Vijnana Bharati’s Science Diplomacy webinar series from Sunday

NewsBharati    18-Jul-2020 11:50:16 AM
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Pune, July 18: Vijnana Bharati, in association with www.newsbharati.com as its media partner, has organized a webinar series titled ‘Science Diplomacy’.

The first session of this webinar series will be graced by Padma Vibhushan Anil Kakodkar, who will be presenting his views in conversation with Space and Technogeostrategic Analyst Dr. Chaitanya Giri on Sunday, July 19, 2020, at 5 pm. The talk will be available on Facebook and Youtube also.

A press release issued by Vijnana Bharati stated that science is no more limited to academia and government R&D laboratories. It also is the foundation of our search for reducing dependency on West Asian fossil fuel, it is embedded in our search for gadgets and applications outside the Chinese dominion, it is the basis of our information technology alliances with the Global West, and it is the basis of the weapons and systems we develop with France and Russia.

Be it the 123 Agreement with the US, or the on-going digital decoupling from China, science, and technology is the perpetual keystone beneath the strategic plans of India. A scientist is a person in the business of establishing truth, the diplomat- an honest person, on the other hand, is trained to project the best interest of his country in any form in any given geopolitical scenario.

Going through history it is evident that nuclear weapons have played a significant role in shaping the world order post the world wars. Foreign policies of countries are shaped significantly by this, and the role of science, technology & innovations firmed further in international affairs.

Some of the trans-border challenges require the application of science and technology to resolve them in addition to normal diplomatic efforts. Internally, this mandates the science and technology experts to have a good dialogue with policymakers so that they are well informed about the scientific aspects of the global challenges and the scientific community also appreciates the diplomatic challenges involved.

This aspect is fairly in the nascent stage in developing countries like India and will have several challenges to aggressively follow the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ policy in this context.

The Vijnana Bharati hopes to see Indian foreign policy gradually, but surely shape up challenges in sustainability where science, foreign policy, and governance requirements to work together to build trust and foster international understanding.

The Vijnana Bharati has taken up the task to bring two dissimilar study areas - Science Diplomacy and Strategic Studies – together. This is particularly important because no strategic project can be devoid of science and technology, or any science and technology pursuit can be undertaken without strategic deliberations. Vijnana Bharati intends to amalgamate these two domains in the form of ‘Science Diplomacy’ Webinar Series every alternate Sunday.

Through our Sunday Live talk series, Vijnana Bharati has given exposure to the audience on many diverse subjects such as Brain Consciousness, Positional Astronomy, Climate Change, Digital Bharat, Covid-19: Doctor’s perspective, Environment, Medicine, Defence Technologies, etc. Many leading lights of Indian S&T establishment have delivered these talks. The talks have received wide patronage online.

In the first of the series, we have Padma Vibhushan Dr. Anil Kakodkar with us who will be speaking to us on the subject. “Science diplomacy has become an important tool to leverage scientific progress taking place in other countries for national development and at the same time leverage national scientific capabilities for soft as well as hard diplomacy.” He will share some of his experiences in this regard.