2018#

[6] 1985(1) SCR 641

[7] AIR 1986 SC 872

[8] AIR1975 AP 30

[9] https://ethicaljournalismnetwork.org/who-we-are/5-principles-of-journalism

BIMSTEC - A New Vision for South and Southeast Asia

noreply@blogger.com (E-Journal of Social & Strategic Studies) — Wed, 12 Jun 2019 12:23:00 +0000

In June 1997, six countries across South and Southeast Asia came together to form a new cooperative framework based on their mutual interests. The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) aimed at cooperation between India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan. BIMSTEC aims to address 14 areas in which cooperation among these countries could help them address common concerns:

Trade & Investment
Transport & Communication
Energy
Tourism
Technology
Fisheries
Agriculture
Public Health
Poverty Alleviation
Counter-Terrorism & Transnational Crime
Environment & Disaster Management
People-to-People Contact
Cultural Cooperation
Climate Change

After having witnessed South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) flounder in its course, primarily due to the demonstrated positions of India and Pakistan on terrorism, BIMSTEC brought in a new chapter in inter and extra regional cooperation in South Asia. Extending its reach to Myanmar and Thailand who are members of ASEAN, it also laid the path to out-of-the-region cooperation into the East. Academic scholarship has attributed this outreach as part of India's Look & Act East Policies that have been making (however haltingly!) to expand India's sphere of influence in the underbelly of Chinese dragon. In the second tenure of NDA government which commenced after the decisive mandate given to BJP in the recent Indian elections, BIMSTEC appears poised for emerging into a major intra-regional alliance. Shri Narendra Modi's government extended an invite to BIMSTEC leaders to attend his swearing-in ceremony on 30 may 2019. The high profile attendance minus Pakistan in the ceremony yet again demonstrated India's commitment to expand BIMSTEC framework while sending a clear message that countries supporting terrorism are no more considered an albatross around India's neck. This renewed message merits a re-look at the positives and negatives of BIMSTEC.

The positives

BIMSTEC connects the robust Indian economy and emerging Bangladesh economy to the vibrant markets of ASEAN. Although only two of ASEAN's members are in BIMSTEC (Myanmar joined a month after it joined BIMSTEC, in July 1997), India's existing framework relations with Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, and Malaysia gets a boost as part of this new framework. The land locked Bhutan and Nepal, which otherwise suffering the unspoken-yet-real impact of Indo-Pak relations on SAARC platform now have a prospective domain to work on their cooperative agendas.

Each of the areas of cooperation that BIMSTEC has taken up have huge domestic implications for the member states. For example, the 1400 km long India-Myanmar-Thailand highway which India's Transport minister Shri Gadkari said will be complete by December 2019[1], will speed up developmental activities all along the route providing fillip to local livelihoods[2].

Each member state, barring Bhutan and Nepal, have substantial populations dependent on the sea. While over-fishing and trawling are threatening to endanger fishing in many parts of the world, a framework cooperation between BIMSTEC members could further sustainable use of the sea for improving livelihoods of fishing communities. Towards this purpose, BIMSTEC must step forward to create institutional frameworks for realizing its agenda set in its Fourth Summit at Kathmandu[3], which stated: “Stress on continued cooperation in conservation, management and sustainable use of marine resources in the region; agree to deepen cooperation in fisheries to ensure food security and improve livelihoods of people in our region and task the relevant national agencies to explore the possibility of meaningful collaboration to promote sustainable marine fisheries and direct the relevant authorities to explore how the landlocked Member States can benefit from inland fisheries”.

Myanmar has attracted considerable interest from China apparently for the as-yet-unexploited energy sources. A framework cooperation among BIMSTEC members with substantial financial assistance could ensure that the growing energy need among the member states take priority, thus providing much needed energy supplies in the future. Being vested with unlimited natural sources like sunlight, sea and wind, developing mutually beneficial agenda for tech-financial cooperation for exploitation of these sources could change livelihoods to even remotely located populations in these countries.

These are but few of the positives of BIMSTEC. On the other hand, there are some limiting factors that need to be worked together to strengthen BIMSTEC.

The Negatives

India-Bangladesh and India-Sri Lanka have a number of issues concerning sharing of river waters and the Gulf of Mannar for fishing. Unless these issues are visited by high power committees with a time bound plan for resolving them, the possibility of BIMSTEC being diluted remains.

Unlike India that has demonstrated the strength and vibrancy of its democracy (strong institutional framework), some members of BIMSTEC are not so stable. India must take the lead to extend its support for strengthening democracies in member countries. This would have two-fold benefits. India’s own institutional framework would get strengthened and the democratic stability in the neighborhood would strengthen cooperation.

Notwithstanding the merits of mega-development plans like road networks, port development, construction of hydro projects, etc, it is important to remember that large populations depend on the tracts of forests and hills that need to be acquired for developmental work in these countries. Sustainable development should therefore be the key mantra. Apart from philosophical niceties concerning poor segments of populations, no development can achieve its purpose unless it is inclusive.

There is also a need to revisit the traditional concepts of sovereignty that countries in South Asia have. The sense of self-interest with which countries tend to visit agendas for cooperation should be tempered with pragmatic considerations.

Conclusion

BIMSTEC is a unique alliance focused on sectors that have huge potential for cooperation among member countries. Unlike SAARC which has nobler ideals (promoting peace, stability, amity and progress in the region through strict adherence to the principles of the UN Charter and Non-Alignment, respect for the principles of sovereign equality, territorial integrity, national independence, non-use of force and non-interference in the internal affairs of other States and peaceful settlement of all disputes, for example), BIMSTEC has an earthy flavor. Being concerned with areas that could help the members address issues common across their territories, it has the potential to become an alliance that could actually touch millions of lives. The techno-economic agenda needs to be driven by political leaders in these countries drawing upon the advice from experts in concerned fields, entirely in a sustainable mould. That way, BIMSTEC could help ordinary citizens in these countries to realize their dreams for sustainable livelihoods.

[1] https://www.livemint.com/Politics/hdV9E00I5CwSrKmSheAu6M/IndiaMyanmarThailand-Trilateral-Highway-by-2019-Nitin-Gad.html

[2]For a case study from Bulgaria, see: http://projects-beta.worldbank.org/en/results/2014/05/02/improving-roads-improving-lives

[3] http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=183185

New e-Journal launch: Electronic Journal of Social & Strategic Studies

noreply@blogger.com (E-Journal of Social & Strategic Studies) — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 10:43:00 +0000

Electronic Journal of Social and Strategic Studies (EJSSS) is an Open Access refereed journal of multi-disciplinary research in all fields of knowledge related to Social Studies and Strategic Studies. It aims to provide a platform for academicians and research scholars to publish their work through original research papers, book reviews, case studies and scholarly opinions, in the public domain. The journal specifically encourages research papers that represent important advances in these fields that could contribute to expanding knowledge horizons. Areas of interest for EJSSS are:.

Defense and Strategic Studies
Economics
Geography (including Human Geography)
History
Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law & Practice
International Relations

Political Science
Psychology (Clinical Psychology, etc, pertaining to national security/sociology)
Public Administration
Social Work
Sociology
Book Reviews in relevant disciplines

The process to obtain ISSN is in queue soon after the first Volume is published. We are committed to maintain high standards of publishing so as to apply for indexing (ICI, SSCI, DOAJ, Crossref, and Google Scholar, among others) in due course.

This initiative is supported by accomplished academics in the areas of interest for EJSSS, both in India and abroad. The Editorial Board has an international character accordingly. While we work on this platform (we expect to issue forth our first Volume in September-October 2019), queries related to publishing through EJSSS can be addressed to submission.ejss@gmail.com

Till our website is launched, Abstracts can be mailed to submission.ejss@gmail.com for evaluating the suitability anytime. The last date for submitting full papers would be 15 July 2019 so that we get time for Peer Review. Book Reviews can be submitted (600-1500 words) by 31 July 2019.

All contributions should be in MS Word (2003/2007/later), Times New Roman, Font 12, 1.5 spacing with normal 1" margins on A4 size paper. Citation style APA 6th Edition. All titles to be in BOLD.

EJSSS will be published only online at its website. Contributing Authors will receive PDF versions of their papers and a Certificate of Contribution, once their paper is accepted and published.

We do hope to be online soon with detailed instructions for Editors/Peer Reviewers/Authors together with facilities for online submission. Your comments are welcome to promote and maintain highest standards in academic publishing.

Have a great Day.

Managing Editor