Panel Discussion on ‘Towards Freedom in South Asia’

held at Centre for Law and Governance, Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi on 13th May, 2008.

As part of the Dissemination efforts of South Asia Together Project of the International Centre, Goa, a panel discussion on the book ‘Towards Freedom in South Asia’ was organized by the Centre for Study of Law and Governance, JNU. Dr Amit Prakash, Associate Professor at the Centre helped in the coordination of the meeting. The objectives of the meeting wee two fold: a) To have a discussion on the ideas of the freedom in South Asia with the book as the backdrop and b) To identify a group, preferably among the younger generation who would be keen on associating with the future work on Freedoms.

Prof. P Sahadevan, The Chairperson of the Centre for South , Central, South East Asian and South West Pacific Studies at School of International Studies, JNU was requested to chair the panel discussion and Dr Ajay Behera from Academy of Third World Studies, Jamia Milia Islamia and Prof. T P Bhatt, Institute for Studies in Industrial Development were the Panelists. Ms Nisha Taneja, from Indian Council for Research in International Economic Relations expressed her inability to join due to sudden indisposition .A copy of the book had been given to the participants in advance.
 
In his introductory remarks, Dr Amit Prakash welcomed the participants and highlighted the engagement of the Centre with the issues of Justice, Law and Governance, thereby locating the present discussion as one of the important components of its academic programme. Given its mandate, the Centre links up with other centres in JNU to promote interdisciplinary work, it was pointed out. Dr Rahul Tripathi, Co-editor of the book explained the background of the South Asia Together Project at the ICG and thematic framework of the book. He also explained the significance of the present exercise as the first in the series of meetings to be held all over India to discuss the idea of freedoms and to identify a community associating with the idea and willing to work on the same.

In his opening remarks, Prof. Sahadvan complimented the efforts of the editors in coming out with a work that raised some of the very critical issues relating to Democratisation in South Asia, given the flux the region is going through. While reserving his detailed comments towards the end, he pointed out that the book made a radical departure from some of the existing notions and needed to be more critically looked at. Prof. Bhatt in his presentation focused on the issues relating to Regional Cooperation in South Asia. He pointed out that the region had failed to derive the benefits of regionalism, both due to the structural impediments to cooperation as well as the political factors that hindered the creation of the regional spirit. The framework of SAARC had somehow failed to address the constraints to cooperation he asserted. As a result, India was tempted to look beyond the region with its emerging economic profile. Agreeing with the sentiments expressed in the book, he mentioned that South Asia will have to open up its borders for free and fair trade, there should be greater integration of Labour markets  and cooperation in energy and investment needs to be expanded. There is a need for SAARC to create a conflict resolution mechanism to give it greater credibility, he asserted.

Dr Ajay Behera, in his presentation pointed out to the comprehensiveness of the book in terms of its scope and coverage. There were both strong points and certain gaps in the book as he saw them. The book, by enunciating the Human Freedom Paradigm, has tried to integrate the framework in which multiple issues confronting South Asia have been discussed. The issues raised are critical and central. However, this is not the first time such issues have been raised and the degree of interrogation on why things such as regional cooperation have gone wrong could have been much deeper. Besides the contextualization of globalization and neoliberalism vis a vis South Asia was lacking. Moreover, the state system in South Asia has changed and the relation between state and civil society needs to be relocked . Instances of Democratisation in South Asia have not always been people centric ( example of Pakistan) and it has not really led to change in the power structures. Prof. Sahadevan in his remarks expressed reservations on the over emphasis on people centricity as opposed to the role of state. It would be difficult to conceive of the system where the state abstains from its critical roles in the political, economic and the social domain. Besides, it is not very clear how diminishing of the role of the state is going to help. 

The open session that followed the discussions further took on the apparent dichotomy between the state and the people. It was pointed out that Freedoms without Rights would be difficult and attainment of Rights without the agency of the state would be inconceivable. Besides in the entire debate the question of legitimacy is also very critical for freedoms as people should be willing to accept is as the way forward. It was suggested that a classification of freedoms in South Asia could be done and the difficulties in operationalization of the same may be documented in a study for which the Constitutions should indeed be the starting point.

Dr Tripathi in his concluding remarks addressed some of the issues that were raised in the discussions especially with regard to the role of the state. He pointed out that though the authors speak of the people centric agenda, they see the security of the people and that of the state as being intertwined and not in an either -or framework. In that direction the present work is to be seen as the first step in delineating an agenda for freedoms in South Asia with ample scope for further classification and categorization of the same. While proposing a vote of thanks, he proposed a continuing partnership with the Centre for Law and Governance, South Asian Studies Centre and Academy of Third World Studies Jamia for future work in the area.

Also see: International Centre Goa launches its first book on South Asia