10-13-2003, 11:21 AM
Observers Research Foundation (ORF) is a strategic think-tank initiative started by Reliance Group with branches in all capital cities of the country. Regular Saturday 11 AM to 1 PM meetings are held in Chennai. The ORF coordinator in Chennai is B. Raman, Vice-coordinator R. Suryanarayana (the guy who writes in THE HINDU and was a Prof. in Madras Univ. on Asian Studies, specialises on Srilanka Tamil issues). The Secretary is R. Sathiyamurthy. The ORF unit is Chennai is generally attended by retired police officers (including ex DG of BSF). On one of the Saturday meets, I was asked to talk on a topic which I considered important: I chose this Asian Economic Community (AEC) initiative. Some summaries of ORF deliberations are made and passed on to Min. of Ext. Affairs and to other ORF chapters.
IF should definitely take a lead role on this subject. We have a role model : EEC which has been achieved after intense deliberations. Now that free trade is the attractive buzz-word, AEC can be put in place in much shorter time than was possible with EEC.
As Kaushal rightly notes, we have a head start because between 8th and 18th century, we had a number of Hindu states in South East Asia. They call themselves Hindus and proudly so. Bali Governor wanted to strengthen the Hindu state; you know what was the response of Min. of Ext. Affairs? Don't call it Hindu state, because India is secular! We have to deal with such nit-wits in the bureaucracy. We have to by pass them and start an Indian Ocean Academy and establish direct contacts and exchanges among Bharatiya and Asian scholars and promote Hindu and Dhamma studies, to start with. We can donate a ratha to Angkor Wat so that they can have an annual ratha yatra. We can send priest trainers through Tirupati Institute or Sankara Matha-s and train priests to conduct daily puja in Angkor Wat and other Hindu temples. Every Cambodian has a temple in his or her house and he starts his daily chores only after offering his prayers in this mandira of vinayaka or sarasvati.
IF scholars have to prepare position papers on a multi-disciplinary framework -- e.g., tourism, trade exchanges, information exchanges, agricultural commodities exchanges including exchanges of agronomists/scientists, transfer of India's FBRTechnology, Ayurveda formulations, herbal fragrances manufacture and world-wide trade -- for promoting AEC and bringing it to fruition.
Kalyan
IF should definitely take a lead role on this subject. We have a role model : EEC which has been achieved after intense deliberations. Now that free trade is the attractive buzz-word, AEC can be put in place in much shorter time than was possible with EEC.
As Kaushal rightly notes, we have a head start because between 8th and 18th century, we had a number of Hindu states in South East Asia. They call themselves Hindus and proudly so. Bali Governor wanted to strengthen the Hindu state; you know what was the response of Min. of Ext. Affairs? Don't call it Hindu state, because India is secular! We have to deal with such nit-wits in the bureaucracy. We have to by pass them and start an Indian Ocean Academy and establish direct contacts and exchanges among Bharatiya and Asian scholars and promote Hindu and Dhamma studies, to start with. We can donate a ratha to Angkor Wat so that they can have an annual ratha yatra. We can send priest trainers through Tirupati Institute or Sankara Matha-s and train priests to conduct daily puja in Angkor Wat and other Hindu temples. Every Cambodian has a temple in his or her house and he starts his daily chores only after offering his prayers in this mandira of vinayaka or sarasvati.
IF scholars have to prepare position papers on a multi-disciplinary framework -- e.g., tourism, trade exchanges, information exchanges, agricultural commodities exchanges including exchanges of agronomists/scientists, transfer of India's FBRTechnology, Ayurveda formulations, herbal fragrances manufacture and world-wide trade -- for promoting AEC and bringing it to fruition.
Kalyan