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ASIA
FELLOWS ALUMNI CONFERENCE FOR SOUTH ASIA
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COMPARATIVE
PERSPECTIVES ON ASIAN DEVELOPMENT: A VIEW FROM SOUTH ASIA
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November
7-8, 2004, New Delhi, India.
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Report
Prepared by
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Dr.
REENA MARWAH
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ALUMNUS,
COHORT 4, ASF
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Thematic Session II – Politics and International
Relations Introduction The first –ever ASIA Fellows Alumni Conference for South
Asia was held at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi on 7th
and 8th November 2004.
Dr. Patricia Uberoi, ASF Board member Dr. Deepa Nag Haksar, ASF Board member Dr. E. Sridharan , Academic Director, UPIASI. Dr. Reena Marwah, ASF Alumni – cohort 4. The inaugural session commenced with the presentation
of bouquets by Alumni Fellows to the members of the Board of Directors
of ASF.
Dr.
E. Sridharan
thanked all the participants in his Vote of Thanks. Alluding to the
Conference of World Leaders (organized by the Hindustan Times in New Delhi
the week before the Alumni Conference), in which Dr. Kissinger and Mr.
Major were key speakers, Mr. Singh emphasized that the speakers highlighted
that the shift of the basis for power had either taken place from the
Atlantic region to Pacific region or was in the process of taking place
because both India and China are as of today promising to be the largest
hub of productivity, consumption and international trade. Dr. Anthony Reid, speaking on Building Knowledge Networks In Asia, suggested that
the mission of comprehending Asia is the anti-thesis of orientalism. ‘If orientalising’, he said, ‘is looking for
a common principle and the essence of diversity which we can highlight,
everything we begin to explain is essentially the comprehending of
the other. There is, in fact, a chaos in trying to simply catalogue
the diversity that exists.’ Delineating the
importance of science and democracy, he added a word of caution about
their inherent explosiveness, as witnessed through wars in European history. He spoke of the significance of the elements
of truth and non-violence. According
to him, ‘We have accepted that we have a diverse area and space and understanding
and respecting the otherness of the other is closely linked to the aspects
of truth and non-violence because of all the negative things that have
happened in the past in Europe and because of the sheer exhaustion of
all the conflicts that have taken place, they have gone down that path
of accepting each other’s validity, legitimacy and diversity than some
other parts of the Euro-Asian mass. Thus, it is the acknowledgement of
diversity that helped Europe to comprehend itself in the last 50 years.’ Outlining the
different religions in Asia and acknowledging their immense contribution
to the comprehension of Asia, he also highlighted the role of languages
as Pali and Sanskrit in uniting the people of Asia and helping them comprehend
the variety of cultures and civilizations. In conclusion, he stated, ‘We must use
this opportunity to build more partnerships, collaborations, information
rich societies and knowledge communities. Let us ‘receive the light and
pass it on’. Dr. Wang Gungwu, Chairperson,
ASF, in his Chairperson’s address, referring to the speeches made by his
predecessors said that, ‘ we have been reminded of how the process of recognising Asia had commenced
when Nehru held the first Asian Relations Meeting and how it did not work
for a long time.’ According to Dr. Wang, Dr. Tony
Reid had explicitly explained the reason, which was that divisiveness
was brought into the region from outside by the imperialists and the fact
that the cold war perpetuated that divisiveness and delayed the coming
together of nations as they were rediscovering themselves.
‘The end of the cold war,’ he added, ‘has created a different international
environment.’ In his opinion,
although there was a single superpower, yet it was for the Asian communities
to realize that the superpower cannot do everything and therefore, in
Dr. Wang’s words,
‘ the superpower offers opportunities in Asia to see where they can hope
to construct a world where Asia can contribute to a peaceful world and
there is enough divisiveness around for us to try and correct and change
the world in some positive way.’ He concluded
with words full of inspiration – ‘May be we have a better chance for the
Asian Relations Conference of the future to produce something really new.’ Thematic
Session I – Economics and Allied Disciplines The
first thematic session was chaired by Mr. C. M. Bhandari
, Additional Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, Govt. of India .
Speaking on the historical links between India and ASEAN,
Mr.
Bhandari said that India had emerged not only as a major trading partner
of the East Asian countries, but also a Dialogue Partner. A manifestation of the Look East policy of the Government
of India was the forthcoming India – ASEAN Car Rally. As Mr. Bhandari
explained, “on 23rd November, 2004 a caravan of 70-80 cars
will drive through the Northern route to Thailand and will enter Vientiane
in Laos on 30th November 2004 to coincide with the ASEAN Summit. This will create an understanding and awareness
that we can travel by road. That
is the kind of future we can hope for we are getting a lot of support
from industry.” Concluding on a note of optimism and elucidating the
potential between India and ASEAN, Mr. Bhandari added, ‘we can have a
Free Trade Area for which we must increase connectivity so that by 2011
we could have an FTA between India and 5 members of ASEAN’. The
paper presentations commenced with Anoma Abeyaratne’s paper presentation
titled, Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction: Lessons from The next paper presentation by Rajagopal Dhar Chakraborty
focused on Ageing and Demographic Changes in China. With
facts and figures, his paper brought out the need for a pro-people government
orientation with the development and introduction of innovative schemes
that would help the aged in their post-retirement period. Mohd. Jahangir Alam Chowdhury was unable to present his paper titled - Microcredit Program of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, as he was unwell. His paper
had been submitted and will be included in the Proceedings of the Conference.
Sukhpal Singh presented a paper titled - Contract Farming in Thailand
The paper examines the role of the state and its agencies in the promotion
of contract farming for agricultural development in two Asian countries
i.e. Thailand and India. It concludes
with lessons for contract farming policy in India for better performance
of contractual arrangements with focus on the nature and quality of the
role of the state in such situations.
The
last paper presentation of the morning was by Mohammed Golam Robbani.
His paper titled - The Debate on the Extension of MFA Quota Beyond
2004, suggested a search for alternatives to the quota phase-out
in support of less developed countries, without jeopardizing the multilateral
trading system under the World Trade Organisation. Thematic
Session II – Politics and International Relations Meghna Guhathakurta in her paper
titled, The role of Migrant Capital in two
Asian countries : a comparative approach , concluded by asserting the importance
of cross –regional studies in analyzing the role of migrant capital for
State policy and for understanding the intrinsic ethnic characteristics
of communities. She also acknowledged that older forms of ‘social capital’ are
shifting. Their relevance for explaining business practices may be declining.
Family networks however still exist but more to help accommodate and adapt
to rapid social change rather than to transmit and perpetuate age-old
cultures and values. The next paper presentation by Maneesha Tikekar titled
: Islamizing a Muslim Nation,
emphasized on the need for distinction between people, nation and state.
The Pakistani experience, she stressed, gave a loud and clear message
that religion alone did not provide the basis for building a modern nation.
It was necessary to identify and incorporate all the multiple identities,
which an individual identifies and lives with into nation building efforts. Lipi Ghosh speaking on Tai-Ahom Historical Linkages : The Notions of Shared Culture and Contemporary
Indian Interaction into Chinese and Southeast Asian Panorama, asserted the imperative for China to be included in the Ledo-Bhamo-Dali
Growth Triangle, which in her opinion, would eventually result in an economic
grid across the whole of Mainland Southeast Asia. Swaran Singh in his paper
titled – Post-Pokharan II Sino-Indian
CBMs discusses the key elements of confidence
building before pointing out the finer points of CBMs in India – China
and India-Pakistan relations. Assessing the effectiveness of Southern
Asian CBMs, he concludes that these need to be measured in relations to
their challenges as also in view of the available political will on the
part of the power elite. The session concluded with
a vote of thanks by Reena Marwah. Meeting of the ASIA Fellows to discuss the Post - Conference Initiatives
Dr. Pratyoush Onta
, Nepal – President. Dr. Asad Sayeed ,
Pakistan – Vice President Mr. Md. Golam Robbani,
Bangladesh - Vice President Dr. Ms. Reena Marwah,
India – Secretary General Dr. Ahmad Hassan Didi,
Maldives – Joint Secretary Dr. Ms. Anoma Abhayaratne
- Joint Secretary Dr. Sanjay Sharma,
India – Treasurer Dr. Meghna Guhathakurta,
Bangladesh – Member, special country representative Dr. Sudhindra Sharma
, Nepal – Member, special country representative Dr. Maneesha Tikekar – Member, special country representative
Thematic
Session III – Session on papers pertaining to Art, Culture and Religion
The
participants were addressed by : Dr. Dil Afroze Quader, Dr. Zuo Xuejin Dr. Deepa Nag Haksar Dr. Lourdes Salvador Dr. Dil Afroze Quader, Member of the Board of ASF, in a Special address,
advised the Fellows to aim at Asianising Asia by trying to find the commonalities,
within the diversity of the vast Asian region. Asserting the importance
of the preservation and usage of regional languages, she said, ‘We seem
to be losing part of our languages because of computerization and for
that we have to learn English. However,
with English, we are losing out on our variety. She implored the Fellows
to identify possible ways through which
this process could be brought to a halt.. What was particularly
noteworthy according to him was that Indian scholars are paying more attention
to China’s development and the development of Sino-Indian relations.
In the same way Chinese scholars are also paying attention to India’s
development and Sino-Indian relations. Speaking on the potential for
mutual cooperation between India and China, he added, ‘I am not an expert
on China – India relations, but I know that both India and China are the
two great countries with a long history of recorded civilization. Today,
together add up to 40% of the world’s population.
They will play an important role in world peace and prosperity
too. In spite of tremendous cooperation among the two countries, I feel
that they are less understood by each other than they should be. Scholars
in the region should help to promote mutual understanding.’ In
the capacity of Executive Vice President of Shanghai Academy of Social
Sciences, he offered support to Indian scholars and scholars from other
South Asian countries for their studies in Shanghai. Dr. Deepa Nag Haksar, in her
address highlighted the need for research in areas of humanities and social sciences encompassing art
and imagination. In her words,
‘I think the human mind remains completely incomplete, despite all our
theories of artificial intelligence.
We would know nothing about communication, interpretation symbols,
our culture, our life styles, our experiences, if we did not have imagination
as a very important part of the human mind. Reflecting on the significance
of normative questions, she added, ‘The world of normative analysis comes
from humanities, the descriptive science and scientific analysis which
have a huge amount to offer.’ ‘That’, she asserted is the foundation of
all that we are building, ‘but over and above that it is most important
to ask ourselves - what is right about development ? What is wrong about development ? Why are we choosing the path that we are choosing?
We cannot interact within the Asian region or Asia interact with other
regions, without asking ourselves and others what is right and what is
wrong and where we have free choices and where we do not have free choices.’ She concluded by pointing out that almost all the papers
without using the word ethics had actually referred to mainstream ethics. Dr. Lourdes Salvador, in her
address as Executive Director of the ASF program reiterated the imperative
for continuing the process of networking among the scholars of the ASIA
fellows program through incorporation as a legal entity. Explaining the interest of the Board of Directors
of the ASF in promoting the work of the Fellows, she urged the fellows
to utilize the existing and potential opportunities for continuing research
and furthering the understanding of issues pertinent to Asianising Asia.
Dr. Patricia Uberoi, in her chairperson’s opening
remarks said that as an anthropologist she loved symmetries. She outlined the need for questioning the entire
concept of Asianising Asia. According to her, ‘The more palpable underneath
is obviously ‘What is Asia’ ? We are all within Asia but there are nation
states just as in the rest of the world. There are inherent tensions between essentialising nation states
on the basis of civilizations and recognizing their internal diversity
and pluralism.’
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ASSOCIATION
OF ASIA SCHOLARS
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A
Society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (Regn. No.
S54171 of November, 2005)
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Tel
: 0091-11-25743074, Mobile: 9810824350, 9811316503 : E-mail:aassouthasia@gmail.com
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