Home Page of Dr. Saumitra Mohan

How Can We Survive the Clash of Civilisations? Saumitra Mohan It was in an article published way back in 1993 in Foreign Affairs that Samuel P. Huntington had declaimed that the post-Cold War conflicts would not be ideological or economic, but cultural. He said, “The local conflicts most likely to escalate into major wars shall be those along the fault lines separating the civilizations from one another.” The next world war, he further said, shall be a war between civilizations. Since Huntington came out with this thesis, reams have been written arguing for and against it. But any claim of a ‘clash of civilisations’ springing from divergent religious beliefs represents an oversimplification of the reality. As Amartya Sen wrote in 2003, ‘this single-dimensional categorization of human beings and the increasing tendency to overlook the many identities that any human being has trying to classify individuals according to a single pre-eminent religious identity is an intellectual confusion ...

Sino-Indian Relations: Moving forward Saumitra Mohan China occupies a prominent place in India’s ‘Look East Policy’. The two civilisational behemoths’ bilateral relations have undergone a slow, but steady consolidation for the better in recent times, notwithstanding a background of mistrust and misunderstanding carried over through decades. Marred by the memories of 1962 border war and Cold War shenanigans, the qualitative improvement in bilateral relationship saw its beginning in Rajiv Gandhi’s visit to China in 1988 which has since then been sustained and consolidated through a series of actions including 1993 agreement between the two countries to maintain peace and tranquillity along the line of actual control. This positive transformation is reflected in the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh calling China ‘The Greatest Neighbour’ at Heillegendum Summit of G-8 countries. It is the same China whom the then Indian Defence Minister Mr. George Fernandes had termed India’s ‘Enemy Numbe...

Rethinking Indo-Bangla Relations Saumitra Mohan With a shared history and culture, it was expected that Indo-Bangladesh relations shall have a good trajectory but in reality, they have been always been held hostage to misplaced priorities owing to mutual misunderstandings. Indo-Bangla relations have so far been a tale of missed opportunities, even though there have been streaks of hopes also in between, marking our hot and cold relationship. A bilateral relationship which was supposed to be predicated on the strong foundation of a successful ‘joint venture’ resulting in Bangladesh’s liberation through Indian assistance has all gone awry. The potential of bilateral cooperation in sundry fields based on this supposed mutual bonhomie has never been unleashed in a way which could have changed the very face of the economy of Bangladesh and could have resulted in substantive gains for India as well, particularly its north-eastern region. Indo-Bangla Treaty of Friendship and Coopera...

Revitalizing Rural Non-Farm Sector in Hooghly *Saumitra Mohan Creation of employment and income opportunities for the rural people has always been a top priority for the Government. The importance of rural non-farm sectors (RNFS) lies in the fact that it generates new jobs with relatively low direct investments, by utilizing local skills and resources or by meeting local demands by adoption of simple techniques. NABARD (National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development) and other government agencies have come together to implement the District Rural Industries Project (DRIP) to bring about an industrial rejuvenation in Hooghly district of West Bengal with respect to small-scale and cottage industries. The objectives of the study have been following: · To identify and map the profile of the existing Rural Non-farm Sector (RNFS) activities and their distribution in Hooghly district, to be harnessed through credit and promotional support by banks, government departments, other...

Naxalism:The Enemy Within *Saumitra Mohan The way Naxal activism and related violence has been recurring with increasing frequency lately has really become a cause of serious concern for not only the integrity and security, but also the general well-being of this country. While neighbouring Nepal is witnessing a reconciliation with the Naxals, as reflected in latter’s participation in the new government, India continues to be a victim of their gory ways. The mainstreaming of the Naxal movement in Nepal hopefully marks the end of the Naxal movement in that country, India still is still groping in the darkness to size up the real problem and come out with a suitable response in the form of a well-coordinated strategy to break this wild and intractable stallion called Naxalism. As of now, Naxal violence, today, has spread its tentacles from 156 districts in 13 states in September 2004 to 170 districts in 15 states in February 2005, affecting about 40 per cent of the geographical...

Operationalizing Right to Information *Saumitra Mohan While it is often said that we Indians are best at making laws but seldom show necessary gravitas towards their implementation. And of all the laws enacted recently, the Right to Information Act (RTI) is one which is really going to change the way of governance in times to come. Completely in sync with our democratic ethos, this Act is slowly but surely coming into its own. But, still a lot needs to be done to make it more useful and effective. While it was Sweden which pioneered the Right to Information way back in 1766, the same was internationally recognized for the first time by its incorporation in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966). But since then, only 72 countries including India have put in place any enabling legislation. Even though it took a long while coming, still the Indian Act is considered exemplary. In 1975, the Supreme Court, in Uttar Pradesh vs Ra...

Reforming the Police Saumitra Mohan The debate over police reforms continues to rage. Sleeves have been folded and swords have been pulled for a one-to-one duel on either side of the fence and there are some straight on the fence, still undecided as to which side should they join. In the meanwhile, the Supreme Court has also made it clear that it is not going to compromise on its directions the basics whereof must be implemented within the stipulated time-frame. While it is no one’s case that there should not be any reforms of the police organization at all, crucial as it is to the internal security of the country as well as to the administration of the criminal justice system, as also acknowledged by the various police commissions (both national and state ones), National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), and Justice Malimath Committee on Criminal Justice Reform. So, it is more in the fitness of things that the ongoing debate on police refor...