India is going through a massive churn on multiple fronts and geo-strategically we are positioned in a sweet spot like never before. The leadership right at the top is being recognized globally and domestically as well we are seeing a huge resurgence of nationalistic fervour. The demographic dividend needs to be channelized to build a nation of our dreams. We dream of India as a strong nation, politically, economically, militarily as well as culturally.

The role models have always inspired the young minds to contribute and participate in the nation building process. Shri Manohar Parrikar has been an outstanding leader with unmatched personal qualities.

Shri Manohar Parrikar was an Indian politician and leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party who served as Chief Minister of Goa from 14 March 2017 until his death. Previously, he was the Chief Minister of Goa from 2000 to 2005 and from 2012 to 2014 and from 2014 to 2017, he served as the Raksha Mantri. In January 2020, he was posthumously awarded Padma Bhushan.

Manohar Parrikar was a graduate in Metallurgical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT Bombay), in 1978. He was the first IIT alumnus to serve as MLA of an Indian state.

Parrikar was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Goa in 1994. He was leader of the opposition from June to November 1999. He successfully contested the election to become Chief Minister of Goa for the first time on 24 October 2000, but his tenure lasted only until 27 February 2002.

In the 2014 general elections, BJP won both the Lok Sabha seats in Goa. Parrikar was reluctant to leave Goa and move to Delhi in November 2014 but was persuaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to join the central government as Raksha Mantri.

As a Raksha Mantri, he pioneered various defence initiatives with one simple vision of making India a self-reliant nation. As a technocrat defence minister, he had a finer understanding of defence systems. His contribution in OROP, defence procurement and forging defence ties with partner countries have been remarkable.

He will be remembered for bringing transparency in governance and defence affairs. He envisioned future national security challenges with a practical solution-oriented approach.

We cannot forget such pioneering personalities for the welfare of the nation. His life story will be stimulating for nation-building. With his story, we can impress upon coming generations that honest and simple people can also take part in politics. His integrity, commitment towards nation and people, and humility will be inspiring for young people to serve the nation with vigour.

It is with this intention that FINS initiated Manohar Parrikar Memorial Lecture. It is our tribute to an extraordinary leader who lived like an ordinary citizen – a quintessential quality for a political leadership in the republic.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi announced creation of the post of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) in his Independence Day speech on 15 Aug 2019. This was indeed a landmark declaration given the geopolitical realities in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and the increasing central role of India being sought in the global power play. The restructuring of the Indian Armed Forces initiated under Shri Manohar Parrikar’s leadership had to be taken through and the setting up of the CDS post will bring far more jointmanship among the three services for effective operational deployment and modernization. The brief for the Lt Gen D B Shekatkar led committee was to enhance the tooth-to-tail ratio.

Who better to deliver the first Manohar Parrikar Memorial Lecture, than the then Chief of the Army Staff and coincidentally he later on went on to become the first CDS. General Bipin Rawat PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, YSM, SM, VSM, ADC, Chief of the Army Staff, delivered his talk on the subject ‘India’s Defence Perspective – 2030’. The event was also graced by Dr G. Satheesh Reddy, Chairman, DRDO and Prof Suhas Pednekar, Vice Chancellor, Mumbai University, in addition to Lt Gen D B Shekatkar (Retd), President FINS and Adv Bal Desai, Secretary-General, FINS. FINS published a book on the first memorial lecture.

India is going through a massive churn geopolitical and geo-strategically. The centrality of India in the QUAD and the Indo-Pacific strategic construct needs to be understood in its entirety before we plan our own strategic vision. In the globalized world, the geopolitical and geo-strategic developments have profound impact on domestic issues as well. The domestic policy framework has to be in sync with the foreign policy measure on all fronts namely, political, economic, military and cultural.

The 2nd MPML lecture is being delivered by none other than Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister, Government of India. A career diplomat with close to four decades of Foreign Service experience taking over as India’s External Affairs Minister is another sign of changing polity in India. As a former Ambassador to both China, the United States and then the Foreign Secretary of India in addition to numerous other diplomatic assignments, gives him a deep understanding of the ongoing geopolitical and geo-strategic dimensions. Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, will be speaking on the topic “Contours of India’s Foreign Policy: Diplomacy, Security and Trade”.

Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is a distinguished diplomat and the External Affairs Minister of India.

He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1977 and during his diplomatic career spanning over 38 years, he served in different capacities in India and abroad. He was Foreign Secretary from 2015-18, Ambassador to United States from 2013-15, Ambassador to China from 2009-2013, High Commissioner to Singapore from 2007-2009 and Ambassador to the Czech Republic from 2000-2004.

Dr Jaishankar has also served in other diplomatic assignments in Embassies in Moscow, Colombo, Budapest, and Tokyo, as well in the Ministry of External Affairs and the President’s Secretariat. He played a key role in negotiating the Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement.

In 2019, Dr Jaishankar was conferred with Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian honour.

The 2nd Manohar Parrikar Memorial Lecture will be hosted online, and the program details are attached below:

Opening Address – Lt Gen D B Shekatkar (Retd), President FINS.

Introduction of the Chief Guest by Lt Gen VG Khandare

The 2nd Manohar Parrikar Memorial Lecture – “Contours of India’s Foreign Policy: Diplomacy, Security and Trade” by Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister, Govt of India.

Vote of Thanks – Adv Bal Desai, Secretary General FINS.

The Forum for Integrated National Security (FINS), founded in 2003, is a non-governmental think tank in India engaged in the studies of integrated national security. Apolitical and humanitarian in approach, the forum has already conducted various research studies in strategic governance through its study groups on select topics of national and international interest. The objective of FINS is to share the information based on research with the governments and organisations with a concern for the wellbeing of people for quality life and peaceful coexistence. FINS initiatives influence policymakers, political leaders, and executors to rethink on grave national and international security concerns leading to a strategic shift in dealing with those issues. The forum is evolving at a fast pace to ascertain firmly as one of the credible think tanks on national security governance in India. FINS will soon establish an institute for strategic studies along with various centres for strategic research with the sole purpose of education and research on the key subjects of national and international governance. In this process, FINS aims to serve as an intellectual and knowledge-based interface between governments and the people.

The ongoing geopolitical and geo-strategic developments are shifting more to the maritime domain and increasingly we are seeing maritime formulations driving the global order. The Indo-Pacific strategic initiative at the global level and the Security And Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) vision of the Honourable Prime Minister have been at the forefront of strategic discourse. It is in the fitness of things that the Maritime Research Centre (MRC), Pune has been co-opted by FINS to host this year’s MPML lecture.

The Maritime Research Centre (MRC) is a not for profit entity, founded by Dr (Cdr) Arnab Das, under the aegis of the Foundation for Underwater Domain Awareness (FUDA), to progress the Underwater Domain Awareness (UDA) Framework. The UDA framework is relevant to all the four stakeholders’ namely maritime security apparatus, blue economic entity, marine environmental regulators & disaster management authorities and the science & technology providers. MRC got reasonable recognition for its efforts in progressing the UDA Framework on all the three aspects, namely the policy, technology & innovation and human resource development. MRC along with its managing partner M/S NirDhwani Technology Pvt Ltd (NDT) undertook multiple events and also generated a reasonable body of work in terms of projects and scholarly papers. More on MRC is available at https://mrc.foundationforuda.in/.