Yearly Archives

12 Articles

National Seminar on Liberating the Farmers from Debt Trap: Challenges of Policy Reforms in India

Lecture Room I, India International Centre (Annexe), New Delhi
The Council for Social Development, New Delhi, the Centre for Agricultural Policy Dialogue, New Delhi and Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghtana of Maharashtra jointly organised a seminar, Liberating the Farmers from Debt Trap: Challenges of Policy Reforms in India. According to the 70th round of NSS data for 2012-13, a majority of Indian farmers do not earn enough to even meet their consumption needs. In time of drought or floods, their condition becomes even more miserable and desperate. And amongst the farmers the plight of the small and marginal farmers is the most vulnerable. Over the past 15 years, about 300,000 farmers have committed suicide.

The seminar raised some key issues:

  • How do we revitalise the health of our economy and liberate farmers from a suffocating debt trap?
  • What kind of policy reforms are needed to improve socio-economic conditions of farmers in various regions?
  • What are key challenges facing the implementation of policy reforms?

To address some of these concerns, the following issues will be discussed:

  • Alternative Models of Income and Social Security for Farmers
  • Challenges of Agricultural Policy Reforms, including Agricultural Price and Market Reforms,
  • Technology, Land Policy, Subsidies, Crop Insurance, and Credit Sector Reforms
  • Challenges of Climate Change – Risk Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies.

Symposium: The Bangdung Legacy and the Global Future

April 23, 2016
India International Centre (Main) Kamladevi Complex , Seminar Hall 1 and 2

Bandung Legacy and and Global Future: Participants in the symposium included Prof. Manoranjan Mohanty, DCM, Embassy of Indonesia, Dr Kapila Vatsayan, Prof. Muchkund Dubey and Prof. Deepak Nayyar.

Bandung Legacy and and Global Future: Participants in the symposium included Prof. Manoranjan Mohanty, DCM, Embassy of Indonesia, Dr Kapila Vatsayan, Prof. Muchkund Dubey and Prof. Deepak Nayyar.

It was in April, 1955 that the first ever large-scale Asian-African Conference, the Bandung Conference, sought to draw Asian and African nations together to forge a new international order. This Conference was organised by Indonesia, Myanmar (then Burma) Pakistan, Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) and India. Twenty nine countries, representing one quarter of the global population, came together in Bandung, Indonesia. The new order envisaged  by this Conference was neither communist nor capitalist, but reflected a new kind of political thinking, based on mutual goodwill and economic and social well being.  Six years later, those early deliberations led to the formation of the Nonaligned Movement.  Few will dispute that the historic Bandung Conference was a watershed in the history of international relations.

To mark the 60th Anniversary of the Bandung Conference a meeting of Heads of States or Governments of Asian and African countries was held in April 2015 in Bandung, where it was resolved that  April 24 would be observed every year as Bandung Day, reaffirming the aspirations of the people of Asia, Africa and Latin America for sovereignty, peace, human rights and sustainable development.

The Council for Social Development, together with the India International Centre,  is taking the initiative to organise a Symposium to examine some of the substantive legacies of that monumental conference, its relevance today and in the future.

bandung-collage

Panelists:
Prof. Muchkund Dubey, President, Council for Social Development and a scholar of international system and relations will speak on the ‘Future of the UN System’.
Prof. Deepak Nayyar, former Vice Chancellor, Delhi University will speak on Trends in Global Governance.  
Prof. Manoranjan Mohanty, Distinguished Faculty, Council for Social Development
Chair: Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan, renowned scholar in culture and education.

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