International Talkies

The recent train tragedy at Kanpur claimed 150 lives, bringing into question the credibility of Indian Railways in terms of safety. The Kanpur Train Tragedy acted as an opportunity not only for the opposition, but also for the media to mock the government of thinking of running bullet trains under circumstances where the existing infrastructure itself is under a dilapidated condition. The tragedy arises two questions: Why do we lag behind other railway structures? Will we ever match up to the standards of the other railway network  especially when we compare our self with that of China which has about 11000 kms of High Speed Lines, yet has very rarely witnessed any accident or Japan for that matter which has showed interest in constructing High Speed Corridors through the length and breadth of  the country thereby fulfilling Mr. Modi's ambitious plans of forming a diamond quadrilateral. But why are we lagging? we are capable enough to fulfilling the vision set by our honou...

The Department of International Studies and History organised a talk on South Korea: Growth and Challenges at the Council Room on 16 November. The speaker for the day was Dr. Guydeuk Yeon, Director of Centre for Advanced Research and Training (CART) Christ University. The programme started off with a welcome address by Dr. Manoharan followed with a experiences shared by him and students telling few facts about South Korea. He then showed a video which spoke briefly about South Korea. He discussed on the progression of South Korea from being a poor country to becoming a rich country and a developed country. He also spoke about the expenditure on Education and attainment of education where the younger population of South Korea were found to be more skilled. He also spoke about the percentage of the South Koreans who enrolled in US Colleges and Universities. He also touched upon the transition from being a labour intensive to knowledge based economy. The students listened to the tal...

The Department of International Studies and History organised a talk on International Environment Law at the Council Room on 9 th November 2016 for first and second year MAIS students. The chief guest for the day was Himanshu Upadhyay from the Azim Premji University. The welcome address was delivered by Dr. Manoharan post which the talk on the International Environment Law commenced. During the talk, various aspects of Environment Law were discussed such as Multilateral and Bilateral agreements. He also touched upon Multilateral Environmental Agreements and about the significance oceans since the historical times The scope of the subject of International Environmental Law were also discussed followed by different treaties and protocols that were implemented for the safeguarding of environment. The speaker drew a link between the smog that has engulfed the city of Delhi and how Environmental Law can help in avoiding such situations. He also spoke about the processes involved in t...

The two-day orientation on leadership skills for 1 st year MAIS began on the 7 th of November at the Panel Room, Block II Christ University, the orientation programme was conducted by Mr. Jaykumar Chandrashekhar, a former christite currently working with inner voice. The orientation programme was presided by Fr. Jose CC, Director of International Studies and History. The day started with a small interaction about expectations from the programme followed by a small discussion on the different types of intelligence, post which the students proceeded to the bird’s park. The students were divided into 4 different teams led by Niyati, Sukanya, Sachin and Anna. The first activity for the day was collecting 25 ` 1 coins. The second activity was the marble game which was to test the coordination amongst the team members. The game ended in a tie between the teams led by Niyati and Sachin which was resolved by distribution of points between the two teams. Post lunch, the first activity was...

Predicting things in the political arena is a Herculean task indeed. Politics changes fast and takes us to different unforeseen directions. I was in the 5th semester of my undergraduate course pursuing EPS (Economics, Political Science and Sociology) at Christ University and had the privilege of being taught International Relations by Professor Venugopal Menon. It was the first half of 2015 and during class the question of Donald Trump was somehow brought into discussion. I strongly felt that Trump would definitely play a major role and probably even run for President. Professor Venugopal Menon totally dismissed my point and opined that Trump would never rise to such a level. Naturally, there was a lot of questioning and rebuttal from my side and Mr. Venugopal replied with great confidence and explained how democracy and secularism works in America. He believed that Trump would never rise to a prominent position in the US because US democracy is rooted in liberalism and secularism....