Education for Peace: Education plays an important role in transmitting ideas from generation to generation, which could be corrosive to peace, and as such any effort aimed at rescuing the subsequent generations from the scourges of inter-societal and inter-ethnic conflicts should begin with a central curricular thrust on ideas that would emphasise social harmony and peace. The peace curriculum being evolved in this direction incorporates elements like intercultural learning, egalitarianism, humanism, liberalism and tolerance. Thus, the Centre has established linkages with educational institutions and is involving students and youth in its efforts aimed at a global peace movement. The Centre is assisting Universities in developing a curriculum for peace studies. The Centre is also developing a peace curriculum to be introduced in the school education systems.

Focus on Human Rights: The Centre from its very inception has been focussing on issues relating to different dimensions of Human Rights and has produced several monographs and research articles in its publications on the issue. It has also taken up this issue in different Seminars, Interactive Sessions and other such forums to disseminate Human rights-awareness among the people.

Peace and Development: The researches undertaken by the Centre from time to time on peace and development issues reveal that there is a strong cognitive linkage between peace and development. Therefore, the Centre has a special focus on developmental issues and considers it as a part of the human rights regime. The Centre is interacting closely with NGOs engaged in developmental activities at the grassroots level and has sought to introduce the element of peace education in their agenda of intervention in fields related to education and economic advancement. This has proved useful given the reach of the NGOs working at the grassroots. Moreover, the data generated by these NGOs are proving quite useful in constructing theoretical frameworks to study the linkages between peace and development.

 

Chapter on Islamic World: This Chapter has started operating under the auspices of the Centre since 1997. Its main aim is to study Islamic societies in Asia and elsewhere with an imaginative sympathy they deserve and try to go beyond the civilizational perspective and adopt a framework that recognises the pluralities and heterogeneity of these societies. While the Centre shares the concern regarding the rising tide of fundamentalism in Islamic societies, the issues of fundamentalist upsurge are being studied from the perspective of crisis in governance and global economic instability rather than perceiving them to be arising out of any cognitive dissonance between the tenets of Islam and the post-modern civil-social order.

 

Focus on Kashmir Affairs: The Centre has a special focus on socio-economic and political developments in Kashmir and maintains a database on Jammu and Kashmir state. The Centre has been conducting researches on socio-cultural diversity of the state and is in the process of developing a ethno-cultural atlas of the state. The Centre holds regular briefings, interactive sessions and seminars on socio-ec¸omic and political dimensions of the J&K State. The Centre is also publishing a weekly digest of news, views and opinions on Kashmir from the local vernacular media titled Kashmir Trends.

 

Focus on India-Pakistan cooperation: The Centre through its publications, discussions and seminars has been engaged in efforts aimed at seeking ways to promote India-Pakistan relations at the bilateral level. The Centre has been in regular touch with scholars, intellectuals, journalists and students from Pakistan and involving them in the activities of the Centre. The Centre is also focusing on developing 'confidence building measures' that can help in bringing the two countries closer.