Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute

Reports/Publications relating to India

APF Canada Research Reports

Indian Higher Education: An Overview and Opportunities for Foreign Participation
This paper provides an overview of the Indian higher education system, with a special focus on the current status and possibilities of foreign participation in the sector. It presents an introduction to higher education in India and discusses important systemic challenges in the sector, specifically problems of insufficient access, disparities between social groups and regions, and quality control. These problems stem from the lack of public investment and a flawed regulatory structure, leading to the rapid and unregulated growth of private provision.

Author: Rohan Mukherjee (Bio)

A Perspective on Canada-India Higher Educational Partnerships: Prospects and Obstacles
The study looks at the growing interest in Canada in involvement with India, and examines developments in the Indian education sector as a possible area to focus the desire for greater engagement. It catalogues obsctacle on both the Indian and Canadian sides hindering the development of closer educational ties. While acknowledging the crucial role played by individual institutions and provincial governments in launching new initiatives, the paper identified the importance of a national strategy, and funding, to make Canadian institutions informed and competitive.

Author: Ryan Touhey (Bio)

Towards a Strategic Canada-India Relationship: Energy and Environment at the Core
This essay examines energy and environment as core pillars of the emergent relationship. They lever Canada’s strength and India’s needs on the energy front and connect to both countries’ strengths in science and technology: Canada with its leading environment technologies and India with its human capital that can advance its own needs and also contribute to the rest of the developing world.

Author: Ravi Seethapathy (Bio)

The Arrow Points Up: A Track II Perspective on Opportunities for Canada-India Security Policies in Afghanistan
The paper examines the current involvement of Canada and India in Afghanistan and finds considerable divergence. However, it sees room for cooperation in areas such as governance programs and rural development, in part because India is already providing $750 million in support. Cooperation on border management and security looks less likely, but there may be possibilities in security sector reform.

Author: Alistair Edgar (Bio)

The Case for Enhanced India-Canada Space Cooperation
The paper assesses the national policies and space programs of India and Canada in an effort to suggest the basis for enhanced bilateral cooperation in space activities between the two countries. Both India and Canada are space-faring nations actively involved in the exploration and use of outer space toward scientific and commercial ends. The paper seeks to show the way for each country to derive optimum scientific and economic benefits from their space activities through bilateral cooperation.

Author: Ram Jakhu (Bio)

Innovation in Higher Education Partnerships with India : Comparing Canada , Australia , the United Kingdom and the United States
Since 2001, Ottawa and New Delhi have consistently expressed the need to develop closer bilateral political and economic relations, with education gaining attention as a means for generating partnerships that transcend traditional political and trade ties. Yet Canadian educators have frequently lamented that compared to Australia and the United Kingdom, there has been little coordination between the federal and provincial governments and post-secondary institutions, especially in the area of student recruitment.

Author: Ryan Touhey (Bio)

Canada Asia Commentary

Number 53 – Nuclear Fallout — Implication of the World’s Nuclear Deal With India
On September 6, 2008 the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) agreed to exempt India from its rules barring nuclear dealings with countries, like India, that lack comprehensive international safeguards on their nuclear facilities. Exempting India clears the penultimate obstacle to the implementation of the civilian nuclear cooperation agreement initiated by India and the US in July 2005, reversing India’s decades-long isolation from the world’s civilian nuclear trade regime.

Author: Wade Huntley (Bio)

Number 25 – Is China an Economic Threat? The View from India
The opportunity offered by China’s entry into the World Trade Organization, capping a 20-year surge of economic progress, has captured the imagination of Western business. In the view of many outside observers India, with its own economic liberalization in the past decade, may follow the path of China to economic success. The Canadian Government seems to lean toward this view. Over the past few years, Ottawa has repaired its relationship with New Delhi, ruptured over India’s 1998 nuclear tests. But how realistic is the belief that India will achieve the success of China?

Author: Subhash Agrawal (Bio)

Number 22 – September 11, 2001 : The Impact on Asia
Most Asian nations have felt an impact from the September 11 terrorist attacks of the US that will likely continue over the next few years. Whether through new diplomatic alignments, more complex domestic political environments or enhanced regional roles, virtually all of Asia has been changed by the sharp reevaluation of priorities by the US since September 11.

Living with the Two Indias
There is a growing dichotomy in the way the world sees India after ten years of rapid political, economic and social change. On the one hand, there is the India of increasing political stability and potential for economic growth which is quickly integrating into the global economy; on the other, a nuclear-armed India with genuine security concerns in South Asia, yet having the potential to bring about greater peace and security in the region.

Canada in Asia

Canada and India: Broadening and Deepening the Relationship
The report is one of a series of papers commissioned by APF Canada in response to a dialogue on Canadian foreign policy initiated by Minister of Foreign Affairs Bill Graham. The author contends that until very recently, Canadian foreign policy toward South Asia has ranged from indifference to neglect. A major impediment has been India’s development of nuclear weapons, the result of dramatic changes in the geopolitical situation in South Asia that Canada has been unwilling to accept.

Author: Reeta Chowdhari Tremblay (Bio)

Canada-India Trade: Retrospect and Prospects
The report provides a comprehensive review of the Canada-India merchandise trading relationship for the period 1985-2000, with specific emphasis on Canadian exports to India. It examines the nature and structure of Canada-India merchandise trade, identifies sectors in which Canada has a comparative advantage and prospects for increased exports. It also points to some major discrepancies in merchandise trade statistics between the two countries.

Author: Nizar Assanie (Bio)

Emerging India: Canadian Business Perceptions on Trade and Investment
Emerging India: Canadian Business Perceptions on Trade and Investment is the first comprehensive national survey of Canadian business perceptions of India. The survey analyzes the responses of senior executives on the opportunities and risks presented by the vast Indian market. Conducted in February-March 2003, the survey targeted small, medium and large Canadian firms in a wide range of sectors, including those considered to be “priority” sectors in the Indian market: advanced manufacturing, agriculture and food products, electric power, ITCs and transportation.

Author: Nizar Assanie (Bio)

What Works, What Doesn’t in the Indian Market
This report provides the first comprehensive look at Canadian services and investment activity in India. It is based on field research in both India and Canada, and an analysis of trade and investment statistics. Based on this, it estimates Canada sold $336 million of commercial services in India in 2002, some 2S times greater than official statistics. It also estimates the stock of investment in India by the 43 companies interviewed at $284 million, about twice the Statistics Canada estimate of total Canadian FDI in the country.

Author: Nizar Assanie (Bio)