Since independence, the Indian State and society has constantly been challenged by forces of fundamentalism, violence, conflict and terror. In recent years, this development has exacerbated and undermined the process of democratization and further strengthened extremist voices within and outside the government, with varying implications for India’s diverse population. Appropriately, India’s religious, linguistic, cultural, social, economic and regional diversity provides the setting for a complex political landscape.
Given this background, the Foundation seeks to probe the inter-linkages between secularism, gender equality, human rights, peace and democracy in India in order to foster dialogue across conflict faultlines; and hence, to examine and re-validate the values of diversity and peaceful coexistence. The basic aim is to register the role of dialogue, cooperation and coexistence as indispensable instruments in resolving various conflicts and strengthening democracy in India.

The key programmatic areas include:

• To promote social harmony among conflict affected religious groups in India
• To promote peaceful coexistence between conflict affected ethnic communities in Northeast India
• To contribute to the political debates at the national level to ensure, as much as possible, that it reflects comprehensively new perspectives and assessments of the ground realities of the Northeast region
• To support exile Tibetan CSOs to effectively foster non-violent conflict resolution amongst the exile Tibetan community, newly arrived Tibetans and the host Indian community