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Indo-US relations on upswing, Congressman tells CII summit

Stephen Cohen, an India expert and senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, Washington DC, said India would emerge as a major power but how soon depended on many factors.

Speaking on the second day today of the Confederation of Indian Industry's three-day Partnership Summit in Jaipur, he pointed out that years ago he had written a book India: An Emerging Power? and said, "Today it is time to remove the question mark." The Brookings Institute is a think-tank that advises the United States government on various issues, including foreign policy.

Cohen, who began his speech by apologising in Hindi that he would be speaking in English and thereby delighting the audience, said India was currently undergoing four to five revolutions while retaining its democratic structure.

"These revolutions are economic, caste and class, ideological, federal, and an IT revolution. Simultaneously, the world has gone from bipolar to unipolar and is likely to go multipolar. Thus many changes are taking place and affecting the country," he said.

Cohen insisted that India was a powerful nation given its strong political class, but it lacked strategic vision. He said that unlike other powers, in India power was balanced between different factors.

The India expert added that the country had underachieved in key areas including economic growth, literacy and in its relations with its neighbours.

Cohen said the US recognised and welcomed India's emergence as a power and saw a possibility of strategic partnership and also economic partnership. Being democracies helped relations but there was a need for greater communication between the two nations, he added.

Earlier, US congressman Jim McDermott said Indo-United States relations are improving with the setting up of a working group, McDermott said that the working group would comprise minister for communications Jagmohan and member of Parliament Murli Deora.

The US congressman said he would return to India in June along with a delegation to help foster better relations with India.

McDermott said that the past six years, Indo-US relations were on the upswing though after the Pokhran nuclear tests, they had taken a downward turn. However, he expressed confidence that relations between the two would improve in the coming days.

McDermott, and the others who spoke after him, stressed the importance of increased trade relations to improve ties between the two nations.

"One reason why Sino-US ties survive despite problems is because of the huge volume of trade at $ 50 billion between the two. In comparison, Indo-US trade is just $ 5 billion."

However, the star of the day was not the US delegation or Rajasthan's Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot who welcomed investments to Rajasthan. The crowd-puller on the second day was a man revered for his beliefs in non-violence, ethics and compassion: His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

The crowd responded with an enthusiasm matched only on the inaugural day reception for Minister of External Affairs Jaswant Singh, and unlikely to be seen again as business delegates and others began leaving the session either to return home or spend time visiting the historical monuments in the Pink City.

The Dalai Lama, who apologised for his broken English but spoke extempore with so much feeling that it held everyone spell-bound, reiterated his stand that he was not seeking independence for Tibet but only genuine autonomy.

"China is today keen to ensure stability and the unity of the country at all costs, but what kind of stability and unity is it that is achieved under the threat of a gun," he asked, adding, "an autonomous Tibet will benefit both China and Tibetans."

The Dalai Lama said that material considerations were important and that is why he did not seek Tibetan independence. But he added that the Tibetan form of Buddhism could only survive in Tibet, being unique and different from the forms of Buddhism practised elsewhere.

Yet, it was only regarding Tibet that His Holiness mentioned material benefits. For most of the time, his speech dwelled on spirituality and compassion, on inner peace and happiness, and was heard in rapt attention in the overflowing hall.

Speaking about the oneness of all humanity, the Dalai Lama said all human beings sought prosperity. It was up to the individual to control his mind and divert it towards positive or negative aspects of life. He told the largely business gathering that it was important for businessmen to develop compassion for the people.

The Dalai Lama said that capitalism was a successful economic activity where the motive was to earn profits, but it was up to the businessmen to divert their profits for social activities such as developing the rural areas and slums.

"Businessmen are an important part of society and there is a lot that you can do," he said, adding, "you must work to alleviate poverty within the country and to spend less on yourselves."

The Dalai Lama called upon the business community to spend more money on education, healthcare and slums.

Addressing a session on ''the role of ethics and values in our life'', he said the emphasis today was on material comforts even as people continued to be bogged down by fear, insecurity, suspicion and dissatisfaction.

The search for mental peace has resulted in ''people looking inwards'', he said.

The world is faced with many problems, most of them man-made, and only the right attitude can solve these, he said. ''We must not look to technology but seek a kind of inner realisation of values. This is when ethics comes in,'' he said.

He said even in the economic field, a sense of care and compassion is essential. Science has embarked into uncharted and dangerous areas today, specially in gene technology.

Such research will cause immense harm to humanity if people did not look at it in the ethical perspective, he warned.

He said that there were two kinds of ethics. The first was religious, which was treated like medicine. "Every time we come across trouble, we turn to religion; and during our good days, we forget the need for religion," he said. The Dalai Lama called upon the people to pray regularly and properly, not just perfunctorily as many do every day.

The second aspect of ethics was what he called the secular ethics, which were a set of guidelines by which people lived their daily lives, even if they are irreligious or atheists.

He said his 40 years in exile and 50 years without a homeland were sad, but it had also given him a chance to contemplate and meet people of different faiths. "Learning about different faiths can only strengthen the belief of your own faith," he said.

The Chinese delegation pulled out of the summit on hearing that the Dalai Lama was to address a session. The Chinese embassy in Delhi asked the CII to withdraw the invitation to the Dalai Lama, which the latter refused on the grounds that His Holiness was being invited in his capacity as moral leader, not a political one.

However, the Chinese withdraw, claiming that the Dalai Lama was a separatist.

Additional reportage: UNI

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