From that point of view, the C3S fully adopted and was geared up to meet the challenges and has come out with flying colours as was evident in the think tank rankings by TTCSP, an authority on global think tank survey conducted annually. The preceding year had many highs in terms of stimulating intellectual engagements, empowering the youth through the Young Minds of C3S programme, the year-long internship programme, quality webinars with other think tanks and institutions. The travel restrictions faced did not deter C3S from engaging scholars, policy makers and other stakeholders across time zones from around the world to continue our work in C3S. These sessions and activities were stimulating   and allowed C3S to experiment and innovate to breach traditional boundaries of think tank definitions. The internship programme launched five years ago is now a fully mature programme that caters to the needs of grooming young scholars in research activities. To date, more than 76 interns have benefited from this programme. C3S has ensured that the hard work put in by the interns during their association with C3S is reflected by way of publications of articles, monographs and occasional papers.

 

On the funds, due to the Covid there was a severe crunch and I would like to place on record my deep gratitude to our distinguished members who contributed generously to meet the requirements of running a think tank. The young dynamic team likewise despite the challenges has demonstrated what a determined group of committed young researchers can achieve despite innumerable odds.

With the experience of last thirteen years C3S has put in place a new structure which works both horizontally and vertically with the Governing, Executive and Academic councils for optimisation of our outputs. Again, I am grateful to the members who have accepted our invitation gracefully to be part of the new structure. With the rich and varied experience of the distinguished members, I have no doubt that C3S will immensely benefit in the coming years by adopting the best practices for effective functioning of a think tank.

 

Over all it has been a challenging yet rewarding year as there were new avenues and new frontiers to be explored. C3S would like to thank MEA for the support extended to us from time to time. The enhanced grant this fiscal helped to meet the increasing demands of C3S to invest in intense research on multifaceted dimensions of China-India relations.

 

Last but not the least, I would like to thank our large base of readers and well-wishers who have been supportive of our work and initiatives. We in Chennai Centre for China Studies look forward to such support in our journey to be a “Go to think tank on China Issues” in the coming years