THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The global peace meet announced in the state budget for 2022-23 will soon be a reality. Amid speculation that the government would drop the ambitious conclave in the backdrop of the cash crunch, Finance Minister KN Balagopal told TNIE that the programme will be organised as planned.
“We had announced an in-person global peace conference on nuclear disarmament and world peace. It is part of a campaign to promote world peace and harmony. We are in talks with eminent peace activists and thinkers in order to fix the date of the event. Those who are unable to fly down would deliver virtual addresses,” said Balagopal.
The campaign will be held in association with the state cultural affairs department, he said. The minister said that the programme is likely to be held sometime in October or November. Seminars and discussions are the other components of the campaign. The global peace programme was the maiden announcement in the first full-fledged budget of the second Pinarayi Vijayan government. A total of `2 crore was set aside for the programme.
“The Russia-Ukraine war has pushed the world towards a possible third world war with nuclear weapons. The possibility cannot be ruled out totally even now. The memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki compel us to work towards peace. It is not possible to give an excuse that ‘I am not willing to confront’ and adopt an isolationist attitude. Each one of us has to contribute our small bit,” Balagopal had said in the budget speech.
Another budget announcement of international significance was fostering the state’s relationship with Latin America. A sum of `2 crore was set aside for comparative studies and research under the guidance of Centre for Latin American Studies at the University of Kerala. The minister said the centre is in talks with Latin American universities for student exchange, twinning programmes and collaborative research.
Centre’s director R Girish Kumar said the tie-ups would be with institutions in Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Dominican Republic and Chile. Postgraduate students and researchers will benefit from the twinning programme. Agricultural and innovation systems will have high priority in research programmes, he said.