mail@indiafoundation.in

Aakrosh Journal

RESURGENCE OF AL-QAEDA

A video released on jihadist forums by al-Qaeda declared that the road to victory in Kashmir lies through attacks on big Indian cities; if big cities are targeted, India will be forced to seek a compromise on Kashmir. To achieve this goal, a strong organisation is required which all South Asian Muslims must support to turn India into a war zone. A new organisation, called al-Qarar, on the other hand, appealed to al-Qaeda to pledge support to Islamic State through a video that appeared to have been released from the Jamia Masjid area of Srinagar, where Islamic State flags have often been seen during protest marches. In another interview, al-Qaeda asked jihadists to turn the entire subcontinent into an Islamic region – a tall order indeed
At present, there is no visible presence of al-Qaeda in India, but our intelligence agencies should be on the lookout for small, hidden cells and supporters that should be neutralised
before they proliferate.

Aakrosh Journal

Pakistan has been using Special Forces to train irregulars to wage a well planned proxy war in Kashmir for decades. Pakistan’s surrogates operating in J&K were equipped with high-calibre, sophisticated weapons and remote controlled devices, giving them the capability to attack security forces operating in the Valley, including the army. They gradually developed ways and means to draw the army in a long-drawn low-intensity conflict.
Sponsored terrorism, along with subversion, has assumed the shape of a hybrid conflict in the last two decades. Alienation of people from the mainstream reached a new height
after 2014, when Pakistan mobilised mosques and other Kashmiri religious tanzeems and their cadres to propagate radical Islam in the Valley. Their network grew rapidly and soon established firm links between the domestic religious groups and their sponsors in Pakistan on both sides of the Line of Control.

Aakrosh Journal

Alienation of the common man was not the cause of turmoil in 1990, as projected by many studies; the turmoil was wholly orchestrated by Pakistan and mismanaged by a government which understood very little about the conspiracy that confronted it. But as it
was an unnatural by-product of Pakistani planning, it would have died a natural death in a short course of time but for mishandling of the situation by the J&K government.

Aakrosh Journal

Persistent terrorist attacks in London, the daring attack on the Iranian parliament, the war being waged in the Philippines by supporters of the Islamic State (IS), and sporadic terror-related violence in various European capitals have shown the vast reach of Islamic terrorism. Moreover, the violence by Islamic groups in Nigeria and Libya and inroads of Islamic groups into Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh indicate an expanding torrent of Islamic terror despite its defeat in Syria and Iraq. The prospects of defeat in west Asia has made no dent on the IS-sponsored terrorism network across the world. It is also clear that at present there is no immediate remedy available for controlling the rising tide
of Islamic terrorism.

Aakrosh Journal

According to a Global Terrorism Index (GTI) report, which provides a comprehensive Summary of the key global trends and patterns, over 80 per cent of the fatal casualties since 2013 have occurred in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. These casualties, however, were generally caused by local terrorist groups before the advent of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The ISIL has emerged as the most potent threat of terrorism to most countries of the civilised world, with its overt or covert supporters across the world. Despite the recent decline in the fortunes of the ISIL in Syria and Iraq, there is likely to be no great change in the global situation in the near future.
The ISIL has plans of future expansion in Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Palestine, and southern Turkey. Moreover, it is trying to get a foothold in several African and south and central Asian countries.

India – Seychelles: The Growing Co-operation

While visits by Heads of states and governments are not new to the diplomatic corridors of Delhi, this visit of the President of Seychelles Danny Antoine Rollen Faure grabbed all the eyeballs. The reason being the hanging fate of India’s joint military base at the Assumption Islands.While the discussions do not seem to have materialisedas far as the Assumption Islands are concerned, the larger ambit of India-Seychelles ties has only grown in stature.

What is the matter?

Prime Minister Modi as a part of his Indian Ocean sojourn visited the island nation of Seychelles in March 2015. As an outcome of the delegation level talks led by the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and the then President of Seychelles James Michel, both the governments reached an agreement to enhance infrastructural facilities at the Assumption Islands[i]. A coastal surveillance radar system was installed by the Indian government in 2016[ii].

The agreement was then revised and agreed to by both the governmentsin 2018. However, the deal did not come into force as it wasn’t ratified by the Parliament of Seychelles where the coalition of opposition parties opposed it. Unlike India, the opposition enjoys a majority in Seychelles parliament.

Significance of the Joint Military Base

Assumption Islands are located in the outer group of the 115 islands that make up the boundary of Seychelles, lying north of Madagascar. A joint military built up would have been in the region’s larger geo-strategic interest and in countering the growing menace of piracy off the Mozambique coast which is also the most important channel for trade destined for and from the Indian Ocean.

However, disappointments did not plague the visit and enough warmth could be seen amongst the two premieres.

Post the review of the wide ranging cooperation between the countries on issues of defence and strategic partnership, the Prime Minister announced a 100 million USD line of credit for the Government of Seychelles. This credit being extended by the Indian establishment could be used by the Seychellois government to enhance its military and naval capacity by using it for the purchase of defence equipment from India.

A Dornier maritime reconnaissance aircraft was also handed over by the Prime Minister of India to the visiting President. The Dornier aircraft is a second of its kind machine to be gifted by the Indian establishment to help Seychelles in monitoring its 1.3 million sq. km of Exclusive Economic Zone. The machine is a state of the art aircraft which has the ability to detect any movements on the surface of the sea with enough capacity to apprise the operators of the size of the fleet moving on the surface. In some cases, the aircraft has also been able to decipher ship to ship transmissions.

Addressing the Shangri-La dialogue earlier this month in Singapore the Prime Minister of India had re-iterated his commitment to build economic and military capabilities of India’s friends and partners to ensure the collective security of the region.

The military and naval assistance being rendered to Seychelles is in furtherance to the Indian government’s efforts to ensure free, open and inclusive Indian Ocean Region which has been recapitulated in its policy of Security AndGrowth for All in the Region (SAGAR).By engaging all stakeholders and littoral nations of the region, the Indian government is trying to promote safe and inclusive growth across the waters of the ocean. At the same time, the government is also cautious of China’s presence at Hambantota in Sri Lanka and Gwadar in Pakistan. China is alleged to have been building a string of pearls around the Indian peninsula to beat the Malacca Dilemma in case of India’s growing leadership and influence in the region.

Much like the ambit of this bilateral relationship, the assistance extended by the Indian government to strengthen Seychelles’ defence capabilities too was wide ranging. Capacity building was not restricted to technical and infrastructure fronts only but also included an agreement on the technical training of both civilian and the defence personnel of Seychelles to increase its human development capacity. Indian specialists will also be sent on deputation to render their assistance and expertise in the successful implementation of Seychelles’ National Development Projects.

Historian, Diplomat and Professor K M Pannikar had said “The future of India will undoubtedly be decided on the sea. It is indissolubly connected with developments in the Indian Ocean”[iii]. The present scenario building up around the shores of the ocean is proving his words to be true. The future of not only India but the entire region is being decided by the ripples of the ocean and the Indian government is leaving no stone unturned in ensuring that the tides are nothing but favourable.

(Deeksha Goel is a Senior Research Fellow at India Foundation. The views expressed are personal)

[i]http://mea.gov.in/outoging-visit-detail.htm?24895/Prime+Ministers+media+statement+during+his+visit+to+Seychelles+March+11+2015

[ii]http://www.seychellesnewsagency.com/articles/4828/New%20coastal%20radar%20system%20means%20better%20safeguards%20for%20Seychelles,%20official%20says

[iii]Panikar K M, India and Indian Ocean, 1945, George Allen and Unwin Ltd; Pg 16 last seen on June 25, 2018

 

 

 

 

Is India losing its ownership of yoga?

While on a holiday in Kenya last year to witness the Great Migration and spot the Big Five in action, I noticed a group of people, possibly Europeans, doing asanas at our hotel. While aware that yoga had spread far and wide from its birthplace in India, I was amazed to see it had become an integral part of their daily routine. Indeed yoga is India’s wellness gift to the world. By de-emphasising the religious aspects, yoga has permeated borders and gained multicultural acceptance for its health benefits, both physical and mental.

Some airports like Frankfurt, Dallas and Heathrow offer yoga mats for practitioners. Even Ayurveda, another wellness export from India, never gained the kind of mass acceptance that yoga has.
This global acceptance is India’s soft power, evidenced by the passing of the UN resolution 69/131 co-sponsored by 177 countries. During the first International Day of Yoga in 2015, every UN country, except Yemen, celebrated the occasion. This translates to 192 country ‘hearts’ won! India deserves to pat its back.
The growth in the practice of yoga has been phenomenal.

While there are no official numbers, it is estimated that at least two billion people practice yoga. Unlike America’s and even China’s institutionalised soft power strategy that actively pushes its culture abroad, the growth in the practice of yoga has been organic. American soft power has sometimes been intrinsically linked with its economic goals and its culture is often seen as imperialist. Yoga on the other hand is not seen as a threat to local identities. If anything, yoga, especially in the West, is in threat of being metamorphosed from the ancient pristine practice into unrecognisable weird forms—beer, dog, goat, nude, hot and aqua yoga. Moreover, as yoga becomes a victim of cultural capitalisation, India stands the risk of slowly being removed from the branding and cultural portrayal of yoga.

But is India losing its ownership of yoga? No. It has just not tapped the commercial aspect of yoga. If India can produce entrepreneurs who can compete with brands like Lululemon and Nike to manufacture yoga merchandise, it can regain its market share, for no story sells better than the word ‘authentic’. The Centre is in fact actively owning yoga as its own by sending yoga teachers abroad, publishing a Common Yoga Protocol, organising roadshows and yoga classes at embassies and leading the yearly celebrations on June 21. It is clear that yoga is a brand—an Indian brand. And it is India’s biggest gift to the world.

 

Shreya Challagalla is a Research Fellow at India Foundation. The article originally appeared in The New Indian Express on 21 June, 2018.

Why yoga’s influence is growing in Putin’s Russia

One of the first names that comes to mind in relation to the word “yoga” is Swami Vivekananda and distinctively so. It was in Boston, USA, that he first spoke about India’s gift to the world. When introducing yoga to the West then, Swami Vivekananda elucidated that in addition to physical posturing, yoga is about strengthening the mind. The Bhagavad Gita, too, states that “yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self” and refers to all forms of yoga such as Karma Yoga (path of action), Bhakti Yoga (path of devotion) and Jnana Yoga (path of knowledge), in addition to physical posturing (Raja and Hatha Yoga).

For Swami Vivekananda, yoga is “for the worker” and it is “a union between man and the whole of humanity; to the mystic, between his higher and lower selves; to the lover, a union between himself and his God of love; to the philosopher, it is a union of all existence.”
In an article on yoga a few years ago, TIME Magazine made an observation that “while the East treats the man, the West treats the disease.” Learned Indian scholars have pointed out that the core underlying thread of Indian civilization is happiness, which makes understanding one’s inner self and connecting with spirituality as key. The core of spirituality is examining each and every experience and knowing exactly what one is searching for. Any form of yoga in all certainty helps one do that.

Swami Vivekananda said that in addition to physical posturing, yoga is about strengthening the mind.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in addition to calling yoga “a passport to health assurance” rightly defined it as a journey “from I to we”, thus symbolizing the journey of oneness. In his address to the United Nations General Assembly he said that “yoga is an invaluable gift of ancient Indian tradition. It embodies unity of mind and body, thought and action, restraint and fulfillment, harmony between man and nature and a holistic approach to health and well-being. Yoga is not about exercise but to discover the sense of oneness with ourselves, the world and nature. By changing our lifestyle and creating consciousness, it can help us to deal with climate change”.
The United Nations resolution on International Day of Yoga (IDY), aimed at promoting healthy societies, was passed within 75 days of the Indian Prime Minister’s speech. The resolution was also co-sponsored by a record 177 countries. From Swami Vivekananda positing yoga as India’s composite soft power, to Oprah Winfrey hosting a dedicated show on it, to yoga being an integral part of the annual White House Easter Egg Roll on South Lawn since 2009, yoga has come a long way in linking the ancient wisdom of the East to the contemporary needs of the West.
In India, there are possible policy decisions that clearly point out that yoga is not just to be celebrated on one day of the year as an event, but can and must be transformed into a movement. Introduction of yoga parks and possible executive education courses on yoga and meditation at the legendary Nalanda University, are some examples of how this is being achieved.

PM Modi called yoga the journey from ‘I to We’. Photo: PTI
Having said that, since the inception of IDY, the gift has spread far and wide to several countries uniquely and superbly showcasing India’s soft power. Even in countries where there was less participation and fanfare expected, like in Russia for instance, yoga has enthused a lot of excitement. In 2015, events to commemorate IDY were held at 244 venues in 80 cities in almost 60 regions of the country with close to 30,000 people participating. This liking for yoga however cannot be attributed to IDY alone. In fact there have been many organisations which have mushroomed in Russia that are taking yoga to the common man.

Russia has produced the likes of the legendary Indra Devi, also known as the first lady of yoga amongst her followers. She was responsible for teaching yoga in many countries, Argentina being one of them. In pursuit of embracing yoga, Indra Devi is said to have visited India and learnt yoga in Tamil Nadu from the Theosophical Society. She is also credited to have acted in Sher-e-Arab with the famous actor and film-maker Prithviraj Kapoor.
As per the Russian web portal, Russia Today, “1 in 3 Russians practise yoga today. According to some estimates, over 90 yoga studios in 70 Russian cities now offer yoga classes and workshops to all.” The portal goes on to add that there are close to three hundred thousand people in the country practising various types of yoga.

The Russian quest for understanding oneself through yoga and spirituality with an Indian lens is not a new phenomenon. PC: Agency
In 2008, Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev, then President, tried to popularise yoga. This is said to have contributed to several yoga centres and schools coming up in several regions of the country. Even Russian President Vladimir Putin once said that yoga “cannot fail to attract”. Boris Yeltsin’s wife, NainaYeltsina, was known to practice yoga daily and encouraged all Russians to do the same.
The Russian quest for understanding oneself through yoga and spirituality with an Indian lens is not a new phenomenon. This can be traced back to the time when the Iron Curtain fell and spiritual thought began to be accessed. Indian spiritual giant Sri Aurobindo’s literature began to find deep resonance amongst the minds of the people. Academics in Russia soon began to translate some of Sri Aurobindo’s works for the benefit of those interested.
On the other hand, there have been several Russian philosophers who have persistently worked to bring Russia and India closer. One such name that resonates until this day is Nicholas Roerich, the painter and philosopher who spent his final days in the Kullu valley and who continues to be famously known for his Buddhist paintings which have been duly preserved.
The article is authored by SudarshanRamabadran, Senior Research Fellow and Administrative in-charge of India Foundation’s Centre for Soft Power Studies. The article originally appeared in the DailyO on 19 June, 2018

India Foundation delegation’s visit to Germany and Belgium

India Foundation, in collaboration with Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS), is organizing a delegation visit to Germany and Belgium from June 24-29, 2018.

This delegation of experts and politicians from India will exchange views on foreign and security policy with experts, politicians and military officials from Germany and get to know key German and European security institutions.

Third Ideas Series Talk with Hindol Sengupta

The Third Ideas Series Talks will take place on 6th July, 2018 with Hindol Sengupta, an award winning author and a World Economic Forum Young Global leader. The talk will be centered on The Missing Patelian Adjective in Indian history based on his upcoming book, “The Man Who Saved India” on Sardar Vallabh bhai Patel.

Young Thinkers’ Meet

[wpc_countdown theme=”flat-colors” now=”1532534939918″ end=”60″ bg=”#fff” padding=”5″]

India Foundation is organising its 7th Young Thinkers Meet in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh on July 28-29, 2018.

Young Thinkers Meet is an annual two day conclave of young intellectuals who brainstorm over various issues of national significance. Over the years, this has been our flagship event to engage with emerging young thought leaders who can make meaningful contributions to the national discourse.

We have had six such meets in the past in different parts of India. The first such meet happened in Coorg, Karnataka with subsequent Young Thinkers Meet happening in Manesar, Haryana; Pune, Maharashtra; Panchmarhi, Madhya Pradesh; Patnitop, Jammu and Kashmir and Vadodara, Gujarat.

We have in the past discussed over themes like ‘Great Indian Dream’, ‘Impacting the National Discourse’ and ‘India-2047’. This year the theme for the Young Thinkers Meet will be ‘New Age Leadership’.

India Foundation-Fudan University Interaction

[wpc_countdown theme=”flat-colors” now=”1532535072300″ end=”156″ bg=”#fff” padding=”5″]

The fifth round of bilateral interaction between India Foundation and Fudan University is scheduled from 01-03 August 2018 in Bihar and New Delhi. The theme of this year’s interaction will focus on “India-China Relations in the New Era”.

Indian Ocean Conference

[wpc_countdown theme=”flat-colors” now=”1532535202132″ end=”792″ bg=”#fff” padding=”5″]

Brochure

The Indian Ocean Conference initiated by India Foundation along with its partners from Singapore, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh is an annual effort to bring together Heads of States/Governments, Ministers, Thought Leaders, scholars, diplomats, bureaucrats and practitioners from across the region.
Two successful editions of the Conference have been hosted so far in 2016 and 2017 in Singapore and Sri Lanka respectively. Both the Conferences were supported by the Ministry of External Affairs of India and had participation from over 35 countries with a global media coverage.
The third edition of the Conference in being hosted by India Foundation in association with the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, S Rajaratnam School of International Studies and Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies on 27-28 August 2018 in Hanoi, Vietnam. The theme for the year is “Building Regional Architectures”.

Click Here  To Register

Fifth India Ideas Conclave

[button text=”View Schedule” link=”https://issuu.com/peerland/docs/citizens__manifesto__4x6_20″ style=”default” size=”large” target=”_blank” display=”inline” icon=”no”]

[/button]

[wpc_countdown theme=”flat-colors” now=”1532626179257″ end=”2190″ bg=”#fff” padding=”5″]

The India Ideas Conclave is an annual conclave that the Foundation organises to bring together a luminary gathering of policy makers and public intellectuals from India and abroad. Over 400 invited intellectuals, including government and corporate leaders, scholars, journalists, politicians and social activists participate in this important conclave where ideas and opinions are exchanged in a candid and scholarly atmosphere.

The first four editions of the conclave saw the participation of scholars from over 25 countries including several Heads of State and other dignitaries. Last year, the highly successful conclave was expanded in scope to include the Indic Thoughts Festival to celebrate India’s civilizational heritage.

The 5th India Ideas Conclave is scheduled to take place on October 26-28, 2018 in New Delhi. The theme of this year’s conclave is ‘Citizens’ Manifesto – Churn of Ideas’.

Location : Delhi

Date: 26-28 Oct 2018

Explide
Drag