International Relations comprises of a gamut of themes and intertwined contours where –in, the entire gamut of Global happenings with an India centric vision happens to be the order of the day for the Centre at the prestigious premise of my IIPA. India happens to be the novae nerve centre of International happenstance and development along with the Oriental and Asiatic Pivot of Global geo-politics and geo-economics. The notion of , “ With Great Power comes great responsibility” happens to be the clarion call for New Delhi, where-in, the larger idiom of strategic autonomy, fruitful bilateral trysts in the neighbourhood and the intent to resist the traditional and quintessential regional antagonists such as Pakistan and China amidst a cesspool of dynamic International system, is the Global calling.
The Indian partnership bordering on to pragmatic and symbiotic trysts with the Great Powers such as United States, Soviet Union and China too have been earmarked as the key partnerships to be analysed and zeroed in by the IIPA’s centre. All in all the triumvirate of Trade, Technology and Diplomacy are the cornerstones of the mandate of our fledgling Centre of International Relations at “MY IIPA”.
The geo economics of global, regional and bilateral trade pacts and treaties are the foundation stones for the uphill task of global cooperation, camaraderie along with the realisation of the grandiose but practical national objective of being a move in the Regime of global trade. Hard power defined by ministry strength and espionage zeal embedded in the matrices of the Digitalia and the cyber work is still the stiff call. Still, it’s all very realistic too. Still, it’s the notion of economic diplomacy and health diplomacy in a Covid infested global ecosystem of States which rules the roost in the contemporary context. Thus, the trail of treaties all the way from the Bretton Woods Institutions to the instruments of trade and pelf through the World Trade Organization and Regimes of the order of CARICOM, MERCOSUR and BRICS, are the new definers of prosperity and peace in the larger international system.
The second appendage is that of technology where-in, the theme and fungibility of trade diffusion along with the attributes of a post industrial society and comity of nations, can be a benchmark for the community of IR scholars and Diplomatists moving askance from the traditional markers of hard power politics and zero sum games in the larger international context. The age of Infotainment and social Media’s expanse and privacy intrusions seem to be the definitional idiom of International Relations too.
The larger Umbrella practice of Diplomacy covering Nuclear negotiations, human rights negotiations, Health confabulations and the aura of Cultural diplomacy, still remains the order of the day. All in all, for New Delhi and any other nation worth its salt the bridge building with the rest of the World premised upon the sacrosanct facet of attainment and fulfilment of National Interest, are the few pointers which found the mandate of the IIPA’s Centre of International Relations. The past events and research of the IR Centre too will find a place of pride amongst the itinerary of the IR Centre.
India has always been an initiator as far as the notion of human security globally is concerned. The religious adherence to the theme of Sustainable Development Goals has been one of the foreign Policy fortes of a nation on an upswing. The targets of the order of Poverty eradication, women empowerment, labor discourse and others add on to the feathers in the cap of the international organizations which New Delhi, too, has been striving for in the larger context of sustainability and returning back to mother nature in the context of what we have usurped from her. In the earlier United Nations General Assembly gatherings, too, PM Narendra Modi has been raising the hallowed corridors of the international peace and justice. PM Narendra Modi initiated the LIFE initiative in the august presence of United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guiterres with the objective being to attain a global Green scenario.
It has been estimated by experts that even if one billion people out of the Global population of eight billion take up the onerous task of adopting a climate friendly and a Green lifestyle then there would be a drastic cutback by 20% in the total carbon emissions of the larger international system. The LIFE mission was officially introduced in the Glasgow city’s COP 26in the year 2021. It was in his words “an international movement towards mindful and deliberate utilization, instead of mindless and destructive consumption” to bring the Global system to a greener and much more sustainable future where the Santani perspective of human security goes back to the neophyte times of the yester years. The National Security Strategy of United States of America as expostulated by President Joe Biden too mentions India’s name as being the epicenter of liberal democracy and the time is ripe for India to take up a Global leadership role along with the regulating role of US and other democratic denominations in the larger world.
The G-20 Conference of nations initially was defined as primarily an economic grouping. Since the turbulence and transformation in the geo-economics of the globe, a larger and much more eclectic perspective has been adhered to by New Delhi at the crucial Bali conference. Also, significant was the Indian insistence on a no-war pact between the global comity of nations other than the impact of the Pandemic and the Ukraine conflict and the resultant penury in food and energy supply chains. Despite being an economic construct, it encompasses of elements ranging from block chain, global health architecture and emerging technologies to climate change, digital transformation and migration. Equity and inclusion are the other prominent concerns of the Bali Declaration with India assuming the novae leadership in the G 20 till 2023.
In the dance tradition of Bharat Natyam, the dancer touches the Mother Earth and the dance floor and seeks forgiveness for the manner in which disturb the land terrain underneath her feet during her dance performance. Thus, the Sanatani tradition and the Indic perspective too reverberates with and reflects the human and nature’s intertwined bondage which if applied globally can work wonders for the pelf and balance of the larger comity of nations and its myriad populations. In summation, the IIPA’s G 20 initiative will categorically take recourse to the Atharva Veda, Kand 12, which compares the Mother Earth to a Cosmic Cow and informs us without any prevarication about the willingness of Mother Earth to shower us with its gifts despite the destructive acts of the human fold Globally.
Speakers for the G 20 initiative will be called every week on academic spheres such as, Digital Transformation, life styles, skilling, Diplomacy and others adhering to the core fundamental percepts of the G 20 vision and the Bali Declaration for the APPPA and after a series of talks amounting to four on the 20th December, 2022, a panel discussion on the Indian Presidency of G 20 till 2023 will be held as a culminating exercise of the G 20 initiative of pristine IIPA.
On 20th December, 2022, the Programme will dwell upon four first four themes in a joint session of the running Training programmes along with the current APPPA batch. The seminar will follow in February, 2023 with assigned and reputed speakers such as Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin, Former Indian envoy to United Nations, Prof. Chintamani Mahapatra, former Rector and Pro VC, JNU and other notable dignitaries tentatively.