OUR FOUNDERS

Mr Sitaram Sharma

Founder President, Tips
Chairman, Indian Federation of UN Associations, New Delhi

Welcome to this journey with the Tagore Institute of Peace Studies. We fondly call it Tips, for we believe this initiative will tip the scales in favour of a world where, as Mahatma Gandhi profoundly reminded us, “There is no way to peace; peace is the way.”

Tips is an initiative of the West Bengal Federation of United Nations Associations, dedicated exclusively to advancing the principles and purposes of the United Nations as enshrined in its Charter. Through Tips, we promote research, policy analysis, education and training in peace and conflict resolution, from grassroots levels to global diplomacy forums. Our overarching vision is to prevent violent conflicts, support peaceful solutions and foster sustainable post-conflict stability.

The relevance of Peace Studies is greater than ever today. It enables us to understand the deeper causes of conflict and to explore pathways for preventing and resolving disputes through dialogue, diplomacy and non-violence. Peace Studies is an interdisciplinary field that embraces the four Ps: Peace Psychology, Peace Philosophy, Peace Politics and Peace Practice, offering a comprehensive lens for peace in thought, practice and policy.

We must also recognise that threats to peace no longer emerge only from military confrontation. Economic inequality, social fractures, humanitarian crises and ecological distress increasingly destabilise global harmony. Addressing these challenges with urgency, sensitivity and informed perspective must remain our collective priority to secure a peaceful future.

At Tips, our commitment is not only to study peace but to help build a culture of peace, one mind, one community and one generation at a time.

Prof. Suranjan Das

Founder Chairman, Tips
Vice-Chancellor, Adamas University

Peace is not just a goal. It is the foundation of a sustainable future. The 2030 Agenda firmly reminds us that peace and development cannot exist without each other. It is this belief that brought Peace Studies into academic dialogue and it is with this belief that the Tagore Institute of Peace Studies (Tips) was envisioned.

Our mission at Tips is to cultivate Peace Studies in an expansive, human-centred way. We draw inspiration from Rabindranath Tagore’s vision of world humanism and from leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr, who proved that non-violence could transform societies.

Through Tips, we hope to carry these values forward, not just by preserving them but by reimagining them for the future. We work to decolonise learning, integrating wisdom from the Global South, from African reconciliation practices, Asian traditions of Buddhist and Gandhian non-violence and Latin American philosophies of peace.

Tagore called us to come together in fellowship and service. At Tips, we strive every day to turn that call into meaningful, tangible change.

Peace Studies today are deeply practical, offering real tools, frameworks and solutions to real conflicts. They prepare us not merely to study peace but to build it.