About
SIS@70
India and the World Order: Preparing for 2047
As India approaches the centenary of its independence in 2047, it seeks not merely a quantitative elevation in global rankings but a qualitative transformation in its role within the international system. What kind of global power does India aspire to be? What distinctive worldview can it offer – from peace and security to development, technology, sustainability, and norms? India’s preparation for 2047 must be matched by a parallel rethinking of the global order itself: how should the world prepare for a redefined India?
This foundational premise animates the international conference titled “India and the World Order: Preparing for 2047”, organised by the School of International Studies (JNU) as part of its seventieth anniversary celebrations (SIS@70), in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India and the Chintan Research Foundation. The conference will convene leading Indian and international scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to reflect on India’s prospective transformation and its implications for world politics.
The Government of India’s vision of a “Viksit Bharat” (developed India) by 2047 entails a conscious shift in national aspiration – from routine developmental goals to a deliberate repositioning within the global order. Much like an electron’s leap between atomic orbits requiring an energy threshold, this ambition demands a purposeful break from conventional trajectories, underpinned by foresight, planning, and innovation.
India’s journey from being a newly independent state to an emerging great power is marked by its youthful demographics, economic momentum, technological prowess, vibrant cultural appeal, widespread diaspora and enduring civilizational depth. Its commitment to democracy and multilateralism further enhances its international standing. Yet, the transition to developed-nation status involves confronting structural challenges while imagining a leadership role infused with normative vision and strategic capability.
The conference will interrogate this dual imperative – internal preparedness and external accommodation – through seven interlinked thematic areas:
1. Reimagining the Global Order: The Indian Imperative
What ideas can India offer to enrich global norms and values? How must India leverage its ideas on democracy, diversity, demography, and development to fulfil its global aspirations? To what extent and how effectively can India envision a reform of global governance structures to reflect the priorities of the Global South?
2. India’s Economic Ascent: Implications for the World
Can India’s ambition to become a $35 trillion economy by 2047 be achieved through inclusive and sustainable growth – and can this reshape the global economic architecture?
3. India at the Frontiers of Technology and Innovation
How can India’s breakthroughs in medicine, software, space, and automation optimally support its own development as well as its global technological status?
4. India’s Global Footprint: Mobility, Migration and Diaspora
The Indian diaspora, through historical and contemporary movements, contributes to global economies, cultures and diplomacy. Can this transnational presence strengthen India’s soft power and facilitate enduring people-to-people ties worldwide?
5. India as a Civilisational State: Shaping a New Global Consciousness
India’s identity, rooted in a pluralistic heritage based on values of harmony, seeks to shape a new global consciousness. How can India consolidate its soft power into a coherent narrative of influence?
6. Securing Sustainability: Climate Justice and Energy Transition
With its rich traditions in ecological harmony and growing influence in climate diplomacy, how can India shape a clean energy transition and a green global agenda?
7. What Kind of a Global Power Will India Be?
India’s envisioned transition is not simply a bid to “join the ranks” of the developed countries in measurable terms but to bring a qualitatively new flavour to global governance as a responsible power. What characteristics should it seek to inculcate and nurture in preparing for its new role?
This conference seeks to generate a high-level intellectual and policy-oriented dialogue on India’s journey toward 2047 and its ramifications for the evolving world order. It will combine the ‘inside-out’ perspective of Indian thought leaders with the ‘outside-in’ reflections of distinguished international scholars. Over the two days of deliberation, the aim is to stimulate a forward-looking discourse on how India can shape – and be shaped by – the contours of a just, resilient, and inclusive global future.