India's foreign ministry - the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) - is now in a major exercise to 'reinvent' itself, moving away from its perceived ivory tower existence to occupying a more interactive space on public platforms across the multimedia communication space.

Apparently, it still hurts. At a conference organised by the ministry he was forced to quit months back, Shashi Tharoor on Friday alleged - only half in jest — “textual harassment’’ by the media just because they didn’t understand what the word “interlocutor’’ meant.

Joint Secretary (Public Diplomacy) of Ministry of External Affairs (MHA) Navdeep Suri said today that India realises the need to have its presence in social media.

Twitter might have contributed to Shashi Tharoor’s exit from the government, but he lectured his former ministry today on the merits of social networking tools.

People-to-people diplomacy is playing an important role in international relations in the contemporary global world, adding a new dimension to international relations and redefining the way a country engages with its citizens to garner support for its foreign policy and national interests.

I’d like to start by commending the MEA for holding an international seminar on this hitherto neglected subject. I believe the turnout so early on Friday morning augurs well for the discussions to follow.

As the global economic balance of power shifts from the West to the East, it is becoming increasingly evident that we are living through the tail end of half a millennium of Western supremacy.