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Journalism of Courage
After being left out of the first-ever dialogue between civilisations initiated by Iran in 1998, India is now taking the lead in hosting the next major international conference in New Delhi.
It is also moving in to ensure that the meet does not get ‘‘reduced to the narrow framework of a ‘clash of civilisations’ debate’’ between the European Union and Organisation of Islamic Countries.
So keen is New Delhi to be right at the centre of the two-day ministerial ‘Dialogue Among Civilisations — The Quest for New Perspectives: The UNESCO-India International Conference’ scheduled for July 9 and 10, that the Government of India has readily agreed to cover most of the expenses.
A budget has been worked out under the Human Resources Development Ministry which would be managing the show in tandem with the Ministry of External Affairs. ‘‘The UNESCO has offered only $35,000 as cash support,’’ the official Concept/Approach Paper states.
While formulating the concept note — in which HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi and BJP Rajya Sabha member L M Singhvi seems to have had a major role — the government has ensured that the dialogue goes beyond the debate on ‘clash of civilisations’ or ‘conflict zone analysis’ or mere finger pointing.
The paper also makes it clear that India is looking at this first major international meet from the perspective of the evolving world order and is trying to balance its old and new role.
‘‘India, besides China, Japan, Indo-China populations, Russia and Africa have been kept at the fringes of a debate that should legitimately concern Asian and Pacific-Rim civilizations that constitute a third of the global population and represent major civilisational centres of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism,’’ the concept note states.
It also makes certain points quite categorical, that it is ‘‘essential for India to project a proper perspective and assume a more proactive role in the process’’.
The paper underlines that India has the support of UNESCO in this ‘‘positive’’ move of elevating the ‘‘dialogue’’ from inter-denominational or inter-faith interaction to a larger framework of scientific, socio-economic and cultural dialogue which looks to the future.
‘‘Since September 11, UNESCO too is seeking to broaden the scope of the dialogue, which has emerged as its principal programme to implement the 31st General Conference resolution on combating terrorism,’’ the note states.
‘‘It could be ideal if a ‘Delhi Declaration’ could emerge from the proposed conference that could project our perspective and place India at the centre of global dialogue,’’ the official paper says.
It also notes that the draft document will ‘‘need to be prepared by the Inter-Ministerial Group and pre-negotiated with interested delegations in Paris and other capitals, if necessary, in case a successful outcome is ensured.
However, sources said that the government is a little apprehensive about how Pakistan would conduct itself at the meet. ‘‘There is a fear that it (Pakistan) might try to use this new forum to rake up the Kashmir issue which we feel is not at all a civilizational matter.’’
