The Department of Political Science, Sikkim University organised first G20 lecture in whole of Northeast India by inviting foreign subject expert from Japan on March 2, 2023 at Conference Hall, Yangthang hotel, Kazi Road, Gangtok.
The lecture series aims to facilitate awareness among students, faculty members and staff on G20 summit to be held in India in September 2023. NETRA Foundation was the knowledge partner for the event.
Professor YOSHIDA Osamu, Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hiroshima University, Japan the keynote speaker delivered a lecture on “How Local Politics Matters? Academic and practical potentials of comparative studies between and within India, Japan and Post-Conflict Countries”.
He explained the basic components like local politics, decentralisation, regional autonomy and federalism in India, Japan, Philippines and other post-conflict countries. Professor YOSHIDA raises various concerns about autonomy movements and dcentralisation reforms in India, Japan and Post-Conflict Countries.
He reiterated the need for more comparative studies beyond borders. Also he urged the participants to focus on the comparative studies of state politics in India and Japan.
Professor Manesh Choubey, Dean School of Social Sciences, Sikkim University and the chair of the session highlighted the significance of the G20, a group of 20 nations that together accounted for around 90 percent of global GDP and 2/3 of the world’s population.
Dr. Durga P Chhetri, Head, Department of Political Science, Sikkim University took the initiatives to launch G20 lecture series in Sikkim University.
In his address, Dr. Chhetri said that India with more than 5,000 years of civilization and successive dynasties provides a unique vantage point over the origins of local politics.
While talking about the main topic of the lecture, Dr Chhetri stated that studying local politics ought to be integral to the study of political science both because local politics is, in and of itself, important and because local contexts shape state and national politics. He also emphasizes on the importance of comparative methodology in the studies of local politics and state politics.
The lecture interspersed with questions posed by students and faculty members remained informative and inspiring for the students.
The event was concluded with the vote of thanks proposed by Monica Lakandri of the Department of Political Science, Sikkim University.
