Date: 3-4 February 2014
Venue: CRRID, Chandigarh
1. BACKGROUND
As part of the Track II dialogue process of the Second India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS)–II, a two-day academic conference on “India’s Partnership with Southern Africa” was held by the Indian Council for World Affairs (ICWA) in collaboration with the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID), in Chandigarh on February 3-4, 2014.
The Conference aimed at
The conference was inaugurated by H.E. Shri Shiv Raj Patil, Governor of Punjab, Government of India, with his inaugural address. Prof. Sucha Singh Gill, Director General, CRRID, gave his welcome remarks and Ambassador (Retd.) Paramjit Sahai, Principal Programme Advisor, CRRID, presented his introductory remarks. H.E. Ambassador Shamma Jain read out introductory speech of Ambassador (Retd.) Rajiv K. Bhatia, Director General, ICWA and also gave her own opening remarks. Shri V.K. Sibal, IAS (Retd.) and Member, Governing Body, CRRID, gave his vote of thanks.
About 20 experts, drawn from areas such as strategic affairs, consultancy, business, policy, education, foreign relations and media presented papers on issues pertaining to the five thematic areas of the conference. These five important areas were (a) India and Southern Africa: Experiences, Expectations and Perceptions (b) India and Southern Africa: Connecting Peoples (c) India and Southern Africa: Economic Development (d) India and Southern Africa: Cooperation in Agriculture Sector and (e) India and Southern Africa: Knowledge Transfer and Capacity Building.
The speakers for various sessions of the conference are the following:
Inaugural Session
1. Prof. Sucha Singh Gill, Director General, CRRID
2. Ambassador (Retd.) Paramjit Sahai, Principal Programme Advisor, CRRID
3. H.E. Ambassador. Shamma Jain, Joint Secretary, ICWA
4. H.E. Shri Shiv Raj Patil, Governor of Punjab, Government of India
5. Shri V.K. Sibal, IAS (Retd.) and Member, Governing Body, CRRID
Session I
6. Ambassador (Retd.) Paramjit Sahai, Principal Programme Advisor, CRRID (Chair)
7. Ambassador (Retd.) V.B. Soni, Chairman, Overseas Infrastructure Alliance, New Delhi
8. Prof. V. L. Tonchi, Faculty of Political and Administration Studies, University of Namibia
9. Mr. Manish Chand, Editor in Chief, India Writes, New Delhi
10. Dr. L.T. Kapangu, Centre for Peace Initiative in Africa (CPIA), Zimbabwe
Session II
11. H.E. Ambassador Shamma Jain, Joint Secretary, ICWA (Chair)
12. Mr. Suhas Borker, Editor & Executive Director, CFTV NEWS, New Delhi
13. Dr. Veena Sharma, Former Fellow, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla
14. Dr. Nandini C. Sen, Associate Professor, Department of English, University of Delhi
15. Dr. A. S. Yaruingam, Head, Department of African Studies, University of Delhi
16. Ms. Jayanthi Ramaswamy, Doctoral Fellow, Centre for African Studies, JNU, New Delhi
Session III
17. Dr. Alex M. Ng’oma, University of Zambia, Lusaka (Chair)
18. Prof. D.K. Madaan, CRRID, Chandigarh
19. Prof. Mohammad Gulrez, Director, Centre for South African & Brazilian Studies, AMU, Aligarh
20. Dr. Suresh Kumar, Associate Professor, Department of African Studies, University of Delhi
21. Dr. Sandipani Dash, Research Fellow, ICWA, New Delhi
Session IV
22. Prof. S.S. Johl, Chancellor, Central University, Bathinda (Chair)
23. Dr. Alex M. Ng’oma, University of Zambia, Lusaka
24. Prof. Sucha Singh Gill, Director General, CRRID, Chandigarh
25. Ambassador (Retd.) Paramjit Sahai, Principal Programme Advisor, CRRID
Session V
26. Prof. V. L. Tonchi, University of Namibia (Chair)
27. Ms. Dolly Bhasin, Managing Director, SPH Consultancy and E-Services Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi
28. Ms. Shakuntala Rai, CEO Peridot Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd., Gurgaon
29. Ambassador (Retd.) Paramjit Sahai, Principal Programme Advisor, CRRID
30. Prof. Surinder Shukla, Panjab University, Chandigarh
2. CONFERENCE SESSIONS
Inaugural Session
Prof. Sucha Singh Gill, Director General, CRRID welcomed the participants and delegates from Southern Africa and the host country, by highlighting the importance of the conference as a platform for free and frank discussion on issues and challenges concerning India and Southern African countries. Appreciating ICWA’s role and support in this conference, he stated that the Africa Day Lecture was earlier being organised by the ICWA in association with CRRID in May 2013.
In his introductory remarks, Ambassador Paramjit Sahai highlighted solidarity between India and African countries in the anti-colonial resistance movement. He described the year 2008 as a watershed in this historic relations, when India launched its first India-Africa Forum Summit. He noted that India-Africa cooperation rests on three pillars, ‘capacity building and skills transfer, trade and infrastructure development’. He added that there has been a long way from the days of African freedom struggle in mid-1970s, as India and Africa embrace a path towards development cooperation. The challenge would be, according to Ambassador Sahai, to ‘channelize India’s economic progress and Africa’s robust resurgence’ to a rightful place in the emerging global order.
Ambassador Shamma Jain welcomed the participants on behalf of Ambassador Rajiv K. Bhatia, Director General, ICWA. She read Ambassador Bhatia’s introductory speech, describing the conference as part of a larger, carefully crafted programme, which aims to impart momentum to India-Africa cooperation by engaging civil society, academic and strategic community. The Africa programme was launched, it was stated, on the occasion of the second India-Africa Forum Summit in 2011. An integrated and comprehensive approach covering Government-to-Government, Business-to-Business and People-to-People dialogue and cooperation, according to Ambassador Bhatia, is the key to forging and sustaining a strong partnership between India and Africa. In his words, India-Southern Africa relations, which are managed at three levels—the African Union, regional and bilateral, have considerable potential for further growth and diversification. In addition, Ambassador Jain mentioned that the contemporary partnership is unfolding between Resurgent Africa and Emergent India.
H.E. Shri Shiv Raj Patil, Governor of Punjab, Government of India, in his inaugural speech placed India-Africa relationship in the global context, making a call for inclusive development, in a spirit for partnership by all. He stated that India and Southern Africa countries are geographically closer to each other. They were colonies but today they are independent and have begun to produce goods and improve upon their living conditions, by using modern methods of governance and education. They can achieve their common objectives in a quick and cost effective manner. He stressed upon the need to acknowledge the internal political system of each country and their right to develop their own systems of political institutions. He stated that since large scale energy is required for agricultural, industrial and household purposes, new methods of energy generation, including nuclear and solar energy, should be adopted. He identified genetics, solar energy, exploration of oceans and space as possible areas for research and development cooperation. He pointed out that in international relations, two kinds of forces operate: competition and cooperation and he gave emphasis on the latter. He informed that during his interaction with African leaders, he found immense trust and goodwill. He noted that there is greater scope of cooperation between India and Africa.
Session I: - India and Southern Africa: Experiences, Expectations and Perceptions
The panellists tried to share their understanding of the emerging political and security milieu in India and Southern African countries.
Ambassador V.B. Soni presented the case of India’s contribution towards development of Africa particularly in the areas of human resource development, knowledge generation and infrastructure development. He stated that Africa has enormous possibilities, which can be exploited for India’s energy needs. He added that the continent also provides ready market not just for commodities but project export of massive scale. He also put forth the idea of sharing India’s experience, capacity and technology in the energy sector and cooperation in agri-business for mutual benefit. He made a number of valuable suggestions including frequent visits by Indian leaders and setting up of more diplomatic missions in Africa. Furthermore, he also noted that Africa-India Summit Forums need to be utilized for coming up with innovative ways to broaden engagement and respond to the needs and aspirations of African people.
Prof. V. L. Tonchi noted that Namibia-India relationships, historically dating back to the period of Namibian liberation struggle, are fostered at many different levels including political, economic and cultural. He perceived the political component of the overall relations as relatively stronger. He ascribed this to India’s active political and logistical support during liberation struggle and post-independence robust diplomatic and defence cooperation. Prof. Tonchi stated that political gestures such as honouring Indira Gandhi by naming in her name a hospital in the northern part of Namibia and a major street in the capital Windhoek are indicative of an enduring relationship between the two countries. He also mentioned that there are prospects for cultural and economic relations to gain momentum.
Mr. Manish Chand apprised about the structure and ideology underpinning the India-Africa Summit Process. He mentioned that the Summit has provided a sturdy architecture to frame and develop India’s multi-faceted relationship with the 54-nation continent, which is currently seen as a new growth pole in the world. He emphasised the need for more precise studies on other issues, like terrorism, piracy and drug trafficking. Civil society, cultural exchanges and media could play an important role in strengthening communication links. He also suggested the need for follow up action on the IAFS Process, by increasing the frequency of holding of such Summits.
Dr. L.T. Kapangu stated that India is involved in Africa at a continental level and the regional level of Southern Africa as well as individual African countries such as Zimbabwe. He noted that economic development has the characteristics for benefiting all the citizens and India is one of Zimbabwe’s most important partners in development. He averred that political, economic and social cooperation between India and Zimbabwe are mutually beneficial. The relations between the two countries could be further strengthened through academic and student exchanges, in particular Indian students to Africa. He stated that his institute CPIA values partnership with ICWA to work towards the promotion and support of activities that contribute to a better understanding and relations between India and Zimbabwe.
Discussion
The periodicity and structure of IAFS became major points of discussion in the session. The current practice of Banjul formula or the idea of inviting all country representatives of the continent was reflected upon. The issue concerning periodicity of Summit spurred intense debate. While reducing three year time span between two consecutive Summits was suggested to add momentum to the India-Africa engagement, it was also apprehended that the idea of increasing the frequency might accentuate the problem of time overrun in execution of developmental projects announced in each Summit.
Session II: - India and Southern Africa: Connecting Peoples
The panellists reflected on promotion of people to people connectivity through cultural exchanges as well as role of diaspora as a friendship bridge between India and Southern Africa.
Mr. Suhas Borker drew attention to the role of media in sustaining good relations and stated that media connectivity between India and Southern African countries was controlled by the Western paradigm. Despite the formation of India-Africa Editor’s Forum under IAFS process, there was little progress on initiatives like India-Africa College of Journalism and technical tie-ups in media. He focused on the media connectivity between India and Southern African countries. He pinpointed the fact that media connectivity between India and Southern African countries was based on hubs in London, Paris and New York and hence controlled by the western paradigm, and this lacked local narratives. He saw African inputs essential for better understanding. He also noted that in spite of formation of the India-Africa Editor’s Forum, many initiatives like India-Africa College of Journalism, technical tie-ups in media, etc. had not still fructified and much more was desired in this field. He highlighted the importance of connectivity through satellite networks and more exchange of journalists between India and Southern African nations.
Dr. Veena Sharma talked about Indian perspective on migrants to Southern African countries. She quoted Cyril Hromnik, whom she described as a controversial and original thinker in the field, as saying that the methodically built elliptical stone monuments scattered across Zimbabwe and parts of South Africa are Shiva Lingas constructed by a ubiquitous Indian population in the region. She noted that as against migrant communities in other parts of Africa, Indians in Southern (and Eastern) African region participated, along with Africans, in freedom struggles against colonisers and in many instances helped strategise the struggles. She said that dual consciousness of the migrants and the evolution of official Indian attitude to them changed from ambivalence to one of confident recognition through the policies of dual citizenship. She added that giving of PIO cards gave them a kind of stake in their country of origin.
Dr. Nandini C. Sen also spoke about Indian diaspora in South Africa with a focussed analysis of Durban. In her paper, she sought to explore the clan/caste/gender biases that diaspora had faced before reaching its contemporary modern ‘avatar’. She underscored the role played by contemporary Bollywood in forging an instant connectivity with the locals, as the stars emerged as role models for the Indian diaspora in Durban. She stated that there is a great deal of nostalgic recreation of the past, apart from the strong desire to connect to one’s mother country. She noted that one of the major connects for the contemporary disaporic a person to his or her perceived mother country happens to be through the Bollywood films.
Dr. A. S. Yaruingam noted that soft power diplomacy has emerged as one of the most effective diplomacy in international relationship. He added that it connects to the mind and thought of the people due to its elements of humanism. He emphasised culture as one of the components of this diplomacy. He reflected on cultural diplomacy in the context of India’s diasapora linkage with South Africa and the larger Southern African region. He stated that a number of people of Indian origin in South Africa were steeped in Indian traditions and culture. He believed that India and Southern Africa should convert this ‘contested’ culture aspect of POI in Southern Africa into an economic asset, to enhance its trade and commerce.
Ms. Jayanthi Ramaswamy spoke about role of Indian diaspora in South Africa. She described diaspora as a bridge to build the relationships between ancestral homeland and host country. In her paper, she scrutinized the priority concerns and interests of South African Indians, placing them from the perspective of their sector specific goals in India-South Africa joint relationships. She noted that South African Indian community has grown into a lively and confident diaspora that has given India a proud existence. She added that it has acted as a strong bridge between two countries, adding nourishment to their mutually beneficial bilateral relations.
Discussion
The suggestion for indigenous and non-Western media reporting pertaining to Africa evokes a great deal of interest and appreciation from the participants. The criticism was particularly levelled against Indian news papers, which source Western media reports for disseminating news on African Affairs to Indian readers, instead of looking for information and views from African agencies. In this context, the gap between Western media projection on Zimbabwe’s land reforms and the local perspectives on the issue drew a lot of attention during the time of discussion.
Session III: - India and Southern Africa: Economic Development
The panellists reviewed between India- Southern Africa economic relations with a focus on trade, investment and development cooperation. They also examined possibilities partnership in resource security.
Prof. D.K. Madaan focused on India-South Africa trade relations over the years. He traced the growth of bilateral trade between the two countries, in particular on high value commodities. He opined that higher level of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries would certainly lead to even more friendly relations with one another. He mentioned that there exists high potential for India’s exports of telephones for cellular networks, medicaments, automobiles, dump trucks designed for off-highways, rice, semi-milled or wholly milled, wheeled tractors, diamonds, etc. Similarly, he also informed that high potential for South Africa’s exports are gold, diamonds, copper ores and scrap, hot roll iron/steel coil, polypropylene; manganese ores, iron ores, aluminum, apples. He noted that India and South Africa are natural trade partners. He, however, added that both have common as well as competing interests in the Indian Ocean region, which arise mainly from their size and potential of being global powers.
Prof. Mohammad Gulrez focused on prospects and strategies for land reforms in South Africa. He suggested that all the land reforms and associated problems need to be understood in broader political, economic and social realm of the country. He stated that rural poverty persists in South Africa, due to the land dispossession and migrant labour systems initiated during the colonial era, and refined under apartheid rule. He examined the agrarian challenges and reviewed the current adoption of agricultural practices with regard to land reforms and sustainable development in South Africa. He tried to assess the relevance of the principles and practices for improving sustainability adopted in India such as Land Ceiling Regulations and Bhoodan to South African context.
Dr. Suresh Kumar identified SADC’s economic objectives such as market integration, macro-economic convergence, strengthening of financial and capital markets, attainment of deeper monetary cooperation, increase in levels of investment, and enhancement of regional competitiveness. He mentioned that SADC has formulated policies and strategies for regional integration in support of economic growth and development. He presented an overview on the possibilities of economic development through India’s participation in SADC region. He pointed to the possibility of great deal of complementarities between India and SADC countries, specifically in the agricultural sector. He presented a detailed picture on the possibilities in each SADC member country. He spoke about SADC’s economic challenges, with special attention on the issue concerning shift from preferential trade agreement to free trade agreement in the region.
Dr. Sandipani Dash focused on the India-Southern Africa extractive-resource production linkage. The moot point of his presentation was that while majority of Sothern African countries relocate themselves in the changing extractive resource geography of the world, India emerges as a leading resource seeking actor over the years. This creates a scope for India to scale up its trade and investment linkages with Southern African countries, with acquisition of ‘import’ and ‘equity’ assets in their extractive resource sectors over the years. He analysed a cumulative trend towards symmetry in India-Southern Africa extractive resource production linkages at geo-political, geo-economic and geo-technological levels.
Discussion
Some pertinent points were raised during the discussion session regarding India–Southern economic Africa partnership. It was discussed as to how Southern Africa should be looked at, from partnership point of view. In this context, three probable alternatives were mentioned such as through SADC or South Africa or bilateral basis. Responding to this issue, Zambian delegate acknowledged South African predominance over the economic space of Southern African region as an unavoidable reality, which, he suggested, needs to be manoeuvred to the benefit of all stake holders. The need for India’s active participation in the Namibian uranium and other mining sectors was also put forward.
Session IV: - India and Southern Africa: Cooperation in Agriculture Sector
The panellists tried to explore prospects for agricultural cooperation between India and Southern African countries.
Dr. Alex M. Ng’oma emphasised the need to seek a more in-depth understanding of the agricultural potential that Southern Africa harboured, basing it specifically on his analysis of the situation in Zambia, as a case study. He suggested the need to explore investment opportunities in Zambia’s agricultural sector. This could be done on three assumptions; first the additional potential that still existed in the same areas of agricultural sector where India and Zambia already had dealings; second, the additional potential that could still be identified in those areas of Zambia’s agricultural sector which were monopolized by other non-African countries, excluding India and the third by tapping the huge tracts of virgin agricultural land that still existed in many parts of Zambia, that could be explored.
Prof. Sucha Singh Gill talked about some of the crucial issues in agriculture development of Southern Africa. He spoke about slow process of land reforms, agricultural dualism, lack of extension support, lack of data base and also lack of cultivating skills in Southern African region. He mentioned about impact of land reform on rural livelihood in Southern Africa. He added that the evidence from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Nambia indicates that beneficiaries from land reforms are differentiated by class, gender and type of agricultural production. He stated that radical redistribution of land among the pauperized peasants can affect livelihood of the farmers but agricultural production may fall, especially marketed food production. He added that there is choice between collective farms vs. small individual farms combining farming and rural nonfarm activities.
Ambassador Paramjit Sahai read the paper of Ambassador R. Dayakar on ‘Food Security: Shared Concern for India and Southern Africa – Prospects for Cooperation’. He placed food security in the context of individuals and nations. He made a number of suggestions for promoting cooperation between India and Southern Africa in this vital area. He described Indian investment in Southern African agricultural sector as a win-win situation. He, however, added some caution by saying that local demand should take precedence over India’s, while marketing the output. He affirmed that commodification of land should be avoided. He suggested that this can be addressed by encouraging movement of farmers’ cooperatives, rather than corporate houses, from India to Southern African countries.
Discussion
Analysis of China factor vis. a.vis. investment opportunities in Southern Africa evoked intense discussion. The absence of competition between India and China for investment in Southern African region and the larger African continent was affirmed. It was, however, revealed that China’s massive participation in agricultural and other economic sectors in Southern Africa can be taken as one of the many yardsticks for reflection on partnerships.
Session V: - India and Southern Africa: Knowledge Transfer and Capacity Building
The panellists looked at ways of enhancing cooperation between India and Southern Africa in development of human capacity through knowledge and skill sharing endeavours.
Ms. Dolly Bhasin narrated the knowledge transfer mechanisms using ICT to improve innovation, competitiveness, collaboration and effectiveness of strategic initiatives to forge ties between South Africa and India. She pointed out that for building more effective knowledge transfer between India and Africa, there is a need to create more platforms to enable information exchange at strategic levels. She looked for a ‘single continuum for knowledge’ by developing such platforms, where South African community and Indian businesses work and innovate together to create information exchange in a systematic way. She noted that the business performance would consequently improve in the service delivery across continents, which are connected through knowledge networks.
Ms. Shakuntala Rai talked about issues related to child health in India and Southern Africa. She stated that lack of essential nutrients prevented growth and increased susceptibility to common disease. She urged the need to promote urgent implementation of several preventive measures that could reduce illness and debility, due to complications of malnutrition and infection in children. She said that India and Southern Africa relate with each other on several aspects and Indian scientists from Hyderabad are helping Southern African countries in field of agriculture. She mentioned that partnerships and collaboration are critical to developing tailor-made child health solutions that suit the context of the Southern Africa region in providing good nutrition and multivitamin supplements. She informed that there are already some South African patented formulations for children and young adults, which can be used as a basis for health and development of future generations.
Ambassador Paramjit Sahai spoke about the current status of India’s relationship with Zambia, Botswana, Malawi and Lesotho, with primary focus on India-Zambia link. He mentioned Lusaka as hub for connectivity with freedom struggle movements such as ZAPU, SWAPO and ANC–and their leaders. He noted that Indian involvement in investment project has increased substantially, through LoCs worth billions of dollars. He stated that duty free access to products of interest to Africa has given a push to trade. He, however, qualified by saying that the missing area remains the lack of awareness of one another and less visibility in the media. He also informed that India-Africa Volunteers Corps has not taken off the ground. He said that India is well set on its path of robust development partnership with Resurgent Africa. He added that there is a need to impart a new thrust to relationship.
Prof. Surinder Shukla focussed on promotion of academic linkages between India and South Africa. She underscored the importance of such linkages within the broader contours of cooperation in academic exchanges, student exchange programmes and establishment of research centres. She pointed out that India-South Africa academic linkages are being followed by Indian institutions including Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), University of Delhi, University of Madras, Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani. She noted that there is a need to promote scholarship also for the reason of creating service economy. She added that academic exchanges which affect a small elitist academia need to be enhanced and supported by propagating skill development.
Discussion
India’s growing capacity building cooperation with Southern African countries and the wider African continent on a range of areas was appreciated during the discussion. The participants also reflected on the requirement of sector specific assessment of implementation of these knowledge and skill sharing initiatives. Capacity building on fostering synergy between ICT and agro-business was discussed in greater detail.
Concluding Session
The focus of the concluding session lied on preparing a road map for the future partnership between India and Southern Africa. The five panellists of the session- Dr. Sucha Singh Gill, Prof. Mohammad Gulrez, Prof. L. T. Kapangu, Ambassador Shamma Jain and Ambassador Paramjit Sahai – gave their initial comments. The panellists summed the overall challenges and prospects for synergy building between India and countries in Southern Africa in the twenty first century. All the participants were invited to make their comments and suggestions. The primary thrust was to identity areas of mutual interests and the relevant fields for immediate academic research.
Agriculture and related activities, including food security, health, education and knowledge-sharing were identified as priority areas of research and cooperation. Simultaneously, focusing on other areas such as diaspora, culture, tangible and intangible benefits, small and medium industries, media and civil society was considered. The need to focus at the Pan-African, regional and bilateral levels of engagement was reaffirmed.
It was agreed to undertake intensive and in-depth research activities, preferably joint studies that could throw up practical ideas and actionable policy suggestions to give a further boost to India-Africa ties. The themes identified for this purpose include IAFS Process, India-SADC Linkages, Agriculture Sector Emerging as a Connectivity Hub, Direction of India-Southern Africa Economic Linkages, Pan-African e-Network, Strengthening Bonds through Human Resource Development, LoCs’ Role in Connecting India and Southern Africa, Media as a Partner on Awareness, Promotion of Understanding through Indian and African Literatures, Critical Evaluation of Culture-Commercial Relationship, Diaspora as a Bridge Builder in Southern Africa, and Juxtaposition of Old and New Diaspora.
Following recommendation and suggestions were made at the Conference:
The Report is prepared by Dr. Sandipani Dash, Research Fellow, Indian Council of World Affairs.
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