Lecture on ‘India’s Policy towards South Asia in 21st Century’ at DAV College

Amritsar, Aug. 24 (Punjab Post Bureau) – An extension lecture on ‘India’s Policy Towards South Asia in 21^st Century’ was organised by the Department of Political Science, DAV College, Amritsar. Dr. Rajesh Kumar, Assistant Professor, School of Social Sciences, Guru Nanak Dev University was the resource person. Dr. Rajesh Kumar, Principal of the college and Prof. Surinder Kumar, Head of the Department and Dr. Gaurav Sharma, Assistant Professor extended floral welcome to the resource person and honoured him with shawl and momento. Former Heads of the Department of Political Science (now retired) Prof. M.R. Chopra and Prof. R.K. Kaushal were also welcomed during the event.

Speaking on the occasion, Principal Dr. Rajesh Kumar welcomed all the participants and other dignatries in his address and he also highlighted the relevance of the topic in this highly dynamic global world characterised by complex and sometimes cordial and at times strained relations between India and her South Asian counterpart’s especially Pakistan.

Prof. Surinder Kumar, Head, Department of Political Science also welcomed all the participants. He also told that the department organises such events and healthy discussions regularly for the students keeping in view the overall development of the personality of the students.

The resource person Dr. Rajesh Kumar discussed in detail the change in nomenclature of the region from Indian Subcontinent to South Asia. He traced out the commonalities and the dissimilarities between the various countries of this region- India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. Then the guest speaker discussed in detail the major doctrines of India’s Foreign Policy since the post-World War II period like the Indira Doctrine, the Gujral Doctrine etc. Then he put up before the audience, the analytical review of the Indian Foreign Policy during the different eras after Indian Independence. He minutely discussed the fissiparous and centrifugaltendencies prevalent in the South Asian region which have resulted in the strained relations between Indian and her neighbours in the region.

Highlighting upon the changed world order characterised by post-globalisation, unipolarity to multipolarity and the shifting of the focus from hard power to soft power, the resource person hailed the need of cooperative and coordinated efforts on the part of all South Asian countries for possible solutions to the global problems like the terrorism, climate change and environmental degradation etc. The lecture was followed by queries from the audience. The students of the undergraduate classes and the NCC Cadets actively participated in the event. In the last, Prof. Surinder Kumar presented the ‘Vote of Thanks’.

The lecture was also attended by Prof. B.S. Bal, Prof. SudhirPassi, Dr. RituArora, Prof. Preeti Kamra, Prof. Renu Sharma,Dr. Renu Chauhan,Dr. K.S Arya, Prof. Rajesh Mittu, Prof. Sardara Singh and Prof. Gurwant Singh.