M.O.P.Vaishnav College for Women organised a geopolitical symposium in the city on Monday. S. Koventhan, Regional Passport Officer, Chennai, indicated India’s movement to be a global power, given its current growth path, while inaugurating Vichintya - The Geopolitical Discussion at the college.
During the symposium that was organised by the Department of Sociology of the college, eminent scholars and journalists briefed students from various colleges on the prevailing geopolitical climate. Sudha Krishnakumar, Head, Department of Sociology, delivered the welcome address.
In the first session, ‘India and the changing world order,’ Ramu Manivannan, professor, Visiting and Community Scholar, Korbel Centre for International Studies, University of Denver, USA, highlighted a shift in the world’s moral value system and emphasised the need for India to build bridges without excluding others.
The second session, led by Stanly Johny, Foreign Editor of The Hindu, focused on ‘The Palestine Question and the crisis in West Asia.’ He noted that the Israel-Palestine conflict was essentially a cold war between the US and Iran.
In the third session, presented online by Josephine Varghese from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, she delved into ‘India and the new Cold War.’ She cautioned that although India countered China, it must exercise caution in its dealings with the US, given the widely accepted notion of a new Cold War between the US and China.
The symposium concluded with a panel discussion moderated by Hariharan S.A., Senior Associate Editor at Thanthi TV.
The panel, consisting of Srinivasan Ramani, Deputy National Editor of The Hindu, Radhakrishnan R. K, Senior Associate Editor of Frontline, Sonika Gupta, Associate Professor at IIT-Madras, and Sriram Seshadri, political and economic analyst, discussed ‘From Panchsheel to G20 Presidency - An Analysis of India’s Geopolitics Journey.’ The panel emphasised the importance of an international outlook on environmental issues to mitigate the impacts of climate change, finding common ground beyond foreign policies and national interests, said a press release here.
