Expect thought-provoking lectures on varied subjects by experts from across the country, who will meet at one place here Wednesday.
The talks are being organised by Manthan, a forum for public discourse, in what promises to be a day-long enriching experience for those who want to get wiser. Manthan has lined up six talks. The event is being held at ITC Kakatiya on the occasion of Manthan’s eighth anniversary.
The speakers, who would be delivering the talks, are: Former ISRO chairman Prof UR Rao on “Challenges in Space”; TVS chairman Venu Srinivasan on “Assertive Indian Economy”; noted lawyer Arvind Datar on “Toxic Taxes and Lethal Laws”; counter-terrorism expert Dr Ajai Sahni on “India’s Faultiness”, which might deal with internal threats the country faces from extremist groups; and Prof Anil Gupta on “Frugal Innovations at Grassroots”. The day will end with noted journalist and former Union minister Arun Shourie’s lecture on “What will it take to face up to China.”
Chartered accountant MR Vikram, a member of Manthan’s advisory board, told Express the talks are expected to make everyone look at issues of public concern seriously. The subjects are different, which means the day-long session does not have a specific theme.
“We have chosen the speakers, but the subjects have been chosen by them. For instance, Arun Shourie told us that since he had done research on China, he would speak on how India could stand up to that country, which has become an economic superpower,” he said. Dr Ajay Sahni, an expert on counter-terrorism and executive director of the Institute for Conflict Management, is expected to speak on the rise of insurgency, Maoism and Bodoland movement and how they are affecting polity.
An entirely different subject is “Toxic Taxes and Lethal Laws” and Arvind Datar is expected to give an exposition of how the laws of the land have ceased to help people for which they are intended, and on the other hand, how harmful they have become.
Vikram said the objective of the discourses is to eliminate bias on issues. “The more one listens to experts on a subject, the more one becomes objective and wise,” he pointed out, adding that so far Manthan had organised 120 to 130 such discourses. There will be a question and answer session at the end of each lecture.