The South Asia Conference is organized by the Institute for Defense Studies and Analyzes (IDSA), New Delhi. The annual South Asia Conference is an effort of the institute to bring together experts from all neighboring countries and discuss with them issues of contemporary importance in an increasingly interdependent South Asia. Prospects for stability and growth in South Asia In its post-colonial phase, the regions of Asia, Africa and Latin America have experienced varying degrees of political, social and economic turbulence.
Of all the regions, South Asia is the one that can be considered to have a greater degree of political stability and economic growth, except perhaps the Asia-Pacific region, especially parts of East and Southeast Asia. In the last 10 years or so, the trend in South Asia has been towards greater stability and faster economic growth. In light of the fact that the countries of South Asia are of unequal size and resources, the relationships between them and the extent to which they influence each other's stability and growth become an important variable.
C ONFERENCE P ROGRAMME
DAY TWO: November 7, 2012 (Wednesday) 9.30 am-11.00 am Session IV
Profiles of Participants
Abstracts
P ALLAM R AJU
Pallam Raju was first elected to the Indian Parliament in 1989 and was the youngest member of the 9th Lok Sabha. He was re-elected to the 14th Lok Sabha in 2004 and to the 15th Lok Sabha in 2009 and until recently was the Minister of State for Defense Raksha Rajya Mantri (RRM), Government of India, in the Council of Ministers in the Government of Prime Minister Dr. Shri Pallam Raju was a very active member of the Indian National Congress (INC) party and held several important positions in the Andhra Pradesh state unit and at the national level, his last assignment being the Chairman of the Department of Policy Planning and Coordination (DEPPCO) in the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in 2004-2006.
He chaired the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, which is made up of the Departments of Information Technology.
B RIG . (R ETD .) R UMEL D AHIYA
Political Stability in South Asia: Challenges and
Opportunities
A MBASSADOR L EELA K. P ONAPPA
Chairperson
Visiting Research Professor, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore Email: [email protected]. Currently a Visiting Research Professor at the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore, Muni was India's Special Envoy to Southeast Asian Nations for UN Security Council Reforms (2005-2006) and was India's Ambassador to Laos. At the university, he held the prestigious Appadorai Chair for International Relations and Area Studies.
He is a member of India's University Grants Commission Standing Committee on Area Studies, and a Visiting Nominee on the faculty selection board in Social Sciences of the Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi. He is also associated with the Institute of Defense Studies and Analyses, New Delhi, and Monash Asia Institute, Melbourne, as a Fellow. He served at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi, as Director of Research-International Affairs.
S TABILITY AND D EVELOPMENT IN S OUTH A SIA
The region has generally moved towards greater order and stability since the beginning of this century. There are pockets of persistent violence and insurgency in India, particularly in resource-rich areas. Above all, the democratic revival we are witnessing in the region is still fragile and vulnerable.
The challenge of a stable political order in the region is fueled by demographic pressures, ethnic alienation and exploding aspirations. To add to the concerns of the faster growing South Asian economies such as India and Bangladesh, the international economic environment is also not very encouraging, due to a slump in the US and European economies. South Asia may not have much say in the economic performance of the developed world, but if the region can ensure that strategic competition between extra-regional powers like China and the US does not undermine regional political dynamics, prospects for stability and growth look good. hopeful.
A MBASSADOR A SHRAF J EHANGIR Q AZI
Fuwad Thowfeek is the Chairman of the Maldives' first Independent Electoral Commission (ECM), established on 24 November 2009 to modernize the electoral system and develop a functioning multi-party system in the Maldives. He was also a member of the Interim Election Commission that was established on 4 September 2008 prior to the current Election Commission. Thowfeek has been involved in policy-level decisions and the overall planning and management of all national elections and public referendums, including the 2008 presidential election, the 2009 parliamentary election and the more recent 2011 local council election in the Maldives.
Thowfeek was the Executive Director at the Ministry of Planning and National Development, where he directed the National Census Operations from 1977-1992 and all Socio-Economic Surveys at the national level and contributed immensely to all the country's statistical publications during the period. From 1992 to 1999, he worked at the Secretariat of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. He underwent a postgraduate study and professional development program at the Graduate School of Management, Boston University, USA, and holds a Diploma in Computer Data Systems from the International Statistical Program Center of the Census Bureau, Washington D.C., USA.
He also studied at the International Statistical Education Center of the Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta, India and at the Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific, Tokyo, Japan.
C HALLENGES TO THE P OLITICAL S TABILITY IN M ALDIVES
A MBASSADOR N YUNT M AUNG S HEIN
2014: A SHIFT TO STABILITY OR A FAILED STATE IN A FGHANISTAN ?
P ROFESSOR S ATISH K UMAR
P ROFESSOR R ANJITH B ANDARA
Lyonpo Dago Tshering is the Special Envoy of the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bhutan, Mr. Lyonchhen Jigmi Y. Lyonpo Dago Tshering, former Minister of Home Affairs and former Ambassador of Bhutan to several countries, has served the Royal Government of Bhutan in a number of capacities since the launch of the planned development in 1961. One of the pioneers of Bhutan's modern foreign policy, Lyonpo established Bhutan's first diplomatic mission in India, Geneva and Bangladesh.
Lyonpo served in various capacities at the Royal Bhutanese Embassy in New Delhi and in New York at the Permanent Mission of Bhutan to the United Nations (1971 to 1974). In 1974, he was appointed Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Bhutan to the United Nations in New York. A post he returned to in 1984. He was Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in New Delhi from 2005 to 2008. He retired from government service as Ambassador to India in December 2008.
F ROM M ONARCHY TO D EMOCRACY IN B HUTAN
Pennsylvania Institute for the Advanced Study of India (UPIASI), New Delhi Email: [email protected]. Sridharan is Academic Director of the University of Pennsylvania Institute for the Advanced Study of India (UPIASI), (in New Delhi), from its inception in 1997. Hons.) in Chemistry from St. He has held visiting appointments at the University of California, Berkeley, London School of Economics, and The Institute for Developing Economies, Tokyo, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore and the Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania.
He is a political scientist with research interests in the comparative politics and political economy of development, including party systems, coalition politics and political finance, and international relations theory and conflict resolution in South Asia, in all areas in which he has published and currently directs. projects. Theories of Deterrence and International Relations (Routledge, India and UK, 2007), International Relations Theory and South Asia, Vols. He is the editor of India Review, is on the Editorial Board of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, on the Editorial Advisory Board of Millenial Asia, and is an advisor to the Association of Asia Scholars.
C HALLENGES TO P OLITICAL S TABILITY IN I NDIA
C HALLENGES TO D EMOCRACY AND P LURALISM IN B ANGLADESH
The constitutional settlement would have institutionalised the political gains of the People's Movement of 2006, and the Madhes Movement of 2007 by drafting a federal, democratic, secular, and republican statute. But political parties were unable to reconcile their differences on the question of federalism - whether to adopt the federal structure at all, the model of federalism, and the space of identity in future state restructuring. The divide was a reflection of the polarisation in society, between different social groups, on this question.
The roles and status of both the executive government and the president have become contentious issues. There is discussion about the future roadmap, with views ranging from the revival of CA to new elections. Meanwhile, the far right, represented by royalist forces and those seeking a reversal of the 1990 constitution, and the far left, represented by a Maoist splinter faction, have grown stronger.
Nepal's quest for stability will depend on how soon and whether political parties are able to first, agree on how to break the existing political and constitutional impasse, and second, arrive at a consensus on contentious constitutional issues, particularly.
Economic Growth in South Asia: Problems and
Prospects
A MBASSADOR R AJIV S IKRI
P ROFESSOR B ISHWAMBHER P YAKURYAL
E CONOMIC G ROWTH IN N EPAL : N EED FOR E CONOMIC R EFORMS
P OLITICAL E CONOMY OF F OUR D ECADES OF C ONFLICTS
P EACE AND P ROSPERITY OF S OUTH A SIA
Chandrasekhar is currently a professor at the Center for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.
E CONOMIC G ROWTH IN A FGHANISTAN : C HALLENGES & P ROSPECTS
He was India's representative in Bhutan, and then served as High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Ambassador to Afghanistan and Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs. After retiring from service in 1996, he has written extensively on India's relations with its neighbours, South Asian cooperation as well as on security issues, particularly various aspects of non-traditional security. He is currently the Member Secretary of the Indian Council for South Asian Cooperation and Editor-in-Chief of the South Asian Survey, the Council's semi-annual journal.
P ROFESSOR B AZLUL H AQUE K HONDKER
P ROSPECTS OF E CONOMIC G ROWTH IN B ANGLADESH
P ROFESSOR I JAZ N ABI
M ALDIVES : S USTAINING E CONOMIC G ROWTH AND I SSUES
S TRATEGY OF S USTAINABLE G ROWTH IN B HUTAN : R OLE OF R EGIONAL C OOPERATION
Sustaining Stability and Growth in South Asia: The
Way Forward
A MBASSADOR S ATISH C HANDRA
The Indian subcontinent has been an integrated economic system - with India as the 'hub' economy - for centuries. The project to create a South Asian Free Trade Area and a South Asian Economic Union aimed at reintegrating the natural economies of the sub-continent while preserving existing political sovereignties. The revival of ancient road and sea links will facilitate the movement of goods and people and restore the region to its historic status as the "Crossroads of Asia".
India's economic growth has already had beneficial consequences for the region as a whole, but the greater openness of India and all countries in the region can only benefit the overall growth processes in the region. This paper emphasizes the need for modern infrastructural connectivity as a starting point for regional reintegration.
A MBASSADOR S HEEL K ANT S HARMA
SAARC AND S OUTH A SIAN S TABILITY AND G ROWTH : P OTENTIAL AND P ROMISE
Conference Team
Coordinator
H ELP L INE
