INDIA 2016
Diplomacy&Commerce
India@70
A RISING POWER
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The Golden Temple, Amritsar
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Galdan Namchot
The festival commemorates the birthday and the Buddhahood of the Tibetan saint-scholar, Tsongkhapa and marks the beginning of the New Year celebrations All the monasteries and other buildings are lit up across Ladakh.
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Paradise afloat
You can get closer to nature over enchanting houseboats in Kashmir and Kerala The view of the mighty Himalayas from a houseboat in the middle of Dal Lake is simply breathtaking. Kashmiri houseboats are made of cedar woods with intricate wooden carvings. - 03 -
Chess was Indian first
Photo: Basharat Shah
India is the birthplace of chess. The original word for “chess” is the Sanskrit chaturanga, meaning “four members of an army”—which were mostly likely elephants, horses, chariots, and foot soldiers. - 04 -
International Day of Yoga
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The Embassy of India, Belgrade in association with Government of Serbia and United Nations Country Team in Belgrade celebrated the International Day of yoga (IDY) on Sunday, June 19, 2016 in Serbia. The celebration in Belgrade were held in front of the National Assembly of Serbia. - 05 -
Oberoi VanyaVilas
Ranthambore National Park, Rajasthan is the place to catch a glimpse of tigers and leopards. At the edge of the forest, Oberoi Vanyavilas is one of the most opulent wildlife resorts in India. - 06 -
Astrosat’s scientific focus
To help scientists intensify space exploration efforts by studying distant celestial objects and conduct deeper analysis of star systems, India launched its maiden dedicated multiwavelength space observatory, Astrosat.
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The country of cricket
Introduced by the British, cricket is India’s most popular sport. Hockey is considered the national sport, India has won many olympic gold medals in Hockey. - 08 -
Biryani story
The legendary biryani is more than a simple marriage of rice, meat and an exciting melange of spices. Biryani could easily fit the description of a national dish, given that every state has its own variant with a history to go with. - 09 -
The IDY Celebrations
The participants had the opportunity to interact with practitioners of Yoga, Ayurveda and Homeopathy and understand the benefits of these traditional fields of medicine.
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H.E. NARINDER CHAUHAN Ambassador of India
INTERVIEW
MULTIPLE OPPORTUNITIES FOR COOPERATION India has a lot to offer to Serbia and the established and new areas of cooperation, from multilateral and bilateral dealings to business prospects, ICT and cultural exchange, are making mutual ties between two countries stronger and deeper every day
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ndia and Serbia are advancing in deepening their political, economic and cultural ties. We spoke about these and other relevant multilateral and bilateral issues with Ms Narinder Chauhan Ambassador of India in Serbia.
Thanks to the efforts of the Embassy, the first India Business Forum took place in June this year in Belgrade. What were the most important outcomes?  The first ever India-Serbia Busi-
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ness Forum was launched in Belgrade on 27th June, 2016 as a platform to create greater awareness and identify bottlenecks to trade. The necessary agreements are there, i.e., Bilateral Investment Protection Treaty, Avoidance of Double Taxation Convention & MFN status (Trade Agreement). The businesses now need to take advantage of the rapid economic developments in both the countries and take trade and investment partnership to the next level.
State Secretary Mr. Stevan Nikcevic who co-chaired the Forum with me commended India’s advancements in economy, technology, space, defence, etc. and looked forward to more Indian investments. Over 70 Serbian business persons and consultants who participated spoke of their experience of doing business with India and discussed ways to achieve greater cooperation. Defence, ICT, Agriculture, Biotechnology, Textile, Film Making, Pharmaceuticals were identified as promising sectors. It was decided to do a joint study and explore the possibility of special trading arrangements. I urged the Serbian businesses to partner in new projects such as Make in India, Digital India, Start Up India and Skill India. Equally, Indian companies are looking at privatization opportunities in Serbia including in agro-machinery and pharma. These partnerships can help us reach new heights in our trade and commercial partnership.
Agriculture & food processing and agriculture machinery are crucial industry segments in India-Serbia trade relations. How these opportunities for trade and investment growth might be further energized? Agriculture plays a vital role in India’s economy which is a leading producer of agriculture and dairy products including milk, wheat, rice, potato, tomato, onion, mangoes, sugar-cane, beans, cotton, etc. Serbia imports coffee, sesame seeds, dehydrated onion etc from India and exports tobacco and cigarettes to India. Indian companies export tractors (Mahindra, TAFE and Sonalika) as well as irrigation equipment (Jain) and regularly participate in the Novi Sad Agriculture fair. Indian manufacturers of machines and technologies are interested in investments in Serbia. Fruit and vegetable processing industry is another sector of interest to India. Serbia with 3.7 million hectare of arable land can meet India’s food requirements including in wheat, maize, rye, barley, sugar beet, sunflower & export exotic fruits like raspberry, strawberry etc. Equally, Serbia can introduce rakija and wines in India. The dynamic Indian population is eager to taste Serbian products. We urge Serbian agri industry to showcase their products in Indian trade fairs such as Rajasthan Agritech Meet (9-11 Nov). There is history of development of seeds in India jointly with Institute of Fields and Vegetable Crops. The bilateral Agreement on Agriculture can infuse further synergies.
The Serbian institutions have shown a great interest and enthusiasm towards India’s Technical and Economic Cooperation programme (ITEC). How many Serbian scholars went through the Pro-
gramme so far and which trainings were in the highest demand India is a leader in intermediate technologies. The ITEC Programme, fully funded by the Government of India, was extended to Serbia in 2008 and so far more than 130 mid-career executives have attended. The training programs are demand-driven and include 380 specialised courses by 50 Centres of excellence of India in areas such as IT, ICT, Expenditure Management, Entrepreneur-
THE FIRST EVER INDIA SERBIA BUSINESS FORUM IN BELGRADE IN JUNE WAS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR BUSINESSES TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE RAPID ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS IN BOTH THE COUNTRIES
At the same time, we also have a vibrant cultural exchange. What are the major points of mutual attraction? Indian society is well versed historically in international cultural relations and the country’s open & democratic political system facilitates the further development of such relations. India is a land of great diversity, more heterogeneous than any other country in the world and universally acknowledged as by far the most tolerant country. Similarly Serbia is also a culturally vibrant country with a lot of interest in Indian culture and our cultural manifestations in Serbia are very popular. I strongly believe that culture helps in bringing two nations together and we promote people to people contacts through dance, art, photographs, films, etc. In this spirit, we propose to hold Festival of India in Serbia soon. Growing interest in India is evident by the recent institution of Hindi Chair at University of Novi Sad and India studies at Belgrade University. Our efforts at tourism promotion have resulted in year on growth of 17 per cent in the numbers of Serbians visiting India and we consider each one as a potential tourist. There is close collaboration in the field of films. Auteur Film Festival showcases Indian film every year.
Whole world especially EU faced with the latest happening in UK. What does Brexit mean for India?
ship, WTO, Banking & Finance, MPLS Technologies, Cyber Security, Rural Development, Renewable Energy, Climate Change, Legislative Drafting, English proficiency, etc. ITEC Training empowers executives not just professional skills, but also helps in preparing them for an increasingly globalized world. I am glad that the Serbian institutions have shown a great interest and enthusiasm towards ITEC training courses and I am confident that we will have more and more participation from Serbia in coming years.
“Brexit” is the vote of the people of the UK and India respects the verdict and stands committed to further strengthening its multifaceted ties with both the European Union and the United Kingdom. As regards the Indian economy, our finance Minister, Mr Arun Jaitley has said with certainty that we are well prepared to deal with the short and medium term consequences of Brexit. Our macro-economic fundamentals are sound with a very comfortable external position, a rock-solid commitment to fiscal discipline, and declining inflation. The UK is going to look to build its relationship with the rest of the world, and will seek to pursue new opportunities with India as well. India-UK strategic relationship is hugely driven by commerce & trade, shared history and the Indian diaspora in the UK. Commerce and Industry Minister, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, held a bilateral meeting with Mr. Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, UK, in New Delhi recently where she said that post Brexit, FTA with UK will be a fresh exercise & work on FTA with EU will continue with a re-calibarted approach.
How this profound political change will affect your relations with EU and the region?
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global peace, security and development. Our shared objectives of working together to preserve our strategic space, ensure our social and economic development and strive for a more just and equitable world order remain as true and relevant today as they were in the past.
Apart from historical reasons of sharing goals of non-alliance movement, what are the new motives that are shaping current bilateral relations?
India and EU are the two largest democracies of the world and this relationship has grown considerably since we became Strategic Partners in 2004. India and the EU are multicultural societies unified by a civilizational history; shared foundational values of democracy, diversity and individual liberty; robust ties of trade and investment; and vibrant people-to-people relations. EU is India’s largest trade partner and export destination with our total trade touching US$ 126 billion. The EU is also the largest investor in India contributing about 26% of India's total FDI inflow. The successful visit of our Prime Minister to Brussels for the 13th India-EU Summit in March this year, has strengthened our strategic partnership and put it on a pragmatic, forward-looking path. The EU and its Member States are actively collaborating with India in our ambitious flagship initiatives such as Smart Cities, Digital India, Make in India, Skill India, Start Up India, Maritime India or the Clean Ganga initiative. Negotiations for an EU-India Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BITA) which began in 2007 are still on and India is committed and looks forward to the early conclusion of a fair, balanced and pragmatic treaty.
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GROWING SERBIAN INTEREST IN INDIA IS EVIDENT BY THE RECENT INSTITUTION OF HINDI CHAIR AT UNIVERSITY OF NOVI SAD AND INDIA STUDIES AT BELGRADE UNIVERSITY, AS WELL AS IN SURGE IN TOURISM AND BUSINESS EXCHANGE We are not unaware of the challenges that EU faces today. Despite Brexit, India stands committed to engaging closely with the EU to take forward our shared vision for an energised, constructive and forward-looking India-EU partnership.
Would this world be better and calmer if non alliance movement was stronger? The Non-Aligned Movement, representing the large majority of humankind, has been a powerful force for the promotion of
There are no outstanding or unresolved issues or irritants between India & Serbia. Government of India has consistently supported Serbia against Unilateral Declaration of Independence by Kosovo. Serbia and India have a good track record of cooperation in multilateral fora in terms of mutual support and reciprocal arrangements for elections in multilateral bodies. In the coming months we look forward to exchange of high level visits and robust participation by Serbia at the India-Europe29 Business Forum to be held in Delhi on 8-9 December. I have also invited the new Premier of Vojvodina to visit India; Vojvodina is home to India’s IT Park and Agro-machinery companies. Therefore, the synergies are there. We are also looking at forging partnerships with the resurgent provinces of India. To strengthen relations between the Parliaments of two democracies, the newly re-elected Hon’ble speaker of the National Assembly of Serbia has been invited to lead a delegation of Serbian parliamentarians to India. We are waiting for the new government to be sworn in for further high level exchanges. Recently India has simplified the visa process by extending eTourist Visa (eTV) facility to Serbians.
Which new bonds between our two countries brought celebration of the International Day of Yoga in Serbia? You would agree that there is a serious interest for Yoga in Serbia. Yoga brings harmony in all walks of life and is effective in health improvement, management of lifestyle-related disorders and prevention of diseases. It was an honour to have H.E. Ms. Tamara Vučić, wife of Hon’ble Prime Minister of Serbia as the Guest of Honour in this year’s International Day of Yoga celebrations in Belgrade, which was attended by large number of yoga enthusiasts led by Serbian yoga exponent Dragan Loncar under the overall guidance of eminent Serbian Prof. Vuk Stambolovic. Another yoga exponent Prof. Predrag K Nikic was awarded 'Padma Shri' by India this year. We will soon open an Ayurveda Centre in the Chancery to guide the practice of yoga & ayurveda.
STEVAN NIKČEVIĆ State Secretary, Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications of Serbia
INTERVIEW
STRONG POTENTIAL FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT Serbia should seriously consider the possibility of joint appearance on the Indian market together with other regional countries
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he trading between Serbia and India is of a relatively small volume with a pronounced deficit on our side. In the last ten years, the biggest export to India was recorded in 2007, in the amount of $20.9 million, and it has been declining ever since. The lowest export figures were recorded in 2012; only $4.9 million.
What are the current trends in trading with India? In 2015, the total trade amounted to
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$145.6 million. Serbia exported $5.6 million worth of goods and services to India, which is a 20% drop relative to 2014, and imported $140 million worth of goods and services from India. There was no change recorded with import value. In the period between January and May 2016, the overall trade stood at $57.6 million. Although relatively small, our export in the amount of $4 million, is 36.3% higher than the one in 2015. If this growing trend continues, we can expect to accomplish the trade results from 2010 and 2014. On the other hand, although Serbia’s import from India was reduced by 8.4%, it still remains several times higher than the export and it stands at $53.6 million. Serbia mostly exports cigarettes, derivatives of nitro or nitroso groups, air conditioners, acetic acid, pipe equipment and plastic hoses to India, and mostly imports aluminum, medication, heterocyclic compounds and coffee.
Which Serbian products are the most popular in India and how much can demand for these products contribute to reduction of the deficit in the trade between the two countries? Based on the existing cooperation and bearing in mind the needs of the Indian market and our export capacity, Serbia can increase its export to include agricultural and food products, agricultural machinery, automobile industry products including car parts, as well as information-communication technology and rubber products. Also, we can export our pharmaceuticals and military industry products. We should underline that all South-East European countries have a deficit in trading with India. Scarce supply and mutual competition are the main obstacles in boosting the economic cooperation with India. Bearing in mind that India is a market that has over a billion consumers and that its economy is rapidly expanding, Serbia
should seriously consider the possibility of joint appearance on the Indian market together with other regional countries
Two years ago, Serbian companies presented close to 100 projects worth €7 billion in India. Did any of these projects – like investing in free zones or launching production in machine building industry – spark interest of Indian investors? The main goal of that visit was to promote Serbia as an investment destination with the view of boosting development of the economic cooperation between the two countries. The Indian side was informed that Serbia wanted to improve the mutual economic cooperation particularly through getting more investments from India and increasing foreign trade. Serbia presented its economic potential, numerous projects suitable for foreign investors and the benefits of the free trade agreements that Serbia had concluded with Russia and other countries. The Serbian side also presented investment capacities in areas like energy, agriculture, food production, machine industry, tractor production, car production, irrigation mechanisation, IT industry, higher learning, pharmacy, health tourism, hospitals, spas, film industry, green energy and biotechnology. Indian companies were invited to invest in Serbia and consider an option of strategic partnership in the process of privatisation and restructuring of a number of Serbian companies. In 2014, two Indian companies expressed their interest in investing in the Serbian economy through participation in the privatisation process of four Serbian companies. The International Tractors Limited Company showed interest in the privatisation of the Engine and Tractor Industry (IMT) from Belgrade, while USHA Industries (one of the biggest traders and processors of borate ore) was interested in companies IPM, Majdanpek, PEU, Resavica and Župa from Kruševac. In March 2015, contact was established with the Indian company Amalgamation Group which also wanted to participate in the privatisation of IMT. In 2016, an Indian pharmaceutical company Cadila Pharmaceuticals and two other companies bought tender documents relating to the privatisation of pharmaceutical company Galenika. The privatisation of this company is carried out in line with the strategic partnership format, i.e. via cash recapitalisation in the minimum amount of €7 million where strategic partner will gain a 25% stake in the company. The opening of bids happened in late July this year.
Following Fiat’s decision to terminate a whole shift at its plant, speculations
were rife about a possibility of an Indian car manufacturer like Tata Motors or a big agricultural machinery manufacturer coming to Serbia. Is there any indication that this might happen? Bearing in mind that Tata Motors and Mahindra are interested in expanding their operations to Eastern Europe, talks with their representatives about this topic were held at the mentioned Business Forum in India almost two years ago. They were invited to come to Kragujevac, to meet with the representatives of Fiat Serbia and discuss possible formats of cooperation.
in Culture, Education and Sports, and the Memorandum on Cooperaton in Tourism. We are currently working on the new Agreement on Mutual Promotion and Protection of Investments and on the Memorandum on Cooperation in ICT and Information Society. The Joint Committee for Economic Cooperation between Serbia and India was formed based on the Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation. It held its first meeting in New Delhi in April 2008 and the second in Belgrade, six years later, in October 2014 which was actually a video-conference meeting.
WE ARE CURRENTLY WORKING ON THE NEW AGREEMENT ON MUTUAL PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF INVESTMENTS AND ON THE MEMORANDUM ON COOPERATION IN ICT AND INFORMATION SOCIETY
How developed is the cooperation in the IT sector?
Which agreements did Serbia and India sign and which economic segments are covered by the joint committees?
The company’s goal is to bring other investors here who are going to engage in IT, electronics and allied business segments. In terms of telecommunications and ICT, Serbia wants to expand the cooperation in investing, ICT research, information safety and ICT in education, as outlined at the last meeting of the joint committee. Futhermore, Serbia is willing to provide support and suggestions related to the regulation about new telecommunication services, development of broadband, e-services and overall exchange of know-how and experience between the two countries.
We have concluded with India almost all agreements that regulate economic relations. Apart from the Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation, signed in 2006, we also have the Agreement on Mutual Promotion and Protection of Investments, the Double Taxation Agreement, the Agreement on Cooperation in Agriculture and Allied Sectors, the Air Service Agreement, the Agreement on Cooperaton in Science and Technology, the Agreement on Cooperation
Indian company Embassy Group has recognized Serbian IT potential and has invested €20 million so far in constructing an IT park (Embassy Techzone IT Park) in Inđija. Embassy Group is one of the biggest Indian companies in the field of construction of technology parks, residential and other premises. The project in Inđija is its first step towards permeating the European market. The first project stage is already completed (i.e. building 10,000 square metres of business premises spanning 2.5 hectares).
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ALEKSANDAR PETROVIĆ Professor of Cultural Anthropology University of Belgrade - Faculty of Philology
The Cultural History of India course, which was accredited at the Faculty of Philology, Belgrade in 2015, is the first academic course at the university level in Serbia dedicated to India. Concurrently, the course can be considered both a small and a big step towards better understanding of India INTERVIEW
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We are talking to Professor Aleksandar Petrović about India, a country that is considered the heart of the world and yet a country that we know so little about.
behind. None of the conquerors managed to properly explore India. Rather, it was India that was exposing them. India is the biggest mirror of this world. What escapes us is the fact that all the traces of the colonial conquerors were mere scratches on India's surface.
What is the most important thing that escapes us when it comes to understanding India and its culture?
Do we lack resources needed to get to know modern India better?
India has been discovered numerous times, starting with the ancient Aryans, who are barely remembered, and continuing with Alexander the Great and the British. However, apart from the Aryans, that we know very little about, all of them left devastation
Awareness is the main anthropological resource. We don't have awareness about India, just like we don't have proper awareness about ourselves. If this resource were less burdened with all kinds of illusions, we would be able to see that India is the heart
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of the world. This is a country in which people of all ethnical backgrounds live. This is the birthplace of four great religions. India is the heart of freedom too because there is no nation in this world that has managed to free itself from slavery through religion, philosophy and ethics like India. Swami Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi have succeeded in doing something that nobody in the known history has managed to do – to beat the law of force with their self-awareness. We should symbolically embrace this heart because it is punctum saliens, a great driving force behind what can be done for the wellbeing of people in the spiritual and
transitory world. The one who fully understands India today is going to have a precious advantage in the time that is coming when most of the things that now appear to us as solid and unchangeable are going to disappear in front of our eyes. The destiny of countless nations from all continents who perished under the colonial slavery in the last few centuries speaks volume about the magnitude of India's feat. We have also contributed symbollicaly to this because India won back the last part of its territory from the Portuguese at the First Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Belgrade. Maybe even today we are also somehow contributing because, in the case of the virtual country of Kosovo, India has had enough time and opportunity to recognize strategy in opposition to separatism and unilateral secession. Also, bearing in mind the fact that I gave many lectures in India about the anthropology of climate change, I think that only the reliable climate change theory, Canon of Insolation, elaborated by Milutin Milanković can yield a fruitful dialogue between two cultures. It „cools“ the politicised concept of „global warming“ which goal is to make countries like India dependent on the postmodernist ideologies of deconstruction and technocentricity.
Do you think that we are unaware of how many experts in this area we have in Serbia? We are unaware because we live in the world of oblivion. Since ancient times, Serbian and Indian culture have touched upon each other as seen in the exact morphological and lexical similarities between Sanskrit and Serbian language which, in some of its main segments, originated from an adapted version of Sanskrit. Today, we still don't have a widely accepted theory that can explain this but that does not mean that we should behave in the manner of that Prussian philosopher who, upon discovering that his theory contradicted the facts, said „worse for the facts then“. There are medieval documents that show the commonalities between India and Serbia with India being mentioned in the several Serbian medieval manuscripts and biographies. The translation of the Indian epics and stories began in the 19th century while, at the same time, there were also documented trips to India like the one taken by Prince Božidar Karađorđević, the author of the book Enchanted India which we are currently translating.
What opportunities do young people in Serbia have today for studying Indian culture and tradition? Throughout the entire history of the Serbian education system there hasn't been a single academic course dedicated to India,
its culture and tradition. When I learned Sanskrit from Professor Radmilo Stojanović and made several trips to India, I finally realised certain things and, after extensively researching the relevant literture, I initiated the course Cultural History of India at Belgrade's Faculty of Philology in 2015. This is the first academic course at the university level in Serbia dedicated to India and a step towards establishing the Indian Studies Department. We have recently proposed to Matica Srpska to devise a project for studying Serbian – Indian cultural ties which will probably be accepted. We would like also to suggest a similar project to the Ministry of Education and Science. However, we are not confident that the Ministry will accept our proposal because it usually favours euro-centric projects as if we were living on an island called Europe
THE INDIAN AMBASSADOR TO SERBIA H.E. MS NARINDER CHAUHAN GAVE US AN EXTRAORDINARY BOOST WHEN, IN OCTOBER 2015, SHE HELD THE FIRST LECTURE OF THE CULTURAL HISTORY OF INDIA
Cultural History of India course in front of the packed hall. We have regretted not taping this lecture because all of us – the students and the faculty – were under the impression that she was not only a highly estemeed political representative of her country but also the best representative of the millennial India thanks to her knowledge, eloquence and openness. She is also a gennuine representative of both the Indian land and heaven. It was such a relief to have somebody like her on our side from the get-go. Furthermore, Her Excellency donated 150 books which we used to establish a first specialised library of Indian literature in Serbia which is going to be available online soon.
Philosophy students are often disappointed with the fact that our universities don't pay enough attention to Eastern philosophies. What do you think are the main reasons for the academic curriculum being based mostly on the European tradition? Why isn't Indian philosophy taught more? Because there is no freedom in the modern world. If there were freedom, Indian philosphy would be taught. We lack freedom of thought which, naturally, comes from India like a fresh breeze.
What do you think about the concept of getting to know other cultures through the so-called soft power strategies like TV series, as it is the case with Turkey at the moment? These „popular“ series are usually made by
and not in the immersive and involuted world that has no borders.
What support did you get from the Indian Embassy in Belgrade? The best thing that we got from the Indian Embassy is their sincere understanding of our endeavours. Academic developments are slow but they have the biggest long-term influence. What is done in education system today affects the society tomorrow. The Indian Ambassador to Serbia H.E. Ms Narinder Chauhan gave us an extraordinary boost when, in October 2015, she held the first lecture of the
the countries that have very obvious neo-colonial ambitions. You've mentioned Turkey as a good example of this. India has its Bollywood which also produces similar series. But their film industry is a part of the culture of dreams, not culture of politics and ideology. In India, the reality is much more fantastical than films. It would be best for India if it could launch its own TV channel that would showcase ordinary people, their customs and festivals and other wonders that exist over there. This is the fastest way to tear down prejudices and open the door to an another, different world to European audiences.
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Professor
IVANA ŽIVANČEVIĆ SEKERUŠ PhD, Dean of the Novi Sad Faculty of Philosophy
INTERVIEW
KNOWING LANGUAGE WILL DRAW INDIA CLOSER TO US As of October this year, the Faculty of Philosophy's Language Centre is offering the Hindi language courses to students and citizens of Novi Sad. Soon, the Faculty will also start teaching the basics of Sanskrit and Indian culture
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his year, the Faculty of Philosophy is adding yet another language – Hindi – to a wide variety of languages that students can study there.
How did the cooperation between your Faculty and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations come about? I met Her Excellency, the Indian Ambassador to Serbia Ms Narinder Chauhan in the French Embassy in Belgrade last year, at a reception marking the Women’s Day which was hosted by Her Excellency, the French Ambassador Ms Christine Moro. In a very spontaneous conversation we touched upon the topic of learning the Hindi language in Serbia and came up with an idea for the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Novi Sad to start teaching it. The period from the idea’s inception to its realisation was
very short and, in May this year, we signed a cooperation agreement with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations which stipulates establishment of the first Hindi language department in Serbia.
When are the Hindi language classes going to start and how interested are students in this initiative? I expect for the classes to start in October this year, at the beginning of the new school year. By that time, we would already have a professor who is an Indian native. We are currently going through the selection process. In addition to the students and the staff of the University of Novi Sad, citizens of Novi Sad will also be able to study Hindi at the Faculty of Philosophy’s Language Centre. Also, apart from Hindi, we plan to teach the basics of Sanskrit and the elements of the Indian culture.
How important is for the Faculty to include another great language into its curriculum? In the beginning, Hindi will be an optional language taught at the Faculty of Philosophy’s Language Centre. This is a language used by a great civilisation, and an important emerging economic power. This is also a language that, apart from English and Chinese, is
THIS IS A LANGUAGE USED BY A GREAT CIVILISATION, AND AN IMPORTANT EMERGING ECONOMIC POWER. THIS IS ALSO A LANGUAGE THAT, APART FROM ENGLISH AND CHINESE, IS SPOKEN BY THE BIGGEST NUMBER OF PEOPLE ON OUR PLANET spoken by the biggest number of people on our planet. I am very happy that our students and the citizens of Novi Sad will be able to learn the language first-hand, from a native speaker. Knowing language and culture paves the way for other formats of cooperation, primarily economic and political.
The state funds the regular studies within the accredited curricula while individual governments provide financial support for learning their respective country's language and culture. The French government is one of the most active in this respect. Apart from having the French Institute in Belgrade which also has offices in Novi Sad and Niš, France is very engaged in promoting cultural activities like publishing and translating French books into the Serbian language, funding guest appearances of French authors in Serbia and participation of French performers in various cultural events here. The University of Novi Sad is a member of the Association of Francophone Universities, while the Faculty of Philosophy is going to open a university francophone centre soon. The French government financially supports all of the mentioned activities. Our Faculty has had a traditionally good cooperation with the Italian Cultural Centre, the Camões Institute, the Austrian Cultural Forum, the DAAD Foundation, and, as of recently, the Yunus Emre Institute and the Iranian Cultural Centre. I would like to use this opportunity to wholeheartedly thank all of them for the support they have for our students and staff.
How do you provide literature for the mentioned currricula and what language specialisation studies do you offer? Thanks to the European Region Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students, ERASMUS+ for short, we have signed cooperation agreements with 60 or so European universities stipulating language (and other majors) specialisation for students who are willing to continue their studies at these foreign universities. Also, foreign governments have provided scholarships for studying abroad while our International Cooperation Office helps students and the staff with selecting a university of their choice and applying for studying abroad. Acquiring proper literature is no longer a problem for us. A lot of it is available in an electronic format, the access to online editions has never been easier and our library is subscribed to many online magazines and other publications.
Which foreign languages are being taught at the Faculty today and how is your curriculum funded? The Faculty has several departments which have been teaching the most important European languages – like English, German, Russian and French – for years. Apart from the French language, the Department for Romance Languages also teaches Italian or Spanish as a second mandatory foreign language. The University of Novi Sad's Faculty of Philosophy is unique in a way that we have departments that teach national minority languages like Hungarian, Slovakian, Romanian and Ruthenian. At our Faculty, these languages are taught as mother tongues but it would be great if they were available as foreign languages too so that students who are not native speakers could learn them too. Apart from the said languages, which are being taught at all study levels (graduate, masters, doctoral), the Faculty of Philosophy has been very engaged in teaching languages in its Language Centre where, in addition to the aforementioned languages, we also teach Greek, Portuguese, Japanese, Turkish, Persian and Chinese. As of this year, we are going to have Hindi and we are planning to start twith Korean too. Owing to the generous support from the Chinese Embassy and the then University's Vice Chancellor in charge of international cooperation, we opened the Confucius Institute in 2014 which has been trying to develop a curriculum not only at the university level but also at the elementary and high school level in Vojvodina and Serbia. The Confucius Institute in Novi Sad, which is one of the five hundred such institutes in the world, has its own budget provided by Hanban, a Chinese umbrella institution.
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BUSINESS FORUM
Source: Embassy of India
LAUNCH OF INDIA-SERBIA BUSINESS FORUM
The first India-Serbia Business Forum was launched by the Embassy of India in Belgrade. The aim of the forum is to take the India-Serbia bilateral trade and investment portfolio to the next level in view of the rapid economic developments in both the countries
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he shared history of Non Aligned Movement provides strong foundation on which to build a sound economic partnership. The necessary legal framework has been put in place by both the governments in the form of Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPA), Double Taxation Avoidance Convention (DTAC), Trade Agreement (MFN status) etc. Other enabling agreements are Air Services Agreement, Agreement on Cooperation in S&T, in Agriculture & Allied Sectors, and in Tourism. H.E. Ambassador launched the India-Serbia Business Forum in Belgrade on 27 June 2016. The Forum was attended by more than 50 Serbian businesspersons from varied sectors, Senior Serbian Government functionaries, including H.E. Mr. Stevan Nikcevic, State Secretary, Ministry of Trade, Tourism & Telecommunications, H.E. Mr. Nenad Miloradovic, Assistant Minister for Material Resources, Ministry of Defense; Mr. Radoslav Jankovic, Head of Economic Bilateral Cooperation, MFA; Serbian Business Chambers, Consultants and media persons. The aim of the Forum was to discuss ways and means to take the India-Serbia bilateral trade and investment cooperation to the next level in view of the rapid economic developments in both the countries.
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Emphasis was laid on identifying bottlenecks that the business community faces and facilitate improvement of environment
EMPHASIS WAS LAID ON IDENTIFYING BOTTLENECKS THAT THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY FACES AND FACILITATE IMPROVEMENT OF ENVIRONMENT FOR SMOOTH TRADE RELATIONS
for smooth trade relations. H.E. Ambassador delivered the welcoming remarks and spoke at length on India-Serbia bilateral relations, Indian economy, GOI�s flagship programmes, ongoing cooperation with Serbia, existing bilateral legal frameworks, enabling MOUs and Agreements, and scope for enhancing commercial cooperation in different areas. Opening remarks were given by H.E. Mr. Stevan Nikcevic, State Secretary, Ministry of Trade, Tourism & Telecommunications who lauded India`s advancements in various fields, including IT, ICT, S&T, Manufacturing etc. Mr Nikcevic looked forward to more Indian investments in Serbia and expressed satisfaction over the interest by Indian companies in the privatization of Galenika and IMT. Serbian companies such as UTI, Pharmillenium, Alek, the Institute of Field & Vegetative Crops, Leader Andjusic, Blue Bell, Color Press Group, Serbian IT Cluster, Eipix, NALED and others spoke of their experience with India and mentioned certain important issues that need attention in order to improve the existing bilateral relations. At the forum sectors such as ICT, Agriculture, Biotechnology, Textile, Film Making, Pharmaceuticals were identified to have immediate potential to improve bilateral trade.
Contributed by Serbian Chamber of Commerce
ECONOMIC COOPERATION
GREAT POTENTIAL FOR STRONGER COOPERATION Recent years have seen great efforts exerted to revive and expand to more areas the economic exchange between the two countries, which are both implementing dynamic economic reforms
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he latest in a series of events that have contributed to strengthening economic ties between the two countries is the First Indian Business Forum, which was held this year with the aim of raising the Indian-Serbian bilateral trade and investment portfolio to a higher level. Overall relations between Serbia and India are characterised by a traditional friendship, while in terms of economic exchange there is plenty of scope for increasing the trade exchange and the volume of investment by Indian companies. In recent years efforts have been exerted to revive the economic exchange and expand it in many areas. A delegation of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (SCC) visited India in 2014 under the auspices of a promotion of Serbia as an investment destination, while that same year saw the staging of the second meeting of the Joint Committee for Economic Cooperation via teleconference. The two countries have already established the necessary legal framework in the
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form of the Bilateral agreement on the promotion and protection of investments (BIPA), the Convention on the avoidance of double taxation (DTAC) and the Trade Agreement (status of most-favoured nation). Moreover, achievements also include the Agreement on Air Traffic Services, the Agreement on Cooperation in the Fields of Science and Technology, as well as in agriculture and related sectors, and in tourism. Trade exchange, as the dominant form of
ROOM FOR IMPROVING COOPERATION IN THE FIELD OF AGRICULTURE EXISTS IN COMMON SEED PRODUCTION, THE INTRODUCTION OF SERBIAN VARIETIES OF FRUIT IN PRODUCTION, AS WELL AS THROUGH THE TRANSFER OF TECHNOLOGY, TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE economic cooperation, has a modest volume, with a high deficit on the Serbian side (average annual exchange of about $160 million, with average Serbian exports of only about $6 million annually). Total trade in 2015 amounted to $145.6 million, which is at the same level as in 2014. Of this,
Serbian exports accounted for $5.6 million (-36%) and imports stood at $97 million. The largest volume of trade between Serbia and India was recorded in 2011, when the total value of trade between the two countries stood at $168.4 million (of which Serbia’s exports totalled $7.7 million, while imports from India were worth $160.7 million). Typical products that Serbia imports from India are oil-cake made from soya, raw unalloyed aluminium, heterocyclic compounds, telephones for cellular networks, coffee, medicines, sesame seeds, Ferronickel, heat exchangers and other items. In the recent past Serbia has mostly exported to India cigarettes, machines for sorting, screening, separating, washing and parts, textile looms, waste and scrap aluminium, heterocyclic compounds, switching apparatus for telephony and telegraphy, fittings for pipes and hoses made of plastic mass, parts and accessories for machines, etc., moulds for rubber or plastic mass, DVD discs and other items. The current presence of the Indian economy in Serbia encompasses an IT park, the production of agricultural machinery and the pharmaceutical industry. Indian companies have expressed great interest in the process of privatising Serbian companies in these sectors. Both sides have liberalised the visa regime in order to facilitate easier travel. An MoU in the field of tourism was signed between the Ministry of Trade and Tourism of the Republic of Serbia and the Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of India in Belgrade in October 2004.
PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
INDIA: WORLD'S PHARMACY The pharmaceutical industry in India is one of the future giants in the World’s Great Factory India’s aspiring to be. It ranks 3rd in the world terms of volume and 14th in terms of value
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ccording to Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bangalore and Ahmedabad are the major pharmaceutical hubs of India. The domestic market was worth US$13.8 billion in 2013. The government started to encourage the growth of drug manufacturing by Indian companies in the early 1960s, and with the Patents Act in 1970. This patent act removed composition patents from food and drugs, and though it kept process patents, these were shortened to a period of five to seven years. The lack of patent protection made the Indian market undesirable to the multinational companies that had dominated the market. Indian companies carved a niche in both the Indian and world markets with their expertise in reverse-engineering new processes for manufacturing drugs at low costs. The pharmaceutical industry in India will be third largest pharmaceuticals market by 2020 in terms of incremental growth, and it will account to 20% of global exports in ge-
nerics, making it the largest provider of generic medicines globally. And the growth is spectacular: India’s expecting USD 45 Billion in revenue by 2020, revenue of USD 55 billion by 2020 as base case, and can grow to USD 70 billion in a aggressive case
INDIA’S COST OF PRODUCTION IS SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER THAN THAT OF THE USA AND ALMOST HALF OF THAT OF EUROPE scenario. The generics will amount to USD 26.1 Billion in generics in 2016 but the infrastructure is going to be built by fast pace, expecting USD 200 Billion to be spent on infrastructure by 2024. India's filing of Drug Master Files's (DMF's) with USFDA as of Dec 2013 is 3411, the highest filed by any country in the world.
Total exports of Drugs, Pharmaceuticals for 2013-14 at USD 15,095 million, recorded a growth rate 2.5% over the corresponding period of previous years. India will become the sixth largest market globally in terms of absolute size by zero. And there are more reasons to invest here: India’s cost of production is significantly lower than that of the USA and almost half of that of Europe. A skilled workforce as well as high managerial and technical competence is the crucial point in deciding on moving your production in India. Also, economic prosperity is likely to improve affordability for generic drugs in the market. Approval time for new facilities has been drastically reduced. Between 2011 and 2016, patent drugs worth USD 255 Billion are estimated to go off-patent leading to a huge surge in generic product and tremendous opportunities for companies.By 2020, it will grow to USD 11 billion - a CAGR of 18%, with the potential to reach USD 13 billion - at an aggresive CAGR of 20%. With increasing penetration of chemists, especially in rural India, OTC drugs will be readily available. Pharma companies have increased spending to tap rural markets and develop better infrastructure. The market share of hospitals is expected to increase from 13.1% in 2009 to 26% in 2020. Following the introduction of product patents, several multinational companies are expected to launch patented drugs in India. The purported rise of lifestyle diseases in India is expected to boost industry sales figures. Rising levels of education are set to increase the acceptability of pharmaceuticals. Also, India’s patient pool is expected to increase to over 20% in the next 10 years, mainly due to the rise in population. So, all in all, it is the industry with a bright future!
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ECONOMY
THE WORLD’S NEW POWER HOUSE India wants to be a $10 trillion economy by 2032. Achieving the 10% year on year growth, as a prerequisite for such goal, represents the biggest challenge for the government, but if accomplished, the compounding effect would be such even a $20-trillion economy in the next 6-7 years after 2032, might be a realistic objective
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India has emerged as the fastest growing major economy in the world as per the Central Statistics Organisation (CSO) and International Monetary Fund (IMF). Inspite of global lucklaster revival, the Indian economy will continue to grow more than 7 per cent in 2016-17, and can start growing at eight per cent or more in next two years. The improvement in India’s economic fundamentals has accelerated in the year 2015 with the combined impact of strong government reforms, RBI's inflation focus supported by low global commodity prices. India repeteadly ranks the highest globally in terms of consumer confidence, as per the global consumer confidence index created by Nielsen. India wants to be a $10 trillion economy by 2032. That’s a remarkable target but not unnatainable since India’s economy grew by 4.6 times in the last 16 years. From $494 billion in 2001, India is expected to become a $2.2 trillion economy by the end of this year. China’s economy is currently pegged at over $10 trillion, while
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the US is worth over $17 trillion, according to the World Bank. “If we achieve a $10 trillion economy target by 2032 by a 10% growth rate yearon-year, the compounding effect would be such that ours could be a $20-trillion
IN THE RECENT PERIOD INDIA HAS EMERGED AS ONE OF THE STRONGEST PERFORMERS WITH RESPECT TO DEALS ACROSS THE WORLD IN TERMS OF MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS (M&A) economy in the next 6-7 years after 2032,” Amitabh Kant, the CEO of NITI Aayog the policy think tank. “The 10% year-on-year growth is the biggest challenge.” The agency said such a growth rate could
eradicate poverty and generate over 175 million new jobs. The flip side: If it doesn’t improve its growth rate from 7%, India will still have about 6% of its population living below poverty line in 2032. Currently, about 12.9% of the Indian population, or 172 million people, live below the poverty line. The current rate of growth would reduce poverty, but since India’s population is expected to grow to over 1.4 billion by 2030, it would not eradicate it. Foreign Direct Investment in India is expected to be 1590.00 USD Million by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, the same source estimates FDI in India to stand at 2029.84 in 12 months time. In the longterm, the India Foreign Direct Investment is projected to trend around 2028.64 USD Million in 2020. This agresive surge in FDI is a result of the governmets Make in India campaign, last September, pledging to lower barriers to doing business and promote foreign investment. The Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index, or PMI, edged up to 51.7 in June from 50.7 in May, pointing to a further improvement in the health of the sector. A reading above 50 indicates economic expansion, while one below 50 points toward contraction. The domestic market continues to be the main growth driver, as the Indian economic upturn provides a
steady stream of new business. Nonetheless, there were also signs of an improvement in overseas markets, as new foreign orders rose in June following a decline in May, Market reported in July. The steps taken by the government in recent times have shown positive results as India's gross domestic product (GDP) register significant growth - in 2014-15, registering a growth rate of 7.6 per cent. The economic activities which witnessed significant growth were ‘financing, insurance, real estate and business services’ at 11.5 per cent and ‘trade, hotels, transport, communication services’ at 10.7 per cent. According to a recent Goldman Sachs report, India could grow at a potential 8 per cent on average during from fiscal 2016 to 2020 powered by greater access to banking, technology adoption, urbanisation and other structural reforms. According to EY report M&A activity in India is set to pick up through 2016. Domestic activity should strengthen, especially around debt consolidation and restructuring. We expect strong activity in sectors such as manufacturing and infrastructure. Other sectors including pharmaceuticals, technology and financial services will also likely remain extremely active. In the recent period India has emerged as one of the strongest performers with respect to deals across the world in terms of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A). The total transaction value of M&A involving Indian companies stood at US$ 26.3 billion with 930 deals in 2015 as against US$ 29.4 billion involving 870 deals in 2014. Total private equity (PE) investments in India for 2015 reached a record high of US$ 19.5 billion through 159 deals, according to the PwC MoneyTree India report. Numerous foreign companies are setting up their facilities in India on account of
various government initiatives like Make in India and Digital India. The Make in India initiative is expected to increase the purchasing power of an average Indian consumer, which would further boost demand, and hence spur development, in addition to benefiting investors. According to The World Bank, India's per capita income is expected to cross Rs 100,000 (US$ 1,505.4) in FY 2017 from Rs 93,231 (US$ 1,403.5) in FY 2016. On the other side, Digital India initiative focuses on three core components: creation of digital infrastructure, delivering ser-
ACCORDING TO A RECENT GOLDMAN SACHS REPORT, INDIA COULD GROW AT A POTENTIAL 8 PER CENT ON AVERAGE DURING FROM FISCAL 2016 TO 2020 POWERED BY GREATER ACCESS TO BANKING, TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION, URBANISATION AND OTHER STRUCTURAL REFORMS vices digitally and to increase the digital literacy.The government is busy in removing barriers for FDI and improving overall business climate as well as improving physical connnectivity (roads, airports). NITI Aayog suggested the removal of some 1,053 archaic laws. Better tax regulation too is something that businesses are looking for. Currently, the manufacturing sector in India contributes over 15 per cent of the GDP. The Government of India, under the
Make in India initiative, is trying to give boost to the contribution made by the manufacturing sector and aims to take it up to 25 per cent of the GDP. Along with these meassures set of policies that have to encourage education, skill development, digital connectivity and entrepreneurship in a sustainable manner, are to be put in place. There is also a the Start-up India initiative and the Start-up Action Plan which includes creation of a dedicated Start-up fund worth Rs 10,000 crore (US$ 1.47 billion) apart from other incentives like no tax on profits for first three years and relaxed labour laws. Among the foreign companies that stand as those who embraced new initiatives are British telecom giant Vodafone, India's second largest telecom operator, which plans to invest over US$ 1.91 billion, to upgrade and expand its network and also for its payments bank operations; Chinese smartphone handset maker, Vivo, will initially manufacture 150,000 smartphone units a month, to produce three smartphone models, namely Y11, Y21 and Y15S; Foxconn Technology group, Taiwan’s electronics manufacturer, is planning to manufacture Apple iPhones in India. Besides, Foxconn aims to establish 10-12 facilities in India including data centers and factories by 2020; US-based First Solar Inc and China’s Trina Solar have plans to set up manufacturing facilities in India. Clean energy investments in India increased to US$ 7.9 billion in 2014, helping the country maintain its position as the seventh largest clean energy investor in the world; General Motors plans to invest US$1 billion in India by 2020, mainly to increase the capacity at the Talegaon plant in Maharashtra from 130,000 units a year to 220,000 by 2025. And those are just some of numerous examples of business initiatives recently set in motion.
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DIGITAL INDIA
INFORMATION FOR EVERYONE The Digital India programme is a flagship programme of the Government of India with a vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy
INTRODUCTION The journey of e-Governance initiatives in India took a broader dimension in mid 90s for wider sectoral applications with emphasis on citizen-centric services. Government of India launched National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) in 2006. 31 Mission Mode Projects covering various domains were initiated. Despite the successful implementa-
tion of many e-Governance projects across the country, e-Governance as a whole has not been able to make the desired impact and fulfil all its objectives. It has been felt that a lot more thrust is required to ensure e-Governance in the country promote inclusive growth that covers electronic services, products, devices and job opportunities. Moreover,
electronic manufacturing in the country needs to be strengthened. In order to transform the entire ecosystem of public services through the use of information technology, the Government of India has launched the Digital India programme with the vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
THE DIGITAL INDIA PROGRAMME AIMS AT PULLING TOGETHER MANY EXISTING SCHEMES. THESE SCHEMES WILL BE RESTRUCTURED, REVAMPED AND REFOCUSED AND WILL BE IMPLEMENTED IN A SYNCHRONISED MANNER
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The Nine Pillars forming Government through Technology, e-Kranti - Electronic Delivery of Services, Information for All, Electronics Manufacturing, IT for Jobs and Early Harvest Programmes. Each of these areas is a complex programme in itself and cuts across multiple Ministries and Departments.
IMPLEMENTATION APPROACH
HOW DIGITAL INDIA WILL BE REALISED: PILLARS OF DIGITAL INDIA Digital India is an umbrella programme that covers multiple Government Ministries and Departments. It weaves together a large number of ideas and thoughts into a single, comprehensive vision so that each of them can be implemented as part of a larger goal. Each individual element stands on its own, but is also part of the larger picture. Digital India is to be implemented by the entire Government with overall coordination being done by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY). Digital India aims to provide the much needed thrust to the nine pillars of growth areas, namely Broadband Highways, Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity, Public Internet Access Programme, e-Governance: Re-
All the initiatives under the Digital India programme have definitive completion time targets. Majority of the initiatives are planned to be realised within the next three years. The initiatives planned for early completion (“Early Harvest Programmes”) and citizen communication initiatives (“Information for All”) have already started going live and are being completed. Many elements are only process improvements with minimal cost implications. The common branding of programmes as Digital India highlights their transformative impact. While implementing this programme, there would be wider consultations across government, industry, civil society, and citizens to discuss various issues to arrive at innovative solutions for achieving the desired outcomes of Digital India. DeitY has already launched a digital platform named as “myGov” (http://mygov.in) to facilitate collaborative and participative governance.
DIGITAL INDIA IS TO BE IMPLEMENTED BY THE ENTIRE GOVERNMENT WITH OVERALL COORDINATION BEING DONE BY THE DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (DEITY)
-01First of the pillars is Broadband for All. This covers three sub components, namely Broadband for All - Rural, Broadband for All - Urban and National Information Infrastructure (NII). Broadband for All – Rural is about covering 250,000 village Panchayats would be covered under the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) by December 2016. Broadband for All – Urban is about the fact that the Virtual Network Operators would be leveraged for service delivery and communication infrastructure in new urban developments and buildings would be mandated. National Information Infrastructure (NII)would integrate the network and cloud infrastructure. -02The second pillar is universal access to mobile connectivity. This initiative focuses on network penetration and filling the gaps in connectivity in the country. There are around 55,619 villages in the country that do not have mobile coverage. As part of the comprehensive development plan for North East, providing mobile coverage to uncovered villages has been initiated. Mobile coverage to remaining uncovered villages would be provided in a phased manner.
-03The two sub components of Public Internet Access Programme are Common Services Centres (CSCs) and Post Offices as multi-service centres. A total of 150,000 Post Offices are proposed to be converted into multi service centres. Department of Posts would be the nodal department to implement this scheme. -04E-governance is essentially Government Process Re-engineering using IT to simplify and make the government processes more efficient is critical for transformation to make the delivery of government services more effective across various government domains and therefore needs to be implemented by all Ministries/ Departments. -05E-Kranti is about electronic delivery of services and there are 44 Mission Mode Projects under e-Kranti, which are at various stages of implementation. -06Information for all means using the Open Data platform which facilitates proactive release of datasets in an open format by the ministries/departments for use, reuse and redistribution. Online hosting of information & documents would facilitate open and easy access to information for citizens. -07Electronic manufacturing is a pillar focuses on promoting electronics manufacturing in the country with the target of NET ZERO Imports by 2020 as a striking demonstration of intent. This ambitious goal requires coordinated action on many fronts. -08IT for jobs focuses on providing training to the youth in the skills required for availing employment opportunities in the IT/ITES sector. -09Early Harvest Programme basically consists of those projects which are to be implemented within short timeline. They even include finding missing children.
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INDIAN SPACE PROGRAMME
THE NEXT TO FLY!
THE PROGRESS The leader in everything and is the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It is the space agency of the Indian government headquartered in the city of Bangalore (Bengaluru), which is the leading IT centre in the country, equaled to the Silicon Valley in the US. Its vision is to "harness space technology for national development, while pursuing space science research and planetary exploration" as ISRO states. Formed in 1969, ISRO superseded the erstwhile Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) established
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INDIA IS THE NEXT NATION TO START WITH THE SPACE EXPLORATION AND SPACE RESEARCH BIG TIME! IT WAS EXPECTED THAT IT WOULD HAPPEN SOONER OR LATER. WELL, IT IS HAPPENING NOW
India is the next nation after Soviets/Russians, Americans, French, and Chinese, to start with the space exploration and space research big time! And it was about time, since India is becoming the world superpower in every aspect, and with so many educated engineers and mathematicians, it was expected that it would happen sooner or later. Well, it is happening now
in 1962 by the efforts of independent India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and his close aide and scientist Vikram Sarabhai. The establishment of ISRO thus institutionalised space activities in India. It is managed by the Department of Space, which reports to the Prime Minister of India. ISRO built India's first satellite, Aryabhata, which was launched by the Soviet Union on 19 April in 1975. In 1980, Rohini became the first satellite to be placed in orbit by an Indian-made launch vehicle, SLV-3. It was however all quite slow until the 21st century. ISRO sent one lunar orbiter, Chandrayaan-1, on 22 October 2008 and one Mars orbiter, Mars Orbiter Mission, which successfully entered Mars orbit on 24 September 2014, making India the first nation to succeed on its first attempt, and ISRO the fourth space agency in the world as well as the first space agency in Asia to successfully reach Mars orbit. Future plans include development of GSLV Mk III,(for launch of heavier satellites),ULV, development of a reusable launch vehicle, human spaceflight, further lunar exploration, interplanetary probes, a solar spacecraft mission, etc. As of 24 June 2016, ISRO has launched 131 satellites using indigenously developed launch vehicles out of which 74 are foreign. Also, 29 Indian satellites have been launched by
foreign launch vehicles. As of October 2015, ISRO has agreed to launch 23 foreign satellites of nine different nations including Algeria, Canada, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and the US. On June 18, 2016 India successfully set a record with launch of 20 satellites in a single payload, one being a satellite from Google.
MISSION OF ISRO As missions of the Organisation, ISRO lists the following: • Design and development of launch vehicles and related technologies for providing access to space. • Design and development of satellites and related technologies for earth observation, communication, navigation, meteorology and space science. • Indian National Satellite (INSAT) programme for meeting telecommunication, television broadcasting and developmental applications. • Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) programme for management of natural resources and monitoring of environment using space based imagery. • Space based Applications for Societal development. • Research and Development in space science and planetary exploration.
MISSIONS INTO SPACE The latest missions include lauching of the following spacecrafts.
INDIA MAY BE ENTERING THE SPACE RACE A BIT LATER THAN THE OTHERS, BUT IT IS A SERIOUS PLAYER AND IT IS HERE TO STAY
GSAT-16 GSAT-16, an advanced communication satellite, weighing 3181.6 kg at lift-off, is being inducted into the INSAT-GSAT system. GSAT-16 is configured to carry a total of 48 communication transponders, the largest number of transponders carried by a communication satellite developed by ISRO so far, in normal C-band, upper extended C-band and Ku-band. GSAT-16 carries a Ku-band beacon as well to help accurately point ground antennas towards the satellite. The designed on-orbit operational life of GSAT-16 is 12 years. The communication transponders on-board GSAT-16 together ensure continuity of various services currently provided by INSAT-GSAT system and serve as on-orbit spares to meet contingency requirements or for the augmentation of such services. GSAT-16 was launched into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) by Ariane-5 VA-221 launch vehicle from Kourou, French Guiana.
PSLV-C28 The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), in its thirtieth flight (PSLV-C28), will launch three identical DMC3 optical earth observation satellites built by Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL), United Kingdom (UK). The three DMC3 satellites, each weighing 447 kg, will be launched into a 647 km Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO) using the high-end version of PSLV (PSLVXL) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota (SDSC-SHAR), the spaceport of
India. PSLV-C28 will be the ninth flight of PSLV in ‘XL’ configuration.
PSLV-C29 India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in its thirty-second flight (PSLV-C29), will launch six satellites of Singapore into a 550 km circular orbit inclined at 15 degrees to the equator. Of these six satellites, TeLEOS1 is the primary satellite weighing 400 kg whereas the other five are co-passenger satellites which include two micro-satellites and three nano-satellites. PSLV-C29 will be launched from the First Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. This is the eleventh flight of PSLV in 'core-alone' configuration (without the use of solid strap-on motors).
PSLV-C27 The fourth satellite of IRNSS Constellation, IRNSS-1D will be launched onboard PSLV-C27. The satellite is one among the seven of the IRNSS constellation of satellites slated to be launched to provide navigational services to the region. The satellite will be placed in geosynchronous orbit. The satellite will help augmenting the satellite based navigation system of India which is currently under development. The navigational system so developed will be a regional one targeted towards South Asia. The satellite will provide navigation, tracking and mapping services. India may be entering the space race a bit later than the others, but it is a serious player and it is here to stay.
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ŽIKICA MILOŠEVIĆ
10 YEARS OF BRICS
NEW ALLIANCE FOR THE NEW WORLD
Some thought that globalisation would help the Western powers increase their dominance over the world, but somehow the bullet ricocheted and the emerging powers and emerging economies became even more... emergent
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he new economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and, later, South Africa, showed a new reality, thus encompassing the ancient civilisations of China and India, former colonies and newly founded states like Brazil, and an ex-empire from Europe in the form of Russia. It also unites for the first time the major religions: Catholicism from Brazil, Protestantism from South Africa, Orthodoxy and Islam from Russia, Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism from India, and Taoism and Buddhism from China. All the great divides of the human race are accounted for, with all possible combinations. This is truly a diverse, multicultural union, and for the first time, the Third World has power to stand up for its own rights, and to form parallel structures of trade, banking and
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culture. This is an historical landmark and a milestone, and a bloc that will most probably only be enhanced and expanded. In international economics, the acronym BRICS is used to refer collectively to Brazil,
THE THIRD WORLD HAS THE POWER TO STAND UP FOR ITS RIGHTS AND TO FORM PARALLEL STRUCTURES OF TRADE, BANKING AND CULTURE. THIS IS AN HISTORICAL LANDMARK AND A MILESTONE
Russia, India, China and South Africa, although in the beginning the acronym was merely BRIC, which excluded the last country to join the group in 2011. Overall, BRICS is an acronym for an economic-trade association of the five most important emerging national economies. The term “BRIC” was coined in 2001 by the then-chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Jim O'Neill, in his publication Building Better Global Economic BRICs. The idea was simply brilliant, since the word “brick”, or “bricks”, has a strong meaning in English, and this time O'Neill was referring to strong predictions of economic growth for the four members of what was then BRIC. However, the realisation of the concept was not immediate. The foreign ministers of the initial four BRIC states (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) met in New York in September 2006, on the margins of the General Debate of the UN General Assembly, beginning a series of high-level meetings. The member countries of the proposed BRIC actually gained the idea to materialise the Union of
Emerging Economies after revising it and finding it to be good. A full-scale diplomatic meeting was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on 16th June 2009. As such, we can talk about “15 years of BRICS”, “7 years of BRICS”, or maybe even “10 years of BRICS”. Nevertheless, a common idea was established and is here to stay. All of these nations have a few important features in common: a large population (China and India in excess of a billion each, Brazil and Russia over a hundred and forty million each), vast territory (spanning in excess of almost 38.5 million square kilometres), which provides dimensions for continental strategies and strategic advantages; a huge amount of natural resources and, most importantly, huge economic growth figures of gross domestic product (GDP) during the 21st century (except during the 2008-9 period of crisis and in 2014-15), as well as participation in world trade in recent years, which makes them attractive as investment destinations. The BRIC grouping's first formal summit, also held in Yekaterinburg, commenced on 16th June 2009, with Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Dmitry Medvedev, Manmohan Singh, and Hu Jintao, the respective leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China, all in attendance. The summit’s focus was on the means of improving the global economic situation and reforming financial institutions, and discussions covered how the four countries could better cooperate in the future. In 2010, South Africa launched efforts to join the BRIC grouping, with the process of its formal admission beginning in August that year. The group was subsequently renamed BRICS – with the "S" standing for South Africa – to reflect the group's expanded membership. The BRICS Forum, an independent international organisation encouraging commercial, political and cultural cooperation between the BRICS nations, was formed in 2011. In March 2013, during the fifth BRICS
BRICS IS NOT AGAINST ANYONE – RATHER IT IS IN FAVOUR OF THE WORLD’S DIVERSIFICATION, TRUE GLOBALISATION AND MULTIPOLARITY
summit in Durban, South Africa, the member countries agreed to create a global financial institution with which they intended to rival the Western-dominated IMF and World Bank. After the summit, BRICS stated that they planned to finalise arrangements for their New Development Bank by 2014. At the BRICS leaders’ meeting in St Petersburg in September 2013, China committed $41 billion towards the pool, while Brazil, India and Russia pledged $18 billion each and South Africa committed to $5 billion. China, holder of the world's largest foreign exchange reserves and set to contribute the bulk of the currency pool, sought a greater management role. China also wanted to be the location of the reserve. In 2014, Elvira Nabiullina, Governor of Russia’s Central Bank, claimed that “BRICS partners the establishment of a system of multilateral swaps that will allow the transfer of resources to one country or another if needed, and soon the dollar will be abandoned by most of the significant global economies
and it will be expelled from global trade finance”. BRICS members also proposed an alternative to the SWIFT payment system. Since 2012, the BRICS group of countries have been planning an optic fibre submarine communications cable system to carry telecommunications between the BRICS countries, known as the BRICS Cable. Part of the motivation for the project was revelations of spying by the National Security Agency on all telecommunications that flowed across the U.S. Pakistan, Afghanistan, Argentina, Indonesia and Turkey have expressed a strong interest in gaining full membership in BRICS, while Egypt, Iran, Nigeria, Sudan, Syria and, most recently, Bangladesh and Greece have also expressed interest in joining BRICS. In 2012, Hu Jintao, then President of China and Paramount leader, described the BRICS countries as defenders and promoters of developing countries and a force for world peace. Westerners pointed out their weaknesses, of course, but BRICS is not against anyone – rather it is in favour of the world’s diversification, true globalisation and multi-polarity. This is the first time since the Great Discoveries that power is leaning away from the West, and that is a good thing. In July 2015, in Ufa, Russia, the Seventh BRICS Summit was held under the theme "BRICS Partnership a Powerful Factor of Global Development". The Ufa Declaration followed. India will host the 8th BRICS Summit during its Chairmanship which is scheduled to take place on 15-16 October 2016 in Goa. The theme of India’s BRICS Chairmanship is Building Responsive, Inclusive and Collective Solutions. The focus during India’s BRICS Chairmanship will be on enhanced people-to-people (P2P) contacts of BRICS member states, especially youth. In this context, India has planned activities like U-17 Football Tournament, Youth Summit, Young Diplomats’ Forum, Film Festival etc.
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INDIAN POWER SECTOR
DIVERSIFIED AND EVER GROWING WHAT IS THE POWER SECTOR IN INDIA? Power is one of the most critical components of infrastructure crucial for the economic growth and welfare of nations. The existence and development of adequate infrastructure is essential for sustained growth of the Indian economy. India’s power sector is one of the most diversified in the world. Sources of power generation range from conventional sources such as coal, lignite, natural gas, oil, hydro and nuclear power to viable non-conventional sources such as wind, solar, and agricultural and domestic waste. Electricity demand in the country has increased rapidly and is expected to rise further in the
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SOURCES OF POWER GENERATION RANGE FROM CONVENTIONAL SOURCES SUCH AS COAL, LIGNITE, NATURAL GAS, OIL, HYDRO AND NUCLEAR POWER TO VIABLE NON-CONVENTIONAL SOURCES SUCH AS WIND, SOLAR, AND AGRICULTURAL AND DOMESTIC WASTE
years to come. In order to meet the increasing demand for electricity in the country, massive addition to the installed generating capacity is required. India ranks third, just behind US and China, among 40 countries with renewable energy focus, on back of strong focus by the government on promoting renewable energy and implementation of projects in a time bound manner.
MARKET SIZE Indian power sector is undergoing a significant change that has redefined the industry outlook. Sustained economic growth continues to drive electricity demand in India. The Government of India’s focus on at-
taining ‘Power for all’ has accelerated capacity addition in the country. At the same time, the competitive intensity is increasing at both the market and supply sides (fuel, logistics, finances, and manpower). The idea of “Power for all” should be observed in a deeper perspective, together with the incentive “Digital India”, and then you can grasp the size of the change that is happening in this vast and populated country.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA HAS SET A TARGET TO ELECTRIFY ALL UNELECTRIFIED VILLAGES IN THE COUNTRY BY THE END OF 2016 AND TO PROVIDE ELECTRICITY TO EVERY HOME IN INDIA BY 2020
Total capacity of renewable energy plants in India stood at 42,850 megawatts as on 30th April 2016, thereby surpassing the 42,783 megawatts capacity of large hydroelectricity projects in the country. Cumulative solar installations in India crossed the 7.5 gigawatt (GW) mark in May 2016, about 2.2 GW more than all of the solar installations in 2015. The Planning Commission’s 12th FiveYear Plan estimates total domestic energy production to reach 669.6 Million Tonnes of Oil Equivalent (MTOE) by 2016–17 and 844 MTOE by 2021–22. As of January 2016,
total thermal installed capacity stood at 200.74 Gigawatt (GW), while hydro (renewable) energy installed capacity totaled 42.66 GW. At 5.78 GW, nuclear energy capacity remained broadly constant compared with the previous year. India's rooftop solar capacity addition grew 66 per cent from last year to reach 525 Mega Watts (MW), and has the potential to grow up to 6.5 Giga watts (GW)! India’s wind power capacity, installed in FY2016, is estimated to increase 20 per cent over last year led by favourable policy support that has encouraged both independent power producers (IPP) and non-IPPs. India is expected to add nearly 4,000 Megawatts (MW) of solar power in 2016, nearly twice the addition of 2,133 MW in 2015.
GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES The Government of India has identified power sector as a key sector of focus so as to promote sustained industrial growth. Some initiatives by the Government of India to boost the Indian power sector: • The Government of India plans to set up a trading platform for clean energy, which will be jointly developed by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and Power Trading Corporation of India (PTC), to help states buy, sell and trade renewable-based power. • Mr Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy, has stated that the Government of India has set a target to electrify all un-electrified villages in the country by the end of 2016 and to provide electricity to every home in India by 2020
The Road Ahead The Indian power sector has an investment potential of Rs 15 trillion (US$ 222.36 billion) in the next 4–5 years, thereby providing immense opportunities in power generation, distribution, transmission, and equipment, according to Union Minister Mr Piyush Goyal.
The Government of India is taking a number of steps and initiatives like 10-year tax exemption for solar energy projects, etc., in order to achieve India's ambitious renewable energy targets of adding 175 GW of renewable energy, including addition of 100 GW of solar power, by the year 2022.
• The Government of India plans to start as many as 10,000 solar, wind and biomass power projects in next five years, with an average capacity of 50 kilowatt per project, thereby adding 500 megawatt to the total installed capacity. Government also asked states to prepare action plans with yearwise targets to introduce renewable energy technologies and install solar rooftop panels so that the states complement government's works to achieve 175 Gigawatts of renewable power by 2022. • The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has outlined new guidelines which allow state government to use its unproductive and non-agricultural land for solar parks, thereby minimising the use of private land and reducing the problems faced and costs incurred for land acquisition for solar park projects. • The Government of India plans to auction large sized hydropower projects, similar to the auction of Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPPs) for thermal power plants of capacity 4,000 megawatt (MW) in Sasan in Madhya Pradesh and Mundra in Gujarat, which have been setup in a cost effective manner. • The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy is implementing two national level programmes, namely Grid Connected Rooftop & Small Solar Power Plants Programme and Off-Grid & Decentralised Solar Applications, in order to promote installation of solar rooftop systems, as per Mr Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power, Coal & New and Renewable Energy. • The Union Cabinet of India approved 15,000 MW of grid-connected solar power projects of National Thermal Power Corp Ltd (NTPC).
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ŽIKICA MILOŠEVIĆ
INDIA AND THE UN
HERE FROM THE START
India was a member of the UN even before it was an independent nation, which is a rare occurrence that will never be repeated. Yet it shows the significance of this ancient nation, which is finally becoming a world leader, just as it was centuries and millennia ago
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ndia and the UN have had fruitful cooperation from the very beginning. India was among the original members of the United Nations that signed the Declaration of the United Nations in Washington. As a founding member of the UN, India strongly supports the mission and principles of the UN and has made significant contributions in implementing the goals of the Charter, and the evolution of the UN's specialised programmes and agencies. Furthermore, India was one of the original members of the League of Nations, the United Nations’ predecessor. In principle, only sovereign states can become UN members, which is one of the reasons for the dispute over the memberships of Kosovo and Palestine. However, although all
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of today’s UN members are fully sovereign states, four of the original members (Belarus, India, the Philippines and Ukraine) were not independent at the time of their
INDIA WAS A FOUNDING MEMBER OF THE UN EVEN BEFORE IT BECAME AN INDEPENDENT NATION admission. Oddly enough, Stalin decided to enlist not only the Soviet Union, but two republics too, Ukraine and Belarus, presumably because this would give the Soviet Union
three votes instead of one. This was allowed since the same was done by other World War II victors: the aforementioned Philippines was under U.S. rule at the time, while India was technically still a British colony, informally called the British Raj. This shows just how important India was, since the Britons allowed India to compete independently even in the Olympics from the start. India signed the Declaration of the United Nations on 1st January 1942 and was represented by Girija Shankar Bajpai, who was the Indian Agent-General at the time. Afterwards an Indian delegation, led by Sir Arcot Ramaswamy Mudaliar, signed the United Nations Charter on behalf of India during the historic United Nations Conference on International Organisation. Sir A.
Ramaswamy Mudaliar later went on to serve as the first president of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. India, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia were all British colonies that were given independent seats in the United Nations General Assembly. India gained full independence in 1947, however, within new borders following the partition of the sub-continent. As an independent country, India has been dedicated to maintaining international peace and security, as well as being one of the leaders in the fight against colonialism and apartheid, which marked the postWWII environment in the world. India was, as we all remember in the former Yugoslavia, a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement (the famous Tito-Nasser-Nehru “alliance”) and the Group of 77. In 1945 we celebrated liberation from fascism and Nazism, but there were still more than 750 million people living in colonised lands, including India, with many disenfranchised people living in segregated communities even under the victorious powers. India was heroic in its efforts to launch the debate about apartheid, even during colonial times. The country was among the most outspoken critics of apartheid and racial discrimination in South Africa, being the first country to raise the issue in the UN (in 1946). India is a faithful participant in UN missions across the world. It is in fact one of the largest and most consistent contributors of troops to United Nations peacekeeping missions. “More than 100,000 Indian troops have served in UN missions during the past
50 years. India today has over 8,500 peacekeepers in the field, more than twice as many as the UN’s five major powers combined,” stated Foreign Policy magazine. And this brings us neatly to another issue: a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, which was claimed by India. Delhi thinks the time is right for a step forward. In 1945, only the victorious powers received permanent seats on the UN Securi-
ty Council: the Soviet Union, the U.S., the UK, France and the Republic of China (later replaced by the People's Republic of China). India was then under colonial rule, while Japan and Germany were defeated. Now though, 70 years after the lunacy of WWII, the rest of the world thinks it is time for
a leading contributor to United Nations peacekeeping missions”. Russia supports the idea too and, of course, the G4 members support each other. According to the G4 proposal, the UN Security Council should be expanded beyond the current fifteen members to
INDIA, TOGETHER WITH JAPAN, GERMANY AND BRAZIL, SUPPORTS THE ENLARGEMENT OF THE UNSC FROM 15 TO 25 MEMBERS, WITH THE G4 MEMBERS AS PERMANENT MEMBERS, WHICH WOULD REFLECT THE NEW REALITY IN THE WORLD
things to change. The Group of Four, ‘G4’, has been formed, comprising Brazil, Germany, Japan, and India, all of which are now seeking a permanent seat on the UNSC. The United Kingdom and France support the granting of permanent seats to India and the other G4 countries. In supporting India's bid for a permanent seat on an enlarged Security Council last November, U.S. President Barack Obama cited “India's long history as
include twenty-five members. The permanent members would therefore include nine instead of five countries. However, it is also quite reasonable to include Germany, as the leading EU power, while Asia is the leader of the world now and all of the BRICS countries, except South Africa, would be included. Things are much more complicated in Asia, since there is a lot of rivalry between regional powers. As an example, in 2011 China officially expressed its support for an increased Indian role at the UN, without explicitly endorsing India’s UNSC ambitions. However, recently China expressed its support for India’s application to become a permanent member only if India revoked its support for Japan’s candidacy. Plenty of support has also come from independent thinkers. Thomas Friedman of the New York Times said in support of the bid that “India is the world’s biggest democracy, the world's largest Hindu nation and the world’s second-largest Muslim nation”, so perhaps it will actually happen one day.
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RUŽA RISTANOVIĆ
GES 2016
GLOBAL EXHIBITION ON SERVICES
Inaugural Session featuring the Hon’ble President of India, Pranab Mukherjee
The Second GES placed the services sector of the world economy in the spotlight and served as a forward-looking impulse for the services industry
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he services sector today has emerged as an agent of change for the country. This sector drives the Indian economy in an inclusive and equitable manner. It is the ‘sector of the current millennium’, in terms of generating employment, skill development, bringing in FDI, enhancing trade and boosting strategic partnerships. India has the one of fastest growing service sector in the world with annual growth rate of above 9% since 2001. The contribution of service Sector of India to overall GDP has increased sharply, from 41% in 1990–91 to 66% in 2014–15.
ABOUT GES The Government of India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry, in association with the Services Export Promotion Council (SEPC) and the Confederation of Indian In-
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dustry (CII), organised the second edition of the Global Exhibition on Services from 21st to 23rd April 2016 at the India Expo Centre and Mart in Greater Noida. The objective of this exhibition was to provide a platform to all participants, delegates, business visitors and other key decision makers from the services industry and other related industries to interact and explore new business avenues. The Second GES placed the services sector of the world economy in the spotlight and served as a forward-looking impulse for the services industry. Attendees came from all around the world and included high-level executives and influential decision makers, with 350 exhibitors from 60 countries and 18 Indian states. All events were organised in knowledge sessions, ex-
THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS EXHIBITION WAS TO PROVIDE A PLATFORM TO ALL PARTICIPANTS, DELEGATES, BUSINESS VISITORS AND OTHER KEY DECISION MAKERS FROM THE SERVICES INDUSTRY AND OTHER RELATED INDUSTRIES TO INTERACT AND EXPLORE NEW BUSINESS AVENUES
hibitions, B2B meetings, lectures and panel discussions, which provided a platform for networking with business delegations from across the world. The sectors in focus were: Information Technology and Telecoms, SME in Services, Education Healthcare, Logistics, Media & Entertainment, Professional services, Tourism and Space and Research & Development.
OPENING The three-day exhibition was opened on 20th April, with the Inaugural Session featuring the Hon’ble President of India, Pranab Mukherjee, as the chief guest. Mukherjee noted that the services sector had emerged today as an agent of change for the country and that it was driving the Indian economy in an inclusive and equitable manner. “Services sector has emerged today as an agent of change for the country. This sector drives the Indian economy in an inclusive and equitable manner. It is the ‘sector of the current millennium’, in terms of generating employment, skill development, bringing in FDI, enhancing trade and boosting strategic partnerships,” he said. Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Communication and Technology, Smt Nirmala Sitaraman, Minister of State (Independent Charge) at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Dr Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (Independent Charge) at the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation, also addressed the inaugural session. A cultural evening and dinner was held on 21st April and hosted by the Secretary of
Make in India Week 2016 As a government flagship project, Make in India has developed during the last few years, culminating with the Make in India Week that was held in Mumbai this February. The idea of the whole initiative was, as a reminder, to bring prosperity and welfare to the people of India, and thus to brand India as the world’s manufacturing hub. Let us give one example from the past: that of Swedish company Ericsson, which entered the Indian market in 1903 to make switches for the British authorities, and which today, due to its early entrance, has a pan-Indian presence and a huge network of factories and other types of enterprises. That is perhaps the reason why Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lövfen opened this year's Make in India Week, together with PM Modi, from 13th to 18th February. This was much more than another fair or show; it sparked a renewed sense of pride in India's manufacturing industry.
the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. On 22nd April there was again a cultural programme and we enjoyed a music show featuring music from all around the world, which was a great gesture by our host to say “Hello” to all participants with the music of their origins.
PARTICIPATION AND IMPRESSIONS I participated as a representative of company Color Press Group on the second day of the exhibition in the session “Global Businesses & India Opportunity in Media & Music”, during which we discussed the media and entertainment content market, trends in these industries and future happenings. The topics we discussed were: building a transnational creative strategy-orientated think-tank; facilitating international businesses in creating unique op-
portunities with India and vice-versa; curating international events/panels showcasing the new bold and contemporary face of India to the world; encouraging Indians to embrace creativity as a sustainable way of life; consulting and executing disruptive outreach campaigns for global brands. The project “Make in India” had the greatest impact on me, in which I heard about a great company from Bangalore which has more than 500 hundred employees who produce content every day for Hollywood production, animations, video content, sound and other visual effects for the most famous video games, commercials, movies, TV shows and others. My conclusion is that the exhibition aimed to promote the development of the service industry and to offer an opportunity for exchange among global enterprises to seek appropriate business cooperation opportunities.
The event created entire new avenues for collaboration between Indian and foreign companies. A special effort was made to emphasise young entrepreneurs and start-ups in India. This should represent a building block for the new generation of businessmen in India. Several new funds and initiatives were established especially for the Week, for instance, the Electronic Development Fund. New important initiatives also include E-toll for Indian Motorways and Capital Goods Policy for 2016. To best illustrate the whole scale of the Week, let us just note that more than 9,000 Indian and 2,000 foreign companies took part, with more than 900,000 visitors. More than 100 countries were represented and more than
MORE THAN 9,000 INDIAN AND 2,000 FOREIGN COMPANIES TOOK PART, WITH MORE THAN 900,000 VISITORS 8,000 meetings were arranged. The new partnerships made during the Week are those between British defence, security and aerospace company BAE Systems and Indian Mahindra, as well as the partnership between the State of Jharkhand and Adani Group to build a power plant that will send electricity to neighbouring Bangladesh. There are, of course, many other achievements of the Make in India Week. India’s credibility is today stronger than ever. There is visible momentum, energy and optimism. Make in India is opening investment doors. Multiple enterprises are adopting its mantra. The world’s largest democracy is well on its way to becoming the world’s most powerful economy. China is now bragging about being “the World's factory”, but India is taking firm steps towards taking over that title.
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ŽIKICA MILOŠEVIĆ
AYURVEDA
THE KNOWLEDGE OF LIFE
A
yurveda is among the terms that almost everybody knows these days. It is a Sanskrit word that means “life-knowledge” and which has its historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. Despite sounding like an almost poetic name, it is actually a system of medicine. Now that Indian medicine has gone global, new globalised and modernised practices derived from Ayurveda traditions are known as a type of complementary or alternative medicine. Now, following new revelations from the East that were made by hippies and the New Age movement, the Western World is ready to accept Ayurveda into general wellness applications and integrate it, thus forming a complete system of alternative medicine and advanced wellness. In reality, there are multiple diverse Ayurveda therapies and practices. However, as legend and religion puts it, “the main classical Ayurveda treatises begin with legendary accounts of the transmission of medical
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knowledge from the Gods to sages, and thence to human physicians”, so it has a kind of divine touch. There is Indian story of how Dhanvantari, “the greatest of the mighty celestial deities, incarnated himself as Divodāsa, a mythical king of Varanasi, who
THE WEST DID NOT HAVE, AND DOES NOT HAVE, ALL THE ANSWERS, AND HAS A LOT OF RATIONALITY, WHILE INDIA HAS OLDER WISDOMS then taught medicine to a group of wise physicians, including Sushruta himself”. That is why Dhanvantari is celebrated as a god of Ayurveda. Ayurveda names three elemental substances, or Doshas (called Vata, Pitta and Kapha), and states that a balance
Types of medicine that are not so orthodox gained much popularity recently, and people seem to have ever more confidence in ancient types of medicine, including Ayurveda
between the Doshas results in health, while an imbalance results in disease. In the material world there are, as mentioned, many Ayurveda therapies, which have taken a long journey to get to where they are today, having been developed and improved upon over 2000 years of practice. These therapies usually rely upon complex herbal compounds, while treatises introduced mineral and metal substances (perhaps under the influence of early Indian alchemy). This gives Ayurveda an almost mystical air and leads to two contradictory approaches: one that it is not based upon facts and is therefore non-scientific, representing the traditional academic way of looking; while the second approach states that there must be something in it, even if we don't know what. Many practices were only justified much later. So it is good to apply it, as it won’t hurt anyway. The West did not have, and does not have, all the answers, and has a lot of rationality, while India has older wisdoms.
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ŽIKICA MILOŠEVIĆ
HOMOEOPATHY
LIKE CURES LIKE
TRADITION
for
FUTURE An agent for the Himalaya products in Serbia, company A-Lek d.o.o. took part at the first ever Indian Business Forum in Belgrade
Based on his experience and the successful cooperation with The Himalaya Drug Company, Director and CEO of A-Lek d.o.o., Aleksandar Janković, MPharm, spoke on the occasion about the future of the overall collaboration between Serbia and India with a special emphasis on the pharmaceutical sector.
Although not originally Indian, homoeopathy somehow fits the Indian philosophy like a glove, so it is no wonder that World Homoeopathy Day was marked in New Delhi this April
I
t is Greek in name, German in essence er-bound book). Dilution typically continand alternative in general. Homoeopaues well past the point where no molecules thy represents a system of alternative of the original substance remain. The idea medicine that is deeply rooted in the is that any new dilution will contain the West – though of course not as deep as same features as the original, only better in a way. In homeopathy, a solution that is yoga or Ayurveda. It was proposed, devised and defined by German physicist Samuel more dilute is described as having a higher Hahnemann, based on his doctrine of “like “potency”, and more diluted substances are cures like” (similia similiconsidered by homeobus curentur), a claim that paths to be stronger and a substance that causes deeper-acting. It gained INDIA HAS A the symptoms of a disease DEPARTMENT FOR great popularity in the in healthy people would HOMOEOPATHY, 19th century, only for its cure similar symptoms in to decline and TOGETHER WITH popularity sick people. Well, it may then rise once again in the SOME OTHER sound logical, but some 20th century. The Indian “serious” scholars dismiss TRADITIONALLY government currently recRECOGNISED it as a pseudoscience, ognises homeopathy as arguing that homoeopathy one of its national systems SYSTEMS OF does indeed work, but only MEDICINE, LIKE of medicine; it has estabdue to a combination of AYURVEDA OR lished AYUSH or the Minthe placebo effect and the istry of Ayurveda, Yoga YOGA and Naturopathy, Unani, body’s natural recovery. On the other hand, HahneSiddha and Homoeopathy mann “believed the underas a separate Ministry lying causes of disease were phenomena with a dedicated Cabinet Minister. Some that he termed miasms, and that homoeostates have even included it as a stanpathic preparations addressed these”. The dalone area. The southern Indian state of preparations are manufactured using a Kerala also gives the final nod for its process of homoeopathic dilution, in which AYUSH department in which homeopathy and Ayurveda are the main streams, along a chosen substance is repeatedly diluted with Sidha, Unani and Yoga. Well, if Indians in alcohol or distilled water, each time with the containing vessel being bashed against have classified it in this way then we should an elastic material, (commonly a leathat least think twice about it!
The Himalaya Drug Company is a world-renowned manufacturer of herbal dietary supplements, cosmetic and wellness products, and pet products, based in India. The company started off as a family business and it is being run by the same family to this day. Its mission is to fuse the traditional Ayurveda medicine with the contemporary approach to therapy. After 85 years in business, the company produces efficient, tested and completely natural products. To corroborate this, it is worth mentioning that the company was granted the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certificate by the World Health Organization in 2010. Out of a wide range of products, we would like to single out dietary supplements which assist and contribute to the overall health. The dietary supplements range has over 50 products in its portfolio which are sold in over 70 countries and are endorsed by more than 300,000 doctors.
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CULTURAL HERITAGE
Holi
THE LAND OF FESTIVALS
GALDAN NAMCHOT The festival commemorates the birthday and the Buddhahood of the Tibetan saint-scholar, Tsongkhapa. All the monasteries and other buildings are lit up across Ladakh. Galdan Namchot marks the beginning of the New Year celebrations in Ladakh, which continue till the festival of Dosmoche.
HOLI Also known as the festival of colours, Holi is one of the famous festivals of India, celebrated with a lot of fervour across the country. On the eve of Holi, people make huge Holika bonfires and sing and dance around it. On the day of Holi, people gather in open areas and apply dry and wet colours
Galdan Namchot
India is a land of festivals, where people from different religions coexist harmoniously. The wide variety of festivals celebrated in India is a true manifestation of its rich culture and traditions. While the celebrations happen all over the year, October till January is the time when the country can be seen at its vibrant best
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Dussehra Durga Puja
of multiple hues to each other, with some carrying water guns and colored water filled balloons. Appears in the Coldplay video „Hymn for a Weekend“. It signifies the victory of good (Prince Prahlad) over evil (Holika) and the arrival of spring.
DIWALI Diwali, the most prominent Hindu festival of India, is celebrated with a lot of pomp and show. During this festival of lights, houses are decorated with clay lamps, candles, and Ashok leaves. People wear new clothes, participate in family puja, burst crackers, and share sweets with friends, families, and neighbours. The festival marks the return of Lord Rama, along with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana, after a long exile of 14 years. Key attractions are homes decorated with fancy lights, candles and clay lamps, bustling shops and markets, and fireworks and crackers.
DURGA PUJA
THE MOST POPULAR FESTIVAL IS HOLI, FESTIVAL OF COLOURS, IMMORTALISED IN ONE OF THE NEWEST COLDPLAY VIDEOS
Durga Puja is celebrated with grandeur by Bengalis, throughout the country. The 10 days of fast, feast, and worship of Goddess Durga are accompanied by cultural songs, dances, and dramas. Huge and beautiful Durga idols are made and placed in specially made artistic Pandals (canopies). People
dress in traditional wear and go around the pandal – hopping, praying, and feasting. It commemorates Lord Rama’s invocation of Goddess Durga before going to war with the demon king Ravana.
DUSSEHRA Dussehra, also referred to as Vijayadashami, is also among the most famous festivals of India. It is celebrated in different forms countrywide. Ramlila (enactment of scenes from Ramayana) is held everywhere for 10 days. It’s culminated with “Ravan Dahan” – the burning of huge effigies of Ravana, Meghnath and kumbhakaran which is a real spectacle to see. It celebrates the death of the demon king Ravana at the hands of Lord Rama.
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One of the important festivals of India,
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TOURISM
THE BIRTHPLACE OF GOA TRANCE
Goa is visited by large numbers of international and domestic tourists each year for its beaches, places of worship and world heritage architecture
E
very trace of Portuguese influence is quite visible here, making it an exotic place in India, where Roman Catholicism and Hinduism come together with other important Indian religions. Moreover, with a great number of nice sandy beaches and being culturally diverse, Goa naturally represents the number one spot for foreign tourists. Goa is more than an eponymous city. It is in fact an entire state within a state in southwest India, representing the smallest state in terms of area and the fourth smallest by population. However, it is by far the most popular. And it is also rich. Indeed, Goa is one of India's richest states, with GDP per capita two and a half times that of the national
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average. And, funnily enough, Old Goa, (Velha Goa in Portuguese) is no longer the state capital, although Old Goa and the historic city of Margao still exhibit the cultural influence of the Portuguese, who first landed there in the early 16th century. It is Old Goa, which is listed as a UNESCO protected cultural heritage site, that actually attracts people. Goa is visited by large numbers of international and domestic tourists each year for its beaches, places of worship and world heritage architecture.
THE FAMOUS SUBGENRE OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC CALLED GOA TRANCE WAS INVENTED HERE, AT THE LONG PARTIES AND AFTERPARTIES HELD ON THE SANDY BEACHES OF THIS BEAUTIFUL MULTICULTURAL SPOT
Old Goa is, oddly enough, so big (200,000 inhabitants in the 19th century) that it was only abandoned due to the plague. Old Goa, located 10 km from the capital, contains many well preserved churches and represents India's greatest pride. Tourism is Goa's primary industry: it receives 12% of all foreign tourist arrivals in India. Goa has two main tourist seasons: winter and summer. During winter tourists from abroad (mainly Europe) come, while in summer (which is the rainy season in Goa) tourists from across India. The beaches of Goa are famous. They were spotted by Europeans and Australians long ago, and one peculiarity is that the famous sub-genre of electronic music called Goa Trance was invented here. The music has its roots in the popularity of Goa in the late 1960s and early 1970s as a hippie capital, and although musical developments incorporated elements of electronic music with the spiritual culture in India throughout the 1980s, the actual Goa trance style did not appear until the early 1990s. There are long parties and after-parties on the sandy beaches of this beautiful multicultural spot.
RAFTING IN INDIA
THE LAND OF QUICK RIVERS, TOO India is a hot destination full of big, slow rivers, some of them sacred? Wrong! You completely forgot about the Himalaya and the steep slopes where the rivers run fast and untamed
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erfect for river rafting. River rafting in India has emerged as one of the most popular sports, with people rawing through the unbridled water and passing through parlous rapids, and that is something that only the person who is adventurer at heart realises. If you haven’t got a chance to experience this utterly magnificent water sport, then pack your bags and be ready to become adventurer this summer.
INDUS Indus is the river upon which India got its name. Nothing can be more adventurous then river rafting in Indus river- known as ‘Singhe Khababs’ or ‘Out of the Lion’s Mouth’. Offering magnetising views of Ladakh and Zanskar Ranges, rafting in Indus makes for one unforgettable experience in India. Basically the big river runs through todays Pakistan but the source and the rapid creek variant of Indus is still in India. The skill required are very basic. So anyone can do it.
YAMUNA Yamuna is a hub of river rafting in India, which is suitable for both amateur and
skilled rafters. There are two stretchesNainbagh to Juddo and Yamuna Bridge to Juddo among which Nainbagh to Juddo is most ideal for rafting. The rapid grades range between I and III which are challenging and can be dealt with little effort. Well, not for greenhorns anyway.
INDIA’S RAFTING IS A BRANCH OF TOURISM THAT HAS GAINED A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF POPULARITY DURING THE RECENT DAYS
GANGES The River Ganga, yes, the sacred Ganges, certainly offers the best experience of white water river rafting experience in India. Rafting on the Ganga can be enjoyed at Rishikesh which is nestled in Garhwal Himalaya in Uttarakhand. There are four stretches- Brahmapuri to Rishikesh (9kms), Shivpuri to Rishikesh (16kms), Marine drive to Rishikesh (24kms) and Kaudiyala to Rishikesh (36kms). The Ganges has the glory of being self-cleaning, and it is quite peculiar that the recent investigations actually confirmed the popular and religious beliefs, the Ganges is magical.
TONS RIVER Tons is the tributary of River Yamuna and is considered to be one of the most challenging places for river rafting in India. As the river meanders through the remote areas, it tells about the core culture and traditions of Uttarakhand. Tons invites daredevils to sail on its glinting waters. It is the most challenging one.
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ŽIKICA MILOŠEVIĆ
YOGA
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF YOGA Yoga has received international recognition as an important part of the world’s cultural heritage and an inalienable part of healthcare that relies on traditional knowledge that has proven to be superior
T
he International Day of Yoga, commonly and unofficially referred to as Yoga Day, has been celebrated annually on 21st June since its formal inception in 2015. Yoga was first formally internationalised through an incentive championed by Narendra Modi during his speech given at the UNGA (United Nations General Assembly), on 27th September 2014. Speaking during that session, he stated that: “Yoga is an invaluable gift of India's ancient tradition. This tradition is 5,000 years old and embodies the unity of mind and body; thought and action; restraint and fulfilment; harmony between man and nature; a holistic approach to health and wellbeing. It is not about exercise, but rather discovering the sense of oneness with oneself, the world and nature. By changing our lifestyle and creating consciousness, it can help in wellbeing. Let us work
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towards adopting an International Yoga Day.” It was later, on 11th December that year, recognised unanimously. Modi proposed the longest day of the year, since it has special significance in many cultures and has special meaning
YOGA EMBODIES THE UNITY OF MIND AND BODY; THOUGHT AND ACTION; RESTRAINT AND FULFILMENT; HARMONY BETWEEN MAN AND NATURE; A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO HEALTH AND WELLBEING (N. Modi)
for yoga. From the perspective of yoga, the summer solstice marks the transition to Dakshinayana. The first full moon after the summer solstice is known as Guru Poornima. Shiva, the first yogi (Adi Yogi), is said to have begun imparting the knowledge of yoga to the rest of mankind on this day and became the first guru (Adi Guru). Dakshinayana is also considered a time when there is natural support for those pursuing spiritual practices. The first International Day of Yoga was observed in 2015, when 35,985 people in India, including Narendra Modi and a large number of dignitaries from 84 nations, performed 21 yoga asanas (postures) for 35 minutes at Rajpath in New Delhi. This year's IDY Day has already been celebrated in many countries including Serbia. Celebrations were held with the strong support of the Indian Government.
Indian cultural manifestations in Serbia
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-01Celebration of Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti/ International Day of Non-Violence. -02Katkatha' Puppet Group. -03Classical Instrumental Ensemble "Laya Taal Samvaad". -04Bharatnatyam group led by Ms Jyotsna Jagannathan. - 02 -
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-05Guitar group led by Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt who participated in Guitar Art Festival 2016. -06Stree Shakti' percussion band led by Ms Anuradha Pal. -07Exhibition "Temple, Forts and Palaces - 2000 Years of Indian Archtitecture" by Dr Saryu Doshi hosted by National Bank of Serbia, Belgrade. -08Interactive presentation on Mahatma Gandhi by eminent speaker Birad Rajaram Yajnik.
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-09Belgrade International Tourism Fair by Incredible India. -10Belgrade International Book Fair.
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