Unit I :

Basic Concepts :
Society, community, association, institution. Culture-culture change, diffusion, Cultural-tag, Cultural relativism, ethnocentrism, acculturation.
Social Groups-primary, secondary and reference groups.
Social structure, social system, social action.
Status and role, role conflict, role set.
Norms and values-conformity and deviance.
Law and customs.

Socio-cultural processes :
socialisation, assimilation, integration, cooperation, competition, conflict, accommodation, Social distance, relative deprivation.

Unit II :

Marriage, Family and Kinship :
Marriage : types and norms, marriage as contract, and as a sacrament.
Family : types, functions and changes.
Kinships : terms and usages, rules of residence, descent, inheritance.

Unit III :

Social Stratification :
Forms and functions; Caste and Class. Jajmani system, purity and pollution, dominant caste, sanskritisation.

Unit IV :

Types of Society :
Tribal, agrarian, industrial and post-industrial.

Unit V :

Economy and Society :
Man, nature and social production, economic systems of simple and complex societies, non-economic determinants of economic behaviour, market (free) economy and controlled (planned) economy.

Unit VI :

Industrial and Urban Society :
Rural-Urban Continuum, urban growth and urbanisation-town, city and metropolis; basic features of industrial society; impact of automation on society; industrialisation and environment.

Unit VII :

Social Demography :
Population size, growth, composition, and distribution in India; components of population growth-births, deaths and migration; causes and consequences of population growth; population and social development; population policy.

Unit VIII :

Political Processes :
Power, authority and legitimacy; political socialisation; political modernisation, pressure groups; caste and politics.

Unit IX :

Weaker Sections-and Minorities :
Social justice-equal opportunity and special opportunity; protective discrimination; constitutional safeguards.

Unit X :

Social Change : Theories of change; factors of change; science, technology and change. Social movements-Peasant Movement, Women’s Movement, Backward Caste Movement, Dalit Movement.

General Sociology/Foundations of Sociology/Fundamentals of Sociology

1. Sociology – The Discipline: (a) Modernity and social changes in Europe and emergence of sociology. (b) Scope of the subject and comparison with other social sciences. (c) Sociology and common sense.

2. Sociology as Science: (a) Science, scientific method and critique. (b) Major theoretical strands of research methodology. (c) Positivism and its critique. (d) Fact value and objectivity. (e) Non- positivist methodologies.

3. Research Methods and Analysis: (a) Qualitative and quantitative methods. (b) Techniques of data collection. (c) Variables, sampling, hypothesis, reliability and validity.

4. Sociological Thinkers: (a) Karl Marx- Historical materialism, mode of production, alienation, class struggle. (b) Emile Durkheim- Division of labour, social fact, suicide, religion and society. (c) Max Weber- Social action, ideal types, authority, bureaucracy, protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism. (d) Talcolt Parsons- Social system, pattern variables. (e) Robert K. Merton- Latent and manifest functions, conformity and deviance, reference groups (f) Mead – Self and identity.

5. Stratification and Mobility: (a) Concepts- equality, inequality, hierarchy, exclusion, poverty and deprivation (b) Theories of social stratification- Structural functionalist theory, Marxist theory, Weberian theory. (c) Dimensions – Social stratification of class, status groups, gender, ethnicity and race. (d) Social mobility- open and closed systems, types of mobility, sources and causes of mobility.

 6. Works and Economic Life: (a) Social organization of work in different types of society- slave society, feudal society, industrial /capitalist society. (b) Formal and informal organization of work (c) Labour and society. 7. Politics and Society: (a) Sociological theories of power (b) Power elite, bureaucracy, pressure groups, and political parties. (c) Nation, state, citizenship, democracy, civil society, ideology. (d) Protest, agitation, social movements, collective action, revolution.

8. Religion and Society: (a) Sociological theories of religion. (b) Types of religious practices: animism, monism, pluralism, sects, cults. (c) Religion in modern society: religion and science, secularization, religious revivalism, fundamentalism.

9. Systems of Kinship: (a) Family, household, marriage. (b) Types and forms of family. (c) Lineage and descent (d) Patriarchy and sexual division of labour (e) Contemporary trends.

10. Social Change in Modern Society: (a) Sociological theories of social change. (b) Development and dependency. (c) Agents of social change. (d) Education and social change. (e) Science, technology and social change.

Paper-II INDIAN SOCIETY : STRUCTURE AND CHANGE

A. Introducing Indian Society:

(i) Perspectives on the study of Indian society: (a) Indology (GS. Ghurye). (b) Structural functionalism (M N Srinivas). (c) Marxist sociology ( A R Desai).

(ii) Impact of colonial rule on Indian society : (a) Social background of Indian nationalism. (b) Modernization of Indian tradition. (c) Protests and movements during the colonial period. (d) Social reforms

B. Social Structure:

(i) Rural and Agrarian Social Structure: (a) The idea of Indian village and village studies- (b) Agrarian social structure – evolution of land tenure system, land reforms.

 (ii) Caste System: (a) Perspectives on the study of caste systems: GS Ghurye, M N Srinivas, Louis Dumont, Andre Beteille. (b) Features of caste system. (c) Untouchability – forms and perspectives

(iii) Tribal communities in India: (a) Definitional problems. (b) Geographical spread. (c) Colonial policies and tribes. (d) Issues of integration and autonomy.

(iv) Social Classes in India: (a) Agrarian class structure. (b) Industrial class structure. (c) Middle classes in India.

(v) Systems of Kinship in India: (a) Lineage and descent in India. (b) Types of kinship systems. (c) Family and marriage in India. (d) Household dimensions of the family. (e) Patriarchy, entitlements and sexual division of labour. (vi) Religion and Society: (a) Religious communities in India. (b) Problems of religious minorities.

C. Social Changes in India:

(i) Visions of Social Change in India: (a) Idea of development planning and mixed economy. (b) Constitution, law and social change. (c) Education and social change.

(ii) Rural and Agrarian transformation in India: (a) Programmes of rural development, Community Development Programme, cooperatives, poverty alleviation schemes. (b) Green revolution and social change. (c) Changing modes of production in Indian agriculture . (d) Problems of rural labour, bondage, migration.

(iii) Industrialization and Urbanisation in India: (a) Evolution of modern industry in India. (b) Growth of urban settlements in India. (c) Working class: structure, growth, class mobilization. (d) Informal sector, child labour (e) Slums and deprivation in urban areas.

 (iv) Politics and Society: (a) Nation, democracy and citizenship. (b) Political parties, pressure groups , social and political elite. (c) Regionalism and decentralization of power. (d) Secularization

(v) Social Movements in Modern India: (a) Peasants and farmers movements. (b) Women’s movement. (c) Backward classes & Dalit movement. (d) Environmental movements. (e) Ethnicity and Identity movements.

(vi) Population Dynamics: (a) Population size, growth, composition and distribution. (b) Components of population growth: birth, death, migration. (c) Population policy and family planning. (d) Emerging issues: ageing, sex ratios, child and infant mortality, reproductive health.

(vii) Challenges of Social Transformation: (a) Crisis of development: displacement, environmental problems and sustainability. (b) Poverty, deprivation and inequalities. (c) Violence against women. (d) Caste conflicts. (e) Ethnic conflicts, communalism, religious revivalism. (f) Illiteracy and disparities in education.

                                                                                           Dillip Kumar Maharana

In the contemporary international circumstances non-alignment or to put it more precisely its role and usefulness in general has become a highly controversial issue, certainly more so than earlier. Thus, the movement is passing through a critical period in its life. It finds itself today at the crossroad and seems to be finding it difficult to comprehend the path it has to rake. It is trying to find its identity, reorient its perception and endeavor to determine the role it has to play in the changed context of international relations. This has resulted in a heated debate about the validity and contemporary relevance of NAM and non-alignment as foreign policy behavior in this post cold war “unipolar world”. Expressions of doubt about its relevance and efficacy have assumed extra vigor after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Socialist Block. Its traditional critics gleefully pronounced that non-alignment buried under the debris of Berlin wall and the exercises of the NAM are no more than flogging on the dead horse. According to the critics, NAM is no longer relevant because of the changed international environment. It is engaged that the policy of Non-alignment had some utility in the period of cold war bipolarity, because it was child of cold war in the reaction of certain countries to the cold war. The two main contenders for political ascendancy had almost reached the point of extermination. It was the desire to preserved independence as distinct from merely formal sovereignty, which led some nation to resist absorption into one or the other power blocks. Presently the international system is no longer bipolar and the clod war is over, so what is its relevance today is a great question. In spite all these above statement regarding its irrelevant, the relevance of NAM in international affairs is unquestionable. As a mater of fact, the policy of Non-Alignment was not wholly related to a bipolar world and the clod war between the two supper power and the block they lead. It just happened that the Non-Alignment flowered in the immediate post-world war. Therefore, whatever the world is bi-polar or multipolar or unipolar, non-alignment as a foreign policy choice option of the small Third World countries will remain valid. In other words the policy will last as long as the sovereign nation system last.

It is readily admitted that some member of the NAM have not exactly confirmed either to policy or to the criteria of membership. They have   also not complied with the recommendation appeals of NAM. This certainly does not affect the continuing validity of the Non-Alignment in the same way that the UN Charter and United Nation are not invalidated by the sins of omissions and commissions of the organization its 192 members sates. As in the case of UN, the objectives of NAM are largely of a long-term nature.

The declaration of the Jakarta Summit conference 1992 assured, NAM has contributed to the ending of bipolar in the world and to the elimination of the cold war. These new developments have in fact fully vindicated the validity and relevance of Non-Alignment. They affirmed NAM’s role is ensuring” its full participation in the building of the new world order”. No wonder, then that the membership of the NAM has more than quadrupled from about 25 states in 19961 to 118 today.

As a matter of fact, although Non-Alignment had emerged as new, additional foreign policy behaviors in the years of the cold war and the bipolar world, its continued relevance had little to do with either of the context. It is significant that the relevance of the policy was reaffirmed by the Non-Alignment minister conference held in Accra in 1991. It was again made clear at the Non-Alignment summit conference held in Jakarta in Sept. 1992 and more recently at Durban, 1998, Kulalampur 2003, Havana, 2006, Sharm-el-Sheikh Egypt 2009.

It is very true that humanity survived amidst the conflicts in the Stone Age, the Iron Age, in Gun Powder Age and also in the Age of Warships, and Bombers Plane, but there could be no hope of survival in the age of nuclear bombs. Therefore, war could no longer be treated as politics by other means as war in the 21^st century would not leave behind any survivors, victors or vanquished. So, NAM is then a pioneer nuclear destruction. Although a threat of a war “a nuclear war has certainly disappeared with the end of the cold war, yet the number of nuclear powers have increased. The world is still divided between the nuclear have and the have-nots. But NAM from the very beginning and even in more recently meets at Havana in 2006 and Sharm-el-Sheikh Egypt 2009 demanded for the complete elimination of all nuclear weapons within a time bound framework as well as asserted for the right over peaceful use of nuclear power. The movement also stood opposed to the treaties on WMD (Weapon of Mass Destructions) which were not universal in nature.

The relevance of NAM continues as it looks after the interest of all Third World countries for which the movement was created. The beginning of the Non-Alignment can be traced to Afro-Asian resurgence a reaction against European colonial systems and prior to that in the struggle of underdeveloped countries against the hegemony of grate European powers since the birth of nation state system. These oppressed, suppressed, and dominated states struggled hard for freedom from the colonialism, imperialism and great power domination to choose their own path in the internal development and external policies. That is why they accorded a high place to international peace, security and cooperation. It was a coincident that just when theses countries begin to gain independence, they found themselves in bipolar worlds. Seeking membership of either block meant compromised on newly owned freedom by sovereign states, as well as an increased in international tensions, which is turned threatened the prospects of development- socio-economic and political.

The concept ‘Third World’ is important to form an understanding of what is meant by the ‘spirit of Bandung’ or Non-Alignment, which formed in the Belgrade Conference in 1961 where NAM was formed. The concept ‘Third World’ has both a materialistic and an cultural meaning. In materialistic terms, Marc argues that “if the affluent industrial countries of the modern world are grouped into those of the ‘West’ and those of the ‘East’, … then the poor countries constitute a ‘Third World’ whose small command over resources distinguishes them from both”.

The cultural meaning of the term “stressed the importance of the formation of a Third World consciousness, formed by common ideas, and an awareness of a common history, in relation to the West. Thus, in some accounts the Third World has existed because it provided an identity that was important to those both inside and outside its borders”. (9) Richard Wright, a black American novelist, who attended the Bandung Conference described it as “vibrant, vital, a coalition of the dispossessed”.(10) The two meanings are best illustrated in the 1952 article by , Alfred Sauvy, in which he coined the term ‘Third World’. Sauvy wrote: “The Third World has, like the Third Estate, been ignored and despised and it too wants to be something”. (11) Just like the Third Estate during the French Revolution, he saw the decolonised states as “ignored, exploited, scorned”, but eager to carve out an independent role for themselves. (12).

Although the term Third World has lost currency since the 1970s when other terms, such as ‘underdeveloped countries’, ‘developing countries’, and ‘South’ or ‘Global South’, became more widely used, revisiting the term conveys a sense of the conceptual foundations on which non-alignment rests. Nehru, then Prime Minister of India and a respected statesman, had also attended the Congress of Oppressed Nations in Brussels in 1927. As his brainchild, in essence non-alignment means the pursuit of equality in world affairs through pooling the diplomatic resources of Third World states in international forums. Equality should here be understood in political-economic terms. Equality for colonised or oppressed people and states translated into the right to self-determination and this dominated the agenda in the first decade of NAM’s existence. NAM was, for example, a front of political solidarity by supporting liberation struggles and making abstinence from military pacts or alliances a criterion of membership. (13) Inherent in a foreign policy orientation of non-alignment was a post-colonial claim to the rights of statehood awarded to independent states in the Westphalian system, and the mutual respect embodied by multilateralism as proclaimed in the UN Charter.

For most Third World states the framework of national development in the 1950s and 1960s was largely provided by modernization theory. The latter presumed that modernised Western liberal democracy was the end-state of development. Rostow famously elaborated on the stages through which a traditional society needed to pass to become a modern economy and Lipset linked economic development to democracy and Western education. The focus on endogenous factors to explain a world economy skewed in favour of the West came under attack during the Cairo conference in 1964, when delegates emphasised exogenous factors, for example, the structure of dependent relationships between rich and poor countries (also captured by the term neo-colonialism) that ‘underdevelops’ the Third World. NAM would become, as Amin notes, “the trade union for economic claims with respect to the North” in the 1970s. He summarizes the components of this political-economy of non-alignment as follow:

–a will to develop the productive forces and to diversify production, especially through industrialization;

–a determination that the national state should have leadership and control of the process;

–a belief that technical models are ‘neutral’, though requiring control, and that there is no alternative but to reproduce them;

–a belief that the development process mainly requires not popular initiative but only popular support for state action;

–a belief that the process does not fundamentally clash with trade participation in the world capitalist system, even if it brings temporary conflicts with it.

NAM’s efforts to bring about a New International Economic Order (NIEO) based on this ideology of development during the 1970s were especially exerted in the UN. The struggle for global equity through independent national development was, due to the Cold War emphasis on ‘high politics’ (security issues), relegated to a secondary position. Nevertheless, NAM together with the Group of 77 (G77–largely made up of NAM members) succeeded to keep Third World issues on the agenda in most UN forums and agencies due to their numerical strength. In the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), NAM and the G77 promoted the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) to rectify the perceived imbalances in information and communication flows between the North and the South.

In the UN General Assembly NAM played a significant role in transferring the permanent seat in the UNSC previously filled by the Republic of China (Taiwan) to mainland China, as well as to garner support for other national independence struggles. Wiese argues that although it was not NAM’s original intention to become caught up in the Cold War, the movement soon realized that it could bring its political leverage to bear in international forums to gain more influence for developing countries

Here Non-Alignment with its emphasis on independent, judgment, independent decision making and independent actions provided them with a suitable alternative foreign postulates. Thus, cold war as dominant theme of post-second world war international relations certainly influenced and shaped the emergence of Non-Alignment, but it was by no means the cause of that emergence. Besides the opposition of cold war and bloc politics which NAM propagated was not its main goal but rather a means to promote the positive cause of the protection and preservation of newly attained independence of the member’s states. For the socially backward, economically weak and politically fragile nonaligned countries of Third World countries, international peace could not be achieved under threatening shadows of the cold war and therefore had to be avoided.

Thus, the major thrust of NAM is the creation of a new world based on rational, democratic, equitable and non-exploitative inter-states relation. It commitment has been not just against bloc divisions of cold war but for one world for universal peace and development. The end of the cold war has ended a period of strategic confrontations but an era of stable global peace is yet to be created. In fact the cold war is dead but not the regional conflicts and crisis. The East-West conflict has dissolved but intense economic and technological competition is emerging among several strong nations. The Non-Alignment countries have to learn to maneuver among them and to successfully face the menace of new colonialism that is sought to be imposed through various WTO round. Thus, the NAM continued to be relevance so long as there is exploitation, war, hunger, poverty and disease on the earth.

Those who took the path of Non-Alignment were people who found the existing ideas of nationalism, national interest, international relations, human dignity and freedom inadequate to meet the challenges of post-second world war reality. The post colonial reality which was suffused with the awareness that imperialism had not only failed to solve any human problem but had also violated all norms and values of civilized harmonious human existence. It had stunned the natural growth of land and people that came under its way. It had also developed an insatiable appetite for dominating others to satisfy which it had gone to wars, destroyed human life and precious resources and prepared to repeat the performance the new world needed as strategy to bridle this monstrous march to destruction. So here NAM can give the strategy to do so.

End of the East-West confrontation or of ideological polarization does not mean the end of the NAM just as the phase of thaw in great power conflict and détente did not make it irrelevant. It is pertinent to recall in this context the analysis of world situation made at the Cairo summit of 1964. “Taking note of the welcome improvement in the international situations the head of the state or govt. pointed out that, despite the presence improvement in international relations and notwithstanding the conclusion and signature of the treaty of Moscow, source of tension will exist in many parts of the world”.

What were those sources of tensions? The conference declared “imperialism, colonialism and new colonialism constitute a basic source of international tension and conflicts because they endanger world peace and security”. Thus, when the world is got rid of bloc conflict, because one of the bloc ceased to exist, the struggled against imperialism and the mindset it represents will, have to be continued and the NAM will remain relevant as an instrument of that struggle for all age to come like Platonic ideal state will remain ideal for all age to come.

A comprehensive assessment of the theory and practice of NAM through the last three decades reveals that it remains relevant to the changing world scenario irrespective of the fact that whether there is cold war or détente, whether the world is unipolar, bipolar, or multipolar. The uniqueness of NAM lies in the fact that its goals do not merely serve the national interest of member state but it stand to promote the cause humanity. They are universalistic in nature. It would not be an exaggeration to say that recent positive developments on international scene reflect the spirit of NAM.

Non-alignment is a political concept that strives for the remodeling of the international society, as a whole, and not merely any single aspects of it though inevitably the nonaligned nation had stressed particular aspects at a particular period of time.

While power bloc and military pacts have not lost their luster, there are military alliances which continue to dominant global trade to political freedom. As the political independence, without economic emancipation is meaningless, the NAM is progressively putting more emphasis on economic independence. The Non-Alignment nations have been demanding for a legitimate share in world trades. The determination of the quality and quantity of foreign aid from developed to developing countries is also task for the Non-Alignment nation. Economic cooperation between developed and developing states forms part of the threefold strategy advocated by the NAM. These stands are: reliance on their resources, promotion of cooperation among non-alignment states themselves, fostering cooperation with the advanced states, with the subjects of promoting self reliance as would restrict exploitation and contribute towards resolution of the problems of world economy as a whole.

While the challenge of international peace continue to be the predominant concern, the immediate task facing the NAM with the creation of a new, just and equitable international economic and social order. The struggle of NAM is now entering a new phase when most developed nation of the world appeared to be accepting in principle the need for a new international order. The fundamental concern of NAM has always been with global question of decolonization and consolidation of freedom, disarmament and development of economies through mutual cooperation as well as through a more equitable and just new international economic order. All these are interrelated and to make the package of peace and prosperity for humanity.

Former Pm of Indian Narasimha Rao said the following words in June 1992 in a speech made in Tokyo “the pursuit of a Non-Alignment policy is even more relevant to ever before NAM basically consists of the espousal of the right of nations to independence and development, regardless of the bloc phenomena. Whether there is one bloc or more at a given movement the urge of a nonaligned country would continue to maintain its independence, to take decisions according to its light not tagging itself in advance to other”. Again the Cartegena submit 1995 reaffirmed the “validity of the NAM and its fundamental principle” and the various norms of international life “peace, independence, sovereign equality, non-intervention in internal affairs”. It declared against poverty, hunger, illigacy, racial discrimination and xenophobia, terrorism, nuclear weapon, environmental degradation, foreign occupation. Further in the Foreign Minister summit of April 1997 in New Delhi IK Gujral said,” NAM affords its members s forum where they can discuss their common problems, evolve solutions and work out positions in trying to tackle the international problems of peace, security, development, environmental safety, human rights etc. Delhi Conference announced: the UN and the Security Council should become more representative of its increased memberships, non-discriminatory, time bound nuclear and general disarmament should be the objective towards which the movement should endeavors.

The Foreign Minister of Colombia Dr Maria Emma Mejiva Velez perhaps best reflected the thoughts of may people regarding the relevance of NAM today when she narrated story of how she was asked by a young girl in her country, “what is NAM?” In seeking to answer this question she said that today Non-Alignment meant more than “not being aligned to the great power bloc”. It meant that nations were not to be aligned with military alliances and seeks to get involved in peace making like the Middle East. She also drawn the attention in this submit that NAM in today’s world has to address issues of the future rather than the past because anti-colonialism has been transformed into democratization of more nations and development has become identified with environmental protection.

Those who doubt its validity must contemplate why what began with a modest membership of 25 is able to boast of a membership of 118 today? Why it that many that opted for alignment has come round to adopt Non-Alignment approach? It cannot be dismissed as merely a fashion or herd mentality of the poor Third World countries. In fact non-alignment was evolved to strengthen the socio-economic and political strategic basis of the new countries. It was though Non-Alignment that they were trying to give meaning and content to their political independence. What says Rasheeduddin Khan, Non-Alignment can still play a positive role in major and continuing global concerns like disarmament, and development is fully correct. According to M.S. Raja, Non-Alignment is a dynamic policy and retains its continuing relevance in world affairs by adopting itself to changing international context and the needs of the nonaligned comity of nations. It is a policy and posture of universal relevance, validity and applicability”.

The recently concluded 14^th NAM submit in Havana further reaffirmed its relevance when it adopted Havana Declaration that condemned all forms of terrorism for whatever purposes and urges countries to refrain from extending political, diplomatic, moral or material support to terrorism under the UN charter and also asked them to fulfill global obligation not to give any support. The conference also condemned unilateralism and attempts to exercise hegemonic dominations in international relations. The declaration resolved to oppose and condemn the categorization of countries as “good and evil”, based on unilateral and unjustified criteria and the adoption of a doctrine of pre-emptive attack including by nuclear weapons. In the context of talk of “clash of civilizations”, the NAM countries also sought a “dialogue among culture, civilizations and religions”. The summit reaffirmed the inalienable rights of Third World countries to engage in research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination. On the north-south dialogue and cooperation the summit acknowledged the need for interaction among the leaders among the Third World for forging compatible or complementary responses on global issues for a greater action. It also expressed concerned over the continue impasse in negation all across all areas of Doha work program and asked the developed countries to show flexibility in breaking the deadlock.

Perhaps the most important role for NAM today lies in framing a concrete economic agenda for a just and fair international economic order. The globalization and liberalization trends worldwide have generated complex economic problems. The rich-poor divide has widened. The WTO rules and procedures have failed to provide adequate economic gains to the Third World. WTO summits have failed to reach a consensus on many issues. Its role in WTO negotiations to advance and protect the trading rights and opportunities of developing countries and in muscling up their negotiating position and skills would be the chief concerns. It should strive to reform and reorient the globalization process through a strong developmental agenda. NAM has an effective role to play in this regard provided member countries try to see the benefits from a unified angle without any partisan considerations.

Therefore, South-South cooperation should become a major economic plank of the movement. Its role in the present century would be strengthened by more South-South cooperation, which would mean, by and large, collaboration between and among the NAM countries and defending their interests from fast expanding economic and technological power of the North. NAM should develop a progressive agenda on the fundamental values of democracy, human rights and multiculturalism. The preservation and consolidation of democracy throughout its membership is a major challenge. NAM’s spectrum could be further enlarged with the increasing concern worldwide over environmental issues over green house gas emissions, health concerns especially AIDS, drug trafficking, rising instances of poverty, food crisis and unemployment mostly within the NAM members and LDC countries, the rising digital divide between the rich and poor and fight against all shades of extremism, xenophobia, ethnic nationalism and regional wars.

Ms Rice triggered a controversy in her July 27 speech by asserting that “Non-Alignment” had lost its meaning after the end of the Cold War and the disintegration of the Soviet Union. She had evidently been irked by the shrill anti-American rhetoric that emerged at the recent Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Havana. She even advised India the pioneer of NAM to move past old ways of thinking as NAM was a cold war concept and hence lost its meaning. She advised that instead of being aligned with interest and powers of one bloc or another like during cold war, there could now be a partnership of fellow democracies with common ideals and values. She thus asked India to ditch NAM and join US led global alliance of democracies. Rejecting the US contention that Non-Aligned Movement has “lost its meaning”, India quickly asserted that its relevance continues in promoting democratization of the international system and New Delhi was committed to its ideals. External Affairs Ministry said India’s “firm and abiding commitment” to non-alignment could not be questioned. “The Non-Aligned Movement played a significant role in ending apartheid and colonialism. Today, its relevance continues in promoting South-South cooperation and democratization of the international system,” (Indian express June 29, 2007).

Therefore, in the conclusion it can be said that, although the cold war has ended there is no end of justice. In fact cold was has assumed a new dimension with the recent emergence of Russia as the world is witnessing the ongoing confrontation between US and Russia over issues like eastward expansion of NATO, Kosovo’s independence as well the Georgian crisis. As there is the possibility of reappearance of war monger in the scene of world affairs peace making become a continuous process must be pursued every time by the NAM. In fact until the world is not free form war and world peace is not guaranteed, the real development of the Third World counties will remain only a distant dream. Further as colonialism has been replaced by the phenomenon or neo-colonialism in the form of economic exploitation by the MNC because of the process of LPG (liberalization, privatization, and globalization) the role of the NAM must play the positive role in making the globalization inclusive and must strive to achieve a faire, just international economic order. Therefore, Non-Alignment has not lost any of its relevance rather it has stood the test of time. It has served the useful purpose of protecting and preserving the interest of the Third World countries well in the past, so it is also expected to serve their interest well in the future to come. NAM can play the most important role in protecting the economic interest of the Third World countries as well as promoting south-south cooperation. Thus the philosophy of NAM is as relevant as ever for the Third World.

References:

Bajpei, Kanti, “Relevance of Non-alignment Movement”, World Focus, Octo-Nov-Dec, 19995.

Rajan, M.S., “Institutionalization of NAM:Priorities and Challenges”, International institute for Non-aligned Studies, Oct. 1998.

Mishra, K.P. (ed), Janata’s Foreign Policy”, Vikas publication, New Delhi, 1979.

Khan, Rasheeddin, “Non-Alignment”, World Forum First Annual number, Nov-Dec.1980. Bandyopadhya, J. “The NAM and International Relations”, India Quarterly, New Delhi, april -June 1977.

Calvocoressi, Peter, “World Politics since 1945″ (New York, 1982). 4th edn. Mehta, J.S., “Non-alignment – Mission Accomplished”, Indian Express, September 3, 1991, P.6. Parmeshawaran, T.V., “Third World and NAM “, Third Concept, Vol.8, No.89, New Delhi, July 1994.

Rajan, M.S., “Non-alignment : Dichotomy between theory and practice in Perspective”, India Quarterly, January – March 1980.

Raman P. “New Role for NAM”, The Tribute (Chandigarh) April 2, 1999, p.8.

Willetts, Peter, “Non-aligned Movement, Popular Prakashan, Mumbai, 1978

Parthasarathy, G., Relevance of being ‘non-aligned’ and irrelevance of NAM Business Line, Jul 26, 2007

Herrera, R, “Fifty years after the Bandung conference: Towards a revival of solidarity between the peoples of the South?

Interview with Samir Amin”, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, Vol 6, No 4, 2005, p 547.

Amin, S, Beyond US Hegemony? Assessing the Prospects for a Multi polar World, Zed Books, London, 2006, p 87.

Bhambhri, C P, “Non-alignment in the changing context of twenty-first century”, India Quarterly, Vol 62, No 3, July/September, 2006, p 96.

Indian express June 29, 2007

(Published in Oct. 2007 issue of South Asia Politics)

by

Dillip Kumar Maharana

Abstract:

With the significant changes that occurred in the world’s politics and economic scenario since early 1990’s and India’s own march towards economic liberalization has compelled India to focus on strengthened and multifaceted relationship with ASEAN countries. For a total population of approx 1.7 billion people and with a combined GDP of US$ 1.5 trillion, India-ASEAN relation offers a tremendous scope for cooperation. Existence of common challenges like threat of terrorism, transnational crimes, cyber crimes, international economic crimes, environmental crimes, sea piracy, money laundering, disaster mitigation, and creating East Asia Community could provides better prospects of cooperation in the 21^st century.

Introduction:

India has had close cultural and economic ties with Southeast-Asian countries throughout the history. But with the significant changes that occurred in the world’s politics and economic scenario since the early 1990’s and India’s own march towards economic liberalization has compelled India to focus on strengthened and multifaceted relationship with ASEAN countries. Besides, ASEAN’s political and strategic importances in the larger Asia-Pacific-Region and its potential to become a major partner of India in the area of trade and investment have encouraged India to seek closer linkage with these countries. Keeping theses points in mind a conscious effort was begun in 1991 to reach out these ASEAN countries through our “Look East Policy”. With the eastward expansion of ASEAN to include Myanmar, India and ASEAN countries are no longer just remain maritime neighbours but share a land boundary of over 1600 K.m². It now provides a land bridge for India to connect with Asia-Pacific-Centred economic crosscurrents shaping with 21^st century market place. On the other hand ASEAN seeks to India’s professional and technical strengths. Apart from recognizing India’s emergence as attractive trade partner and investment destination, ASEAN has also increasingly comes to see it as a stabilizing factor in the region. The convergence of interest of India and ASEAN in various fields provides further impetus to explore the possibilities which takes this relationship at its zenith in 21^st century.

Thus, this paper will discuss the India-ASEAN cooperation in various fields, the on-going efforts and will also try to explore the various possibilities of cooperation and convergence of interest of both the region in 21^st century.

Areas of Cooperation

India and ASEAN have enormous areas to advance cooperation for political, economic and military ties. The absence of conflict on vital issues and the presence of common challenges make it possible to rapidly expand ties between two regions. To relaise this objective, the two sides had identified four broad sectors of co-operation during their Sectoral Dialogue Partnership phase- in trade, investment, science and technology and tourism. To these two others have been added following India becoming a Dialogue partner in July 1996- infrastructure and human resource.  In the first India-ASEAN summit 2001, former PM of India Mr. Vajpayee  has identified broad areas of cooperation as, research and development in agriculture, bio-technology, health and pharmaceuticals with a view to their commercial exploitation, cooperation in space technology including joint launching and manufacturing communication and remote-sensing satellites and strengthening physical connectivity through rail, roads and air linkages. The latest in the series of cooperation is “Energy Security” which has been added in the recently concluded India-ASEAN in Jan 2007. Let’s discuss these areas of cooperation one by one.

Trade and Investment: India-ASEAN trade and investment ties have grown rapidly since 1991.India’s sustained efforts to engage with ASEAN in the last one decade have shown commensurate results.  India’s trade with ASEAN has risen from US$ 2.4 billion in 1990, to US $5 billion in 1995 and touched to US$ 23 billion in 2005. India’s trade with the countries of the East Asia Summit has, similarly, risen from US$ 8 billion in 1990, to US$ 67.6 billion in 2005. This accounts for nearly 30% of India’s external trade. At the same time, the period has also seen an increase in FDI flows, both from India to the ASEAN region and from the ASEAN region into India. India’s export to ASEAN include oil meals, gems and jewelry, meat and meat preparations, cotton yarn, fabrics, made-ups, engineering goods, transport equipment, machinery and instruments, electronic goods, marine products, fruits and vegetables, rice drugs and pharmaceuticals, chemical etc. On the other hand India imports mainly from ASEAN countries includes, artificial resins, plastic material, natural rubber, wood and wood products, electronic goods, non-ferrous metals, metaliferous ores and metal scrap, organic chemicals, edible oils, coal, fertilizers etc. The balance of trade is in favour of ASEAN. Thus, there remain significant potential to further expand these ties. For a total population of approx 1.7 billion people and with a combined GDP of  US$ 1.5 trillion, a trade turns over of approx US$15 billion is grossly inadequate. Therefore, at the second India-ASEAN Business Summit held in New Delhi and Mumbai in 2003, a target of UD $ 15 billion by 2005 and US $30 billion for India-ASEAN trade by 2007 were set out. At the current rate of growth there is little doubt about the ability to achieve, and even surpass, the target of US$ 30 billion by end of 2007.

India-ASEAN cooperation in term of investment has further increased in the recent years. With the economic liberalization India opened up its market economy and invited Foreign Direct Investment in infrastructure sectors such as telecommunications, fuels, hotel and tourism, services, heavy industry, chemicals, fertilizers as also in trading, textiles, paper and pulp and food processing. This expedites an increase in FDI flows, both from India to the region and from the region into India. ASEAN countries, particularly Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, have become a major source of FDI into India. From a negligible amount in 1991, cumulative approved FDI from ASEAN was over Rs. 14, 000 crores in MAY 2002, which represents of share of 6% in the total FDI approved by India in this period.

Free Trade Agreement: India seeks further to deepen our economic integration by entering into Free Trade or Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements, both with ASEAN as a whole and with individual countries of the region. Such agreements are already under different stages of discussion or implementation with Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. This web of mutually beneficial partnerships can be brought together in a Pan Asian FTA. India is strongly committed to its early conclusion and implementation. In the India-ASEAN Trade Ministers’ meet a few days before the 5^th India-ASEAN Summit held in CEBU, Philippines in January 2007, serious efforts were made on resolving outstanding issues relating to exclusion lists and tariff concessions. In the summit it has been also decided to expedite the negotiations so that the FTA can be finalised, as agreed, by July 2007. But due to some disagreement now this will be implemented in November 2007.

As per the agreement reached between India and ASEAN in CEBU, New Delhi may include 490 items including rubber and coconut in the list. On all other goods which make up 95% of trade, there would be either elimination or reduction of duties. Minimum cuts would be on four items, which are, crude palm oil, refined palm oil, pepper and tea. Duties on these will be cut to 50 percent by 2022.

Science and Technology: Science and technology is an area in which cooperation between India and ASEAN has added much substance to relationship.  India-ASEAN cooperation in science and technology consist of cooperation in the fields of information technology, biotechnology, advanced materials, space science and their applications.

• Information Technology: The recent years shows India’s tremendous achievement in the field of information technology. Virtually it has established its leadership in this field. This appeals ASEAN countries to keep in touch with India. On the other hand India is also offering its helping hands to ASEAN countries in terms of training programmes in advanced software techniques. This has been greatly appreciated by the ASEAN countries. Keeping their request, such training programmes are to be organized on annual basis. ASEAN-India Digital Archive project is also being set-up. Multi-media representation of common phrases and terms in the various languages, Hindi and English has already been provided.
• Biotechnology: India’s advancement in the field of bio-technology attracted ASEAN countries to tie up with India. In biotechnology, the areas of cooperation includes- project in plant and animal biotechnology and establishment of an ASEAN-India Bio-informatics Network. Besides, it has been dedicated at the highest level to establish an India-ASEAN Institute of Biotechnology in Jakarta for carrying out Research and Development in identified areas of relevance. While cooperation in plant biotechnology has already commenced, expert-level discussions are undergoing in animal biotechnology. The Indian-ASEAN Institute of Biotechnology has also started functioning since the end of 2002. In bio-informatics, as a result of discussions held at the expert level, the necessary modalities have been worked out for the project in which the private sector would also be involved.
• Advanced Materials: in advanced materials, projects in rare earth magnets and thermal and wear resistant surface coating have been completed. It is also proposed to expand these projects, with a focus on the realization of commercial benefits.
• Health and Pharmaceutical: It is another are of cooperation between India-ASEAN countries. The benefits of India’s progress in the filed of Health in general and Pharmaceutical in particular can be exploited by the ASEAN countries for their advantages. The development of super-speciality hospitals, which offers sophisticated operation at cheaper price, attracts health tourist from ASEAN countries. The Indian pharmaceuticals industry has achieved global recognition. The strength of this industry is low cost high quality generics. Branded and patented medicines are also beginning to emerge as an important segment of industry. Thus, ASEAN can source its imports low cost generics from India or shift manufacturing base to India. India and ASEAN has already begun with regard to the manufacturing of medicines at price that are affordable. India’s expertise in producing generic drugs could be a valuable lesson to the ASEAN countries. Both the sides also have shown willingness to co-operate in research and development activities dealing with communicable disease; the SARS epidemic, bird flu diseases are areas which might need greater attention from both sides.
• Space Science and their Application: In space technology also India made a tremendous progress. It is one of only countries which can build and launch its own satellites. Thus, a mutual cooperation in this field between these countries can harvest a good result. Some areas are already identified for cooperation in the initial stages- which includes capacity building including training of ASEAN scientists, formal education, on the job attachment and exchange of scientist, use of Indian Remote Sensing data for environmental management such as forest fire, monitoring, marine and coastal management etc. India can also help in launching the satellites of ASEAN countries.
• The Technology Summit jointly organized by India and ASEAN, in New Delhi in November 2006 has been an important milestone in this cooperation. This came up with several new initiatives to further strengthen Science and Technology cooperation, for instance, the creation of a common India-ASEAN Science and Technology Development Fund to support joint Research and Development activities in the fields of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, agriculture and advanced materials. ASEAN and India agreed on joint undertakings to harmonise standards of a regulatory framework in relation to biotechnology products, and consider the establishment of an India-ASEAN Institute for Intellectual Property for building human resource capacities and training to serve the ASEAN region. ASEAN and India further decided to encourage linkages between academic institutions, research laboratories, professional bodies and industry to create a knowledge grid and foster the mobility of members of the scientific community. ASEAN and India agreed in principle to hold technology summits on a regular basis, utilising existing platforms in India and ASEAN for encouraging competitiveness within a cooperative framework amongst all stakeholders.

Tourism: Tourism sector provides another opportunity for cooperation between India and SEAN countries. The rich historical past in general and the Buddhist pilgrimages site in particular in India offers a special interest to ASEAN countries. The active cultural and commercial ties that India has had throughout the history with Mekong Basin Area can be used for its advantages.

Thus, India is very keen to cooperate with ASEAN by leveraging its complementaries to ASEAN tourist circuits in international tourism markets for promoting two-way tourist flows. To materialise that Vajpayee in 2^nd India-ASEAN Summit in Bali, Oct. 2003, offered a unilateral “Open Sky” policy to specified Southeast Asian airlines, which will be free to operate daily flights to the Indian metropolitan centres outsides any bilateral aviation pact. India is also proposed to publish a Tourism Investment Guide covering Investment Opportunities within both ASEAN and India, and with a separate section on pilgrimages tourism.

The peoples mingling and interacting with each other has been given a renewed thrust with the impressive growth of connectivity and the ever-increasing flows of tourism between India and ASEAN. This remains a priority area of cooperation and, in fact, be given even further impetus. Prime Minister in the 5^th India-ASEAN Summit announces to launch a special tourism campaigns in ASEAN countries during the course of this year and also welcomed similar campaigns in India from ASEAN countries.

Human Resource Development: As human resource development is central to bridging the development gap, the Prime Minster Dr. Monmohan Singh in the 3^rd India-ASEAN Summit, Vientiane, Nov. 2004, envisaged the areas of cooperation under the human resource development through capacity building, strengthening of institution, training and entrepreneurship development focusing on small and medium enterprises of ASEAN countries.

Thus, under this programme, India has imparted training to ASEAN member countries, especially to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV). India has undertaken training courses for 48 personnel from these countries for railways infrastructure, 14 participants for signalling operation and 17 participants for railways management. In cooperation with Singapore, India organised English Language Training courses for CLMV countries in their respective capitals. India have also organised the Laos-India Entrepreneurship Development Centre in Vientiane, which was inaugurated by India’s External Affairs Minister on the eve of Third ASEAN-India Summit, 2004. Cambodia and India – Vietnam Entrepreneurship Development Centres became operational since 2006. We also have a wide ranging programme of cooperation with Myanmar, which is our gateway to ASEAN.  And it has been also decided to establish similar Entrepreneurship Development Centre in Phnom Penh, Hanoi and Yangon in nearest future.

Prime Minister further reaffirmed his faith in the Development of Human Resource Development in the 5^th India-ASEAN summit, held at CEBU in Jan 2007 and expresses his happiness that cooperation in this area has proceeded well during the course of this year. He particularly gratified with the positive response to the 1st training course for ASEAN diplomats that was organized by the Foreign Service Institute in New Delhi recently and also proposed such cooperation to be institutionalized on an annual basis. Prime Minister has also offered to host least 10 students from each of the 10 member countries of ASEAN on a trip of the sights and sounds of modern and ancient India.

Transport and Infrastructure: As greater connectivity is central to the idea of regional economic integration both India and ASEAN countries are also giving stress on transport and infrastructure front.  In the recent years, India has placed special emphasis on development of infrastructure to stimulate rapid economic growth. This includes- deregulation of all segments of our telecom industry, and up-gradation of highways, bridges, ports, air-ports and convention centres. For that purpose, the first meeting of Working Group on transport and infrastructure was held in Indonesia in Sept. 2001. This followed a discussion between ASEAN transport officials and India’s Ministries of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, and Railways to identify the areas for cooperation in these sectors. It was agreed in principle that, ASEAN-India co-operation in this sector would be achieved at the institutional and private sector levels. Accordingly, the meeting exchanged views regarding the specific areas of mutual interest and possible co-operation in railways, roads, shipping, inland waterways, ports, maritime training etc. and the modalities for funding ASEAN-India transport project. Many ASEAN companies are already present in these and other sectors.

The initiative taken in 2003 to liberalize air services has led to a significant increase in flight connections between India and ASEAN, with concomitant benefits in trade and people-to-people contact. Thus, it gives a many other opportunities for a close-cooperation between India and ASEAN in 21^st century

Energy Security: Faced with high energy costs hitting economies of the region, leaders of ASEAN and their dialogue partners including India agreed to strengthen regional cooperation on energy security. In pursuance with this objective the CEBU Declaration on Energy Security has been signed by Prime Minister Monmohan Singh and 15 other leaders- ten from ASEAN and five dialogue partners besides India- seeks to help the countries in the region reduce their dependence on conventional fuels through intensified energy efficiency programmes, expansion of renewable energy systems and bio-fuel production and utilization. The leaders agreed to pay close attention to the security, environmental, health and safety dimensions of the energy sector. The ASEAN agreed to strengthen and promote ASEAN energy cooperation, including in key infrastructure projects like ASEAN power grid and trans-ASEAN gas pipeline.

PROSPECTS:

The future of India-ASEAN relation in 21^st century is clearly drawn. The scope for greater economic cooperation is tremendous. The Prime Minister of India desires the two-way ASEAN-India trade to touch $30 billion by the end of this year from the current $23 billion. Trade is growing rapidly and it is hoped to even surpass the target $30 billion by the end of 2007. Earlier both India and ASEAN countries have traditionally relying on the Europe and USA for trade. But things have changed now for better. Thus, the challenge before both the sides is to raise the level of two-way trade as well as to forge a broad agreement to increase their share in global trade. Both the side need to explore the combined market of 1.7 billion people.

Defence and Security is a major area of future co-operation. No longer is security of South Asia and Southeast Asia separate. Both the region has suffered from new threat of terrorism. Thus, to get rid of it, a global alliance for Counter Terrorism is need of the hour, where both India and ASEAN can play the major role. The tsunami in the recent years has brought the issue of Disaster Mitigation as another possible area of cooperation. Besides, other transnational crimes such as trafficking particularly in women and children, cyber crimes, international economic crimes, environmental crimes, sea piracy and money laundering needs to be checked through effective institutional linkages and programmes of cooperation giving priority to information exchange and capacity building.  Making this cooperation more interesting at the 14th annual meeting of the ARF in 2^nd August 2007 in Manila, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee offers a training module on Maritime Security, specifically for the ARF member-states, with themes of anti-piracy, search-and-rescue [missions], offshore and port security, anti-smuggling and narcotics control and anti-poaching operations.” The nucleus of the module would be “capacity-building” for these and related aspects of maritime security.  Thus, the prospect of cooperation in this area is tremendous.

Creating an East Asian Community which PM Monmohan Singh called “Arc of Advantage and Prosperity” is another challenge before India and ASEAN. In the vision of PM Monmohan Singh, it will bring together the largest Asian economies of ASEAN, Japan, China, South Korea and India at its core that would constitute a new driver of growth in the world economy. He envisaged an integrated market from the Himalayas to the Pacific Ocean linked by efficient road, rail, air and shipping services. This would be a community of nation, roughly the size of the European Union in terms of income and bigger than NAFTA- in terms of trade. Each community would constitute of an “arc of advantage” across which there would be large-scale movement of people, capital, ideas and creativity. Admitting the advantages of East Asian Communities the Philippines President Gloria Macapagal in 40th ministerial meeting of ASEAN in Manila, July 30 2007, said “the raise of China and of India as major economic powers provide us with fresh competition as well as cooperation. If we are to turn this century into an Asian century, we must be able to capitalize on these opportunities and strengths of Asia”.

Another convergence of interest to foster closer cooperation in reforming of and democratizing the UN and its institution by making them more reflective of the contemporary realities, might strengthen the bond between India and ASEAN in 21^st century. In fact, both sides are eager for a multilateral world order with genuine role of the UN. Emphasizing the importance of multilateralism in ASEAN Business Advisory Council at Kula Lumpur, PM Singh said “regional building block of multilateralism in an increasingly globalilsed world. Besides their co-operation in multilateral forum, particularly the WTO and in addressing the challenges of economic, food, human and energy security will bring these two region more closer than ever before.

Thus, the two sides have to work for more space for the developing and the least developed countries in the WTO. It is also expected that, India might convince all the ASEAN members to support its candidature for the permanent membership in Security Council.

In the conclusion it can be said that India and ASEAN have come a long way in the past decade. Both sides have new left their past for better present and future. In the past few years, the two sides have gradually identified the areas of common agreement. In more than one way, the areas of cooperation outweigh the areas of disagreement which is hardly visible. The most significant aspect in the two-way relation is both sides have realized the multifarious benefits from free trade region. Thus, what has transpired and signed in the previous India-ASEAN summits needs to be diligently executed by the two sides to realize these benefits for the greater benefits of the people of both the region in the coming days and make the 21^st century a real Asian Century.

Published in Oct. 2007 issue of Kurukshetra

by Dillip Kumar Maharana

“I believe that Gandhi’s views were the most enlightened of all the political men in our time……………..We should strive to do things in his spirit: not to use violence in fighting for our cause, but by non-participation in anything you believe is evil”.

Albert Einstein

In a world plagued by the proliferation of weapon of mass destruction, menace of global terrorism, global warming and climate change, owing to environmental destruction and ecological imbalances, global epidemics like HIV/AIDS, and growing incidence of poverty related death as fallout of liberalization, privatization, and globalization (LPG), Gandhi as well as his philosophy appears relevant for ever. People love him and like to follow his philosophy as proved from the phenomenal success of Bollywood blockbuster “Lage Raho Munabhai”, which brought down the philosophy of Gandhi from the pages of history books to the common masses in the terms of Gandhigiri. The movie shows how Munna Bhai begins to practice what he calls Gandhigir (Satyagraha, Non-Violence and Truth) to help ordinary people solve their problems. The film has stirred the popular imagination, leading to a number of Gandhigiri protests in India and in the United States[1]. This indicates how People celebrate the Gandhian spirit of love, truth, non-violence, amity and unity across the globe and remind us, Gandhi is still capable to remain in the core of their heart.The statement made by Noble Peace prize winner Desmond Tutu on the occasion of accepting “Gandhi International Peace Prize” further reaffirmed his relevance when he admits that he got the noble prize for peace by following Gandhiji’s philosophy and wishes to dedicate it to him as he is the real winner of any peace prize around the globe[2]. And the relevance of his philosophy got wider perspective with most recent the UN resolution to commensurate October 2, Gandhiji’s birth day as the “International Day for Non-Violence”[3]. In fact it is a big tribute as well as recognition of the relevance of Gandhian philosophy in today’s trouble-torn world. These three happening remind us the continuous relevance of Gandhiji and his philosophy. Therefore, questioning the relevance of Gandhiji is itself an irrelevance question in the same way as we cannot question the relevance of love and truth- rather it is we who are moving way from the relevance of Gandhi and his philosophy by the enticement of the consumerist and sense-based culture[4].

Continued Relevance of Gandhi:

Let us see which principles of Gandhiji hold continuous relevance in this all-pervading materialistic, agnostic, consumerist culture and a troubled world? Let us introspect closely his thought and ideas about the life and see whether these are really good to apply in this modern day world to solve the current puzzle of development syndrome. Then and there only we can conclude whether we have failed to understand Gandhi or his ideas have failed to be relevant in the era of LPG.

Sustainable Development: The first and foremost point according to us where Gandhiji’s ideas continue to be relevant is his idea about development. When the whole world is crying for the mercy to get rid of current state of environmental degradation in the form of depletion ozone layer, global warming and climate change Gandhiji’s very notion of development appears as a savior to the world community. Sustainability is the core to his developmental process which appears to be a best viable alternative model of development in the recent years. Long before the “World Commission on Environment and Development”, coined and defined the concept sustainable development,[5] Gandhi talked about the philosophy of the concept but in a different term. Today from United Nation to Government of India, everybody is talking about a form of development which will balance the fulfillment of human needs with the protection of the natural environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but in the indefinite future. Now the concept of sustainable development becomes indispensable to the development of the human civilization because of the limited nature of the world’s resources. Knowing this inherent limitation of mother earth Gandhi warned the human society not to exploit beyond of its capacity to withstand the exploitation of natural resources for our development. Rather Gandhi advocated for the “optimal utilization” of our natural resources. For him using anything extra is a stealing. Depicting this Gandhian thought very brilliantly Satish Kumar in his article “Five Element of Ecology’ writes “the crisis of environment comes out of a utilitarian, materialistic, non-sacred, non-spiritual world-view — “the Earth is there for us to use, for our comfort, for our convenience. As a consequence we have taken from nature without knowing its limits. When we have a sense of reverence, we shall take from nature only what meets our vital needs. And when we take something, we thank, we show gratitude — like we take milk from the mother’s breast; the mother is very happy to give her milk in the same way as the Earth is happy to give its fruits as long as we take only what we need. When the baby is full, he or she stops sucking and doesn’t go on sucking. Well, unfortunately we humans go on sucking the Earth[6].

Antidote to Environmental Problems: According to Gandhi “there is enough on earth for everybody’s need, but not enough for anybody’s greed”. So need and greed have to be differentiated and, we must not over use or over-exploit the natural resources in the guise of development. Gandhi advises us to contain our greed and to allow our future generation to taste the fruit of real development. Spirituality helps in keeping our greed for materials and resources in check and sustainable development can take place when we use the resources for our needs and not for our greed. His advices are antidote not only to our consumerist culture but also can save the mother earth from most dangerous phenomena called “Global Warming and Climate Change.

Self Sufficiency: His concept of bread labour further strengthens the notion of sustainable development when he says, “if all labored for the bread and no more, then there would be enough food and enough leisure for all. There will be no rich no poor, nor high, no low, no touchable and no untouchable”. Therefore, it is the need of the hour to follow his notion of development rather going astray in following the destruction model of development. Here his thought stand relevant and the days to come till the last man on this earth survive.

Digging further into development model the government adopted following the Independent of the country we can see the failure in the front of development in terms of “regional disparities, population explosion, overcrowded town, growth of mega cities at the expense of rural areas and the unsustainable husbanding of land etc.  This lopsided development model has led to high levels of unemployment and poor quality of life in rural India and large-scale migration of the population to big cities. This migration is the direct result of lack of sustainable agriculture in rural areas. Gandhiji had all along advocated a decentralized model for development and we feel that had we followed it just after independence our situation might have been much better than today[7].

Small is Beautiful: Although after the 73^rd constitutional amendment act efforts were made to decentralize the power to the Gram Panchayats, yet we have to go a long way to realize the actual dream of Gandhi’s “Gram Swaraj”. The fundamental concept of Gram Swaraj is that every village should be its own republic, “independent of its neighbours for its own vital wants and yet inter-dependent for many others in which dependence is necessary,” according to Gandhi, writing in 1942. Each village should be basically self-reliant, making provision for all necessities of life – food, clothing, clean water, sanitation, housing, education and so on, including government and self-defence, and all socially useful amenities required by a community. That latter might include a theatre and public hall, for example. For India as a whole, full independence would mean that every village would be a republic with full powers. The virtues of “small is beautiful’” is always preferred by Gandhi as he visualized the future of India lies in the development of these small villages.

India is in continuous search for realizing the Gandhi’s concept of Gram Swaraj since Independent through its various rural development programs ranging from community development programs in 1952 to most recently but innovative PURA[8] model of development. In the recent years efforts are also been made to strengthen the governance process of rural India by devolving political as well as financial power to the Gram Panchayat. The Bharat Nirman Yojna as a new deal to rural India is another sincere effort made by the government to give tribute to Gandhiji. It is a  time-bound business plan for action in rural  as it aims at building up a strong Rural India by strengthening the infrastructure in six areas; irrigation, rural water supply, rural housing, rural roads, rural telephony and rural electrification[9]. Gandhiji’s concern are also get reflected when the government passed the historic Rural Employment Guarantee Act in  Sept. 2005, which provides the 100 days of guaranteed unskilled wage employment to each rural household opting for it[10]. Thus, Gandhiji’s ideas are not to be questioned for the moment rather a sincere effort to be made to fulfill the current exigency of rural governance by strengthening the loose end in terms of building the capacity of the Gram Sabha, as well as its rider (representatives of the Panchayat) by providing training to them. As a basic unit of rural governance Gram Sabhas are assigned to identify the beneficiaries as well as help in implementing rural development programmes. Therefore, capacity building of these Gram Sabha as well as the representatives of the rural India is demand of the time.

Capacity building will make every member aware enough to participate without any hesitation in every decision which will affect them. Effective capacity building requires the interaction of learning-by-doing, access to resources, facilitation, mediation and training[11]. Likewise, capacity building of the rider requires is to provide them necessary training to handle and exercise their power effectively for the effective implementation of the current rural development programs. Panchayat staff should be imparted the behavioural skills such as to communicate with the people, work with them, and appreciate the dynamics of social, political and cultural values of villages through well-thought out training modules[12].  Thus, this reaffirmed the relevance of the Gandhian thought as still India is looking ahead to achieve the target set by Gandhiji in his model of “Gram Swaraj”.

Fighting Global Menace: In the era of Global Terrorism, Nuclear Weapon and Weapons of Mass Destruction the only philosophy or rather way of life that ensures our longevity on earth is Gandhian thought of nonviolence. Humanity survive amid the conflict in stone age, iron age, gun powder age, warship age and also in bomber planes age, but it is really difficult to survive in a nuclear and chemical weapon age. It only needs a pull of the nuclear trigger to wipe every trace of life from this earth, and turn it into a nuclear wasteland. Today with irresponsible, fragmented and fanatical regimes acquiring nuclear capabilities and delivery systems, how will we create a world where nuclear or any other deterrent becomes unnecessary? It will only come about when we adopt Nonviolence as our creed, our way of life. Gandhi ridiculed the ideas of war to end the war. He maintained wars do not end anything except humanity. Therefore, if humanity is to survive, we must go back to Gandhi and bring peace to the 21^st century.

The Sept. 11 attack on World Trade Center, July 7 London bombing, and Beslan school hostage crisis, as well as attack on our Parliament, Akshardham Temple, and the most recent serial bomb attack in Mumbai shows the menace of terrorism. It is true that terrorist can’t understand the language of non-violence as advocated by Gandhiji or we can’t teach them either. But solution lies in peaceful understanding as happened in the case of IRA (Irish Republican Army) of Northern Ireland when Gerry Adams, spokesman for the Irish Republican Movement in April 2005, called for the IRA to lay down its weapons and to pursue its goal through “exclusively peaceful means”[13]. In fact it’s a triumph to Gandhian value of Ahimsa. Therefore, whenever there will be a challenge to world peace Gandhi and his philosophy will be remembered like a panacea. Gandhi maintained, “An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” If we believe that nonviolence is irrelevant we will leave behind a world on the verge of destruction caused by a mankind blinded by hatred and prejudices. Therefore, this message of love alone can conquer hatred and will remain relevant in the entire world today[14].

Universalization of Primary Education: Today India is dreaming big to be a developed country in the nearest future. Therefore, the base must be strengthened first by putting extra emphasis on Human Resource Development in term of providing education and training to the people. Yes, it is true that education is the main engine of growth that turns the potential power to real one. But the question raises which type of education and to whom it will be provided? The best answer lies in the Gandhian schemes of education. Gandhiji regarded education as the light of life and the very source from which was created an awareness of oneness. Gandhiji’s education is all about drawing the best in the child and man. And unlike the ordinary system of education which only cares for development of mind, Gandhian way of education put emphasis on the development of body, mind, heart and soul[15]. He believes in an education that liberates human being by imparting the kind of Knowledge as a training that is useful for the service of mankind.  His scheme of education he called Nai Talim: a beautiful blend of Craft, Art, Health and education in one and covers the whole education of the individual from the time of conception to the moment of death[16]. In fact his craft based education was an insurance against unemployment. Today the government is taking serious steps to improve the craft based education is nothing but the acceptance of Gandhiji.

Gandhiji’s education is for all and one, for the young and old, for boys and girls, more for girls than the boys. In his scheme of education there were no rooms for any discrimination for any ground. Thus, he was in favour of total eradication of illiteracy and universalizing of primary education. Gandhi also maintained that the universality of religion can best be realized through the universalisation of education, and that such universalisation was the spring board for national integration. This aspect of Gandhian thought got a vindication when in 2002 the government enacted 86^th constitutional amendment act which made education is a fundamental right[17]. The government is also continuously trying to universalize the primary education through the various programmes like: National Literacy Mission, Sarva Shikshya Abhiyan, Mid-Day Meal Scheme, National Programme for Education of Girls at Elementary Education, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya etc.  It seems that we are still trying to get what Gandhi has said years before on educational front.

He was also in favour of education for good conduct and good manners in the rural environment. In his opinion it is the duty of the schools to develop the sense of inherent equality and for this purpose the school should provide opportunities and exposures by organizing various kinds of co-curricular activities, In Gandhian system of education teacher has to play the key role. Therefore he recommends the books more for the teacher than taught. Teacher he feels should act as facilitator, as guide keeping in view child’s interest, attitude and aptitude. Further the education, being bookish and theoretical, becomes burdensome Gandhi wanted to make it more lively, joyful and useful for the individual and the society at large.[18]

Sex Education: We most not surprise to known that Gandhiji was in favour of Sex Education, the much debated topic on education in recent time. In the world of growing menace of HIV/AIDS and other Sexually Transmitted Diseases, it could be a great shield if we all will follow the Gandhian path on education. Sex Education which he called Sexual Science is of two kinds- that which is used for controlling or overcoming the sexual passion, and that which is used to stimulate and feed it. He preferred sex education as science of conquest and sublimation of the sex passion. He says instruction in the former is as necessary a part of child’s education while latter is harmful and dangerous and fit therefore only to be shunned[19].

He feels it is necessary to impart such knowledge of sex-control to a certain extent as the young student often left to pick up such knowledge anyhow with the result that they are misled into abusive practices and can acquire the dieses like AIDS. For Gandhi, we cannot properly control or conquer the sexual passion by turning a blind eye to it, therefore, he strongly in favour of teaching young boys and girls, the significance and right use of their generative organs. Gandhi also admits that he even in his own way, have tried to impart this knowledge to young children of both sexes for whose training he was responsible.

Today we are in a debating a point that who will impart the sex education i.e. parents or teachers, peers or public media. But if we will follow Gandhi again it will be much easier as he said the teacher who has attained mastery over his passions is the best person to impart the science of sex-control. Going further in his logic he said, to teach astronomy and kindred sciences we have teachers who have gone through a course of training in them and are masters of their art. Even so must we have as teachers of sexual science, i.e., the science of sex-control, those who have studied it and have acquired mastery over self.[20] Had we followed Gandhiji’s advice in our educational policy since independence, today, India the birth place of Gandhi could not have topped the list as a second largest HIV/AIDS population country of the world[21].

Empowering Women: Another debated topic in which government of India as well as the non-government organization and inter-governmental organization including UN is taking interest is “women empowerment”. Despite of constituting of half of the population women is treated throughout the history as a liability to the human society. From womb to tomb she has to face the continuous discrimination. But it is true that the real development of society is neither possible nor desirable by leaving half of the population in dark and depression. Realizing this virtue Gandhi advocated for the “women empowerment”.  By supporting women empowerment he writes, “of all the evils for which man has made himself responsible, none is so degrading, so shocking or so brutal as his abuse of the better half of humanity to me, the female sex, not the weaker sex. It is the nobler of the two, for it is even today the embodiment of sacrifice, silent suffering, humility, faith and knowledge[22]. Therefore, he was in favour of educating women and gives them all freedom which men enjoy. He writes, man should learn to give place to woman and a country or community in which women are not honoured can not be considered as civilized[23]. He even encouraged the women to join politics hand by hand with man but also warned them to be independent in their thinking without simply carry the wishes of their parents or husbands. When the country was still struggling to escape from the clutches of foreign ruler Gandhiji was thinking about to rescue the women folk from the clutches of parochial caste ridden thinking of Indian male bastion. But this progressive thinking of Gandhiji is yet to be realized even after 60 years of independence of the country. Still women are fighting hard to get their political justice with limited success in Panchayati Raj Institution where the seats are reserved for 33% of the women. The Women reservation bill is yet to be passed in our parliament which seeks to equalize the advantage of women participation in politics at the national level. Therefore, this made Gandhiji’s thinking more relevant as we are still struggling to match his wishes to place women an equal footing in our male dominated society.

Communal Harmony: Today the world is witnessing more communal clashes across the globe. Even some people like Huntington is justifying it as a “Clash of Civilization”[24] and so inevitable. Here we failed to understand Gandhi and his philosophy. Gandhi never wished to see the people to be a communal bigot rather he  pleaded for the humanization of knowledge for immunization against the ideas of distrust among the communities of the nations and the nationalities of the world. He wanted to take the country from areas of hostility into areas of harmony of faiths. He valued communal harmony and ask the people to tolerate other community as their brothers and sisters. He insisted to give the communal harmony a highest priority as a key to its progress and national integration.

By communal harmony Gandhiji did not mean merely religious neutrality. His concept of communal harmony is rather based on equal respect for all religions. Everyone, Gandhi said, must have the same regard for other faiths as he had for his own. Such respect would not only remove religious rifts but lead to a realization of the fact that religion was a stabilizing force, not a disturbing element. Gandhi’s basic axiom was that since the scriptures of all religions point only in one direction of goodwill, openness and understanding between men and men and between community and community we must have respect for every religion. Writing in the context of India he said Indian culture is neither Hindu, nor Islamic, nor Christian but is the fusion of all. Therefore we must help a Hindu to become a good Hindu, a Musalman to become a good Musalman and so on. In short, he spiritualized the religion for the betterment of the world and asks the humankind to be tolerant to the faith of other religion. Thus, “Dialogue Among Civilization[25]”, not “Clash of Civilization”, is the solution to communal conflict. This brings back to mind the relevance of Gandhiji, in today’s violent and unjust world.

To conclude, we can only say Gandhiji and his ideas are immortal and as pure as like nectar. Whether it is politics, or profession, education or environment, health or harmony (communal), Gandhiji’s ideas will remain relevant. In the words of Martin Luther King (Jr.) “if humanity is to progress Gandhi is inescapable. He lived, thought and acted, inspired by the version of a humanity evolving towards a world of peace and harmony. We may ignore him at our own risk”.  So Gandhiji is relevant wherever there is struggle for freedom, struggle for justice, struggle for equality, peace and harmony”. Gandhiji’s rejection of   the politics without principle; wealth without work; commerce without morality, education without character; pleasure without conscience; science without humanity and worship without sacrifice as the seven sin of the contemporary world will remain relevant for the days to comes. In short, Gandhi was not an individual but an inspiration, not a man but a movement, not an episode but a phenomenon. In any era of darkness he is light and will remain relevant when there will be struggle and fight.

[1] Ramachandaran, Shastri, “Jollygood Bollywood Munnabhai Rescues Mahatma”, The Tribune, Chandigarh, 22 Set. 2006.

[2] Hindustan Times, 31 Jan 2007.

[3] Chaudhury, Nilova. “October 2 is Global Non-Violence Day“, Hindustan Times, 15 June 2007.

[4] Rangachari, Jamuna, “Gandhigiri: Way to Go”, Life Positive, April 2007, p. 23.

[5] World Commission on Environment and Development, United Nations, 1987 constituted a commission known as Brundtland Commission which coined the term that has become the most often-quoted definition of sustainable development as, “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

[6] Kumar, Satish, “Five Element of Ecology” in Baidyanath Saraswati, (ed.) Man in Nature,  Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi, 1995.

[7] Rajvanshi, Anil K., “Talukas Can Provide Critical Mass for India’s Sustainable Development”, Current Science. Vol. 82, No.6, 25 March 2002, pp. 632-37.

[8] PURA or Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas is the major component of President’s Dream for developed India. It differs from the conventional ideas of economic development of rural areas in many ways–a comprehensive and composite rural development, government investment at urban levels in rural programmes, reverse rural-urban migration, the prerequisite quality infrastructure, supportive modern industry and investment in social and commercial service and private enterprise initiative

[9] India 2007, Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, pp. 714-715.

[10] Economic Survey, 2006-07, Govt. of India, Ministry of Finance and Economic Division, p. 210.

[11] Singh, S.P., “Capacity Building of Gram Sabha for Efficient Local Governance”, Kurukshetra, August 2004, P. 29.

[12] Op cit. Singh, S.P., P.32.

[13] BBC News,  28 July 2005, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4720863.stm

[14] Rangachari, Jamuna, “Gandhigiri: Way to Go”, Life Positive, April 2007, p. 29.

[15] The Selected Works of Gandhi”, Vol. 6, The Voice of Truth

[16] Ibid

[17] 86^th constitutional amendment act inserted a new article 21-A, which made it obligatory for the state to provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen year.

[18] Gupta, N.L., Mahatma Gandhi: An Educational Thinker, Anmol Publication, New Delhi, 2002.

[19] Harijan, 21-11-1936, p. 322.

[20] Ibid.

[21] According to latest WHO report about 2.47 million Indians are infected with HIV/AIDS and we have the largest HIV-positive population outside of Africa.

[22] Young India, 15-9-1921, p. 292

[23] Yong India, 25-11-1926, p. 415

[24] The Clash of Civilizations is a theory, proposed by political scientist Samuel P. Huntington, that        people’s cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post-cold war period.

[25] Dialogue Among Civilizations is a theory in international relations introduced by former philosopher President of Iran Mohmmad Khatami, in response to the Huntington’s theory of Clash of Civilizations. The term “Dialogue Among Civilizations” became famous after the United Nation adopted a resolution to name the year 2001 as the year of Dialogue among Civilizations for coexistence. The main theme of the concept is the dialogue must be promoted among different civilization for peaceful co-existence.

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Paper-I

Anthony Giddens: Introduction to Sociology

Harlambous: Sociology: Themes and Perspective (New Edition 2008)

Sachdeva and Vidya Bhusan: Sociology

TB Bottomore: Sociology

C.N Sankar Rao: Sociology

IGNOU (BA)

NCERT- 11th

Abraham and Morgan: Sociological Thinker

Ritzer: Sociological Theory

Ram Ahuja: Research Methodology

Paper-II

IGNOU (MA)

NCERT 12th

Nadim Hasnan: Indian Society and Culture

Ram Ahuja: Indian Society

Ram Ahuja: Indian Social System

Dipankar Gupta: Social Stratification

Y. Singh: Modernization of Indian Tradition

Y. Singh: Social Change: Crisis and Resilience

S C Dubey: Society of India

INDIA Year Book 2009

Dutta and Sundaram: Indian Economy

Yojna 

Writing Style

In first paper conceptual clarity is most. So try to answer the question within that framework. Strike  balance while suggesting something. Write briefly about theoretical stand in the second paper. And then supplement your answer by giving recent examples. Reading of Times of India and Hindustan Times is very effective.