Dialogue  April - June, 2004 , Volume 5  No. 4

Seminar News

An International Seminar on “India and Central Asia: Classical to Contemporary Period” was jointly organized by Indian Council for Cultural Relations and Astha Bharati, Delhi on March 1-3, 2004 at India International Centre, Annexe Conference Hall, New Delhi. The seminar was inaugurated by Dr. Najma Heptulla, President, ICCR and Vice-Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha. Dr. Jayanta Madhab, President Astha Bharati, chaired the session and Dr. B.B. Kumar talked on the concept of the seminar. Shri S.Chakravarti, Deputy Director General of Indian Council for Cultural relations gave vote of thanks.

 The seminar had six working sessions. The first working session on “Historical and Cultural Links and Interactions” was chaired by Professor Devendra Kaushik, Chairman, Maulana Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Kolkata. Professor Meruert Abusetova, Director, Institute of Oriental Studies, Almaty, Kazakhstan; Dr. S.P. Gupta, Chairman, Indian Archeological Society, New Delhi; Professor Surendra Gopal, Professor (Retd.), Patna University; Dr. Radha Banerjee, Senior Research Officer, Indira Gandhi National Centr for Arts, New Delhi; Dr. Claude Arpi, Tibetologist, Auroville and Dr. B.B. Kumar presented their papers

 The second session on “Indo-Central Asian Relations in Medieval and Modern Periods” was chaired by Dr. Claude Arpi. The papers were presented by Dr. E. Kabloukov, Chief of the Chair of Oriental History, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan; Prof Azad N. Shamatov, Chairman, South Asian Studies Centre, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Prof. Mansura Haider, Chairman, Centre for Advanced Study, Department of History, Aligarh Muslim University; Professor Hari Vasudevan of Third World Academy, Jamia Milia, New Delhi and Dr. P. Stobdan, Research Fellow, Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis, New Delhi.

 Professor Azad N. Shamatov chaired the third session on “Politics and Democracy”. Dr. (Ms.) S. Vahidova of Tajik Academy of Sciences, Dushanbe, Tajikistan; Professor R.R. Sharma, Dean, School of International Studies, JNU and former Vice-Chancellor; Professor Devendra Kaushik and Professor P.L. Dash of the Centre for Central Eurasian Studies, University of Mumbai presented the papers in the session.

 The fourth session on “Geopolitical and Strategic Perspective” was chaired by Shri D.C. Pathak, IPS (Retd.), former Chairman, Joint Intelligence Committee, Government of India. Dr. Batir Tursunov, Head, Country Studies, Institute for Strategic and Regional Studies, Tashkent, Uzbekistan; Dr. Muzaffar A. Alimov, Director of History and Research Centre, Dushanbe (Tajikistan); Professor Nirmala Joshi, School of International Studies, JNU; Dr. R.K. Dwivedi, Associate Fellow, IDSA, New Delhi and Professor Sheel K. Asopa, Professor (Retd.), International Politics, Rajasthan University, Jaipur.

 Dr. Surat Mir Kasymov, Ex-Ambassador of Uzbekistan to India and an Indologist; Dr. Gulshan Sachdeva, Associate Professor, JNU and Dr. Ram Upendra Das, Fellow, RIS, New Delhi presented their papers in the fifth session of the seminar on the topic “Economic Development of Central Asia”. The session was chaired by Professor R.G. Gidadhubli.

 The topic of the last and the sixth working session of the seminar was “Energy, Science and Technology” It was chaired by Dr. S. Mir Kasymov. Dr.(Mrs.) G. Kurganbayeva, Deputy Director, Kazakh Institute for Strategic Studies, Almaty, Kazakhstan; Professor R.G. Gidadhubli, Professor (Retd.), Central Eurasian Studies, Mumbai University; Dr. Sudha Mahalingam, Senior Fellow, ISDA, New Delhi and Dr. Rajesh Kochar.

 HE Dr. Ibrahim Mavlanov, Amassador of Uzbekistan to India, most kindly delivered his speech on “Uzbekistan and India: Potential for Cooperation” in the beginning of the sixth session.

 Professor Lokesh Chandra, eminent Indologist delivered the valedictory address. The session was chaired by Dr. B.B. Kumar. The seminar ended after vote of thanks by Shri J.N. Roy, treasurer, Astha Bharati.

 The seminar, besides the resource-persons, organizers and officers of the concerned embassies, was attended by eminent scholars, public leaders, administrators and senior journalists, which included, Shri Dinanath Mishra, M.P. (Rajya Sabha), Prakash Singh, IPS (Retd.), former Police Chief, K.M. Daruwala, eminent poet and ex-Chairman, JIC, Govt of India, Professor S.M. Dubey, Profeesor A.C. Sinha, Professor M. Alam, Professor Ashok Vohra and Dr. Suresh Sharma.