Praghna observed its 3rd Anniversary program on 06 June 2024. This solemn occasion commenced with a report on Praghna’s academic endeavours by Dr R Srinivasan, Founder-Director.

Sri. V Rajamanickam and Srimati. Kalavathi Rajamanickam, the patrons of Praghna Centre graced the online event to convey they best wishes to the august audience and participants for the four research prizes announced for this year.

We were privileged to have Vice Admiral MP Muralidharan AVSM & Bar NM (former DG Indian Coat Guard), Sri. Pratap Heblikar (former Special Secretary to Government of India) and Air Commodore KNV Nair VSM (former Provost Marshal Indian Air Force) as our special guests. The dignitaries shared their insights on maritime security, internal security and changes in installation security environments respectively. We were particularly privileged to hear their learned thoughts on the importance of research for addressing national security challenges.

We had received four books and 11 research papers for the four prizes announced earlier. Our esteemed jury comprising of Professors G Jeyachandra Reddy, Allan John, SJ Utham, Dr CS Anuradha, Dr Jayadev Parida and Group Captain P Parthasarathi provided their insights into these books and research papers.

Admiral Muralidharan, Sri. Pratap Heblikar, Air Commodore Nair and Professor Mohit K. Gupta announced the following prizes and conveyed their congratulations to the following winners of prizes:

V Rajamanickam Prize for Political Science – Islam Supyaldiyarov, PhD student at L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Astana, Kazakhstan, for his paper titled Charting New (Old) Paths: Unraveling India-Kazakhstan Ties in Eurasian Geopolitics

Kalavathi Rajamanickm Prize for Socio-Cultural Studies - Mridu Madhuvita Sharma, student of BA Hons (Psychology) Lady Shri Ram College for Women (University of Delhi) for her paper titled Can Hinduism Take a Joke? Humour, Blasphemy, and the Future of Artistic Expression in Modern India

Group Captain Arun Bhatnagar Prize for Defence and Security Studies - Annem Naga Bindhu Madhuri, Final Year MA Defence and Strategic Studies, Madras University, for her paper titled Arunachal Pradesh: The New Focal Point of Confrontation

Sri. Radhe Shyam Gupta Prize for books on Defence and Strategic Studies – Commodore SL Deshmukh NM for his book titled China’s Game Plan in Ladakh: Imperatives for India & Dr. Kishore Vaangal for his book titled Oil Terrorism et. al.

Praghna Centre is grateful to Dr. Mohit K. Gupta for instituting a book price in memory of his grandfather Sri. Radhe Shyam Gupta who was a freedom fighter. We are also delighted to institute a prize in memory of late Group Captain Arun Bhatnagar for his contribution to Indian Air Force in the security dimension.

We were especially delighted to have Squadron Leader Kriti Bhatnagar and Khyati Bhatnagar, the daughters of Group Captain Bhatnagar with us on this solemn occasion.

Praghna Centre is committed to promoting qualitative research and high standards of publication of the research through its journal Electronic Journal of Social and Strategic Studies. The papers submitted for the prizes will be published as a Special Issue in July 2024.

We remain grateful to our esteemed guests and the jury for their invaluable support to Praghna. We feel encouraged to do more by their precious suggestions and guidance.