The Journal of Central Asian Studies

Central of Central Asian Studies

University of Kashmir

Print ISSN: 0975-086X Online ISSN: 0975-086X

With a population of more than 1.6 billion, South Asia’s economies are growing rapidly, and its demand for inexpensive, efficient, and reliable energy is growing in turn. At the same time, Central Asia is a repository of vast energy resources, oil, gas, and hydropower. Directing some of these resources southward from Central to South Asia, through Afghanistan, would be a win-win for the region’s energy suppliers and energy consumers alike. The country has more the history of conflict than construction and development, and the post-9/11 US-Taliban conflict was no exception to it. It turned to be devastative from the human security and infrastructural development perspectives. As force and reconciliation having failed to resolve the conflict, the US perceived its end through Afghanistan’s regional and economic integration with South and Central Asia, and thus mooted the idea of the New Silk Route Initiative ( NSRI) for the purpose. The Asian Regionalism is the most notable phenomenon that has captured the attention in the post cold war era. With multiple transitions underway in Afghanistan, the paper signifies the significance of United States and its allies who tried the NSRI to bolster peace, stability in the region and support a transition for trade and transportation over Afghanistan, Central Asia, Pakistan, and India and beyond. In this context the study is an attempt to analyses regional economic cooperation in the South and Central Asian region in terms of logic, institutions, actors, and expectations. The study will also access the relationship NSRI and US interests in the region? Further the study will through light on how Globalisation has transformed the Eurasian context into regionalism?

The ‘Silk Road’ had predominantly been a series of trade routes that intertwined their way through Europe, Central Asia, Persia to China to facilitate exchanges of trade, commerce, culture and knowledge roughly between 130 BC and 1453 AD. Known for trades of silk and spices, it was a significant economic corridor for almost one-and-half millennium connecting major regions of the world. In 2013 Chinese President Xi Jinping resurrected the idea to re-open trade corridors between China and its neighbors in the west and notably Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe, and put-forth the idea of ‘The New Silk Road’. In May 2017 China held first summit of ‘Belt and Road Forum’ (BARF) to unveil the idea of ‘New Silk Road’ before world. The New silk routes are different from the historic silk routes as the former served as a mode of connection for trade and cultural exchange with little political significance. Contrarily, the New Silk Road (also called Belt and Road Initiative-BRI) is an overt expression of China’s power ambitions in the 21st century and is regarded as hedging strategy of China against the eastward move of USA. It is assumed a game-changer strategy with a potential to shift the center of geo-economics towards Eurasia instead of Asia-pacific region which is dominated by the USA and its allies. The New Silk Road has brought certain apprehensions with it. The idea of ‘New Silk Road’ by many nations is viewed as a form of neo-colonialism to grab local resources. Contrary to ‘Old Silk Road’, it is opaque and ambiguous for it is motivated in the power politics of China. Against this backdrop, the paper will make a comparative study of old and New Silk Road and examine various challenges to the New Silk Road. There is a need to analyse the implications of the New Silk Road and also explore the future prospects of the same amid the challenges that it faces presently, this paper shall try to meet these objectives.

India has been making efforts to engage with Central Asia. This is driven by two primary motivations: First, India is eager to diversify its energy supplies as it has recognized that its economic progress is linked with Central Asian hydrocarbon resources; and second, India wants to contain the growth of radical Islamist forces which pose greatest threat to India’s security. The strategic location of Central Asia makes it vulnerable to geopolitical manoeuvring involving the United States, Russia, China, Pakistan, and India, with conflicting and contrasting objectives. The Afghan Taliban’s resurgence coupled with weakness of the Afghan government has also created fresh uncertainties, while the ISIS continues to demonstrate its growing power. The triangular relationship among India, Iran and Afghanistan, particularly involving the Chabahar port, has crucial implications for India’s aims in Central Asia. The paper explores the interests that motivate India’s recent efforts to step up its engagement with Central Asian countries, how the India-Afghanistan-Iran triangular relationship is aimed at serving those interests, and the attitude of other important regional players.

Two things determine the nature of a state’s behaviour and relations with the world. A good economy with smooth borders brings a positive atmosphere in the relations among nations thus leading to cooperation. The otherwise is also the case i.e. bad economy and porous borders that shut the door for good neighborliness, soar relations and give rise to conflict. How Greater Central Asia concept(as an Approach) in the midst of fragile economy and porous borders-where ethnic tensions always simmer fits into the mechanism for security and development (trade-economics and security) in the light of theories of conflict and cooperation. There is another dimension involved i.e. the role of external and internal actors in this adventure. External powers like the U.S. (and others) have integrated Central Asia into ‘Operation Enduring Freedom of Afghanistan’. India has played a constructive role in reconstruction and rehabilitation in post-war Afghanistan. The paper is an attempt to analyze how both the actors (internal and external) play in the adventure of Greater Central Asia.

Central Asia has vast deposits of hydrocarbon resources. India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. There is a tremendous increase in the demand for energy in the country. India is over-dependent for its energy resources over the unstable west Asia. To meet the growing demand for energy and sustain the growth rate of economy India needs to plan the sources of the energy supply from the new avenues. The central Asian region can be one such avenue. The region is not only in close proximity to India but India has also historical and civilisational links with the region. This study provides information about the energy potential of Central Asia and the rivalry among the powers of the world in general with special focus on India’s role. It also analyses the historic, current and future trends in relations between India and Central Asia.

The bilateral relations between the Republic of India and the Republic of Tajikistan have developed considerably owing to both nations’ cooperation on security and strategic issues. There is today mutual respect, trust and confidence. Many important milestones have been crossed and at each stage a total understanding and convergence of views are evident on all issues of mutual concern. The common views of political leaders of both countries about important issues of International Relations are firm points for enhancing bilateral relations in various fields such as, economy, commerce, politics, science and culture. Tajikistan was lost in the larger picture of the Central Asia region, which seemed to be perceived as being Uzbek centric. However, India’s perception of Tajikistan underwent a qualitative change after the Taliban took over Kabul in September 1996 and is now central to India’s strategic interests in the region. As the region has good potential in hydroelectricity generation, power transport, and full chain of cotton processing. There are more future possibilities of developing bilateral relations between the two countries. India and Tajikistan will work closely on developing trade and transport links through Chabar Port in Iran. The paper is a humble attempt to discuss different dimensions of Indo-Tajik Relations.

The Central Asian Republics have drawn the world’s attention, primarily for the reason of their expected abundance of their energy resources. The Geo-strategic location of Central Asia is as such, it lies between Europe and Asia. In the post cold war era the Great Game revisited in Kazakhstan with a competition between regional and world powers for gaining profits, influence, hegemony and maintaining power. The political and commercial competition emerged among the great powers in order to make hold over the vast energy reserves of these newly independent states of Central Asia and the concepts like Heartland, Great game, Grand Chess Board and Clash of Civilizations gained importance. A new chapter opened in the contest among the international players for control of these oil and gas deposits.In the post cold war era India was among the first countries which recognized these Central Asian republics, supports them for their reconstruction. India opened its embassies in these countries and the leaders of these countries like; Uzbek president Islam Karimov and Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev made India as the destination for their first official trip abroad after independence.

Since Afghanistan is strategically crucial for India, a strong and vibrant economic relationship with Afghanistan is, therefore, of critical value and relevance for India. In view of India’s relations with its close neighbour Pakistan, Afghanistan attaches further significance for India. Close and stable relations with Afghanistan are possible through sustained and growing trade and investment relations. Afghanistan is blessed with enormous resources and because of its geographical position will become an energy corridor (for TAPI gas pipeline) in the future that would be of considerable importance to India. As a growing and large economy, India needs more energy resources to sustain her high economic growth. In the prevailing scenario, India as the largest and important nation of South Asia, occupying a major expanse of territory with extensive resources and potential, require and sought to increase its commerce and friendship ties with Afghanistan. As a war torn economy, Afghanistan wanted India to establish extensive cooperation in energy, education, agriculture, infrastructure, security, banking, trade and commerce. Besides, Afghanistan is a bridge connecting South Asia with Central Asia, Middle East and beyond. More importantly, the paper has highlighted the bilateral trade potential and modest attempt has made towards in depicting Afghanistan as potential and important country for India in terms of geo-strategic, geo-political and geo-economic factors.

Uzbekistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia, with a total geographical area of 447 400 km². The country gained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Due to favourable climatic conditions for crop production, agriculture has long been considered one of the priority areas of the economic development. The country’s economy depends mainly on agricultural sector. As late as 1992, roughly 40 percent of its net material product (NMP) was in agriculture, although only about 10 percent of the country’s land area was cultivated. Uzbekistan restructured Soviet type of collective farms after independence and such efforts contributed to the growth of private sector’s share in agricultural production. The two dominant crops grown in the country are cotton and wheat. Both the crops are important for the country, wheat for domestic use and cotton for exports. However, after independence much importance has been given to grain crops especially wheat to meet demand of the domestic food consumption. The present study analyzes the growth patterns in grain crops mainly wheat, rice, barley and corn for a period of 27years i.e. 1991-2017 and thereby analyses yearly productivity variations and that way review the stability of crop production.

Central Asia is composed of a mottled mosaic of different groups consisting of well over 100 million people. At least 40 distinct cultural groupings have been identified by anthropologists. The population density of Central Asia varies widely, from two people per square kilometre (in parts of Tajikistan) to over 200 people per square kilometre in the Fergana valley of Uzbekistan. Central Asia has some of the highest birth-rates in the world, leading to an average age of the overall population that is under 18 years of age. Many of the Central Asians still speak Russian and most also speak one of the various languages sharing a linguistic heritage with Turkish. Many of these Turkic languages, though distinct, can be partially understood by those speaking a different dialect. Since Central Asian Republics declared their independence at the end of 1991, ethnic harmony has been seen as the most fundamental condition for political stability in all five newly independent multi-ethnic Central Asian states. Intercultural harmony, in history, has not always been promoted as a desirable end among Central Asian political and religious leaders. The years of Soviet rule saw the intentional implementation of policies that served to divide and conquer local populations in order to keep them subjected to Soviet political domination. With the result they managed to create a mosaic of ethnic diversity throughout Central Asia so as to prevent any sort of political cohesiveness among ethnic groups that could pose a threat to the Soviet regime. In this paper, suggestions are provided to overcome inter-ethnic conflicts and promote inter-ethnic dialogue among various ethnicities belonging to different faiths in Central Asia.

dynamics of many societies. Throughout human history migration has reflected people’s yearning and attitudes to have a comfortable life. The growing scale of international migration is a response to the constant demand of workers in labour market of receiving countries. Migration has resulted in the economic and social development of developing countries. Labour migration is a boon to Central Asian economies and plays a conclusive role in keeping their economies afloat especially of Tajikistan as Tajikistan’s current trajectory ,is not able to do enough to remediate its citizen’s abrasive socio economic plight. Tajikistan is the origin country of labour migrants and agile participant of global migratory process. The present paper is an attempt to analyze the nature and potent of such an substantial migratory flow in order to assess its influence, together with other internal trends on the future of the country. Moreover, it is an attempt to comprehensively explain and analyze these trends of migratory flow.

Domestic violence is prevalent all across the globe and victims of domestic violence have been using different approaches for seeking help against the same. The purpose of this paper is to explore the different formal and informal support for women who have experienced domestic violence in Kashmir region. Besides the barriers to disclosure and help-seeking has also been studied, considering the socio-cultural aspect of Kashmir. The study revealed that more victims have sought help through informal means rather than formal ones and there are a good proportion of women who haven’t sought any help at all. Through this paper, a set of suggestions and recommendations have also been framed for the prevention and control of the domestic violence by ensuring the proper implementation of protective laws, awareness generation, gender sensitization, community involvement and collaboration between different stakeholders, Governmental and Non-governmental.

In most of the historical records of the Silk Route there is reference to Ladakh, and many viewed it as an extension of it. Ladakh acted as an important gateway in the exchange of men, material and ideas through the ages. Leh the capital of Ladakh was the meeting point for traders from South Asia and from Central Asia. Ladakh as a conduit between India and Central Asia played an important role in the political, commercial and cultural domains both in the ancient and medieval times. Due to its geographical proximity to Central Asia and linkages to old Silk-Route, Ladakh became the transit emporium in the bilateral Indo-Central Asian trade. The present paper is intended to study the glimpses of historical links of India and Central Asia through Ladakh along with the present geopolitical and geostrategic location of the region. Moreover, the revival of ancient routes of Ladakh and its benefits has also been discussed.

The study is the first bibliometric analysis of the “Journal of Central Asian Studies”. This journal started its publication from 1990 (a year before the disintegration of the former USSR) and 23 volumes had been published till 2016. The study aims to conduct the bibliometric analysis of the “Journal of Central Asian Studies” from 1990 to 2016 in order to identify editorial assignments, authorship patterns, and institutional productivity, geographical contribution in the journal. The bibliometric data of the papers were manually collected from the hard copies of the journal in the excel file. Later, the data were tabulated and analysed using the simple mathematical and statistical quantitative techniques to reveal the findings. The journal published 266 papers in 23 volumes contributed by 202 authors from 55 institutions and 23 countries of the world. Prof. Abdul Majeed Matoo performed the duties of the “Chief Editor” of the maximum volumes (12) of the journal followed by Prof. G N Khaki for (3). The content analysis of the journal depicted that the research papers constitute the maximum contents (252, 94.74%) whereas book reviews (9, 3.38%), abstracts (1.13%) and reprints (2, 0.75%) are also available in little number. The authorship trends of the journal revealed that the maximum number of research papers are contributed by the single author (232, 87.22%) followed by double authors (27, 10.15%) and Triple authors (07, 2.63%) respectively. The maximum number of papers are contributed by Ajiaz A. Bandey (10) followed by M. A. Kaw (9) and G. M. Mir (8) respectively. Among the fifty five (55) academic and research institutions, the top contributing institutions are the University of Kashmir (139), Jawaharlal Nehru University (18), University of Mumbai (11), Aligarh Muslim University (9), University of Jammu (7), and Academy of Sciences, Uzbekistan (7) respectively. The regional analysis shows that twenty-three (23) countries of the world have contributed to the journal and the maximum number of papers are contributed by India (208, 78.20%) followed by Uzbekistan (8, 3.01%), Kazakhstan (7, 2.63%), USA (6, 2.26%) and Pakistan (4, 1.50%) respectively.

The tradition of Vedant and Sufism both as doctrines and practices are firmly founded on the priori that there is a dimension of existence which is beyond conceptual comprehensions. A mystic and spiritual dimension that is more experienced than explained. Mystical traditions of Vedant and Sufism although sprouting from two distinct belief systems address the same universal human problem of being, truth and absolute reality. Both aspire and expect from its adherents to search for truth through intuition and personal experience while rejecting sources of knowledge other than divine to be authentic . Present paper is an attempt to deconstruct the phenomena of mystical practices of Vedant and Sufism which defy to be subjected to explanation and empirical applications, thus are resilient to be reduced to be confined to time and space; as an absolute is by its nature eternal and infinite beyond the realm of time and space. Although not claiming to be strictly a comparative study, the paper takes these mystical traditions as a general human phenomenon with a few commonalities , in cosmogony, ritual practices structural organization despite a marked difference between the universalizing Islam and ethnic religion Hinduism. However in a crude sense both are cults and fringe religions in a sense that the cults arise to meet demands not being satiated by the existing exoteric forms held by the majority.