'Deccan Centre', a think-tank to enhance South India's global engagement, launched in Chennai

Chennai: Given South India's strengths in sectors like manufacturing, services, technology, and innovation, there is a need for a granular focus on the region’s global engagement in the overall context of India's foreign policy, retired diplomats said here on Friday.

The occasion was the formal launch of the Deccan Centre for International Relation, an independent think tank, to enhance international engagement of the five states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and the Union Territories of Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Puducherry.

T S Tirumurti, former Ambassador/permanent representative of India to the United Nations, will head the Steering Committee of the Deccan Centre, which has been established by the Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR), and founders of KREA University.

The think-tank, which will specifically focus on South India, was launched by Tamil Nadu IT Minister P T R Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, who said with partners like IFMR offering expertise, experience, and connectivity, the region can vastly outperform.

He said the region should be viewed beyond statistics like its contribution to 30 per cent of India's economy, its constitution of 20 percent of the population, and its contribution of 40 per cent of the total taxes in the country.

“We should go back at least a few centuries. This region is unique: people were seafaring, had an international focus, were protected from invasions unlike other parts of the country, and possessed distinct value systems. This trajectory was reinforced by the British Madras Presidency, spanning these states (minus princely areas),” Thiaga Rajan said.

He added that many current legislative templates originated at that time, creating shared southern administrative structures that diverge from those in northern India, and the results are evident with the Southern states topping rankings in human development, social progress, education, global integration, and diaspora participation.

The minister added amid global turmoil and the unravelling of US-centric unipolarity toward fractured multilateralism, the opportunities for the region abound and cited the example of Tamil Nadu, whose electronics exports surged 700 per cent in just three years post-Covid-19 pandemic.

“There is so much more we can do. If we do our part right, we can excel in many things,” he added.

Tirumurti said a more granular focus on South India's global engagement was required in the overall context of India's foreign policy given the growth of South Indian states was once at par with China between 1980 and 2020.

“We have ambitious plans, but we are also realistic enough to understand that the growth will be organic. Since we could cover all states and union territories in South India, we would like to be stakeholder driven and consumer driven rather than a top down approach,” he said.

The Deccan Centre will identify opportunities across geopolitics, security, technology, business, trade, diaspora, environment, maritime and other areas of mutual interest.