avinash.godbole

Optimism must translate into action Li Keqiang, Premier of People’s Republic of China’s State Council visited India during 19-22 May 2013. This was the first step in Premier Li’s first foreign tour after assuming the office in March this year and the Chinese media and officials, among others, highlighted the fact that he chose India as his first stop. Many are willing to consider this alongside Preside Xi Jinping’s first state visit to Moscow after becoming the President to treat as a decided shift in China’s global priorities or at least as a rise of a new perspective in Chinese foreign policy. In undertaking this visit, the Chinese Premier has also overlooked the protocol as it was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s turn to visit China after Wen Jiabao had visited India in December 2010 to commemorate the 60 th Anniversary of the diplomatic contact between the two countries.  However, this kind of attention to India does little to improve the bilateral relationship as littl...

Recently, I was part of the panel on Rajya Sabha TV along with Prof Srikanth Kondapalli, Amb TCA Rangachari and Pramit Pal Chaudhary. Take a look and leave your feedback.

भारतासह ब्राझील, रशिया आणि चीनचा समावेश असलेल्या ‘ब्रिक्स’ गटाची  परिषद आजपासून नवी दिल्लीत सुरू होते आहे. ही परिषद महत्त्वाची आहे का, आणि त्यातून काय साधणार, याबद्दल एका अभ्यासकाची ही निरीक्षणे..   ब्राझील, रशिया, भारत आणि चीन या चार देशांच्या ‘ब्रिक्स’ या गटाची चौथी शिखर परिषद आता नवी दिल्लीत होत आहे. भारतात अशी परिषद प्रथमच होत असली तरी केवळ तेवढय़ाचेच अप्रूप नाही. चीनमधील सन्या शहरात गेल्या वर्षी झालेल्या शिखर परिषदेत ‘ब्रिक्स’चे वाढते महत्त्व दिसून आले आहे आणि बहुसांस्कृतिक (निव्वळ पाश्चात्त्यांचे वर्चस्व मानणे इतिहासजमा झाल्यानंतरच्या) जगातील एक महत्त्वाचा गट ही ‘ब्रिक्स’ची ओळख यापुढेही वाढत जाणार, हेही स्पष्ट झाले आहे. अशा राष्ट्र-गटांना अनेकदा त्यांच्या भू-राजकीय भूमिकांमुळे महत्त्व असते, तसे तर ‘ब्रिक्स’ला आहेच; परंतु जगातील बदलत्या आर्थिक स्थितीमुळे / वातावरणामुळे ‘ब्रिक्स’ देशांचे महत्त्व वाढले आणि वाढणार आहे.  Summary of my article published in Loksatta on 26 March 2012. The complete article is available here.

For a long time now, India and People’s Republic of China have had uneasy bilateral relationship. In addition to the conflicted history, instances in the recent past have made it extremely difficult for both the countries to set the terms of relationships in place so that the relationship could be taken forward. Instead, what the two have had are the events that have threatened to derail any form of momentum without warning. From the news of trans-boundary intrusions to the denial of proper visas to the residents of Jammu and Kashmir to the denial of any form of visa to the Indian Army’s northern commander, and to an Indian Air Force officer from Arunachal Pradesh in the recent past, China has undertaken activities that have time and again challenged India’s sovereignty by acting against the norms of good international conduct. Consequently, each time the highest leadership has met in the recent past, they have only worked as firefighters by saying that despite repeated acts of bell...

India China relationship can be improved if accomodative approach is taken ignoring the hardliner views.  This is the core argument of my article that appears in today's China Daily. For full article see  http://goo.gl/bvt6h