Raisina Dialogue begins in New Delhi: From Benjamin Netanyahu to David Petraeus, big names headline geo-political conference

The Raisina Dialogue is expected to kick off on Tuesday at 6 pm in New Delhi. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on a six-day visit  to India, is slated to deliver the inaugural speech at the third edition of the geo-political conference. This year’s theme of the Raisina Dialogue (16 to 18 January) is Managing Disruptive Transitions: Ideas, Institutions and Idioms. [caption id=“attachment_4303665” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New Delhi. Twitter@[/caption] The Raisina inaugural will see Netanyahu speak and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj give the vote of thanks. At 8 pm, Union Minister Jayant Sinha will participate in a discussion entitled: Navigating the Chrome Age: Jobs, Growth and Public Policy. This discussion will centre around the altered relationship between employers and employees keeping in mind the proliferation of automated machinery and a new status quo as more and more employers reach out to the “human cloud” for contractual labour rather than hire employees. On day 2, Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat is slated to participate in a panel entitled: The Terror State: Innovative Solutions to New Threats. The panel will examine the widespread and pervasive nature of radicalisation which challenges and complicates that emerging structure of actors, networks and organisations calling for reimagining anti-terror tactics and the threat that “terror states” pose. At 11 am, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will give the Plenary Address. At 11:30 am, MJ Akbar, Minister of State for External Affairs will converse with  Zalmay Khalilzad, former US ambassador to the United Nations and counsellor, Center for Strategic and International Studies. Union Minister Smriti Irani and Suresh Prabhu, Minister of Commerce and Industry are slated to participate in sessions on policy, politics and gender and innovation and creation respectively. At 3 pm, C Raja Mohan, director, Carnegie India will moderate a discussion entitled: Strat-Con: The Emerging Security Dynamics in the Indo-Pacific. Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor is set to chair a discussion entitled:  The End of the Liberal Order: The Beginning of the Asian Century? in which former Canada prime minister Stephen Harper is expected to participate. On day 3, General (Retd) VK Singh,  Minister of State for External Affairs and former Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai are expected to take part in a panel entitled: The Afghan Poser. This discussion will examine how Afghanistan can handle the challenges it faces with regard to domestic security and leverage its strategic position to become a major player in terms of regional cooperation and connectivity. Later in the day, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and General (Retd) David H Petraeus, US Army, will take part in a panel entitled: A Disruptive World: Solutions for Tomorrow. This discussion will examine the strategies, formats and ideas to respond to the dramatic transitions in the New World Order in 2018. With inputs from PTI