28^th March 2021, New Delhi: Public Policy Group of Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur – one of the youngest B-school institution founded in 2018, with management studies, accredited with ACCB accreditation – organised an online discussion upon Sino-Indian Relations. The event was intended to explore and study public policy matters that are indispensable to understand Sino-Indian relations. Two guest speakers including Shri. Rahul Kashyap and Sh. Jigmey Tsultrim along with a special invitee from faculty member Dr Saurab Gupta addressed the platform.

The program was presented by Mr Rishav whereas the guest profile was introduced by Ms Karanpreet both representing the student-faculty of Public Policy Group. Sh. Rahul Kashyap, in his opening remarks, emphasized the key elements of business studies along with the thorough study of public policy matters. He hinted out that Sino-India relation has remained one of the scary subjects of studies in the realm of International Relations yet students and professionals must deal with this matter from every aspect.

He revisited those series of events that took place in Sino-India relations in the last couple of decades and particularly in 2020 with an effort to underline the misinterpretation of Chinese Communist Government control over the border that stretched from Ladakh (presently Union Territory) to Arunachal Pradesh. Meanwhile Sh. Kashyap shared his recent publication on this vexed issue while lamenting India’s psychological setback from the 1962 war with China and the failures of the Indian Government. He appreciated the team of Public Policy Group for undertaking such ventures within the ambience of an Institution reputed for academic wisdom upon these subjects.

The Coordinator began his address with four of its points; trade and commerce relations between China and India, cultural relations, geographical relations and finally political and social relations. He shared those statistics of 2018 and 2019 which are available on the website of the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India that reflects the widening gap of export/import transactions and investments between these two nations and the loss Indian Government has been facing in the recent years.

He drew out the cultural relations and the proximities between China and India and then with Tibet. He also outlined how Chinese scholars visited India, studied Buddhist philosophy, returned and incorporated into their own tradition of learning whereas Tibetan masters and scholars visited India, studied but also succeeded in inviting Indian masters from the Nalanda and Takshila – the leading Indian institutions and learning centres of the time.

He presented the case of Chinese Buddhist practitioners who make up more than 240 million of its population of which more than 30% follow His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teaching taking great personal risks. He requested the students to undertake further study in these cases as it will then widen the horizons of academic wisdom.

Touching upon the geographical context, the coordinator drew out historical and geographical relations between India and China and that with Tibet. He reminded the participants to relook at the previous CBSE social science curriculum of primary stage schools concerning the topic of India and its neighbour which presently has been replaced due to some unconventional reasons.

Linking with this subject, he emphasised the great risk of natural calamities that loom in the coming years due to the environmental destructions inside Tibet and untamed damming upon giant rivers of the Brahmaputra and other major rivers that originate from Tibet. Thousands of small and medium glaciers that has represented the water towers of Asia are now mostly melted and formed lakes which can outburst at any moments as a direct result of the Chinese Communist Government’s extensive exploitations of nature and its resources.

With this, the Coordinator linked the political and social relationship between India and China. One that is democratic and the other that is totalitarian and communist, one that has seen different legacies of governments and another that has seen only the power grip upon the public tighten and grow more restrictive. He reminded the recent instances of the Communist Chinese Government’s hardline and expansionist policy in relation to the forceful imposition of new security laws upon Hong Kong, interventions in the constitutional rights of the Republic of China, Taiwan, re-emergence of human rights activist from the Tiananmen Square crackdown has brought down the face value of CCP. In his conclusion, he stressed that ITCO, therefore, works in updating these events and disseminate information amongst the Indian masses in the hope that Tibet’s approach of its justice can be measured with honesty and truth. He thanked Dr Saurab Gupta, Senior Faculty Member, for having him invited to the virtual platform and appreciated the participants for their patience and constructive questions during the session.

The event began at 5.30 pm and ended at 7.30 pm including a Q&A session that was participated actively from the student’s end. A vote of thanks was given away by Mr Rishab Gupta with synergy and hope that the Public Policy Group may organize another session in the coming months.

– Filed by ITCO, New Delhi