Background: SIOS
Just as former PM Indira Gandhi sent an expedition to Antarctica in 1981, and simultaneously set up the Department of Ocean Development, the eminent trio of Sh PN Haksar, Professor S Nurul Hassan and Professor Satish Chandra decided to establish a not-for-profit NGO that would serve as a research Centre/think tank to stimulate India’s profile in the maritime domain and particularly, to encourage research on the history, geography, living and non-living resources of the Indian Ocean.
Accordingly, the Society for Indian Ocean Studies was established by the above-mentioned eminences in 1987 and registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1960.
In its endeavor to promote awareness of ocean affairs, the Society has been conducting regular interactions through seminars, roundtable discussions and a journal, on subjects as varied as climate change, cultural contact, geopolitics, the Act East policy, ocean economy and even the South China Sea imbroglio. The following paras detail the Society’s curriculum since 2016.
7 June, 2023: Online Lecture on 'A Dialogue in Textile Traditions between the Deccan and South East Asia by Ms Hema Devare'
'Ports and Hinterlands: Connecting the Deccan and the Indian Ocean World by Prof. Radhika Seshan'
Joinlty organised by the H.K. Sherwani centre for Deccan studies, Maulana Azad National Urdu University and SIOS, Delhi
Discussants: Amb. Sudhir Devare and Prof. Krishnendra Meena
14 April, 2023: Lecture on Submarine Force of India
Opening Remarks: Amb. Sudhir Devare
Address: Cmdr. Anil Jaisingh
29 November, 2022: Lecture on Emerging Treaty for the High Seas
Opening Remarks: Amb. Sudhir Devare
Address: Amb. Dr. Bhaskar Balakrishnan
10 October, 2022: Round Table on 'Andaman & Nicobar Island:
Future Perspective'
Opening Remarks: Amb. Sudhir Devare
Address: Vice Admiral Anup Singh
27 September, 2021: Discussion on Quad Summit (in virtual mode)
3 September,2021: Webinar on Marine Spatial Planning and Regional Cooperation
Keynote address: Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Karambir Singh
Introduction: Commodore Sujeet Samaddar
Speakers:
26 October, 2020 Webinar on 'Strategic Outlook of Countries in the Bay of Bengal
Region'
Opening Remarks: Amb. Sudhir Devare
Keynote Address: Amb. Shyam Saran, former Foreign Secretary,
Participants:
Seminar titled ‘South China Sea on the Third Anniversary of UN Tribunal Judgement: Rising Tensions Amidst China’s Bellicosity’, held on 12 July 2019, at Delhi.
Seminar titled ‘South China Sea after two Years of PCA: Can it become the basis of CoC?’, held on 31 Jul 2018, at Delhi
Book titled ‘Indo-Pacific Axis: Peace, Prosperity or Conflict’ released by SIOS, on 28 Jun 2018, at Delhi.
Eminent Person’s Talk titled ‘Indonesia, the Fulcrum of South East Asia: In which Direction is it Moving?” was delivered by Dr Dewi Fortuna Anwar, leading scholar and Secretary to Vice President of Indonesia, on 15 Mar 2017, at Delhi. This was a topical theme and aroused great interest amongst the thinking classes and diplomats.
A seminar titled ‘The South China Sea Imbroglio: Looking for a Solution—Legal and Political’, was conducted on 03 Oct 2016, at Delhi. This seminar was very well attended, given the theme and the variety of speakers, who deliberated various possibilities in the South China Sea—three months after the tribunal verdict against China.
An international Seminar on ‘Emerging Geopolitics in the Indian Ocean’, was conducted at Delhi, on 18-19 Mar 2016. Speakers from Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Mauritius, apart from India, presented their perspectives.
Journal of Indian Ocean Studies
The Society brings out every four months a professional journal titled' Journal of Indian Ocean Studies' which is now published by Prints Publications Pvt Ltd, New Delhi and is subscribed by the Indian Coast Guard, Universities, Libraries and other institutions in India and abroad. Please look for further information under the journal section.
SIOS Building
Since the organization was established without seed money or recurring financial resources, and was deliberately launched as a not-for-profit NGO (research Centre/think tank), it could never afford a building of its own. It therefore operated from a rented accommodation from 1987 till Apr 2014, and from the founding Vice Chairman’s (Prof Satish Chandra’s) residence thereafter—till the latter’s demise in Oct 2017. After that date, the Society has not had a venue to operate from. However, due to the single-minded focus of the founding Vice Chairman, the Society managed to receive allotment of a (leased) plot from the DDA, in the Lado Sarai Institutional Area, in 2002. A building has been erected on the plot and the Society has established its office there and started functioning from its new premises from end of 2021 thus fulfilling the vision of its founders 34 years ago.