Revisiting Neighbourhood First Policy ONLINE EVENT
NOV
17 2022
Lecture THURSDAY, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
DR SUBA CHANDRAN
P M HEBLIKAR
N SATHIYA MOORTHY
PROFESSOR NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED STUDIES (NIAS)
MANAGING TRUSTEE, ICSB & FORMER SPECIAL SECRETARY GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
CONVENOR POLICY MATTERS-CHENNAI
Synopsis At a time when the rest of the world, starting with the UN, has been hailing India’s ‘Neighbourhood First Policy’, it may be time for New Delhi to move forward, after revisiting the ground realities and strengthening the processes periodically, to make it work continuously. For instance, most approaches to Neighbourhood studies in the country are centred on the individual nation’s approach to China. In the Cold War era, it used to be the US, but the scales are much deeper and stronger when it is China – given Beijing’s aggressive and assertive policy approaches in India’s surroundings. It begins with China’s unwillingness to accept India as an equal or even a near-equal in the medium term, hence the immediate Indian Ocean Region and also South Asia as a ‘traditional sphere of Indian influence’. India too seemed to have given up the position in the post-Cold War era, with the result, multiple players, starting with the US ally, West European and other ‘Western’ friends, not to mention China, are dotting the landscape with geo-strategic claims and positions. For India to reach where it wants, that is as a great power, from being a middle, middling and meddling power, India needs to walk the talk, much more than at present and is understood.
Programme 5:45 PM Login by members/invitees 6:00 PM Welcome Address Gp Capt R Vijayakumar (Retd), VSM Executive Director, Madras Management Association Opening Remarks & Theme Address Mr N Sathiya Moorthy Convenor, Policy Matters - Chennai Address by the Speakers Dr Suba Chandran Professor National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) Mr P M Heblikar Managing Trustee Institute of Contemporary Studies Bangalore (ICSB) Former Special Secretary, Government of India Q&A 7:25 PM Vote of Thanks
Profile
Dr Suba Chandran Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) Prof. D. Suba Chandran is a Dean at the School of Conflict and Security Studies, National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bangalore, continuing to focus on the study of Pakistan and Afghanistan, working with scholars from those nations and also being part of numerous Track-II dialogues. As part of his NIAS assignment, Suba Chandran coordinates the Pakistan Reader, an academic initiative to analyse contemporary developments, edits a Daily Brief, and also a weekly, all on Pakistan. He has published essays and media analyses on the two nations, and has also visited Afghanistan to this end. At NIAS, he is heading two Programmes, one on Conflict Resolution & Peace Research; and another relating to Science, Technology and International Relations. He is also a regional representative of the Global Partnership to Prevent Armed Conflict (GPPAC).
Profile
Mr P M Heblikar Managing Trustee Institute of Contemporary Studies Bangalore (ICSB) Former Special Secretary, Government of India Mr P M Heblikar retired as Special Secretary, Government of India, in September 2010 after over 38 years of service. He is currently the Managing Trustee, Institute of Contemporary Studies
Bangalore
(ICSB),
a
not-for-profit
think-tank
specialising in security and strategic affairs, and also the cofounder of a high-end next-generation security consultancy firm, also based in the Karnataka capital. He is a ‘certified information security officer’ (CSIP) from the International Institute of Security and Safety Management, New Delhi, and has been on the board of some corporates. He is also an adjunct faculty in many universities and other academic institutions, including the Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU). During his days in the government, Heblikar specialized in insurgency and counter-insurgency developments in India’s north-eastern region and their external links. He held several important and sensitive posts in the central government dealing with external security and related issues. Since retirement, he has been writing for security and defencerelated journals and for leading newspapers and magazines regularly besides participating in seminars and workshops, both inside the country and overseas.
Profile
Mr N Sathiya Moorthy Convenor, Policy Matters - Chennai N Sathiya Moorthy is a policy analyst & political commentator, specialising in the study of India’s southern neighbours, namely, Maldives and Sri Lanka, and also on Indian politics and political systems, with particular reference to native Tamil Nadu. He has written extensively on these subjects, both as books and newspaper columns and commissioned articles. Sathiya Moorthy is associated with major newspapers and TV channels, both in India and Sri Lanka and also headed the Chennai Initiative of the Observer Research Foundation since inception in 2001. A veteran journalist and author, he is the convenor of ‘Policy Matters-Chennai’.
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