Department Of South And Central Asian Studies
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Item Eurasia in India‘s Energy Diplomacy: Exploring the Emerging Equations in the 21st Century(Central University of Punjab, 2019) Singh, Sandeep; Singh, BawaEnergy is considered as a geopolitical commodity of political leverage/vulnerability. Also, it has been considered as a major part of diplomacy of every individual country, promoting economic prosperity or political stability. In context of Eurasia, which is known for its great amount of energy resources in the world, has become fundamentally one of the most important and geopolitical determinant of external power‘s engagements. The study argues that recent geo-economic-political developments in post-2013, and ups-downs (Russian-Ukraine Gas Wars in 2006 and 2009, diversifications of Eurasian energy supplies especially gas, and threatening relations between Europe and Russia etc.) in the Eurasian region have been posing geo-economic and geopolitical challenges to many states within the region. The Energy producers in the Eurasian region particularly Russia and CARs have started moving from the west to the East for energy supply. In addition, Asian demand for energy resources have been diversified particularly India and China are becoming big energy consumers. These changes have brought some of the serious and complex issues before India‘s domestic and foreign policies. It is also seen as a window of opportunities and possibilities of complementarities on the other hand. India as a major energy importer and it's manufacturing-oriented programmes are likely to fasten its energy demands, and Eurasia can provide an incredible opportunity to meet its energy requirements in this connection. Therefore, an attempt has been made to provide a transcontinental study of Eurasian energy as a thrust area for the present research positioning Eurasian region in Indian energy diplomacy, and determining the contours of energy diplomacy. Although, there are many researches about India‘s policy towards the Eurasian region, and few of them focussed on energy trade, and trade in other goods including political relations. But, how energy is a significant factor in India‘s diplomacy towards the Eurasian region in the present geopolitical realities has not been thoroughly investigated. In this backdrop, the present research has been approached by setting three onjectives. Fisrtly, it investigates India‘s position in the changing global energy scenario. To achieve the objective, the study exmines India‘s domestic energy policy and finds that India‘s future of domestic energy production remains clouded given the underinvestment, outdated infrastructure and under-explored basins of the country. It iv leads India to import energy. Secondly, the study has uncovered India‘s diplomatic engagements with the Eurasian region by the way of mapping its quest for energy. It concludes that India‘s energy diplomacy has a wider scope in the Eurasian region to enhance regional integration provided that the same should properly be undertaken by the stakeholder. The third objective investigates India geopolitical space in the Eurasian region. It concludes that the growing role of energy complex zone and transit countries have challenged great powers hierarchy in the region and shaped the new energy geopolitical order. The study explores that how India would create its geopolitical space in the new energeopolitical order. Thus, the research is seen as a contribution to uncover India‘s growing diplomatic space in Eurasian geopolitics from different perspectives by offering different analytical and theoretical insights from the previous studies.Item Role of the Fourth Estate in Shaping Public Opinion: A Comparative Analysis of Print Media Representations on Militancy in Punjab, 1980-1984(Central University of Punjab, 2018) Bassi, Dinesh; Verma, Sudheer SinghMedia plays a significant role in creating, moulding, rupturing and reflecting public opinion in democratic society. It is known as political in nature, and diverse players easily use it for advancing their interests. It has the potency to form an opinion as well to de-form it. It could be a vehicle of divisive politics as much as it can integrate and unite. It provides an exclusive stage to individual and groups to discuss issues of mutual interests, which in turn forms an opinion is important to society and in particular to political community. Media cannot only initiate a peace process and sustain it but also it can also instigate violence society. So media, as an independent entity provides a discursive space to opinion formation through allowing discourses among people and shapes the emotions of public may be through introducing partial information. English and Vernacular newspapers published from Punjab state such as Rojana Ajit - a Punjabi daily, Punjab Kesri – a Hindi daily and The Tribune - an English daily along with English newspapers published from New Delhi, capital of India, which having national footprints like The Times of India and The Hindustan Times have been selected for the study aimed at understanding and analysing a representation of the print media of the militancy problem in the state. The study has attempted to understand and analyse a labelling process of the print media of the v happened incidents and how much the print media was sensitive during reporting the problem and presenting diverse opinions related to the problem. The study has found the diverse role of newspapers in the representations of the incidents perpetuated by the militancy during 1980-1984. The objective of the news, the editorials and the articles published by these newspapers were not just to deliver the information but also to form an influence over the related community with favourable contents along with reaping more profits through more number of copies of the newspapers circulation. In addition, the study has done field survey of Majha, Malwa and Doaba regions of Punjab aimed at collecting information and opinions related to the problem from people whose were part of it directly or indirectly. The field study has found that various communities such as Sikhs, Hindus, Muslim, and Christian were divided ideologically. The division among communities was largely formed by the print media’s presentation of information in the forms of news, opinion, etc. related to the militancy problem in Punjab. The study has found that print media was caught in conflicting discourses in representation of militancy incidents occurred during the period. The print media has labelled the occurred violence and people involved in it according their matching ideology. The news based on the affiliated ideology of the media group has resulted into the form of the fractured public sphere. Furthermore, the comparative analysis of selective incidents represented by different newspapers endorses the diverse role of print media in context of militancy problem in Punjab. For instance, the incidents of the murder of two prominent journalists and a religious chief had representationally lost its significance due to the deviation among the print media. As, a newspaper editor has clearly criticised the role of the print media from Punjab state for distorting the facts in the news representation specifically for the business purposes. Thus, the study argues that the set positions of the various newspapers deeply affected public opinion and promoted divided media-scape as well where realities were something different but maintained accordingly.Item China in the Indian Ocean: Navigating India’s Challenges and Reciprocation(Central University of Punjab, 2018) Lone, Mansoor Ahmad; Singh, BawaThe Indian Ocean has remained a strategic maritime space since ages, serving as an important link among various regions of the globe regarding trade, social contacts, and cultural exchanges. The region was mostly peaceful during the pre-Vasco da Gama era, but the advent of Europeans set the stage for tough competition characterized by loot, plunder, and even wars. This foul environment kept on thriving and had prevailed till the end of the Second World War. Thereafter, the region appeared in a new refashioned scene where the USA emerged as a sole superpower of the world immediately after the collapse of its rival and competitor-USSR in 1991. The next dramatic turn arrived by the end of 20th century when the two Asian giants China and India, appeared on the global scene with swift growing economies, advancement in scientific knowledge and skilled workforce. With the onset of the 21st century, the IOR witnessed the growing attention of these big powers especially China and the USA along with the regional power India, with increasing competition because of the growing geopolitical and geo-economic significance of the region. Since the economy of these countries became heavily dependent on the energy imports mainly arriving from the Middle East and Africa and carried away through the Sea Lanes of Communications spanning the Indian Ocean from west to east, the security and safe arrival of these imports through the Indian Ocean has been treated as a chief necessity if the economy is to survive, sustain and grow. Further, the regions vast reserves of natural resource wealth both living and non-living further attracted the attention of these countries towards the region. This resulted in the ever-increasing involvement of these powers in the region. China iv having geographical constraints to easily access the Indian Ocean, started to wean India’s neighbours to make its foothold strong in the region while the USA directly joined hands with India to contain China’s expansion in the region. China expedited the process of securing greater cooperation with the littoral nations of the region, secured a goodwill place by employing different tools of maritime strategy like big investments for developing the infrastructure of these countries, increase in trade, political and diplomatic engagements, and military exchanges. China has been developing and operating many ports in the Indian Ocean countries like in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Maldives, Seychelles, Djibouti, Tanzania, Kenya. It is this increasing involvement of China where India finds herself at odds in some security perspectives. The study is an attempt to analyze the dynamics of Chinese involvement in the IOR, the possible concerns for India and India’s preparedness in response to such moves of China.Item Human Trafficking and Its Consequences: South Asian Experiences through Indian Punjab(Central University of Punjab, 2018) Kumar, Kovid; Verma, Sudheer SinghTrafficking in any form whether humans or drugs and arms is an alarming form of transnational organised crime. It is considered to be one of the severe problems of the contemporary world. Human trafficking is the fastest-growing criminal activity in the twenty-first century. Each year thousands of women, men and children are trafficked to use for forced labour, sexual exploitation, beggars, forced marriage, drugs and arms smuggling etc. All the activities comes under the process of illegal migration, which is supported by illegal networks. These networks are very strong and wide. The networks are continuing to desolate the world’s society as well as economies. For aspiration of better life, people migrate from one place to another place, which may be internal, regional and international migration in nature. Such trend has also been found in the case of Indian Punjab. People started to search an alternative route for migration because of the stringent migration rule adopted by the most of the country in the world. Illegally migrated people sometimes might be trapped into the case of human trafficking. As a result of it, transnational organised crimes are growing very fast. A vast number of cases of migration and human trafficking have been regarded with increasing concerns of human right violation, social and economic bleak and unlawful/undocumented node in this area. The study has discussed all the driving factors responsible for illegal migration of people and lager human trafficking. The study also understands a very need of adopting right based approach to curb the problem. The study covers all the v aspects of human trafficking and its intricate connection with migration. To make easy understanding on all the aspects of research issues, the study is divided into four sections. First section introduces the problem of unauthorized migration from Indian Punjab. Second part shows the interconnection among the issues intricate in the study. Third section testifies the ground realities in respect of theoretical aspects based on the theoretical foundations. Fourth part analyses the issues the issues and leads to conclusion and suggestions based on the brief discussion on the initiative taken at international, regional and national level to solve the problem.Item MILITARY GEOGRAPHY AND TRANSFORMATIONAL TRAJECTORY OF THE PUNJAB (1849-1947): AN APPRAISAL(Central University of Punjab, 2018) Singh, Maninderjit; Singh, Kiran KumariThis study investigated how the making of modern Punjab, its political configurations, social relations, and economic lives were affected by military geography and shaped by ethos of militarism and militarization instituted by the British Indian Empire. Military geography of Punjab and its effects on the lives of the people and landscape was under researched in the history of Punjab’s human geography and even in urban studies and sociology of change. In such a context, the proposed study is a significant attempts to unravel the role of militarism, military activities and related developments in shaping the colonial times and spaces. Though it looks at the specific military history of Punjab in this connection, which in itself would be a significant contribution, at a larger level the work will emphasise on the colonial military history of British India and consequent transformations driven by military geography with a considered position that the whole Indian sub-continent did not follow a single and pre-determined historical trajectory in this regard. The original contribution of this work lies particularly in the arrangement and manifestation of cartographic presentations and historical accounts in context to military activities. It also gives a new background to the ways through which military geography can be defined. The definition has moved on just from ‘the effect of v geography on military activities and militarism’ to ‘the ways in which military activities are geographically constituted’ to the proclamation of ‘space and power’. This work is integrative and based on the appraisal of the background of conversion of Punjab into garrison state and the observation effect of military activities on the landscape. Those landscapes are selected, mapped, interpreted and contextualised for detailed study. It gives the expression of reality of the impact of military activities on social, economic and spatial sphere. While transformation of selected cantonment towns are examined in two chapters to decipher this phenomenon but the work retains military geography of Punjab in entire scene.Item Changing Contours of Balance of Power in AsiaPacific: India’s Paradoxes and Pragmatism(Central University of Punjab, 2018) Thoker, Parvaiz Ahmad; Singh, BawaSince the end of the Cold War, one of the world’s largest regions-the AsiaPacific has undergone significant changes in the pattern of the power balancing equations. The breakup of Soviet Union has left indelible and drastic impacts on the overall strategic scenario of the Asia-Pacific region. The two major powers-China and Russia are coming closer, and on the other hand, the US along with its significant allies sought to maintain its hegemony in the region. However, the US presence is facing stern challenges from the rising China. Therefore, the region has been experiencing the formation of alliances and counter-alliances with the US and China as leading players. Thus a situation of new power equations has been arising in the region whereby different groupings try to contain each other through varied moves and counter moves. During the Cold War, India had been more associated with the Former Soviet Union (FSU). However, in the post-Cold War era, the NAMa lynchpin of Indian foreign policy has been left in the lurch and, thus, a paradigmatic shift was witnessed in India’s overall foreign policy approach in general and AsiaPacific region in particular. No doubt, India possesses multifaceted geostrategic iv interests in the Asia-Pacific region. However, India’s policy goals vis-à-vis AsiaPacific has been facing grave challenges given the recent power shifts in the region. Hence, through this study, a sincere effort has been made to analyse the emerging power balancing equations in Asia-Pacific with the US and China as the main actors. Moreover, this work discusses in detail about how the post-Cold War re-emergence of Russia affects the changing Asia-Pacific regional order. Further, at the end, the study has also attempted to analyse India’s Asia-Pacific policy along with the diverse challenges and potentials vis-à-vis new emerging power dynamics in the region.Item POST 9/11 TRIANGULAR DYNAMICS OF USPAKISTAN AND CHINA: A STRATEGIC PERSPECTIVE(Central University of Punjab, 2018) Naikoo, Ghulam Mohi Din; Kaushiki, NishthaItem British India in the World Wars: A Historical Analysis of Military Perspective of Punjab(Central University of Punjab, 2018) Singh, Bhupinder; Singh, BawaMilitary history is seen as an under-researched area, though military had been remained important to every country for security and other vested interests from time immemorial. Countries and kingdoms had always been maintained military for protection and security as well as for satisfying their imperialistic designs. It is well known that military played a key role in the making of the British Empire in the Indian subcontinent in which Punjab had played a strategic and pivotal role. Empire to restructure and reArmy and on the other hand, valour and loyalty along with the martial character and good physique shown by the Punjabi people brought new trends in the recruitment of the British Indian Army. Since the recorded history, Punjab had been known for Sword of Arms for India. Later on, it had become the guardians of the British Empire. In this background, the British Raj ended the Bengalisation and started the Punjabization of the British Indian Army. Consequently, Punjab made spectacular progress in network of military cantonment allied with other supporting infrastructure (railways, canals, railway workshops, hospitals, schools), apart from converting it as one of the most important and fertile army recruitment grounds. On the other side, British had started to recruit the Punjabis in the British Indian Army. On the other side, Punjabis had played very pivotal role in sustaining, maintaining and expanding the British Empire in India as well as on the other distant of the world. More importantly, Punjabi Army played very significant role in the World War I & II. monumental and because of this, Punjabi soldiers have been felicitated every year over there. With the opening of World War I, Punjab had supplied approximately 50 percent of the British Indian Army. On the other side, Punjab had contributed substantially in the World War II. In this work, the neglected stories of Punjabi army has been discussed widely. In spite of this, the comparison between Punjab versus other provinces of India has been done for more clearing the picture of . However, the study has some limitations due to the time and space constraints. It, particularly, focuses on the role of Punjab in the British Indian Army. Thus, the proposed research has explored the role of colonial Punjab in the World Wars. Additionally, it also examine the socio-economic impact of the British rule in general and World Wars in particular on the respective region. Hence, the work has brought out the silence stories of Punjabi soldiers on the pages of history.Item INDIA AND CENTRAL ASIAN REPUBLICS ECONOMIC COOPERATION: AN ANALYSIS OF PROBLEMS AND POTENTIALS(Central University of Punjab, 2018) Kaur, Amandeep; Singh, BawaIndia and Central Asia have been enjoying long historical and civilizational relations since the recorded history. Due to the prominent historical links, both regions have been sharing great economic engagements as well. After coming under the imperial powers, these historical relations had been weakened and even if one says, the same had come to an end, would not be an exaggeration. With the disintegration of the former USSR, both the regions have started rediscovering each other. However, the relations between both the regions have been remained untapped and unrealized to the potentials given the internal and external dynamics. With the introduction of liberalization, globalization and privatization, Indian economy has been emerged as a potential economy. of India, it is a very peculiar situation. On the one hand, the Indian economy has growing at the faster pace but at the same time, its domestic energy is not coinciding. Moreover, India has been remained depended on Middle East Asian countries. Given, turbulence in the region, now India has been started looking towards the other regions as well. In this background, given geopolitical environment and substantial gap between production and consumption, India has been started reorienting towards the Central Asian Republics. Therefore, the present study India and Central Asia. For the first objective, Indo-CARs Economic Cooperation, the researcher has analysed the trade trends and patterns between India and CARs. The data has been taken from UNCOMTRADE database since 2000 to 2015 and have used SITC 02- digit code for all 99 commodities. It has also calculated the Hirschman Concentration also employed the gravity model to find the potential economic cooperation between both Indo-CARs. The second objective of this thesis is energy economics between India and CARs. Under this study, the researcher has examined the energy economics of India-CARs by using the empirical data from various energy database sources regarding crude oil and natural gas production/consumption as well imports and prices. The trade potential index has been measured to assess either the Central Asia will be a next future energy partner of India or not. In order to examine the third objective-geopolitical perspective, the scholar has made comparative study of China, Russia, and the U.S. with the region in terms of trade and energy cooperation and their implications for India. As far as the trends and patterns of economic cooperation is concerned, it has been found out that the trade between both the region is at the lowest ebb. The total trade between India and CARs is less than US$ 1 billion. Kazakhstan is the major trading partner of India among the CARs. The energy economics has pointed out that the total imports of oil and petroleum product by India is stood at the quantum of US$ 274 million. The comparative prices of the CARs are higher (Kazakhstan US$ 50p/b & Turkmenistan US$ 57p/b) than the other energy destinations. Thus, it is clearly indicated that CARs has not yet been a favorable energy supplier of India. However, it can be a significant energy provider of India by reducing the monopoly power of OPEC countries and other Middle East countries with competitive oil prices. The present study has also pointed out that China, Russia, and the - economic engagements with the region which have affected India energy interests in the region by introducing and implementing the various economic and energy projects. Along with the geopolitical challenges, it has also been found out that lack of connectivity and less liberalized economic policies on part of CARs are the major hurdle to realize the full potential of the economic and energy cooperation. Given these challenges, India and CARs have not been able to realize the full potential of economic and energy cooperation. However, India has been investing its investment in the direction of connectivity like INSTC and Chabahar projects. India and Central Asia have demographic dividends, large untapped markets, and institutionalized structural reforms are being putting in place. Therefore, it is anticipated that there is a huge potential for economic and energy cooperation between India and CARs.Item Geostrategic Significance of South Asia:(IUP Publications, 2014) Singh, Bawa; Mir, Mohamad ArifAfter the nuclear tests conducted by both India and Pakistan in May 1998 in South Asia, the experts, particularly the former US president Bill Clinton, described the region volatile and a dangerous place in the world. This description of South Asia is to be viewed in the context of the uneasy relations between India and Pakistan since their independence. There are, of course, many other places in the world which are highly risky for the people who live there; the contemporary anarchy in Nigeria, Ukraine and the Middle East countries has provided disturbing evidence of the brutality of mankind. But these conflicts have either been confined to the said regions or have only limited regional significance. The disputes among South Asian countries have remained an area of unresolved and dangerous conflict involving external powers, arms proliferation and ethnic and religious hatred that go back to the evolution of India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka-the countries that form South Asia. Due to its strategic location and natural wealth, the region has acquired a very important position from a geostrategic point of view. External powers such as China and the US, to increase their economic stakes, seek to engage South Asian countries with respect to security and energy issues in West and Central Asia, the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia. Against this backdrop, the paper has attempted to study and analyze the geostrategic importance of South Asia and the role of China and the US as two major powers that have interests in the region.