The seeds of his current involvement with advocacy for regional peace and co-operation and concerns about sustainable development within the country and the region were therefore sown many years ago.

There have been few retired service persons in India, let alone a retired head of service, who have publicly taken a position against India’s decision to go nuclear. India's decision to go nuclear in May 1998 marked a turning point in his taking to public advocacy against nuclear weaponisation, deterrence and nuclear energy.  Admiral Ramdas has traveled, lectured and written widely – nationally, regionally and internationally – campaigning, educating and pleading for saner counsel to prevail - both with political and governmental spheres as much as with civil society and the media.

He has also continuously advocated the need to open up dialogue with our neighbors in the region, and particularly with Pakistan; is a firm supporter of the imperative to explore the peace dividend with Pakistan by finding a solution to the Kashmir question which involves the people of Jammu and Kashmir; and by initiating dialogue with all the parties concerned. He is convinced that peace is a necessary precondition for the all round progress of the people and the nations of the region. In keeping with this broad scope of his interests within the broad Peace and Human Rights Framework, he remains active through a number of organizations at local, national, regional and global levels.

Within India, he is currently the Emeritus Chairperson of the Indian Chapter of the Pakistan India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy [PIPFPD], and a member of the India Pakistan Soldiers Initiative for Peace                [IPSIP].


An active campaigner for the total abolition of nuclear weapons, he is a member of the National Coordination Committee of the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace[CNDP].

At the Asian Regional level, he is Advisor to the Peace and Security Program of Focus on t h e Global South and a member of the Co-ordination Committee of the South Asian Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace, as also the Asian Peoples Alliance.

At the International level, he is a member of the Advisory Council of the Hague Agenda for Peace, The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, and Ploughshares  USA.  

His writings on Indo-Pak relations, nuclear matters, peace and disarmament have featured in many newspapers and journals - national and international

Since his retirement in 1993, he lives and farms in a small village in the Konkan area of coastal Maharashtra in the West Coast of India, marking a complete transition from an urban lifestyle to learning about horticulture, water harvesting, and organic farming. Believing deeply that one must both act locally and think globally, he is involved with a range of educational and developmental programs in the local area, especially with young people. He is Chairperson of Pratham Raigad Education Initiative – a trust set up with the intention of improving the quality of education in the rural schools and enabling rural youth to realize their creative and productive potential.

The nature of his interests does mean that there is a good deal of travel, lecturing and speaking at a range of forums on issues pertaining to the role of the Military in Development and Peace Keeping, on Indo-Pak Peace and the Nuclear Question, as well as citizenship, education, human rights, and development. The growing influence of globalization and religious fundamentalism and the threats to democratic governance are also concerns on which he believes there needs to be a far greater involvement  on the part of citizens, and young people in particular. Awareness raising on these questions through a broader education process is an interest he shares with his educator and activist wife, Lalita Ramdas, who shares his work and interests, and who also travels, writes and lectures together with him. They have three daughters and three grandchildren.

His other interests include horticulture, music, theatre, history, travel and sports – especially cricket and golf. An unfulfilled dream is to be able to sail across the Arabian sea in a `dhow' - a boat manufactured by local seamen and crafts persons in our neighborhood.