In his presentation Fear of Small Numbers, Prof. Arjun Appadurai said that the so-called minorities are increasingly perceived as a threat to national purity. There is ambivalence about accepting that the small groups deserve to have rights of their own. He stated that the fear stems from the anticipation that the small numbers may get organised and become large within a nation as well on a global spectrum.– a force to reckon with. While political and administrative processes divide the society into minorities and majorities, the only genuine majority that emerges in a country like India is poor! Prof. Appadurai opined that the fear of small numbers might actually be embedded in ‘our incapacity to share our resources with others'.

Admiral Rakesh Chopra spoke on Energy Security in Asia: 2020 and Beyond. He discussed in detail the availability of oil and natural gas in the Persian Gulf, Central Asia, South Asia and South East Asia vis-a- vis their energy consumption. While America and the European countries have been the dominant players in energy acquisition, Admiral Chopra said that China is also making big investments in other countries to meet its energy requirements. According to him, the real challenge for India at the moment is to become more aggressive with respect to its energy policy, especially in the Persian Gulf region. He said that by 2040, the oil and natural gas reserves will be wiped out completely, and it would be necessary to invest in alternative energy sources. He opined that nuclear energy would emerge as a viable alternative in the impending energy crisis.

Prof. Faisal Devji presented a paper on Landscapes of the Jihad. Through the example of Al Quaeda, he explained that the jihadi organisations are not similar to the older Islamic fundamentalist groups. The lieutenants of Al Quaeda come from middle class backgrounds, from regular professions such as teaching – ordinary people who do not have ideas of revolutionary utopia. Prof. Devji elaborated how the participation in the organization like Al Quaeda is somewhat similar to the newer forms of global collectives such as Greenpeace, in which the people have no common ideology, party affiliations or religious or national identity. He stated that the jihadi groups do not have a vision of apocalypse, nor do they view their role as bringing about a change in the world. He raised a question whether their aspirations are driven by Sufism and other mystical strains of Islam rather than the fundamentalist political notions of forming Islamic nation states.

Dr. Narendra Jadhav, who was the chairperson for the evening, concluded by saying that each of these presentations dealt with specific aspects of the socio-political scenario in South Asia – while Prof. Appadurai's talk underlined notions of ‘perceived' safety in the society, Admiral Chopra highlighted the energy security crisis India and the entire South Asian region, and Prof. Devji perceptively brought out the subtle nuances of the jihadi organisations which are as yet understood only as violent, terrorist groups.

The event was attended by students, scholars and professionals, and in the open dialogue that followed, very thoughtful and probing questions were posed regarding the safety and security in South Asia.