Prime Minister of India - Dr. Manmohan Singh

PM releases the Journal - "India & Global Affairs"

"I compliment Abhijit Pawar and Dileep Padgaonkar for taking this important initiative to launch a new journal on "India and Global Affairs". I do hope this journal becomes an important and informed window to the outside world for thinking citizens of our country. I also hope it will help students and scholars in international affairs, diplomats and policymakers to get a better appreciation of the world around us.

We live in interesting times, indeed in challenging times, in this fast-changing world. There are great opportunities awaiting us but also profound challenges facing us. As India re-engages the world, as a more self-confident nation, we must be better informed about the world to be able to deal with it. Understanding the processes of change is the first step in trying to change these processes.

An honest, factually informed and analytically rigorous discussion is, therefore, necessary for us to be able to deal with reality, as it exists, and shape it in a manner that serves our national interest and global peace and stability.

I therefore hope that this journal will contribute to a better informed discourse on global change and the tasks before us as a nation. How will they impact on our country? How can we influence them so that we can ensure a neighbourhood of peace, prosperity and stability?

I find that the first issue of this journal is devoted to a discussion of political and social developments in Pakistan. It seems events have already over-taken the contents of the journal. The questions raised on the cover of this issue have acquired even greater importance. We must look for informed and convincing answers.

I have referred to some of these issues on more than one occasion in the past three years, including in the essay that has been published in this inaugural volume. I do feel that policy making at home is often more reactive than pro-active. Governments are driven by the force of events. One does not always have the luxury of time to plan. But, it is important and necessary to try to do so. Creating a body of informed opinion is part of that process of preparing oneself and our country to deal with unexpected events.

Proactive planning is the goal of strategic thinkers worldwide. This is where scholars and analysts must step in and identify problems, highlight trends, develop scenarios, and suggest policy options, before events and crises overtake us. I have often felt that there is a dearth of long term planning on strategic policy issues in our country. Of course, there is the problem that purely academic work can appear impractical to policy makers and, on the other hand, the policy options Governments deal with are sometimes bereft of long term vision.

There is a certain "chicken-and-egg" sort of problem with the relationship between the academia and government in these matters. Some in government feel purely academic analysis is ivory tower stuff and bereft of practical relevance. Some in academia feel governments are insular and knowledge-proof! A healthy interaction is useful for both. There is, therefore, a need to foster mutual interaction and respect between the world of policy making and the world of analysis.

The cost of investing in long-term policy making - in terms of time, money and energy - is quantifiable and immediate. Unfortunately, the benefits are reaped, if at all, in some distant future, and all too frequently, by successor governments. These benefits are also hard to quantify, since a crisis averted does not register on the popular consciousness.

The incentive for in-depth analysis and long-term policy planning may be weak, despite the obviously disastrous consequences of ignoring such efforts. I do feel, however, that it is incumbent upon us in Government to help foster creative thinking outside government on matters of national interest. This will allow the nation to consider alternative approaches to the resolution of a problems that we face as a nation.

At the same time, I also believe that it is incumbent upon analysts and opinion makers outside government to have a better appreciation of the changing reality and not adopt either rose-tinted or jaundiced perspectives on on-going trends, events and policy options.

I have often said that our national security must be based on three pillars. First, a strong economic, technological and social base; second, adequate defence capability; and, finally, mutually beneficial partnerships, in the strategic, economic and technological spheres, aimed at enlarging our policy choices and developmental options. Our engagements with major powers, and indeed with the world at large, must be set in this wider perspective.

I believe we must balance the pursuit of national interest with a clear appreciation of what other nations perceive as their core interests. To advance our own security interests, we must engage in cooperative, constructive and mutually beneficial relations with all major powers of the world. Most of all, we must engage in proactively strengthening multilateral mechanisms for financial, economic and political security. We have as a nation, a great stake in a rule based international system that is just, equitable and effective.

I believe that our great strength as a plural and liberal democracy is that public policy is shaped by a broad consensus, based on a rich and healthy tradition of open debate and public discussion. This has lent a measure of predictability and resilience to our policies, both domestic and external. Journals like the present one play an important role in shaping that public discourse and in evolving an informed consensus.

As Tennyson said once, knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers. True confidence comes from wisdom, while ignorance and limited knowledge make us tentative or foolhardy. There is today a surfeit of information, but all too often a paucity of knowledge and more so of wisdom. In this era of information explosion and knowledge revolution we must never lose sight of the need to pause, to analyse, to reflect and to ponder.

As a means of generating and spreading wisdom, based on accurate information and informed analysis this journal can play an important role. I compliment Dileep Padgaonkar on the initiative that he has taken. I hope it will promote a responsible, informed and intelligent debate on the issues confronting our nation and our world today. I also hope it will instill a sense of confidence in our people and our political and intellectual leadership. This is the need of the hour. I wish you well in your endeavour to this end."