Guwahati, June 15: Department of Political Science, University of Science & Technology Meghalaya (USTM) has organized a two-day National Seminar on “Contemporary Issues of Politics & International Relations: Assessing the Qualitative Trends in the Emerging World Order” here on 13th & 14th June in collaboration with Dispur College Guwahati, Karmashree Hiteshwar Saikia College Guwahati & Beltola College Guwahati.
Delegates from TISS Guwahati, Aligarh Muslim University, NEHU, Cotton University, Gauhati University, IIT Bombay, Shiv Nadar University, Dispur College, Beltola College, Karmashree Hiteshwar Saikia College and other premier institutions joined the seminar, according to a USTM press release.
The event saw 125 registrations of participation from across the country and 54 delegates who presented papers on various pertinent issues of international politics and socio-political relations over the two days. The event was segmented into five sessions, which consisted of the inaugural session, three technical sessions and the valedictory session.
The inaugural session commenced with Dwaipayan Choudhury, one of the event coordinators, welcoming the delegates. Prof. G. D. Sharma, Vice Chancellor of USTM inaugurated the seminar and felicitated the keynote speaker, Prof. Abdulrahim Vijapur, Department of Political Science, Aligarh Muslim University, and the Principals of Karmashree Hiteshwar Saikia College Guwahati & Beltola College Guwahati respectively.
This was followed by an insightful keynote speech delivered by Prof. Vijapur. His speech encapsulated crucial themes such as human security, human development, good governance and the 17 goals of sustainable development, as well as shedding light on several challenges faced by the north-eastern states of India.
The inaugural session was followed by the first technical session themed “State and Society in North-east” which had 19 paper presentations. The delegates explored the issues such as public administration in Nagaland, insurgency in Assam, tourism industry of Meghalaya, Garo Matrilineal society. A particularly interesting paper on gambling in Meghalaya was presented by Deidamaphishisha Lyngdoh.
The second technical session was themed “Politics in India: Prospects and Challenges” which had 15 papers, covering issues of caste politics and centre state relations, among others. Sishir Chetri and Dwaipayan Choudhury presented an innovative paper on how Indian cinema has dealt with issues of caste, class and gender over the years.
The third technical session, themed “India and the Emerging World Order” took place on day two. There were papers on various global issues starting from ‘Nepal’s transition from Monarchy to Democracy’ to Ukraine-Russia Conflict. This session also saw papers on Chinese foreign policy, effect of BREXIT on British foreign policy and India’s position in QUAD. The standout paper was by Anika Vijapur, who presented a paper on ‘Gender Perspective to Refugee Issues in International Relations’.