Beyond Nation & State with Smita Sharma

Pushp Kamal Dahal, or Prachanda was on his first official overseas visit to India in June this year in his his current term as Prime Minister of Nepal. There were some important outcomes from his meeting with Prime Minister Modi but also some controversies Ince he returned home including over the mural depicting Akhand Bharat including Nepal, on display in India’s new parliament building. 

What are some of the deep fault lines plaguing India Nepal relations? With 70% of its population less than 40 years of age, how Is Nepalese society changing? Why does democracy remain so fragile and governments unstable in Nepal? What is Nepal’s long view of its relations with India and China? 

In Episode 5 of Beyond Nation and State, Independent Journalist and Host Smita Sharma is in conversation with Kathmandu based Editor and Writer Amish Raj Mulmi. He is the author of the recent book 'All Roads Lead North: Nepal's Turn to China.'

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold official talks with American President Joe Biden during his first State Visit to the United States on 22nd June. 

Two key components are expected to be likely deliverables of the state visit - the iCET or the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies and a possible agreement authorizing joint production of GE F-414 jet engines in India to power indigenous fighter aircraft. 

The two defense ministries are also expected to launch an innovation bridge under the framework. 

On this episode of Beyond Nation And State, host Smita Sharma speaks to two expert voices, Sameer P Lalwani - Senior Expert at the Asia Centre, USIP, and Arun K Singh, Former Indian Ambassador to the US, Israel, and France and Senior Non-Resident Fellow, Carnegie India to understand how the iCET can further transform the strategic ties and is it the next historic nuclear deal moment in ties?

Additional Reading:

https://carnegieindia.org/2023/04/17/what-should-india-do-before-next-taiwan-strait-crisis-pub-89515 

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/toi-edit-page/new-phase-in-india-us-ties-but-there-has-to-be-room-to-disagree/ 

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/india/markey-modi-biden-united-states

https://carnegieindia.org/2023/06/12/india-and-united-states-good-bet-one-year-of-u.s.-india-initiative-on-critical-and-emerging-technology-icet-pub-89926 

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 21st June was declared as the International Day of Yoga on 10TH December 2014 by the United Nations. This was the result of an India led resolution mooted and supported by more than 175 member countries. This happened in less than 3 months of  Record time.  

On Episode 3 of Beyond Nation and State season 2, senior journalist and host Smita Sharma speaks to retired diplomat Ambassador Asoke Mukerji who introduced the resolution on “International Day of Yoga” as then India’s Permanent Representative to the UN. He recalls how the idea that was proposed by Prime M minister Modi was turned into a reality and all the push and pull that went in behind the scenes to get the resolution adopted in record time.

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India and the US today are working closely on critical and emerging technology. The US-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) will be an important component in talks during the upcoming State Visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington DC. He will be only the third Indian leader after President Radhakrishan in 1963 and Dr. Manmohan Singh in 2009 to be hosted on a State Visit by the American President. 

While the India US relations have undergone massive transformations in the last decade and a half, the one deal that reshaped and reset the contours of this relation was the 123 agreement or the India-US civil nuclear agreement inked in 2008. This marked a strategic repositioning of Indian foreign policy overcoming the deep mistrust of the US in the post Cold War era. It also ended the  nuclear apartheid and discrimination that India was subjected to despite being a nuclear weapons power. 

This deal involved intricate and complicated diplomacy and negotiations over a period of 3 years under the leadership of US President George W Bush and Indian PM Dr. Manmohan Singh. 

On Episode 2 of Beyond Nation and State season 2, we turn back the clock to reflect on what played out behind the scenes in obtaining a special waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group and inking the agreement. What still holds back the deal and the future of nuclear energy. 

Smita Sharma speaks to Ambassador Shyam Saran, former Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister’s Special Envoy, currently the President of the India International Centre. Among the key architects who made the deal a possibility, Saran shares the make it or break it moments and sharp insights from the drawing board table.

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In her debut episode today, senior journalist and host of this season of Beyond Nation & State, Smita Sharma is going to talk about a region which hardly finds mention or coverage in Indian mainstream media but it should. She was recently in Uzbekistan to cover a constitutional referendum under its strongman President Mirziyoyev.

So why talk about Uzbekistan? Because the country is opening up and transforming at a great speed with implications for the region and India. The former Soviet republics in the Central Asian region- Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan - have large swathes of territory rich in natural resources and with geo strategic importance. The Central Asian countries are also the key driving force within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation that India is chairing this year. PM Modi will host the SCO Heads of States and Governments in July. 

While in Tashkent- the beautiful Uzbek capital, Smita sat down to speak to a renowned journalist and analyst Dr. Beruniy Alimov, Founder and Director, New Media Education Center, Tashkent about what a changing Uzbekistan means for the region and how ties with India looked upon amid the influence of dominant players Russia and China. She also speaks with Ambassador Ashok Sajjanhar in Delhi who is a retired diplomat who has served as Indian envoy in Kazakhstan, Sweden & Latvia. He is associated with several prominent think tanks including ORF and Ananta Aspen Centre.

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Now tune into the new season of Beyond Nation and State with Smita Sharma, a seasoned journalist with experience reporting on foreign policy and global events. With her new role as a podcaster, she plans to explore the evolving world and India's position in it. She aims to uncover the behind-the-scenes diplomacy and decision-making that shaped Indian foreign policy in the past, interviewing key figures involved.
Additionally, she will analyze current global developments and their impact on India and its citizens, providing insights into the country's future direction.

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Press freedom is increasingly endangered across the world. At least 28 journalists were killed due to their work in 2021, with India and Mexico topping the list of countries with the most media worker deaths, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Journalists in many countries are feeling the pressure as they are arbitrarily imprisoned, silenced or killed in some instances, for the work they do.  But journalists are continuing to push boundaries and in some cases are transcending borders to report on important causes. Notwithstanding the global climate of curbs on freedom of expression, a handful of intrepid foreign correspondents from India are travelling across the world to tell stories on human rights, culture, politics and resistance. 

In a special episode on the various meanings of press freedom foreign correspondent Priyanka Borpujari talks to host Urvashi Sarkar about the various meanings of freedom as a journalist and why frontlines need not always imply war and conflict. She explores concepts of not just freedom from oppression but also freedom to practice the profession on her own terms. 

Priyanka is an award-winning journalist currently based in Ireland. She has previously reported from Japan, India, El Salvador, Indonesia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Argentina. Between 2018 and 2019, she walked 1,200 kms across north and northeast India on the Out of Eden Walk with Pulitzer-winning journalist Paul Salopek, which traces the path of human migration. Her journalism has been published in a wide range of international and Indian news publications. She speaks 7 languages.

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Sri Lanka is in the midst of an acute crisis. Thousands of Sri Lankans are on the streets protesting shortages and the soaring cost of food, medicines and fuel. Long power cuts and no cooking gas are causing Sri Lankans unimaginable distress and suffering. Hospitals cannot perform routine surgeries, medicines are in short supply and school exams are being postponed due to the lack of paper. The country lacks foreign currency for the most basic imports and is in debt of over 50 billion dollars which it says it cannot repay for the time being.  Sri Lankans are angry with the terrible economic mismanagement of their country and the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government. However, protests by the people are being suppressed in increasingly brutal ways and there is a sense that worse may come. What is the role of the much-debated China debt trap and should Sri Lanka accept a bailout from the International Monetary Fund?

Colombo-based Marlon Ariyasinghe, the Senior Assistant Editor for Himal Southasian magazine decodes the crisis in this episode of Beyond Nation and State. 

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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has inaugurated a dangerous era of world politics with a huge human cost. Overnight, more than 1 million people have already become refugees, fleeing to neighbouring countries such as Poland and Hungary. While we must hold Russia accountable, the role of the US, Europe and NATO cannot be ignored in this conflict. While the invasion invites questions which will continue to be asked for years to come, there are a few basic and pressing questions. First, why did Russia invade Ukraine? Two, what do Ukrainians want? Three, what is the role of NATO in this conflict.

To answer these questions and give us crucial context, veteran Russia studies expert Dr. Anuradha Chenoy speaks to Beyond Nation and State. Dr Anuradha Chenoy is Professor (retired) and former Dean of the School of International Studies,  Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She was chairperson and director of the Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies at JNU. She is an adjunct faculty at the OP Jindal Global University .  

India too has a role to play in the conflict. Why did India refuse to outrightly condemn Russia? How do India’s concerns with regard to China and in the Indo-Pacific matter? Why did India mess up the evacuation of Indian students from Ukraine, with many saying the Indian Embassy in Ukraine didn’t help as much as it should have. Our other guest Dr. Happymon Jacob addresses some of these questions.Dr. Happymon Jacob teaches at Jawaharlal Nehru University and is the host of National Security Conversations with The Wire. He is also a columnist with The Hindu newspaper. 

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Ethnic communities in Myanmar have long borne the brunt of abusive military rule since the military staged a coup against the democratically elected government in 1962. Time and again ethnic people especially in the states of Rakhine, Chin, Shan, Kachin, and Karen have been significantly abused.  These abuses include extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and mistreatment, forced labor, reprisals against members of the opposition, restrictions on movement, expression, and religious freedom, abusive military conscription policies, and extortion and confiscation of property. The discrimination faced by the Rohingya community in particular is well-known and documented; this community is probably the worst discriminated against in Myanmar.

The Chin people are another group at the receiving end. After the military junta staged yet another coup in February 2021, thousands of Chin people crossed over from Chin state to India’s Mizoram with which it shares a 404 km border. Chin people have been escaping persecution earlier too since the 1980s. While they have sought refuge in countries like Thailand and Malaysia, Mizoram in India has drawn more Chin people. Besides proximity, the people of Chin State and Mizoram also share a common history and ethnic ancestry.

However, India has not signed the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol. The status of Chins in India is therefore undefined. There is no clear estimate of the number of Chin refugees in India.

Dr. Rini Ralte who is President of Northeast Solidarity speaks about the dire conditions of Chin refugees in Mizoram’s refugee camps. She highlights the difficult and fraught journey that Chins make to cross into India from Myanmar and discusses the ties that bind the people of Chin state and Mizoram. Dr. Ralte earned her doctorate degree from Boston’s Episcopal Divinity School and Senate of Serampore College, West Bengal. She is a retired Professor from the Department of Women’s Studies at the United Theological College, Bangalore. She currently lives in Aizawl.

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