Reimagining India–Russia Relations: Towards Inclusive Societal Development Through Science and Technology

Abstract

Abstract The historical legacy of friendship between India and Russia is firmly rooted in defense, energy and diplomatic cooperation. However, taking into consideration the current demands of the rapidly growing world of Artificial Intelligence and digital technologies, both these powerful nations should look beyond the traditional areas of partnership for building a truly sustainable partnership. Both nations are currently facing socio-economic problems like rising inflation, regional imbalances, income inequalities, poverty and unemployment. Though the individual governments of India and Russia are implementing welfare measures to solve these problems and are cooperating in the fields of science and technology, still there are limitations. This paper tries to understand the gaps in India-Russia collaboration in the field of science and technology and analyzes how the cooperation in this field could enhance the promotion of human development vis-à-vis societal development. The paper uses qualitative research methodology based on secondary data like bilateral agreements, policy documents, government reports amongst others. The aim of the paper is to find out how science and technological cooperation could bring positive changes in the improvement of education, health, employment and overall living standards of the people in both nations. The major finding of the paper is that though both the nations have developed treaties of cooperation in the field of Science and Technology in past years, there is a need to deepen these ties and extend them to societal growth and development. The paper concludes that Science and Technology can bring revolutionary changes in societal development through proper mapping of scientific collaboration, technological innovation and sharing of knowledge to each parameter of societal development including social equity and inclusion. In other words, both the nations should emphasize the direct impact of their research and industrial partnership on overall well-being of their populations, the economic growth and improvement of quality of life and happiness of their citizens