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DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20100305T053000
DTEND;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20100305T053000
DTSTAMP:20261109T223616
CREATED:20231223T205243Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231224T131012Z
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SUMMARY:Eminent Persons' Lecture Series - Left-Wing Extremism in India
DESCRIPTION:Venue: Seminar Hall 1\, IDSASpeaker: Mr. Gopal K. Pillai\, Home Secretary\, Ministry of Home Affairs\, Government of India \n\nOn March 5\, 2010\, as part of its Eminent Persons’ Lecture Series\, IDSA organized a lecture by Home Secretary Gopal K. Pillai on “Left Wing Extremism in India”. Pillai shared with the distinguished audience his own perspective on the Naxal movement\, which is considered to be one of the most serious internal security threats faced by India today. \nThe origins of the Naxal movement can be traced back to the 1960s when Naxalites started operating from various parts of the country. However\, Naxalism emerged as a real security threat when armed groups like the Peoples’ War Group and the Maoist Communist Centre joined hands in 2004 and formed the Communist Party of India (Maoists) — CPI (M) — to fight against the Indian state. In fact\, one of the basic objectives of the Naxal movement\, as identified by Pillai during the course of the lecture\, is the overthrow of the state in India. Naxals do not believe in parliamentary democracy and in fact consider parliament a pigsty. While projecting the state as well as its armed forces as the ‘enemy’\, the Naxal movement calls upon its members to take up arms and defeat the enemy decisively. The movement believes that the state is merely an agent of the elitist class and does not really cater to the interests of the lower stratas of society.  \nWhile discussing the methodology of the CPI-Maoists\, Pillai argued that the members of the Naxal movement initially try to infiltrate and develop their bases in underdeveloped areas where there exist some sort of an administrative vacuum. Once these bases become strong enough\, the Naxalites start expanding their influence in the surrounding areas as well. While taking advantage of the feeling of neglect among the people\, the Naxalites start educating them about their exploitation by the Indian state and how to bring an end to such exploitation through an armed struggle.  \nAccording to Pillai\, many youths get inspired by the radical ideas advocated by the Naxal movement and try to achieve these goals. However\, once they realize that the movement is not as ideal as they had initially expected\, they try to come out of it.  \nPillai also stated that the violence profile of extremism in India is going up every year. In fact the year 2009 was the bloodiest of all. He warns that the coming years will see more and more violence. This is so because the Indian state has decided not to give in to extremists’ demands and instead tackle them head on.  \nDuring his lecture\, Pillai asserted that the armed cadres and weapons of the Naxalites have been slowly built up by the CPI-Maoists. Such cadres have three basic modules. Among these\, the real armed cadre is the back bone of Naxal armed forces. At the same time\, it is also the most sophisticated one. However\, this cadre base is still used as a reserve cadre. Unfortunately\, the Indian government has not been able to catch hold of even five per cent of the real armed cadres of the Naxalite movement. While emphasizing that all the three cadres of the movement are highly modernized and well trained\, Pillai stated that the CPI-Maoists carry out excellent post mortem of their operations with military like precision\, which helps them improve their future armed operations.  \nAccording to Pillai\, since the Naxal movement does not believe in peaceful discussion and emphasizes on armed struggle\, the Indian government has not been able to bring about much results through dialogue. However\, he hopes that the Naxalites will feel the pressure within one or two years once the Indian government starts putting its act together. The desired results have not been achieved so far particularly because the police force\, which should have been in the forefront of the fight against Naxalism\, has been highly neglected and it is particularly ineffective in the Naxal affected areas.  \nPillai also threw light on certain aspects of police reforms in India. According to him\, although a huge amount has been allocated by the Finance Commission recently for the purpose of police training\, the police force is still in a pretty bad shape. In many areas\, the actual number of police personnel is much lower than the posts sanctioned. Thus\, a huge number of police posts lie vacant. According to Pillai\, at a time when unemployment is still a big issue in India\, many youths can take up the police profession.  He also mentioned that if enough youths from Naxal affected areas can be recruited into the police\, law and order can be improved in those areas to some extent. \nPillai also stated that in recent years the intelligence gathering system in Naxal affected areas has improved and that is why the government has been able to catch hold of a few CPI-Maoists politburo members in the last few months. \nWhile explaining the reasons behind the origin of the Naxal movement in India\, Pillai talked about the loopholes in the Indian forest conservation act\, the mining act\, land acquisition law\, power plant law\, etc. He personally believes that until and unless necessary measures are adopted by the government in reforming these acts\, it will not be possible to uproot the Naxal movement or any other extremist movement from India. \nWhile concluding his speech\, Pillai offered the audience a hopeful picture by stating that with the police reforms being undertaken at present\, the Indian government will be able to take control of the civil administration within 7 to 10 years and minimize the influence of the Naxal movement to a large extent.   \nThis report has been prepared by Pranamita Baruah\, Research Assistant\, IDSA.
URL:https://idsa.in/idsa-event/eminent-persons-lecture-series-left-wing-extremism-in-india
CATEGORIES:LECTURES,EVENT REPORT
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://idsa.in/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/no_photo-200x150-2.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20100308T053000
DTEND;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20100308T053000
DTSTAMP:20261109T223616
CREATED:20231223T205243Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231224T131012Z
UID:63279-1268026200-1268026200@idsa.in
SUMMARY:Eminent Persons' Lecture Series - India\, China and the United States: The Triangle that isn't
DESCRIPTION:Venue: IDSA AuditoriumSpeaker: Prof. V. P. Dutt\, Distinguished Fellow\, IDSA and former pro-VC\, University of Delhi \n \nIn the series of IDSA-organized eminent persons’ lectures\, Professor V.P. Dutt delivered his lecture on India\, China and the United States: The Triangle that isn’t  on March 8\, 2010.  \nShri N.S. Sisodia\, The Director General of IDSA\, chaired the session. He invited Professor V.P. Dutt to deliver his lecture saying that the given topic covers the relations of three countries. In the matrix of relations of these countries\, a triangle could mean either two countries uniting against one country or one country could be exploiting the mutual fears of the other two. Shri Sisodia pointed out that while some argue that a China-India-United States triangle exists\, Professor Dutt would however be arguing that this triangle does not exist. \nProfessor V.P. Dutt began by elaborating upon two overarching and continued features of Chinese understanding of statecraft\, which trace their genesis to ancient Confucian thought. He said that the Confucian thought on statecraft is marked by concern for absolute power and welfare of the public. Both are interlinked as sustenance and continuance of the absolute power or rule is contingent upon public welfare. According to this thesis\, a ruler must look after the public well; otherwise the public has the right to overthrow him. Professor Dutt argued that this remains the most enduring precept in the history of Chinese philosophy. Chinese rulers have always taken note of this principle to the best of their abilities and capabilities. Mao’s China constitutes no exception in this precept. The guiding philosophy of the present day rulers is development\, more development\, and continuous development. In their view\, only continued emphasis on development can sustain the CCP’s rule over China.  \nHaving laid down this philosophical backdrop\, Professor Dutt argued that China would remain a benign dictatorship for  a long time contrary to what many Western thinkers have predicted about development leading China towards liberal democracy. He further argued that the CCP came to power riding the crest of nationalism. Nationalism was a modern injection in the traditional framework of Confucian ideology. Thus\, today\, development and nationalism are the two guiding principles of CCP rule. And these two principles leave an imprint on China’s foreign relations also.  \nProfessor Dutt argued\, “History evolves\, so do the relations of nations.” China declared the Soviet Union\, its ideological ally\, ‘the principal contradiction’ during the Cultural Revolution and later began to look for a rapprochement with the United States. Since then\, their economic interdependence has uninterruptedly increased. China’s attack on Vietnam in 1979 made only a minor dent in their relations. But after the 1989 Tiananmen Square episode\, the United States looked around for allies perhaps thinking that it could not rely on China beyond a point. However\, neither of these two incidents could choke off the pace of growing interdependence\, nor would any other incident do in the future. Today\, the state of economic interdependence is such that neither can hurt the other without hurting itself. In a nutshell\, their bilateral relations are under the shadow of ‘financial terror’. Both countries are committed to take care of each other’s core interests but the ‘new nationalism’ in China is unhappy with the leadership for China’s overdependence on the United States. These nationalistic sentiments are accusing the Chinese leadership of being too harsh on their own people\, while being too soft with outsiders.  \nHe characterized the Sino-US bilateral relations as one of two people sleeping in the same bed but dreaming different dreams. While America wants to hold on to its present position\, many Chinese dream of their country becoming a superpower. There are differences between them and some may become even sharper. The Taiwan problem may aggravate\, so may some other economic problems.  But at the same time\, we should not blind ourselves to the fundamental nature of their relationship of economic interdependence.  \nProfessor Dutt cautioned that India should not overestimate the influence of the shared ideas of democracy on its bilateral relations with the United States. Pakistan continues to remain important to the United States. America’s close cooperation with Pakistan hurts India\, even if the United States does not intend to do so. China also plays an important role in the affairs of Afghanistan and Pakistan with the Chinese speaking the same language on the Taliban as the Americans do. He argued that the United States is not likely to make India the mainstay of its presence even in Asia\, not to speak of the world. This illusion should not cloud our understanding.  \nProfessor Dutt summed up his lecture wondering whether China will become as intoxicated by power as the United States did. The larger philosophical question he raised at the end was why every great power forgets the lessons of the past. \nReport prepared by Prashant Kumar Singh\, Research Assistant\, IDSA
URL:https://idsa.in/idsa-event/eminent-persons-lecture-series-india-china-and-the-united-states-the-triangle-that-isnt
CATEGORIES:LECTURES,EVENT REPORT
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