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April      Last updated: April 29,  5:00 p.m.

India : A benevolent superpower

From Our Correspondent

"INDIA and the United States, together representing a fifth of the world's population, need to get closer and work as partners not only for their respective national self-interest but for the best interest of the whole world." This was the refrain at the intensely debated three-day symposium in Manipal, organised by the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), with the assistance of the UNESCO recently.

Inaugurating the conference, Smt Jaya Jaitley, President, Samata Party, outlined the history of Indo-US ties over the past five decades and emphasised the need for proper appreciation of our views by the US. India has her own strengths and problems, she said and added that the US should come round and adopt a more pragmatic view of the Indian perspective.

Shri Joginder Singh, former Director of CBI, while speaking on "A Vision for the Future", said that we are engaged in the task of building a strong nation and regional development is not inconsistent with national development. Lauding the efforts of Manipal Academy of Higher Education, the former CBI chief cited the example of Manipal's alumni to demonstrate how Indian expertise is enriching the US society.

In his keynote address, Prof B.M. Hegde, Vice-Chancellor, MAHE, pleaded for a vigorous effort for a lasting Indo-US relationship. The question is not whether India and the US should come closer, but it is how, he said detailing how the now famous Yale University was built by the profits earned from the cotton merchants of the erstwhile Madras Presidency.

Dr Ramdas M. Pai, President of MAHE, welcomed the participants of the seminar. There is a regular exchange of students between the various universities in the US and Manipal, he said and added that such activities are actually the basis for the two great democracies to better know each other and form a strong bond of friendship for mutual benefit.

Echoing these sentiments, Prof Gary Bertsch, Director, Center for International Trade and Security (CITS) admitted that the institutions of MAHE have made a powerful impact on him. The US has gone through a process of learning in the last half century in all her rendezvous with the East, he said and laid stress on the need to know India to be able to come closer to her.

Our greatest tragedy in Vietnam was that we never understood the Vietnamese people and their culture, said Prof Bertsch to elaborate his point. Human development requires an atmosphere where working together is easy, he said, emphasising the need for India and the US to create a situation where there is better understanding and consequently better development. International partnership is a tool to build a better world averred the educationist who has co-authored a book Arms on the Market, which deals with the issue of the menace of nuclear proliferation in the former Soviet Union. The Center for International Trade and Security of the University of Georgia has done the spade work in networking experts to discuss issues of mutual concern such as terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, etc.

Eminent journalist, M.V. Kamath, in his concluding remarks at the symposium urged the panelists to discuss the various issues that confront India and the US and realise the great potential of the two countries coming together. He described his own vision of the two democracies working together for the betterment of humanity. He, however, spoke in detail on the need for the US to play the role of facilitator and not mediator, as far as the issues in Asia are concerned.

Airing his views at the symposium, Dr Richard Fisher, Asia scholar, and a security analyst spoke about the foreign policy concerns of the US and called upon the participants to prepare a statement of goals. The foreign policy activist, as he liked to call himself, Dr Fisher, outlined his views and wanted to be specific as far as the future is concerned.

Considered to be close to the decision makers in the Republican Party in the US, Dr Richard promised to carry the conclusions of the symposium to Washington.

India is important for the US in not only the economic sphere but also in planning her security projections, said Dr Fisher and made a point that prosperity cannot come without security. India, he said, with her strong and long-standing success with democracy, has already emerged as a benevolent superpower.

Shri Subhash Kashyap eminent constitutional expert and presently member, Constitution Review Committee while speaking on political institutions in the US and India stressed the point that it is important for both countries to forster the spirit of democracy around the world and encourage the fight for freedom and popular rule in the countries around us.

The speakers at the session discussed the security perspective and expressed concern over the way global politics is responding to China and Pakistan. In the background of what is going on in China-the economy undergoing a transition from socialism to capitalism-the US should be prepared for a period of turbulence with China on the issue of Taiwan, feel experts on security issues.

Shri K.P.S. Gill who spoke about common threats, discounted the theory of clash of civilizations and clearly outlined the threat to our civilization if the terrorist tendencies of certain countries are not curbed. Admiral K.K. Nayyar, Director, Center for Security Studies, and Captain Bharat Verma, Editor, Indian Defence Review also spoke about our security perspective and the need for India and the US to work out a common strategy to meet common security concerns. The session was chaired by General Satish Nambiar.

Raising issues of our concern in the economic areas, Commerce Secretary, Shri P.P. Prabhu and Dr Jagadish Shettigar, convenor of BJP's Economic Cell mentioned certain areas of disagreement between the two countries. However, according to Prof Gary Bertsch, differences over economic issues should not come in the way of healthy and strong ties between the two countries. In fact, both the US and India are undergoing social change and the economy is a no less contributory factor to this social transition, felt some of the panelists who discussed this subject.

Dr Seema Gahlaut of the University of Georgia and Shri Seshadri Chari, Editor Organiser also spoke in this session.

Summarising the three-day discussion, Shri M.D. Nalapat, Professor of Geopolitics and the moving spirit behind the symposium echoed the sentiments of all the participants and also spoke about what Dr Murli Manohar Joshi had referred to in his message to the symposium. India and the US have to forge a lasting partnership in keeping with their respective cultures, for peace and prosperity in the world.

India and the US have many things in common, from democracy to sharing a common value system, from common security perceptions to sharing a common world view; peoples of both the countries have always looked for opportunities to come together, work together and prosper really unitedly.

Political institutions and leadership in both the countries are going to be crucial in dealing with the world situation in future. What the symposium distinctly established was that the future has already arrived.

Stamp of Success

NO venue could have been better than the picturesque Manipal for holding deliberations on "India-US : Partners in Peace in the New Millennium". Situated in the rocky hinterland of the Malabar coast, near Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), is the new destination for seekers of higher education. The nucleus of 50 educational institutions and the MAHE Group's 10 hospitals forms an oasis in the vast coastal area which was, a few years ago, only a barren stretch of wasteland. It was the vision of one man, the late Dr T.M.A. Pai, physician, educationist, banker, philanthropist, scholar, that transformed the land into a virtual pilgrim centre for votaries of education.

Granted the status of deemed university in June 1993, the Manipal Academy of Higher Education has over six thousand students on its rolls. It also runs a group of hospitals with a capacity of 7000 beds, fully reflecting their mission statement, "Global leadership in human development, and excellence in education and health".