Chairperson's Speech at inauguration of the

Rajiv Gandhi Chair for Peace and Disarmament,

JNU, New Delhi 14th November 1998

Professor Robert Lawrence

Vice Chancellor Dr Ashis Datta

Respected Members of the Faculty

Scholars of Jawaharlal Nehru University

Ladies and Gentlemen

It is a very special privilege for me to join you at the inauguration of the Rajiv Gandhi chair for Peace and Disarmament in this leading university of our country, Members of my family, Jawaharlal Nehru, Shrimati Indira Gandhi and my husband were closely associated with the founding and different stages of growth of this great centre of higher learning.

The Indian School of International Studies, the precursor to JNU, was established to help clarify problems of theory and practive relating to international relations and independent India's links with the international system. From the days of the Asian Relations Conference held at New Delhi at the initiative of Jawaharlal Nehru, the JNU has inherited and, in its turn, helped to expand and strengthen the tradition of the search for independent, new approaches to the diverse problems of international relations.

Rajiv Gandhi had himself lent support to the idea of this University strengthening the dimension of its peace-related studies. Disarmament, and especially the elimination of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, were a passion with him. Therefore, Mr. Vice Chancellor, the establishment of this Chair of Peace and Disarmament and the linking of his memory with it, are a matter of deep personal gratification for me I would like to take this opportunity to thank you, Vice Chancellor and your colleagues, most warmly for this initiative.

May I also join in extending a warm welcome to Professor Robert Lawrence Holmes as the first occupant of the JNU's Rajiv Gandhi Chair for Peace and Disarmament. The presence of this eminent American scholar and philosopher in the midst of India's academic elite will, I am sure, go some way in bridging the gap between Indian and American thinking on questions of disarmament and peace, so vital to human survival and the further advancement of human civilization.

Ever since independence, disarmament has been at the core of India's foreign and security policy. We have always regarded nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction as a menace to human civilization and to the security of the world as a whole. We have therefore steadfastly sought the removal of this menace through the universal elimination of nuclear arms. We consider this an achievable goal, not in some dim or distant future but in a foreseeable span of time of fifteen or twenty years.

In 1988, Rajiv Gandhi had presented to the UN General Assembly a detailed, phased "Action Plan for Ushering in a Nuclear Weapon-Free and Non-Violent World". Unfortunately, that initiative was rejected by the nuclear weapon powers and the following years saw the spread of these weapons of terror ever closer to our frontiers.

The only real moral of these developments is that in the human family of a world deiven by technology and globalization, there cannot be two standards of security - one for the nuclear weapon powers and another for the rest. As my husband said in an address in 1988 --

"We must ensure that the emerging order addresses itself to the concerns, the development and future of a vast segment of the international community.. and that it is not a task which can be left to a small Directorate of Powers, however strong or influential they might be".

In my view there is only one way of arresting these recent trends -- sincere adherence to the goal of total nuclear disarmament and the immediate initiation of a universally agreed, phased program of steps for the achievement of that goal in a given period of time. I believe it is time now for a review and serious consideration of Rajiv Gandhi's "Action Plan" for a nuclear weapon-free and non-violent world.

In this context, it is very opportune that the inaugural lecture by Professor Holmes is on non-violence. That will give the JNU's Rajiv Gandhi Chair for Peace and Disarmament an auspicious and purposeful start. I wish your new endeavour great success.

Thank you