CenterforAfrican,LatinAmericanandCaribbeanStudies

NewsletterIssue#3

The Centre for African, Latin American and CaribbeanStudies(CALACS)atO.P JindalGlobalUniversity(JGU)willinitiate the ‘Doing Business in Latin America’ program incollaborationwith the Brazil-Africa Institute,the EmbassyofPeruinIndiaandtheConfederationofIndianIndustries(CII).Theprogramwillbeastepping-stoneformanyoftheyoungandestablishedentrepreneursin Indiawhowish toinvest and expand their businesses in Latin America. Theprogram will also act as a provisional info-center tosensitize businesses on the culture, history, investmentopportunities,marketstructuresandlawsintheregion.

First-hand research forwill be conductedby JGUstudentsSanjana Medipally (BAGA 2015), Aakanksha Lohia andSakshiGarg(BAGA2016)attheBrazil-AfricaInstituteofficein São Paulo/Fortaleza during the months of June-July2017.The program will be officiallylaunched in late MaywiththepresenceofPresidentoftheBrazil-AfricaInstituteandrepresentativesoftheEmbassyofPeruinIndia.

JSIA-CALACSincollaborationwithBrazil-AfricaInstitute,Brazil,EmbassyofPeru,India,andCII

"DoingBusinessinLatinAmerica"

CIIInteractiveSessionwithIndian

AmbassadorsfromtheLatinAmerican&CaribbeanRegion

May3,2017.NewDelhi.

The Confederation of Indian Industries ishosting a meeting with all IndianAmbassadors in the Latin American andCaribbean Region, prior to theAmbassadorsConferenceon3rdMay2017at18:00hours,LeMeridianHotel(InspireHall), New Delhi. India’s commercialrelations with the LAC region hasincreasedmulti-fold, reachingtoapeakofUS$50billionintradeandUS$20billioninIndian investment in the region. TheInteraction with focus on understandingthe business opportunities, issues andconcerns of doing business in the LACregion, and identifies means by which toaddressthesematters.

UPCOMINGEVENTS UPCOMINGPROJECTS

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ResearchProject

BRICSSustainability

Index

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Research on developing a "BRICSSustainability Index" will beconducted from April to December2017byTheCenterforAfrican,LatinAmerican and Caribbean Studies(CALACS) at O.P. Jindal GlobalUniversity in partnership withConectasHumanRights(Brazil).This research project is expected tolay down a development financingframework for new InternationalFinancial Institutions like the NewDevelopment Bank (NDB), that isrooted in sustainable practices. Itfurtheraimstocontributetoalargereffort by academia and civil societynetworks to influence NDB's five-year strategy in addition to offeringstudentsanopportunitytoengageinhands-on,policy-orientedresearch.Three students - Amika Bawa (M.A.Law, Business and Diplomacy), EisaKhan Ayoob Ayoobi (Ph.D., PublicPolicy) and Aparna Raman (M.A.Public Policy) - were selectedthrough an open and competitiveprocessbasedonmeritandresearchexperience to support the research.Amika will also conduct fieldresearchinConectas’SãoPauloofficeduringthemonthsofJuneandJuly.In August, Conectas co-investigatorand CALACS’ Senior InternationalAssociate, Caio Borges, will spendone month in India finalizing theresearch along with Assistant DeanforGlobalEngagementsandprincipal

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investigatoroftheBRICSSustainabilityIndexproject,ProfessorKarinCostaVazquez.Alongwith the research, an elective course on BRICS andsustainabilitywillbeofferedandafacultyseminaratJGUwillbeorganized to present the preliminary findings and enable theresearchteamtoreceiveadditionalinputsfromfaculty,expertsandpolicymakersonBRICS.The finaloutput isexpected tobepresented to theNDB in theformat of a policy brief during the BRICS Summit in Xiamen,China in September 2017. In addition, an (academic) researchpapershallbeproducedbytheendofthisyear.

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By:PalomaMatusse

CelebratingAFRICA!

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Onthe 25th of Maythe world celebrates the "AfricanFreedomDay"tomarkeachyeartheonwardprogressoftheliberationmovement,and tosymbolize thedeterminationofthe people of Africa to free themselves from foreigndomination and exploitation. On this same day in 1963, theOrganization of African Unity was founded and Africa’sdecolonizationprocessbegun inMozambique,Angola, SouthAfricaandSouthRhodesia.The colonial era suppressed indigenous culture in mostAfrican countries, however nationalism brought backfreedom, love and respect people had for their traditions.African culture is the perfect embodiment of its diversity.CultureinAfricaisasvariedasthepeoplewhoinhabitits54countries, each having its own tribes and ethnic groups,resultsinagreatmixtureofculturalhabits.Whenwelookattheworldofart,onegoesfromtheBaKongovoodoo masks, used in traditional dancing ceremonies inCongo, to the Tabar weaved natural plant fiber used fordecorationpurposesinSudan.Artandcraftsspeaktradition,love, and life through vibrant colors and meaningfulexpressions.Religion and tradition, much like in India, adds to thediversity of the continent. In the Okuyi ceremonies, BantugroupsinCameroonandGabondancetothesoundofdrumsandotherlocalinstruments.TheXoyCeremoniespracticedinSenegal celebrate divinity. Tradition is passed from onegeneration to another through stories, tales and myths.Religion and tradition interplay, showing the respect of theAfricanpeoplefortheirancestors.African clothing varies from the traditional cotton cloth

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Shemma, used tomake traditionalwomen’skurtas in Ethiopia, to the springbok skin-madeUmutsha,toonly cover thegenitalsofthe Zulu men in South Africa. The colorfuland different Kangas are worn by womenacrossAfricaandplayaveryimportantrolewhenspeakingofunityindiversity.The continent is equally famous for itseccentric cuisine. Tangling your taste budswith Fufu (as it is called in Kenya andSenegal) or Xima (as it is called inMozambique), a cassava-roots maize madefood served with grilled meat, vegetablesand different sauces; to Tsebis (stews) andhillbet(vegetablemadepasta)inEthiopia,toCouscous in Morroco and Matapa inMozambique.Portuguese,spokeninMozambique,ZuluandEnglish in South Africa, Igbo and Yoruba inNigeria,Creole inSaoTomeandCapeVerde,andSwahiliinTanzania:therearemorethana thousand languages all over Africa. Thisvarietyisduetotheequallylargenumberofethnic groups and demonstrates how richandpowerfulAfricatrulyis.So, grab your yellow kanga, your orangeturbant, learn some Swahili, and come andjoinus foraMapicodance thisMay.Wearegoing to have some Fufu with springbokmeat, accompanied by Witblits drink andlaugh loadsat thestories toldby theGriots,come!Joinus, let’scelebratethediversityofourmothercontinent,let’scelebrateAfrica!

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By:SanjanaMedipally

India:AttheheartoftheCaribbean

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Indianpresence inTrinidadandTobagoilluminates the testimony of Indians,carried to these Caribbean islands in1845,throughthelandscapes,art,music,cuisines, religious edifices and customs.With a population of almost 1,223,916Trinidad and Tobago ranks as the 156thlargest country in the world bypopulationandisthemostprosperousinthe Caribbean. First colonized by theSpanish, these islands came underBritish control in the early 19th century.With the emancipation of slaves undercolonial rule, Indians were taken in asindentured labor, between 1845 and1917, to sustain the Caribbean sugareconomy. These Indians decided to make TrinidadandTobago,theirpermanenthomeandtodayaddtothevibrantcultureoftheregion.AlongwithEnglish,French, Spanish and Chinese, the citizens of theseislandsalsospeak ‘CaribbeanHindustani’whichwasinfluencedbyBhojpuri,MarwariandBiharidialects.Most of the people who travelled under the IndianIndenture system to the islands of Trinidad andTobago were from Kolkata. People took sail withBhagavad Gitas and Korans, unaware of theirdestination, and carried their East Indian Cuisine,complete with traditional seasonings and ways ofcooking. Interestingly, inTrinidad andTobago,mostHindiwordsrelatetothecookingandtheIndianfoodis consumed by a wide cross-section of the society.Fooditemslikeroti,saheena(madewithspinachandsplit peas), achar (Indian pickle) became popularhousehold names. The national cuisine of TrinidadandTobagoconsistsofthemostpopularEastIndiansweetandspicydisheslikeDhal,Ladoo,Baigan,Aloo,KhurmaandPeera.The biggest festival of India- Diwali, is now alsocelebrated between October and November inTrinidadandTobago.Theday ismarkedbyprayers,feastsandlightingofthousandsofdiyasallovertheseislands by the people, irrespective of religion. Thediyasareplacedonbamboostalksbentintofantasticshapes and designs by the people in Trinidad. The

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colorfulfestivalofHoliisanothermajorcelebrationinthemonthofMarchwithlotsofjoyfulsinging,dancingandcarnival-likeatmosphereinTrinidadandTobago.Alongwiththeinfluencesonfood,clothing,language,religionandculturalartforms,theIndianimmigrantshave also influenced the names of places inTrinidadand Tobago. The present day town of St. James isreferred to as ‘coolie’ town, as many Indianimmigrants lived here in 1917. There are prominentstreets like Agra Street, Lucknow Street, Banerasstreet in the island country. A community in centralTrinidad is known as Chandanagore, referring toChanagar or Chandinagar, which derives its namefrom a region in Indian, the hometown of mostimmigrants. Similarly in St. Helena, you could findMadrassettlement,which isnamedafteradistrict inSouthIndia.IndiaplaysalargeroleintheIndo-Trinidadianregion.While the Indo-Trinidadians insist on theircommitmentandloyaltytothenationofTrinidadandTobago, they also express pride in their Indianancestry. They do not see these two identities incontradiction, as Kamla Persad Bissessar, formerprimeminister of Trinidad and Tobago, rightly said,‘TrinidadandTobagowill alwaysremainourmotherbutIndiaisourgrandmother.’

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Venezuelahasbeendependentonprofitsfromoilexportsfordecades,howeverthedependencyunder

Chavezbecamehigherthane

verbefore.

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April 19, 2017 saw tens of thousands of people rally in Caracas,Venezuela, against the presidency of Nicolas Maduro. Started as aresponsetothepro-MaduroSupremeCourt’sattempttotakeovertheopposition controlled parliament, the people are now demandingMaduro to stepdown.The stateunderMadurohas failed to provideeventhemostbasicnecessities,suchasfoodandmedicines.Thestateis on the brink of collapse as it sinks further into political andeconomiccrisis.Lessthanadecadeearlier,Venezuelawasoneofthemost prosperous countries in South America, an example to befollowedbyothersocialistcountries.Ironically,thesamepersonwhotook the country to new heights is also responsible for its currentabysmalstate-formerpresidentHugoChavez.HugoChavez got elected to powerwhenhis party Partido SocialistaUnidodeVenezuela(PSUV)orUnitedSocialistPartyofVenezuelawonthe1998elections.Followingtheparty’sideology,hebroughtradicalchanges to the country. Chavez introduced measures of wealthredistribution, centralizationof thenationaleconomy,andexpensivesocialprograms.Whilethesemeasureshelpedthecountrytoupliftitspoorandclosethelivingstandardsgapwiththedevelopednations,allthiswasbasedonaveryunsustainablemodel–anunhealthyrelianceonoilexports.Venezuelahasbeendependentonprofitsfromoilexportsfordecades,however the dependency under Chavezbecamehigherthaneverbefore.Oilexportsaccountedforawhopping95% of Venezuela’s total exporting revenue and 50% of its budgetrevenue. Measures such as centralization of economy and fixing ofcommodity prices discouraged private participation. This led todecrease in domestic output of various basic commodities, such asfoodandmedicines,whichnowhadtobeimported.Thecountrywasliterallyrunningonoil.

CrawlingtowardsCollapse

By:RushilAnand

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Moreover the rise of oil prices from mid-2000s tillearly2010sgaveChavezswathesofmoney tospendonhispolicies.Thankstothisboom,Venezuelacouldbear the brunt of expensive subsides and socialprograms. All these policies were then carriedforward when Maduro, Chavez's successor and hisright handman, came to power in 2013. Thiswas amajormistakeonMaduro’spartasyearsof socialistpolicies andmismanagement had now hollowed outtheVenezuelaneconomy.In 2014, justayear afterMaduro came topower,oilprices started to tumbledown.Alreadybattlingwithcorruptionandhighlevelsofinflation,thiscameasashock for Venezuela. While such a drop causedhardship to other oil exporting countries such asSaudi Arabia, Venezuela because of its unhealthyreliance on oil export profit, felt the extra pinch.Saudi’sforeignreservesstoodat$654.5billioninOct2015,whentheoilcrisiswasstillraging,ascomparedVenezuela,withonly$15.3billioninforeignreserves,clearlycouldnotbraceitself.With revenue tumbling and a reserve not largeenoughtosustainthecurrentmodel, importsstarteddropping.Peoplenowhadtostandinlineforhourstoget items such as food and medicines. Years of

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economicmismanagementhad finally started tobiteandpeoplewerebearingthebrunt.Citizensaswellastheoppositionarenowoutonthestreetscallingforfreshelectionsasthesituationgetsworse as the months go by. Maduro’s desperateattempts to remain in power, using the SupremeCourt’srulingtotakeoverwouldhavemeantallthreebranchesofthegovernmentundertheinfluenceofasingle party. This would have given Madurounrestricted power and no opposition to hold himaccountable for his action. However the SupremeCourt reversed the decision after a wave ofinternational criticism. Venezuela was recentlysuspended from the South American economicbloc,Mercosur, for failing to meet its democraticstandards.UnitedNations human’s rights chief, ZeidRaad Al Hussein, expressed concern regarding thebreakdown of separation of powers of the state.Similar concerns were expressed by leaders ofGermany, Spain and Chile. Still backing Chavez’ssocialist policies, Maduro’s only hope is anotherboominoilprices.ChavezmightbelonggonebutMaduroandPSUVarestillhere.Theyfaceanuncertainfuture,notonly forthembutalsoforVenezuelaanditspeople.

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TheAsia Foundationand O.P. Jindal Global University,through theSchool of Government and Public Policy(JSGP)and theCentre for African, Latin American andCaribbean Studies (CALACS), have partnered on agraduatestudentprojectforthedevelopmentofadraft“White Paper” on the future of India’s DevelopmentCooperation.

On27thMarch, 2017, the Jindal School of Governmentand Public Policy (JSGP) and the Jindal SchoolInternational Affairs (JSIA) organized a one-dayinceptionworkshop intended to discussand guide thestudents developing the draft ‘White Paper.’ Theworkshop had the presence ofMr. Sachin Chaturvedi,Director General of the Research and InformationSystem for Developing Countries (RIS), Dr. MilindoCharkrabarti, visiting fellow atRIS andMs.MandakiniSurie, The Asia Foundation, all whose extensiveexperience in development policy and practice was

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valuable to the discussion. The workshop wasalso attended by faculty mentors from JGUProfessor & Dean of JSGP SudarshanRamaswamy, Professor Vinod Vyasulu, ViceDean of JSGP, Professor Karin Costa Vazquez,AssistantDeanforGlobalEngagementsJSIAandheadofCALACS,andProfessorClarenceDias,anexternal resource person, along with the 10studentteamfortheproject.

The discussion expressed the need forarticulatingadifferentpathforIndia,awayfromthe traditional frameworks of cooperation. Thescope and potential role for the DevelopmentPartnership Administration (DPA), Ministry ofExternal Affairs, as an inclusive andinstrumental framework in analyzing India’sdevelopment cooperation was discussedpositively.

India’sDevelopmentCooperation

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The student’s presentation on marking theirprogressservedasausefulbasefortheexpertsandmentors to provide feedback and guidance for thepaper. Dr. Sachin Chaturvedi elucidated on severalsubstantive issues, offering good advice andsuggestive readings to the students. With India’sassistance in the ambit of South-South cooperation,emerged the need for a comprehensiveunderstanding of India as South-South partner. Dr.Chaturvedi stressed on the importance of the draftpaperinbeinganenrichingandcreativeproposaltofurtherIndia’sroleindevelopmentcooperation.

Dr. Milindo explored the nature of India’sdevelopment cooperationthroughanElinorOstrominspiredperspective. Beinganexpert atMonitoringandEvaluation,heproposed interesting ideas likeasystemofmulti-stakeholder’s participatoryprocess,which will be effective and empowering. Ms.Mandakini Surie from The Asia foundation posedpertinent questions for the students to explore,putting forward thoughts on a gender element indevelopmentcooperation.Sheprovidedthestudentswithsoundadvicethatwouldenablethemtostrike

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therightbalancebetweenhighambitionandrealisticachievementindraftingthepaper.

Prof. Vazquez, whose elective course at JGUhas been instrumental in understandinglarger debates, narratives and issues indevelopment cooperation, looked at thenatureofSouth-SouthCooperation to take it‘beyond aid’. Through engaging discussion,Prof.SudarshanandProf.Vinod,familiarizedthe students with the global architectureunderwhich development cooperation takesplace. The encompassing dialogue, built onphilosophical, theoretical and practicalconsiderationswhilesettingforwardlooking,yetgrounded,expectationsfromthepaper.

The Workshop concluded with valuablefeedback generated through the dialoguebetween the students, experts and facultymentors. The workshop acted as aspringboard for the students, inspiring themtowardsdevelopingthedraftwhitepaper.

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CENTERFORAFRICAN,LATINAMERICANANDCARIBBEANSTUDIESCALACS combines interdisciplinary research,policy dialogue, and capacity development tounderstand the changing dynamics of South-South relations, deepen partnershipsbetweenAfrican,LatinAmericanandCaribbean (ALAC) countries and India, and supportALACcountriesandIndia,aspartoftheGlobalSouth,inreshapingglobalgovernance.HostedbyJSIA,CALACSservesasahubatJGUforacademics,policymakers,andbusinessmentoconnect,exchange,anddevelopinitiativesrelatedto:·ALACcountriesrelationswithIndia·ALACcountries,India&theGlobalSouth:policycoalitions&institutions(BRICS,IBSA,NDB)·Sustainabledevelopment,trade,investmentandotherissuesaffectingALACcountries

CALACSStaff:Prof.KarinCostaVazquez,JSIAAssistantDeanforGlobalEngagement

JoãoBoscoMonte-SeniorInternationalAssociateCaioBorges–SeniorInternationalAssociateSupriyaRouchoudhury–SeniorAssociateAakankshaLohia–ProgramManagerSakshiGarg–ProgramManager

SanjanaMedipally-ProgramManagerAmikaBawa-ResearchAnalystAparnaRaman–ResearchAnalyst

EisaKhanAyoobAyoobi–ResearchAnalystDionisioJosiasMissomal-ResearchAssistantHimaBinduKaribuktha-ResearchAssistant

PrachiDang-ProgramAssistantMohammadHishamHizari-ProgramAssistant

Associates:AaronMirza,MadhurArora,PalomaMatusse,RushilAnand

ContactUs:Email:calacs@jgu.edu.in

Flickr:https://www.flickr.com/calacs/Website:http://www.jgu.edu.in/researchcentre/Centre-For-African-Latin-American-and-Caribbean-

Studies/index.html