It has been 64 years since the launch of the world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1 that officially marked the dawn of humanity’s ever-growing fascination with exploring the vast reaches of outer space. From launching manned missions, orbiters, exploratory probes to landers and rovers, in the matter of a few decades mankind has made significantly great strides in space exploration.
The Vivekananda International Foundation organised a Virtual Book discussion on "Harnessing the Trade Winds: The Story of the Centuries‐Old Indian Trade with East Africa, using the Monsoon Winds" authored by Blanche Rocha D’souza on the 08th of November 2021. The event was chaired by Dr Sreeradha Datta, Centre Head & Senior Fellow, Neighbourhood Studies, VIF.
Vivekananda International Foundation organized two think tank interactions and two expert group meetings through webinars on events and topics in the month of November 2021. The think tank interactions were with premier counterparts in USA and in Taiwan. The expert and interaction groups provide layers of understanding and contextualized the present discourse from an Indian perspective.
Uzbekistan held its Sixth Presidential Elections on October 24, 2021, where the author had participated as an International Observer from India. During the visit to Uzbekistan, one also had an opportunity to have a discussion with Uzbek Think Tanks, which are partner institutions of Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF). Given below is the report on salient points of discussions with Uzbek Think Tanks on India-Uzbekistan bilateral relations, SCO, connectivity, Afghanistan, and India-Central Asia historical relations. I. Presidential Elections
Random Thoughts 2021 touches upon unusual range of subjects, namely from emerging civilisational, religious and historical issues; to out-of-the-box suggestions for astronomy-based education for conflict avoidance, to how liberal democracies are short-termist as compared to long-termist autocratic China; to how the liberal and civilisational democracies like India are different, to how Indian democracy is under threat both from autocratic China and Western liberalism; to how market economics is distinct from market societies, to contemporary geopolitical, geo-economics, geo-strategic issue
Vivekananda International Foundation organized four expert groups and one Vimarsha through webinars on events and topics affecting India’s interests worldwide in the month of October 2021. The expert and discussion groups provide layers of understanding and contextualized the present discourse from the past for the future. The diversity of the expertise of each of the members of the expert and discussion groups brought rich flavor and knowledge on the topic through their varied professional backgrounds (military, diplomacy and academia).
This paper seeks to investigate the factors that allowed China to emerge as a major player in the Oceania. The paper argues that the traditional powers in the region, the ANZUS, have viewed the region predominantly through the geostrategic lens and in the process, have ignored the core concerns of the Pacific States and instead securitized the region driven by their narrow strategic goals, creating a vacuum and a readymade ground for China to step up and assume a gradually increasing influential role in the region with relative ease and without any credible resistance.
Long before the Christian era, Indians had the knowledge of monsoon winds. And Indians started sailing, not only before the European explorers of 14th centuries and around, but Indians sailed even before Hippalus, the Greek mariner, famous for discovering the monsoon winds. In fact, the people of Indus Valley Civilisation were already using seasonal monsoon winds also known as trade winds and currents for maritime trade and navigation since 2500 BC, or even before.
To discuss the trends in Indo-US relations and the potential trajectory of the bilateral partnership, the Vivekananda International Foundation organised a virtual Vimarsh on 29 October. The opening remarks were made by the VIF director Dr. Arvind Gupta. A detailed presentation on the theme was made by career diplomat Amb. Arun K Singh who has previously served as the Indian ambassador in the US, France and Israel. He is currently a member of the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) as well as a distinguished fellow at VIF. Trends in Indo-US Relations
The ubiquitous iPhone is perhaps the most commonly cited example used to showcase the globalized nature of supply chains. Starting from its design process in California, US, the complex supply chain for its production and assembly spans 43 countries across 6 continents. For instance, the chip inside the phone is designed in the US, fabricated in Taiwan, tested in Philippines and assembled into the final product in China by a Taiwanese company, Foxconn.