It was pure indulgence as we dove into an academic treat at the two-today International Relations Conference at the Symbiosis University Campus. The subject of International Relations is very close to my heart. After the 12th grade, I decided to become a doctor, but had I not, my next choice was to join the Foreign Services. In fact, more than me, my father, Dr S B Majumdar, wanted me to join the Indian Foreign Services, and sometimes I wish I had done that. But then life comes a full circle. We established the Symbiosis School of International Studies in 2012, and since 2013, we have been having annual International relations conferences in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs. In fact, the Symbiosis School of International Studies decided to move conferences on International Relations out of Delhi.
I remember a conference in Delhi when I went up on the stage and said that these discussions cannot be limited to the capital city of India, but they need to move out to the common man, to young people and to industries. And what could be a better place than the city of Pune, which is the city of intellectuals, a large number of industries and the city with the most significant number of young populations studying in colleges and universities? Therefore, we brought out the IR discussions from Delhi to Pune.
Earlier, the conferences were limited to various regions, like one we did on West Asia and another on India’s Look East Act East policy. We did one on India’s Developmental Partnership and many such. Then, in 2018, we held a unique conference on India’s strategic culture. At that time, we had looked at an umbrella view of India’s strategy culture. But then, in 2023, we pondered whether there could be an Indian IR and Indian way of international relations, and that was the time when we decided to have a conference on India’s strategic culture addressing regional and global issues.
In February 2023, we had invited The Hon’ble Minister of External Affairs, Dr S Jaishankar, on a platform called the Festival of Thinkers, a series of lectures we had done under the banner of India’s G20 Presidency. We told Dr Jaishankar about the annual International Relations Conferences at Symbiosis in collaboration with MEA and told him we want to have a conference on India’s Strategic Culture this time. It was so encouraging that he was pleased to learn about this conference and immediately said he would love to engage with us. True to his word, there was such a deep engagement from the Ministry of External Affairs and, more specifically, the minister himself as he took virtual meetings with us and discussed the planning of the conference, the speakers and the progress. His fervour for the conference was such that he was with us on campus for two entire days, the day before yesterday and yesterday, attending every session and taking notes. Seeing how an external affairs minister could be so deeply engaged in discussing India’s strategic culture was amazing.
Even the sessions were very well crafted, such as Evolution of Indian Strategic Thought: Political and Economic Dimensions, Ethical and Moral Dimensions of Statecraft, Geopolitics and Conflict, Ideas of Nationhood and Civilizational Imagination, Diplomatic Practices in Foreign Policy: The Indian Way and Indian School of IR-An Idea Whose Time Has Come.
We had excellent speakers, and these were not just former Indian ambassadors with the wealth of knowledge they have but also people from academia from various institutions in India and even from outside India. People who had done immense work, like Mr. Sanjeev Sanyal and Dr. Kajari Kamal from the Takshashila Institution. They are not just eloquent speakers but also have in-depth knowledge; therefore, it was an academic treat.
What made this conference even more engaging was that the Ministry of External Affairs had deputed 40 young IFS Officers who had just come out of Mussoorie and were undergoing training at the Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Services. It must have been such an eye-opener for them, and we were happy to provide them this opportunity as they will be India’s future ambassadors and shape its foreign policies. They needed to have a discourse on India’s strategic culture.
It was a great learning session as I learned much about India’s History. We need to revive the History of India and we need to link Indian History to modern times. We need not limit ourselves to linking our history and our rich heritage and culture to International relations alone but also link it to strategies in business, law and many other disciplines. It will be an endeavour of Symbiosis International University and Symbiosis Schools to revive this History and bring India’s culture to the forefront, to bring it to the classrooms through academic discourses so that the younger population feels proud of the rich Indian culture and uses Indian culture strategically. We have requested the Ministry of External Affairs to continue this association annually so that this topic can be further discussed and deliberated, and as discussed in the last topic – ‘The Indian Way and Indian School of IR-An Idea Whose Time Has Come’ will soon be a reality at Symbiosis.