Department Of International Studies invites you to


A Talk by Dr. Bibhu Prasad Routray, Director- Mantraya
"Left-Wing Extremism and India's Changing Counter-Insurgency Grand Strategy”


India has never attempted to put together a counter-insurgency (COIN) doctrine. A doctrine, in black and white, most in policy circles believe, restricts innovation and exposes the state's actions to needless scrutiny. India's protracted experience with countering extremism, however, does allow researchers to discover the components of a Grand Strategy at play. Principles of limited use of excessive force, population-centric approach etc. to resolve insurgencies have been more or less followed in the past while dealing with armed conflicts. Is that Grand Strategy changing? Is the state now more open to alter its approach to quell rebellions? The Left-wing extremism (LWE) affected theatres do point at that direction. To ensure a 'Naxal-mukt Bharat', the Indian state appears more willing to cross the red line. The lecture would explore the details of the current anti-LWE policy and analyse if the decimation of the extremists will usher in justice and governance to the ungoverned parts of our country.


About the Speaker
Dr. Bibhu Prasad Routray served as Deputy Director in the National Security Council Secretariat, Government of India and Director of the Institute for Conflict Management (ICM)’s Database & Documentation Centre, Guwahati, Assam. He was a Visiting Research Fellow at the South Asia programme of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore between 2010 and 2012. He took his PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University. Routray specialises in decision-making, governance, counter-terrorism, force modernisation, intelligence reforms, foreign policy and dissent articulation issues in South and South East Asia. His writings, based on his projects and extensive field based research in Indian conflict theatres of the Northeastern states and the left-wing extremism affected areas, have appeared in a wide range of academic as well policy journals, websites and magazines. He currently is Director at Mantraya- an independent web based research forum that seeks to make constructive contributions in the realm of strategy, innovation and alternatives.