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Dialogue Series
The aim of
the dialogue series is to provide a platform where young individuals can
interact with persons who have made a contribution to their chosen fields.
The exact nature of the dialogue is left to the individual speaker, and it
has ranged from Socratic discourse to the exhibition of a film, to the
presentation of a dance, each of these events then leading to an exchange of
views between the speaker and the audience.
Empowering Local Governments
The final dialog of the year 2005-06 was on the topic of local
governance, addressing the question of how to empower institutions like
Panchayats and Municipalities. This dialog was initiated by Manik Chnd
Surana, Chairperson. Third Finance Commission, Government of Rajasthan.
Main thrust of his argument was that for a local government to work
effectively it must have some independent source of income. This income
could be through direct or indirect taxes. he sited examples of village
Panchayats in Tamilnadu and some other states, which raise three to five
lakhs fo rupees annually and spend these in village upliftment programs.
He felt even this limited financial autonomy would allow Panchayats and
Municipalities to intervene into local problem in a more effective
manner. He gave an example of developing sustainable water resources in
villages through Panchayats.
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Manik Chand Surana
29 January 2006
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Free Human Being and Free Time
Tom Alter explored various aspects of freedom using his extraordinary
knowledge fo Hindustani and Persian Poetry. Often quoting Galib and
contemporary Indian poets he explored various issues like optimism,
humanism and what it means to be a free human being.
starting with the idea of optimism, quoting a contemporary poet he said
"Why do you consider a dew drop as a tear,
it is but a cradle of sunshine."
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Tom Alter
29 January 2006 |
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Modern Technology and the Global Community
The first dialog in the year 2005-06 was initiated by Prof. Rajesh
Kochhar, of the National Institute of Science, Technology and
Development Studies. He started with the observation on the intimate
relation between the technology and the rise of human civilization.
He felt that this historical relation between technology and
civilization is now taking a new form, mainly because of the information
technology and the ubiquitous internet. This unprecedented access to
information, of various degrees of veracity, is beginning to challenge
the power of state and is forcing us to re-evaluate many issues in
ethics.
From his talk one felt that the challenge before the global community
was whether ethics, arts and literature will be able to respond to this
new technology in a creative manner; not allowing us to degenerate into
a virtual hedonistic utopia.
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Prof. Rajesh Kochhar
10 April 2005
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