Discussing Modern India

Updated on: Monday, October 10, 2011

iLEAD, Institute of Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Development, hosted the M L Chopra Memorial Lecture by Sumantra Bose, professor of international and comparative politics at London School of Economics on the subject of ‘Contemporary India’. The professor is also the grandson of Sarat Chandra Bose, elder brother of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. The interactive session highlighted the themes of his ongoing book project based on India’s social and political transformations in the past two decades and India’s regional and international relations as a rising power of the early twenty-first century. The lecture, organised at the iLEAD campus, was attended by students of varied fields and visitors.

“India as a rising power needs to deal effectively with the problems of poverty, graft and leadership. One way to do that is to maintain good relations with the three most powerful external countries India is associated with-namely the United States of America, China and Pakistan. India needs to overcome its problems in a systematic way to form a path for itself in the multipolar world,” said Bose. “India’s foreign policies should not cling to the 1962 Indo-China war, and India should exploit China more. India should thus come out of history and create new foreign policies which are stronger and will help the country flourish,” added Bose.

Pradip Chopra, chairman of iLEAD said, “iLEAD specifically focuses on China. We see a lot of scope and thus we are looking into the education and trade sector. We have student exchange programmes and we invite Chinese delegations to our institute. Indo-China bilaterally is very important and we are doing our bit by partnering with many Chinese universities and are working very closely with the Chinese consulate and Chinese community in Kolkata.”

Sumantra Bose specialises in the study of ethnic and national conflicts and their management, with a particular focus on the Indian subcontinent, especially Kashmir and the former Yugoslavia. He is also the author of seminal texts in his sphere of work.

Discussing Modern India

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