The Department of Geography, Political Science, Philosophy, Sociology and IQAC of Sathaye College (Autonomous) in collaboration with the ICSSR, Western Regional Centre successfully hosted the two-day Interdisciplinary National Conference on the theme of Contemporary Issues and Concerns in Globalization, Nationalism and Geo-Politics on 9th and 10th December 2022 at Sathaye College, Vile Parle (E) Mumbai. The two-day Conference witnessed a welcome presence of dignitaries across various Departments in Mumbai University, eminent scholars, speakers and subject-experts along with an array of carefully selected, well-researched and well-presented papers across the related disciplines, concluding it

into a huge success towards its end. Besides the inaugural and valedictory sessions, the Conference hosted three successful paper presentation sessions, plenary sessions and Invited Speaker’s Talk including the post-presentation discussions with question-answer sessions. The Conference offered opportunities to the participating audiences to fruitfully interact with the scholars, academicians & experts, who deliberated upon the topics concerned with concepts of globalization, nationalism and geo-politics in the contemporary times.

On 9th December, 2022, the Hon’ble keynote speaker, Shri Ashok Sajjanhar, former Ambassador, Republic of India, inaugurated the Conference. The inaugural function began with the welcome address and opening remarks by Prof. Beena Khanolkar, Convener of the Conference and Head, Department of Political Science of Sathaye College, Autonomous. She introduced the theme and purpose of the Conference in lucid manner to the audience and requested the Principal, Dr. M. R. Rajwade to introduce the Keynote speaker of the Conference. After the introduction, Shri Anil Ganu, the President of the PTVA felicitated the keynote speaker with a token of appreciation on behalf of the College for accepting the invitation. On this occasion, Ambassador Sajjanhar also released the booklet of abstracts received. The researchers contributed about 30 research paper abstracts across several National Universities including Goa, Karnataka, Rajasthan and JNU, New Delhi as well as Mumbai University.

Ambassador Sajjanhar began his keynote address with the appreciation of the College in preserving the cultural heritage among other values, a necessity in today’s times. He enthusiastically expressed his delight to be amongst the youngsters, who beam up with aspiration, ambition and confidence to lead the nation on its path of progress and development. He spoke of the global uncertainty in the contemporary

times in relation to the great turmoil and turbulence the world faced recently while dealing with the Covid-19 Pandemic. His speech highlighted upon the significant role played by India in global arena in alleviating the critical situation. He touched upon the topics of global war and the effects of the constantly changing power - relations among the global leaders such as those of US, UK, China, Soviet Union and Japan related to issues including environment, agriculture, economy etc. His speech emphasized upon the immediate concerns such as maritime security, weaponization of supply chains, energy shortages and China’s increasing dominance on the global platform. Largely, his speech reflected upon a positive role played by

India in combating a variety of global concerns with exploiting strategies addressing critical concerns such as the Pandemic, Galwan attack from China, import of oil and energy from Russian Federation and maintaining a neutral position in Russia-Ukraine conflict. He concluded his speech by observing that India would definitely make it larger with a good support of global collaborators and partners. The audience was enthralled with his speech and it made them revisit the ideas of global concerns with new perspectives and new understandings. The enthusiasm of the audience reflected in the question-answer session. The students expressed their interest in the topic by asking several questions to the speaker. The questions were related to the role of USA in global politics and its intervention in controlling China’s rising

power, public policy questions related to the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines in India and possibility of improvement in Indo-China and Indo-Pak relations. The questions were appreciated and well addressed by the Hon’ble keynote to everyone’s satisfaction.

The key-note address was followed by the first session of oral presentations. It was chaired and moderated by Dr. Harsha Badkar, Vice-Principal and Head, Department of Philosophy, Wilson College (Autonomous) Mumbai. This was a Philosophy subject session and was evaluated from the said perspective. The session had a total of 8 paper presenters hailing from history, Geography, economics and philosophy backgrounds. It included Dr. Abhidha Dhumatkar, Associate Prof. and Head, Department of

History, Sathaye College (Autonomous) speaking on Nationalism in the Central Asian Republic of former Soviet union, followed by Ms. Aaliya Azad and Atharva Kandhare, Students, University of Mumbai presenting on Environmental Politics : Positioning Aarey as a reflection, Mrs. Siddhi Naik Shet Mashelkar, Research scholar and Assistant Prof. Government College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Goa presenting on promoting ecofeminism through the integrated child development services scheme, Ms. Tanishka Bhogle, SYBA Philosophy student, Sathaye college (Autonomous) presenting the Intricacy of Being: Boundaries and Beyond, Ms. Sanskruti Ayir, Research Scholar, Women Studies Department, Goa University presenting on understanding state policies and its impact on rural women through Ecofeminist perspective: A Case Study of Western Ghats of Goa, Mr. Gandhi Dehuri Assistant Prof, Ismail Yusuf College presented paper titled environmental ethics in Indian and western concept. Ms Pujjal Poojary, TYBA Philosophy student, Sathaye College (Autonomous) spoke on modern anthropocentrism: a contemporary

pragmatic pathway to environmental preservation and lastly, Dr. Jayshingh Bajirao Sawant, Assistant Prof, Department of Philosophy, Ismail Yusuf College who presented paper titled- Rashtravad Ani Pradeshiktavadat Samanteche Mahatva.

Each session was followed by a brief question-answer round. At the end of all the presentations, Dr. Harsha Badkar provided her valuable inputs and observations on each paper. She spoke specifically on the need to revisit Ecofeminism as a suitable, necessary and practical approach and model for sustainable development in the current times. She contended very strongly that without the feminist approach to environment the world may soon find its end. Dr. Badkar showed how Globalization has impacted our ways of dealing with nature but at the same time it has provided us with our perspective to look up to the global family to resolve world problems especially the ones related to the environment. In connection to the theme of the conference she centered her speech around the idea of Vasudaiva Kutumbakam, a Sanskrit phrase meaning the world is one family and insisted that we must come together to resolve contemporary issues related to geopolitics.

After a brief break for lunch, the second session for oral presentations was conducted. This was chaired by Dr. Aparna Phadke, Professor, Department of Geography, University of Mumbai. It was a session related to the area of Geography and a total of 5 presenters presented their views on various topics. Ms. Poorna Venkatesan and Dr. Prakash Dongre presented a paper on Demographic Changes Along the Konkan Coast followed by Ms. Dixita Shingadi, whose paper and presentation reflected upon the Conservation of Biodiversity through Livelihood Interventions: An Analysis of Multiproduct Processing Centres in Goa. Mahendra S. Korde and Amit G. Dhorde spoke on Temperature Extremes Over Mumbai through their presentation. Dr. Akshata A. Kulkarni attracted the attention of the audience with a simplistic presentation on the topic: The Case Study of 5 Unsung Heroes in Conservation of Natural Resources. Her presentation was well received

by the audience. Mapping the Perception: Indo-China Relation was presented in a group by Rajashree Pradhan, Swayam Sohan Subhranshu and Vighnesh Kotkar followed by a paper on Globalization and dynamics of change ICT through WiFi Connectivity among Rural Households in Uttarakhand: A Case Study in Non- Electrified Ghes Village of Chamoli District by Kiran Badoni, a Ph.D scholar in Economics at Central University of Karnataka, Gulbarga. The last paper was presented by Dr. Pranoti Chirmule, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Sociology at St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai on Deconstructing Nationalism: The Rebirth of the Nation Within. The Paper Presentation session was followed by the question- answer session in which several doubts of the audience were addressed by the paper presenters. Dr. Phadke provided her insights upon the paper presentations and appreciated the efforts of the participants for covering several aspects related to the topic. She delved upon the idea of regional interactions and its relation to the geographical areas since antiquity. The notion of globalization in fact for her, emerged after World War II.

There was institutionalization of the entire process of free trade, something associated with emergence of global bodies such as WTO, IMF and reconstruction of world economies in which a big role was played by Uncle Sam i.e. USA. She questioned the patriarchal role assumed by USA and other global powers in dictating upon the economic, political and national concerns of the developing nations. Thus, the events of the first day of the Conference came to a closure with the second session of paper presentations.

The second day of the Conference on 10th December began at 10:45 am with the conduct of the third session of oral presentations. This was chaired by Dr. Liyakat Khan, Professor, Department of Civics & Politics, University of Mumbai. It was a session related to the discipline of Political science and a total 6 presenters presented their views on related themes. The first paper was presented by Prof. Ajit

Mokal, Assistant Professor, Dalmia College, Mumbai on the theme of Globalization and the New world order. This paper analysed the concept of Globalization in the modern world and the inevitable transition of the world to multipolarity in the present context. This was followed by paper presentation of Ms. Shambhavi Thite, PhD scholar at JNU, Delhi, whose paper was read out with her consent by Swaraj Malekar, a student of TYBA political science of Sathaye College, Autonomous. The theme of the paper was Effects of Globalization on Geo-Economics of Central Asia. This paper examined the role of Globalization in determining the economic dynamics of Central Asia following the dissolution of Soviet Union. The next paper was presented by Prof. Ujwala Kadam, Assistant Professor at Patkar College, Mumbai and the title of the paper was India and Asian Geo politics. She lucidly pointed out the strategic importance of Central Asia to India and elaborated upon suggestions for improving relations with Central Asia. This was followed by a paper presentation done by Dr. Mahatma Pandey, Assistant Professor of Sathaye College,

Autonomous. He effectively deliberated upon the heart touching experiences of the tribals displaced by the forces of Globalization as narrated by eminent writers in Hindi Literature. The next paper was presented by Prof. Gajendra Deoda, Assistant Professor in Multimedia and Mass communication at Sathaye College, Autonomous. He explained the impact of Globalization and new-age technology on advertising of commercials and news reading on electronic media, which received enthusiastic response from the audience. The last paper was presented by Dr. Ketan Bhosale, Associate Professor, Sathaye College, Autonomous. He focused on the Reflections on the Geostrategic importance of IOR for India’s Foreign Policy which attracted the attention of the audience. It was followed by question-answer session in which several doubts of the audience were addressed by the paper presenters. The Chairman of the session, Dr. Liyakat Khan provided valuable remarks upon the paper presentations and gave important tips to audience to present papers in such conferences. At the end of the session, he spoke at length on the importance of Central Asia in the present-day world order vis-à-vis dynamics of international relations among major powers in the region. Thus, the events of the third session of the Conference came to a closure at 1:00 pm with the stimulating experience of the chairman’s remarks and comments on the session. This was followed by a brief break for lunch from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm on the second day of the Conference.

Prof. Indra Munshi was the first invited speaker of fourth session on the second day

of the Conference at 2:00 pm. Prof. Munshi was a former Head of Department of Sociology in University of Mumbai. The topic of her talk was Environmental Degradation and the Loss of Communities and Cultures. According to Prof. Munshi activities such as mining, construction, industrialization and excessive consumption of resources are responsible for the degradation of nature and communities. States like Odisha, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have large scale mining activities which are creating several problems for tribal people.

Dr. Vibhuti Patel was the second invited speaker of fourth session on the second day of the Conference. Dr. Patel is a retired Professor at Tata Institute of Social Sciences and Head of the Department of Economics at SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai. The topic of her talk was Feminist Foreign Policy. Dr. Patel talked about the vision, mission and goals of Feminist Foreign Policy. She also talked about the current scenario in the world such as wars, riots etc. and how the mass sexual violation and related issues are prevailing in countries like Afghanistan and Ukraine are demanding Feminist Foreign Policy. Thus, the fourth session of the Conference came to a closure at 4:00 pm with Dr. Patel’s speech.

The Valedictory Session of the National Conference began at 4:00 pm on 10th December, 2022 and was presided over by dignitaries like Dr. Satish Bagal, Retired Director of Treasuries, Govt. of Maharashtra, PTVA President, Shri Anil Ganu, and Dr. Madhav Rajwade, Principal, Sathaye college. The Principal introduced the chief guest, Dr Bagal and felicitated him along with Shri Ganu with a token of

appreciation. In his address of the Valedictory session, Dr Bagal spoke elaborately upon the theme

of the Conference. Giving a reference of Nobel Prize Winner, Orhan Pamuk’s book Nights of Plague, he discussed how Globalization is not a new concept. It only manifested as an idea in 90’s. However, being an old practice of trade and economy across borders, Globalization already showed all its benefits as well as negative effects in the olden days especially the times of the plague during 1901-03. He distinctively pointed out the current confusions and contradictions caused by geopolitics in the contemporary times and raised concerns about nations that may choose closed economy or closed political systems of the ancient times. He mentioned that not just today but even during the 20th century, China was seen as a

threat by most of the nations and was like today seen suspicious of spreading the plague to other nations.

He pointed out how due to pandemic, the global economy slowed down and the Chinese grew more arrogant against peace making policies of the nations while also giving reference to the current Russia -China no limits friendship pact that may have aggravated the situation for Ukraine. In view of geo-politics, he contended that Globalization and Nationalism must find a way to coexist in order to have stable economies as well as stable internal environment for nations at large. His speech was followed by certificate distribution to paper presenters from other institutes and universities. The Valedictory session ended at 5:45 pm with a formal vote of thanks by Prof. D. D. Bombe, Head, Department of Geography, Sathaye College, Autonomous. Special thanks were offered to the ICSSR, Western Regional Centre, Kalina, Mumbai for graciously extending funds to this cause of holding Interdisciplinary National Conference on the most current relatable theme of the time. Thus, the two-day Conference was over with successful completion of both the days and ended with the National Anthem at the end of it. 

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