Strengthening Indo-China relationship through academic exchange programmes

Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences (SASS), China organised 8th Indo-China forum in Chengdu, Sichuan Province in collaboration with IMI - International Management Institute Kolkata, Delhi and Institute for Social and Economic Change, Delhi from India.

This 5-day event was organised between October 16 and October 20. The theme of the event was “China-India: Humanities, Economy and People’s Welfare”.

President, Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences, Professor Xiang Baoyun, inaugurated the event. Director, IMI Kolkata, Professor Arindam Banik on behalf of all three campuses of IMI, addressed the inauguration. Over 80 participants from India and Japan and 34 representatives of various think tanks coming from provincial China witnessed the event.

The keynote address on ‘Access to Knowledge, Migration and Decent Work: Key Dimensions of Exclusion in Uttarakhand State’ was given by Prof. Banik. He highlighted the high-quality evidence related to income inequality issues of very serious nature. He also focused on counter-factual analysis, which shows that there are winners and losers in all policies and that there is a significant variation in the political effects between parties and classes.

Researchers and scholars presented 42 papers in total on topics ranging from population change, smart manufacturing growth, urbanization in China and India, and Indian culture and Chinese Taoism, and their relevance to South Asian economies.

Since 2011, IMI has entered into an agreement with SAAS, Chengdu, China for organizing such seminars, workshops and joint conferences. This has strengthened the relations of two nations. Since the beginning, the conferences have been organised annually at partner institutes of Chinese and Indian campuses.

In his keynote address, Prof. Xiang Baoyun emphasised on the positive impact of such exchanges in refining the policy programs of China and India. Particularly, he dwelled on the role of academic research in strengthening the relationship between the two countries.

Note : This article has been published on the basis of a press communication by the college