The VIF hosted Dr. Sudhir S. Boleria, former Chief Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir and Vice Chancellor Central University of Jammu and Kashmir for a round table discussion on the situation in J&K and the way forward on 22 December 2015.
Vivekananda International Foundation in collaboration with the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) of the University of Maryland, US Embassy and Facebook organised on November 17-18, 2015, a two-day workshop on Opportunities for Public-Private Partnership in Countering Online Extremism and Recruitment. The main objective of this workshop was to discuss various means to combat the phenomenon of online recruitment into terror organisation such as Islamic State of Syria and Levant (ISIL)
Introduction The Indian state possesses a unique characteristic of a mix of peace and conflict trajectories that greatly impact its policy and execution. This is true also of its policies on and responses to the most potent threat it faces in the form of externally sponsored terrorism spreading in through its porous borders and internal terror largely on account of weak governance. Click here to read full Paper
A symposium, commemorating India’s first definitive military victory against Pakistan in 1965, was held by the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) on 11 September 2015. Military analysts, historians, and war veterans, among other distinguished participants, analysed the causes and consequences of a war that Pakistan thrust upon India soon after India’s China war debacle in 1962, ostensibly with the objective of wresting Kashmir from her.
On 30 Jul 2015, General Bikram Singh, former Chief of Indian Army & Chairman Chiefs of Staff, delivered an incisive talk, titled as ‘National Security Challenges of the Next Decade’, to a large audience, comprising academia, intelligentsia, soldiers, statesmen and students, among others, who had gathered for VIF’s monthly vimarsha, series of talks by eminent persons on issues of contemporary national importance. He was welcomed and presented to the audience by General NC Vij, former Chief of Indian Army and VIF’s present Director.
A discussion on the recently released book ‘KASHMIR-THE VAJPAYEE YEARS’, authored by Shri A S Dulat, former Chief of Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), India’s external intelligence agency, was organized at the VIF on July, 22, 2015. The programme was chaired by Shri Vijay Kapoor, IAS (retd.) former Lt. Governor of Delhi with Shri Dulat as the main speaker.
With China ostensibly scaling to new heights in military combat power every year and continuing with its assertive stance, especially around contested territories, increasingly grabbing international headlines, a Round Table Discussion was organised by the VIF on July 13th 2015, aimed at carrying out an Indo-centric realistic assessment of China’s military capabilities as also its options to use force against perceived adversaries, especially India.
The VIF held a Round Table Discussion (RTD) on ‘Energy Security for India’, on 14 & 15 May 2015. An astute panel of policy experts and stakeholders, comprising, among others, Shri GB Pradhan, Chairman, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, Shri B.K.Chaturvedi, former Cabinet Secretary and Member Planning Commission, Shri R.V.Shahi, former Secretary (Power), and Dr.
On Jun 19th, 2015, VIF hosted Lt. Gen VK Ahluwalia, formerly Army Commander Central Command, for a talk on ‘Counter Measures against Naxalism’, followed by a round table discussion. With General NC Vij, Director, VIF, presiding over the session, others who took part in the discussion included Satish Chandra, former Dy NSA, Rajiv Mathur, former IB Chief, AK Verma, former RAW Chief, Adm KK Nayyar, former Vice Chief of Naval Staff, Lt Gen RK Sawhney, former Deputy Chief of the Army Staff & former DGMI, and PK Mishra, former Additional Director General of BSF, among others.
On May 27, 2015, the VIF put together a panel of eminent policy experts on defence, comprising, among others, serving and retired high ranking military officers, senior bureaucrats and representatives from the defence manufacturing industry for a seminar on ‘Make in India’ and DPP 2013.