The Foundation routinely holds seminars and roundtables to highlight areas of national strategic interests. We also hold smaller workshops with focused groups of participants from various walks of life. The aim of these activities is to promote a better understanding of India's strategic concerns.
Third Annual SAPRA Seminar on Indo-US Relations
16 January 2007
On 16 January 2007 the SAPRA India Foundation sponsored an annual rountable seminar concerning the evolving bilateral relationship between the U.S. and India. This years seminar was entitiled “Can business interests shape a strategic partnership?” The event was chaired by Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Shantonu Choudhry and the speakers included former Indian Ambassador to the United States Mr. Lalit Mansingh, current U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission Jeffrey Pyatt, Mr. Ram Narayanan and Indranil Banerjie.
Nuclear Weapons Free Zone in Central Asia: Why India would support such a move
18 October 2006
Indranil Banerjie delivered a speech at the International Conference on Strengthening of the NPT regime and Realisation of a Central Asia Nuclear Free Zone, which was held on the 17th and 18th of October 2006 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. He Particpated as a speaker and delivered two related speeches on Indian security imperatives and why India supports nuclear non-proliferation regimes.
SAPRA India Seminar: NATO in Afghanistan: Prognosis On 23 September 2006, SAPRA India Foundation organised a seminar on 'NATO in Afghanistan: Prognosis', at the Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC), New Delhi. The keynote address was given by H.E. Mr. Halil Akinci, Ambassador, Embassy of Turkey. Among those who addressed the gathering included: Mr. Indranil Banerjie, Executive Director, SAPRA India Foundation; Lt. Gen .(retd), Shantonu Choudhry, Honorary President, SAPRA India Foundation; and, Mr. Joel Ehrentreich, First Secretary, Embassy of USA. H. E. Mr. Kairat Umarov, Ambassador of Kazakhstan and H.E. Mr. Salohiddin Nasriddinov, Ambassador, Embassy of Tajikistan participated as special invitees. The Embassy of Afghanistan was represented by Mr. Mohd. Younus Momtaz, First Secretary (Political). The seminar was also attended by diplomats from several embassies in New Delhi, academics, experts and mediapersons.
23 October 2006
Is a strong Pakistan in India's National Interest?
26 July 2006
The conference, titled Is a Strong Pakistan in India’s Interest, was held in the India International Centre. It was attended by members from academia, the strategic community and journalists. Vasabjit Banerjee and Gen. Vinod Sehgal centred the discussion on two presentations. The two common aspects of Indian foreign policy that emerged from the conference were: first, the crisis in Kashmir is symptomatic of deeper problems regarding the Pakistan state; second, India should enhance diplomatic ties with Pakistani, while pushing for more covert operations to weaken its military capabilities.
International Conference: Central and Southern Asian Security Conference 2006
15 April 2006
On 15 April 2006, SAPRA India Foundation organised an international conference, 'Central and Southern Asian Security Conference 2006', at the India International Centre, New Delhi. The conference was organised under the Foundation's Central Asia Initiative, which aims at establishing a network of scholars engaged in Central Asia studies with the larger objective of promoting greater India-Central Asia ties. The conference was formally inaugurated by SAPRA Patron-in-Chief, General (Retd.) Shankar Roychowdhury, former Chief of Army Staff. Mr. Rajiv Sikri, Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India gave the keynote address. Eminent film personality and a popular figure in Central Asia, Mr. Shashi Kapoor, participated in the conference as a Special Invitee. In the first session of the conference, international delegates who participated in the conference included Prof. Baizakova Kuaralai, Dean of the Faculty of International Relations, Al Farabi Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan; Mr. Marat Saralinov, Ambassador, Extraordinary Plenipotentiary, Republic of Kyrgyzstan and currently Professor at the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan; Dr. Rong Ying, Director, China Institute of International Studies; and, Mr. Bakhtiyar Mirkasymov, Head of Asia Pacific Department, Russia's Institute of Strategic Studies. A research paper by Dr. Stephen Blan, Fellow, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College, was also read out during the conference.
India Political Briefings: Political Outlook for 2006 Indo-US Civilian Nuclear Cooperation India Political Briefings: BJP-RSS Relations Roundtable: Reflections on Nature & Extent of India-Pakistan détente The SAPRA India Political Briefing: Left & the UPA Government Kazakhstan: On the Road to Accelerated Economic, Social and Political Modernisation Roundtable on "Weapons Indigenisation & Foreign Acquisitions" Roundtable on "Indo-US Relations under the second Bush administration" Insurgency in Assam: Portents and Resolutions Post Elections Afghanistan: Impact on Regional Security Book Release: 'Terror Sans Frontiers, Islamist Militancy in North East India' Manipur Seminar: Focus on the Armed Forces Special Powers Act National Security Challenges before the Nation Farewell to H.E. Masood Khalili, Ambassador of Afghanistan to India
14 March 2006
The SAPRA India Foundation organised a Political Briefing at the India International Centre, New Delhi. The topic of the briefing was "Political Outlook for 2006". The speakers included Union Minister for Urban Development Mr. Jaipal Reddy, BJP Spokesperson Mr. Prakash Jawadekar, former Intelligence Bureau officer Mr. Maloy Dhar, political analyst Mr. Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and Executive Director of SAPRA India Foundation, Mr. Indranil Banerjie. Diplomats from several embassies in New Delhi also participated in this briefing.
13 December 2005
The SAPRA India Foundation organised a Roundtable on 'Indo-US Civilian Nuclear Cooperation', at the India International Centre, New Delhi. The Roundtable was chaired by the Foundation's new Honorary President Lt. Gen (Retd) Shantonu Choudhry, former Indian vice-chief of Army Staff, and moderated by Executive Director Indranil Banerjie. Presentations were made by Dr. K. Santhanam, President, India-Central Asia Foundation (ICAF); Mr. K. Subrahmanyam, eminent strategic analyst; Dr. Anupam Srivastav and Dr Seema Gahlaut of the Centre for International Trade and Security at the University of Georgia; Mr. Ram Narayanan, an independent Indian-American activist based in the US; and Mr. Geoffrey R. Pyatt, Minister Counsellor for Political Affairs, Embassy of the United States of America, New Delhi. Diplomats from several embassies in New Delhi also participated in the Roundtable during which participants discussed and debated the advantages and disadvantages of the civilian nuclear cooperation agreement signed by India and the US.
10 November 2005
The SAPRA India Foundation held its second occasional Political Briefing session for a select group of diplomats, analysts, business executives and politicians. The three-hour briefing
was held at the India International Centre, New Delhi. Among those who spoke at the briefing included Mr Ram Madhav, National Spokesman Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Mrs. Saba Naqvi Bhaumik, Bureau Chief, Outlook Magazine, Lt. Gen. (Retd) Shantonu Choudhry, Honorary President, SAPRA India Foundation, Mr. Indranil Banerjie, Executive Director, SAPRA India Foundation, and Mr.
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Dean, School of Convergence. The Briefings focussed on the current state of relations between the BJP and the RSS.
22 October 2005
The SAPRA India Foundation organised a Roundtable titled 'Reflections on nature & extent of India-Pakistan détente’ at the Hotel Ambassador, New Delhi.
Dr Farooq Hassan, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of Pakistan, gave a presentation on India-Pakistan relations and examined the nature and scope of the current detente between the two neighbours. Dr Hassan's presentation was followed by an interactive discussion that touched upon several themes including the Kashmir issue, relations between the military and mullahs in Pakistan, Pakistan-US relations, Pakistan's Afghanistan policy, and terrorism.
07 September 2005
On 6 September 2005, SAPRA India Foundation held its first Political Briefing session for a select group of diplomats, analysts, business executives and politicians. The three-hour briefing was held at the India International Centre, New Delhi. Among those who spoke at the briefing included Dr Nitish Sengupta, Member, Indian National Congress; Anand Sharma, Member of Parliament, Indian National Congress, and party spokesperson; Abani Roy, MP, Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and Dipankar Mukhopadhyay, MP, Communist Party of India (CPI); Shankar Raghuraman, Senior Editor, Times of India; Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Dean, School of Convergence; and Indranil Banerjie, Executive Director, SAPRA India Foundation.
8 April 2005
On 8 April 2005, the SAPRA India Foundation organised a discussion to review Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev's 18 February 2005 speech outlining his administration's performance and the objectives Kazakhstan seeks to achieve in the years to come. The following summary provides key excerpts from that speech as well the comments of analysts who took part in the discussion.
08 April 2005
On 8 April 2005, the SAPRA India Foundation organised a Roundtable on 'Weapons Indigenisation & Foreign Acquisitions', at the India International Centre (IIC), New Delhi. The participants included, among others, former Indian Army chief and Member, Rajya Sabha, Gen. (retd.) Shankar Roychowdhury, Wg. Cdr (retd.) Praful Bakshi, Lt. Gen. (retd.) N. S. Malik, Commander (retd.) Reza Khan, and former IDSA Director Dr. K. Santhanam. The roundtable focused on major Indigenisation programmes for the three services.
17 January 2005
On 17 January, the SAPRA (Security and Political Risk Analysis) India Foundation organised a Roundtable on "Indo-US Relations under the second Bush administration", at the India International Centre (IIC), Delhi. The Roundtable was moderated by Indranil Banerjie, Executive Director of SAPRA India Foundation. The panel of speakers included: Mr. K. Subrahmanyam, noted strategic analyst ; Mr. Ram Narayanan, an Indian-American activist based in the US who was spent years in working towards enhancing greater relations between India and US; Ms. Loral Alberta Narayanan, wife of Mr. Ram Narayanan and the main actor behind the web site devoted to India-US relations (www.usindiafriendship.net); Mr. Geoffrey R. Pyatt, Minister Councillor for Political Affairs, Embassy of the United States of America in New Delhi; Mr. G. Parthasarathy, former Indian ambassador to Pakistan; and, Mr. Jaideep Saikia, expert on terrorism.
22 December 2004
SAPRA India Foundation, a New Delhi-based think tank, organised a seminar in Guwahati on 22 December 2004 on the theme of Insurgency in Assam. A galaxy of important speakers and participants attended the seminar, the hallmark of which was the unanimity with which all the speakers and participants of the seminar denounced insurgency and underscored the futility of violence. The seminar was held in the backdrop of not only the violence that was being perpetrated by the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) in Assam, but also in the midst of a call by certain intellectuals in Assam for a mediated settlement to the two decade old problem.
02 November 2004
On 2 November 2004, the SAPRA India Foundation organised a seminar on "Post Elections Afghanistan: Impact on Regional Security" to assess the implications of the successful presidential elections held in Afghanistan on 9 October. The seminar was inaugurated by Lt. Gen. Shantonu Choudhry, Vice Chief of Army Staff, Indian Army, who also provided the concluding remarks. The panel of speakers included seasoned diplomats, Afghanistan observers and specialists: Masood Khalili, Ambassador of Afghanistan to India, Kairat Umarov, Ambassador of Kazakhstan to India, Geoff Pyatt, Political Councillor, Embassy of the United States of America in New Delhi, Rob Macaire, Political Councillor, British High Commission, New Delhi, Dr. Sreedhar Rao, security analyst and formerly a scholar with the New Delhi-based Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), Sanjoy Majumder, BBC Online Editor for South Asia, who covered the elections and Dr. Gilbert Etienne, Professor Emeritus, Institute of International Studies & Development Studies, Geneva.
19 September 2004
On 19 September 2004, the SAPRA India Foundation organised a function at the India International Centre (IIC) to release analyst Jaideep Saikia's latest book titled 'Terror Sans Frontiers, Islamist Militancy in North East India'. Prof. Stephen Philip Cohen of the Brookings Institution, US, inaugurated the book. The Foundation's Executive Director, Mr. Indranil Banerjie, former Additional Secretary (Retd.) Cabinet Secretariat, Mr. Bibhuti Bhushan Nandy, and Lt. Gen (Retd.) B.K.Bopanna constituted the panel of speakers who addressed the gathering.
On 26 August 2004, the SAPRA India Foundation organised a Roundtable to discuss the recent developments in Manipur in the context of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 (AFSPA). The participants included former Indian army chief and Rajya Sabha member, Gen. (retd.) Shankar Roychowdhury, former Intelligence Bureau official M.K. Dhar, and former DG, BSF & Member, National Security Advisory Board, E.N. Rammohan, mediapersons and analysts. Former chief minister of Manipur, Shri Radhabinod Koijam, presented a paper on the Manipur situation.
20 May 2004
In the backdrop of the change of the government at the Centre after the 2004 general elections, the Foundation organised a seminar on 20 May 2004, which discussed the ''. The seminar was organised at the India International Centre, New Delhi. The main speakers at the seminar were former Indian Army chief and Member of Rajya Sabha, Gen. (retd) Shankar Roychowdhury; former Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, Mr. Vikram Sood; Air Commodore (retd) Jasjit Singh, Mr. K.P.S. Gill and Mr. Mandeep Singh Bajwa. The seminar was attended by mediapersons, academics, analysts, retired and serving government officials. The seminar debated the key national security challenges before the new government.
11 November 2005
The SAPRA India Foundation organised an informal get-together on 11 November 2005 at the India International Centre, New Delhi, to bid farewell to H.E. Masood Khalili, Ambassador of Afghanistan to India. Lt. Gen (retd.) Shantonu Choudhry, Honorary President, SAPRA India Foundation chaired the function which was attended by diplomats from several embassies, analysts, mediapersons etc. Speaking on the occasion, Ambassador Khalili, who has been in India for over 10 years, said that India is an old friend with which Afghanistan has deep-rooted historical relations. The Afghan Ambassador reminisced some of the significant moments of his diplomatic tenure in India and told the gathering that India has extended considerable assistance to Afghanistan in difficult times for which the Afghan people will remain grateful. Ambassador Khalili appreciated the work done by SAPRA India Foundation to promote and strengthen India-Afghanistan relations. The Afghan Ambassador praised the seminars and rountables on Afghanistan-related issues organised by the Foundation. Ambassador Khalili said that he was leaving with fond memories of his 10-year stay in India during which he received considerable support of the Indian government, media, universities and common people. Commending India's secular traditions, Ambassador Khalili said that his stay and interactions in India had made him more secular in outlook. Ambassador Khalili said that one of the significant achievements during his tenure was the grant of 1000 scholarships by the Indian government for Afghan students. He expressed hope that this scholarship is utilised by Afghan students who could benefit from the Indian knowledge system and use it for the betterment of the Afghan people. On behalf of the gathering, Lt. Gen. Choudhry greeted Ambassador Khalili for completing his diplomatic tenure in India and expressed good wishes for his next diplomatic assignment in Turkey.
Tashkent Conference Participation
8 October 2004
SAPRA Executive Director, Indranil Banerjie, participated in an international conference held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on "Democracy: Media and Legal Issues". The University of World Economy and Diplomacy, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in conjunction with Central Election Commission, Center for Political Studies and the Institute for Studies of Civil society, organised a two-day international conference titled "Election technologies and Mass Media: Legal and Ethical Aspects" on 7 and 8 October 2004. Indranil Banerjie presented a paper on the success of the electronic voting machines. [Read Details]
Diplomatic Interactions
As part of efforts to project India's national security interests as well as understand the concerns and perceptions of other countries towards India, the Foundation interacted with His Excellency S.Z.Yaghoubi, Ambassador, Embassy of Iran, New Delhi. The discussion with the Iranian Ambassador took place on 22 April 2004 and was attended by associate members of the Foundation and researchers working at SAPRA. Given Iran's importance as a regional power and in the backdrop of the progressing India-Iran relations, the Foundation organised this interactive session with the Iranian Ambassador and other diplomats at the Iranian Embassy in New Delhi. The Iranian Ambassador elaborated Iran's policy on several issues that influence Indian interests as well. The idea of this discussion was to gauge the Iranian perception of India and identify the areas of cooperation as well as difference. The excerpts of this discussion was subsequently carried in the Foundation's Monthly Bulletin as well.
Scholarship and Internship Programmes
As part of its efforts to promote the study of India's national security interests as well as evolve a body of scholarship that provides the space for a healthy interaction of divergent views, the Foundation offered Internship Programmes for Visiting Research Scholars studying in foreign universities. In the first internship programme in 2004, a Doctoral student from the University of Virginia, USA, worked at the Foundation during February - April 2004. During this period of internship, the Visiting Fellow contributed articles to the Foundation's Monthly Bulletin as well. The second internship programme (May - July 2004) has been availed by another Doctoral student from the University of Ohio, USA. Apart from contributing articles to the Monthly Bulletin, the Visiting Fellow would also assist the Foundation in the project on building a comparative database on the armed forces of India and Pakistan. Read Details.
The Foundation encourages scholars in the areas of political & security risk, terrorism, foreign affairs and military studies to apply for a 6-month stint as a visiting research fellow in Greater Noida, a suburb of New Delhi.