We Need to Re-Examine our Own records with a Critical Eye: Dr. S. Jaishankar
Pune, 25th November 2023: India needs to have its own narrative. “Global South” is an example of narrative. Now India is the face of the “Global South”. This term was not at all used before. We have to convince ourselves about our narratives, need to practice those and then need to popularize. A strong system is needed to work on this and to make it a success, said Dr. S. Jaishankar, Hon’ble External Affairs Minister, Government of India.
Dr. S. Jaishankar, Hon’ble External Affairs Minister, Government of India was invited as the Chief Guest and Keynote Speaker for the Inaugural Ceremony of the International Relations Conference titled: India’s Strategic Culture- Addressing Global & Regional Challenges organized by Symbiosis School of International Studies (SSIS), Symbiosis International (Deemed University), Lavale, Pune. The Conference was held from 25th to 26th November 2023 at Symbiosis International University Campus, Lavale, Pune.
Speaking at the occasion, Dr. S. Jaishankar said, people from other countries speak about the global marketplace but we speak about the global workplace. For us (Indians) nationalization and internationalization are not necessarily two different things as believe in “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakkam”.
Talking about Indian foreign policies Dr. S. Jaishankar said, we need to take different paths which we have not taken before. Options and a thought process were there in the past but now we need to re-examine our own records with a critical eye. The concepts are there in our culture but we need to look at them in a different way.
Talking about the recent Indian initiatives he mentioned about “World Yoga Day”, reintroducing of Millets in our diets which has a revolutionary power, using terminologies like Vasudhaiva Kutumbakkam which has stuck in the minds of the G20 countries that India is thinking in this way where we consider world as one family.
Talking about diplomats he said, Lord Hanuman and Lord Shri Krushna were great diplomats in the past whereas in the recent years we had Swami Vivekanand and Ravindranath Tagore also acted as diplomats of this nation.
World in the next 50 years will be totally different from the world which we have witnessed in the last 50 years and these next 50 years will be the “AmritKaal” of India.
Prof. (Dr.) S.B. Mujumdar, Chancellor, Symbiosis International (Deemed University) presided over the function. Dr. Vidya Yeravdekar, Pro Chancellor, Symbiosis International (Deemed University) gave welcome address, Dr. Ramakrishnan Raman, Vice Chancellor, Symbiosis International (Deemed University) gave vote of thanks and Prof. Shivali Lawale, Director Symbiosis School of International Studies was the anchor of the program.
