Resurgence of nativism, protectionism in West disturbing: Manmohan Singh
New Delhi, Aug 8 : Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said that resurgence of "nativism and protectionism in the West is a disturbing trend" and the "old and tried approaches may not suffice".
"Building goodwill and peace among nations is of paramount importance," he said after releasing a book, "Ten Ideologies - The Great Asymmetry between Agrarianism and Industrialism", authored by his former Cabinet colleague S. Jaipal Reddy.
Singh said that in the process of writing the book, Reddy brings out that the "divisions based on race, religion, caste or colour are products of the historical periods, but cannot be accepted by holistic reading of history".
"While alluding to the beginnings of the Industrial Age, the author has pointed out that the historical foundations for the new era were provided by China, India and West Asia, both in ancient times and medieval period," said Singh addressing the audience at the Constitution Club of India.
"The technologies borrowed from the East helped the West in having the Renaissance, Reformation, Scientific Revolution etc. It was these intellectual movements which stimulated historical changes and new schools of thought. They were all happening at about the same time," said Singh.
Singh further said: "The resurgence of nativism and protectionism in the West is a disturbing trend. Old and tried approaches may not suffice. We should not hesitate to think afresh.
"While doing so, the paramount thing is to build goodwill and peace among nations. In this context, the conflict of mindsets of Agrarian and Industrial eras that Sri Jaipal Reddy focuses upon is relevant."
Singh also said he was reminded of his Cambridge days as he went through the book. "As I went through the book and came across the ideas of masterly thinkers, I have been reminded of my own Cambridge days.
"It is like going back to basics. I have enjoyed this refreshing experience and benefited by it. I am happy to note that Jaipal Reddy is trying to build a new approach to meet the current crises in the world. This is what we should focus on," he said.
Praising Reddy, Singh further said: "Although he has been a professional politician, he has proved to be an intellectual as well. I hope and trust that this will set a new trend in Indian politics."
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
