Dignitaries after the Valedictory Function at the World Philosophy ...

Dignitaries after the Valedictory Function at the World Philosophy Day 2010, Tehran

From Member-Secretary’s DeskProfessor G. Mishra, Member Secretary, ICPR at Silver Jubilee Award FunctionIam pleased to share with you the glad tiding that behalf of ICPR and all those who are associated withwe had our Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh philosophy, I convey our profound gratitude to bothand Union Minister of Human Resource Development,Shri Kapil Sibal as our guests at the Life Timeof them for their precious time and good wishes.ICPR has the dream and desire to grow in multifariousways to cater to the requirements of philosophyAchievement Award giving function in which we hadthe great pleasure of honoring two of the most eminentand especially philosophy in our (incredible) Indiaphilosophers of our country, Professors R. Balasubramanianand D.P. Chattopadhyaya for the most valuableincluding the search and research for those traditionswhich are nearly lost and forgotten. In keeping withservices they have rendered to promote and propagateour objectives, we have been largely successful inphilosophy in India. Himself an academic and a personimplementing our projects and programs in organizingof profound learning and vision, Dr. Manmohana large number of seminars, workshops and conferencesbesides sanctioning grants to different nationalSingh not only graced the occasion and presented theawards, but also expressed his joy in becoming awarebodies for carrying out research work to augment ourof the various activities of ICPR in promoting philosophyin the country, and even charted a blue-print forresources, holding programmes in different parts ofthe country —a good glimpse of which is presentedits future activities. Adding to this, so profound andin this issue of the ICPR Newsletter.encouraging were the words of Shri Kapil Sibal, ourMinister, which egged us on in our efforts of building In November 2010, ICPR Chairman Professor K.R.up the Council, adequately taking care of the needs Rao and I were privileged to participate in the Worldof the future and perpetuate philosophical thinking Philosophy Day Celebration at Tehran, the Capital Citythat has come down to us for several millennia. On of the Islamic Republic of Iran, on the invitation of

ness. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru wrote in his Discoveryof India: “The tremendous and fundamental fact ofIndia is her essential unity throughout the ages.” Thekaleidoscopic colorful coalition of coexisting identitiesmakes India distinctively beautiful. It makes ourcountry a showcase of sustainable pluralism. Indeed,it is our strength.We need to preserve this essential unity, this Indiannessthat has been strengthened and enriched by thevarious strands of thought that constitute the Indianphilosophical tradition. It is a major challenge for allof us and especially the intellectuals, to ensure thatthe richness of our diversity and our multi-culturismis preserved and nourished.Classical Indian thought subscribes to the ideal thatthe world is one family (vasudhaiva kutumbakam). Asbrothers and sisters, we should be bonded by loveand compassion for each other. The father of ournation, Mahatma Gandhi, articulated so well theintrinsic altruism and the abiding spirituality in all ofus. He emphasized on truth and non-violence as theguiding principles to govern our conduct, thoughtand action. His thought is quite the opposite ofthe Hobbesian thesis, which characterizes much ofWestern social-philosophical thought. According toMahatma Gandhi, man is not a power hungry, amoral,self-serving, and hedonistically driven animal heldback from his instinctual urges by reason and fear ofviolence. He said that “man is worse than the brute,so long as he is selfish and indifferent to happiness ofothers…man becomes great exactly in the degree inwhich he works for the welfare of his fellow-men.” Inmany ways, Mahatma Gandhi’s teachings carry forwardthe ideas of our ancient philosophical traditions. It ismy belief that we need such guiding principles morethan ever before. It is the special responsibility of ourthinkers, intellectuals and philosophers to contributeto the legacy of tolerance and brotherhood that wehave inherited. I am also happy to learn that theIndian Council of Philosophical Research is takingspecial steps to promote Gandhian thought.Sometimes, philosophers are seen as mere arm-chairspeculators, who have the luxury of leisure. This,I believe, is a misconception. Philosophy is notremoved from living but organically related to it. Ata practical level, we need to break the artificial barrierbetween theory and practice – like Lenin reminded us,“there is no good theory without good practice and nogood practice without good theory”. Philosophicalthought, should be ever evolving and relevant to itstime. Therefore, I am happy that the Indian Councilof Philosophical Research is looking beyond the traditionalcontours of classical philosophy to make thediscipline more contextual, focused on contemporaryissues and relevant to our national needs.With the rapid expansion of the knowledge frontierand the consequent multiplication of areas of specialization,there is an increasing need for interdisciplinarystudies and for unified knowledge. Philosophy canplay a pivotal role in ensuring this. As the motherof all sciences, philosophy is necessarily inter-disciplinary.Therefore, it should be pursued not merelyas a separate discipline, like economics or politics, butas a trans-disciplinary subject taught along with othersubjects. Ethics should be an important element inthe curriculum of professional schools, with possiblecourses such as business ethics and medical ethics.Again philosophies of law, education, history, politics,and science need to be studied for consummate andall-round preparation of students enrolled in thosefields. I hope that the Indian Council of PhilosophicalResearch would encourage efforts in this direction.Let me end by once again congratulating Dr. D.P. Chattopadhyayaand Prof. Balasubramanian. I also wishthe Indian Council of Philosophical Research the verybest in its programmes and serving as an importantthink tank of the nation.May your path be blessedJai Hind

AwardsICPR Lifetime Achievement Award FunctionDr. Manmohan Singh, presenting the Life Time Achievement Awardto Professor R. BalasubramanianICPR Life Time Achievement Award Function washeld at Hall no. 6 of Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhion 22nd December 2010 at a very distinguishedgathering. Our Prime Minister, Dr. ManmohanSingh presented the ICPR Silver Jubliee Award forDistinguished Life Time Achievement in Philosophy toProfessor R. Balasubramanian (for the year 2009)and to Professor D.P. Chattopadhyaya (for the year2010). Due to health reasons, Professor Chattopadhyayacould not attend the function and the awardwas received by the Professor Krishna Roy on hisbehalf.The function started with the lighting of the lampby Dr. Manmohan Singh followed by the welcomeaddress of Professor K. Ramakrishna Rao highlightingthe essential services rendered by the ICPR and thefuture vision of the ICPR to serve the Philosophicalcommunity. Shri Kapil Sibal, Hon’ble Ministerof Human Resource & Development delivered hisaddress in which he appreciated the good servicesdone by ICPR. This was followed by the presentationceremony and Dr. Manmohan Singh, Hon’ble PrimeMinister of India presented the ICPR Silver JublieeAward for Distinguished Life Time Achievement in Philosophywith a cheque for Rs. 1.00 lakh each to ProfessorR. Balasubramanian and Professor D.P. Chattopadhyaya.Professor G. Mishra, Member Secretary, ICPRread out the Citations of the Award mentioning thecontribution rendered by Professor R. Balasubramanianand Professor D.P. Chattopadhyaya. The functioncame to an end with the vote of thanks by MemberSecretary, ICPR.

Union Minister Shri Kapil Sibalat the Fellows’ Meet – 2010Shri Kapil Sibal, Minister of Human Resource and Developmentdelivering his inaugural address at the Fellow’s MeetThe inaugural function of the ICPR Fellows’Meet for the year 2010 was held on December21-23, 2010 at Vigyan Bhavan following theLife Time Achievement Award function. ProfessorK. Ramakrishna Rao, Chairman ICPR welcomed theaudience and spoke about ICPR and its activities withretrospect and prospects. The inaugural speech for themeet was delivered by Shri Kapil Sibal, Union Minister.He spoke about Philosophy as ultimate analyticalunderstanding of our journey through our lives onthis planet. He stated that Philosophy is not just whatHobbes has talked about and Law is not simply aboutthe concept of Social Contract theory of Rousseau,but is much more than all that. He also talked aboutthe more fundamental issues of the identity of homosapiensand of the cosmos. He further spoke aboutintegration of science, thought and the inward journeyof human thought to understand the inner world.The programme ended with a vote of thanks given byProfessor G. Mishra, Member Secretary, ICPR.After the inauguration, the academic schedule ofsessions of the Fellows’ Meet with various reorientationlectures were conducted between 21-23 December2010 at SSS I auditorium, Jawaharlal Nehru University.Professor R.P. Singh, Department of Philosophy,JNU, New Delhi was the coordinator for this entirethree day programme.On 21st December 2010, the programme started at2.30 p.m. with an orientation lecture by Professors R.Balasubramanian, the distinguished Philosopher andformer Chairman of ICPR, P.K. Mukhopadhyaya,Srinivasa Rao, National Fellows of ICPR, Bijoy Boruah,Rakesh Chandra also delivered orientation lectures andsubsequently interacted with ICPR Fellows.

Chairman’s Speechat the Fellows’ MeetProfessor K. Ramakrishna Rao, Chairman, ICPR speaking at the Fellows’ MeetShri Kapil Sibalji, Distinguished Guests, Fellowsof the ICPR, Ladies and Gentlemen:Once again let me extend to all of you a warmwelcome. We are deeply beholden to Kapilji for givingus his valuable time to participate in all the threefunctions of the ICPR today. Under the dynamic leadershipof this team, the Ministry of Human ResourceDevelopment is scaling new heights as never before,making access, equity and excellence achievable goalsfor education in India. I do not know, Sir, if you arethe “fastest file pusher” as one of the MPs is reportedto have said about you; but I do know that you are ano nonsense Minister bent on doing what is best forthe country, brooking no delays. The country alreadylost a lot of time, tinkering here and there to fix thesystem, without wholeheartedly attempting to bringabout wholesome changes that the country direlyneeded in the field of education.The very first report on higher education after independence,the report of the Radhakrishnan Commission(1948-49), observed: “With the increasing complexityof society and its shifting pattern, universities have tochange their objectives and methods if they are to functioneffectively in our national life. A policy of driftin the vague hope that, if the universities are grantedfull autonomy and are permitted to pursue their ownends with intelligence and imagination, higher educationwill take care of itself, will be dangerous.” Thiscaution proved to be prophetic because our previouspolicies were unfortunately governed by that “vaguehope” that brought us to the current unsatisfactorystate. It is our new hope and expectation, largelysupported by your own statements and actions thatyou intend to introduce comprehensive reforms fromtop to bottom in our system. We wish you the verybest in this Himalayan task. The road to reformeducation in the country is a national highway and nota local byway. What is needed is not patchwork to fillpotholes. It is more than resurfacing the worn outold crust. We need to significantly widen and multiplythe access lanes. We need to build bypasses wherenecessary and not fear to demolish the obstructingstructures, if we need to.The country is rich in human resource. It is potentiallywhat puts India in front. Education would give valueaddition to this resource. Our demographic situationis such that we have one of the largest percentages

of young people of college going age. This is a greatadvantage. However, only a low percentage of themhave access to higher education; and this is bad andmust change soon. The entire academic communityin the country is behind you, Sir, in expeditiouslyexpanding access to education, improve its quality andmake higher education affordable to all who seek itand can benefit by it. Let us not fear those who fearchange. For, there is no future without change. In oneof his post-retirement reminiscences, former PrimeMinister Shri P.V. Narasimha Rao said to me over acup of tea: “Look down the street, the panwala talkingto his wife on the phone while rolling the pan. It wasnot too long ago, even the affluent and well to do hadto wait in queue for years to have a telephone connection.We changed all this by our liberalized policies.”Sir, I recall this here, because it is my hope that in yourpost-retirement years you may look back and proudlysay that this lad and lass went to school, college andreceived their Ph.D. degrees because of the educationpolicies we put in place.We know that you are attempting to correct manyimbalances in our education. Among the many imbalancesthat make our higher education system lesssteady is the imbalance between the demand for engineering,technology and management courses and theutter neglect of humanities. This imbalance is trulydangerous. Dr. Radhakrishnan likened it to RakshasaRajya. You have also expressed your unease at this.Again, we are with you Sir, to correct this imbalanceand give humanities their due place in our academia.I am happy to report that during the past quarterof a century, ICPR served an exceedingly significantfunction, which often goes unnoticed. During theseyears, the ICPR supported through its fellowshipsprogramme literally hundreds of scholars to pursuephilosophical studies. It would be no exaggerationto say that without the ICPR’s extensive fellowshipsprogramme, philosophical research in the countrywould have come to a standstill, if not dead. IfICPR did nothing except administer the fellowshipsprogramme, it would well justify its existence.We are indeed delighted that you are inaugurating theAnnual Fellows’ meet, which has become a regularfeature and an important activity of the ICPR. This is agathering where we get to know our fellows personallyand get feedback from them so that we could improvethe programme. Also, we arrange at these meetingsinvited lectures by senior professors addressing someof the issues the researchers in philosophy generallyface.At any given time, we have about 150 fellows. Theyrange from National Fellows awarded to those whodistinguished themselves as national leaders toJunior Fellowships to students enrolled in doctoralprogrammes. ICPR also awards Fellowships to retiredteachers and post-doctoral scholars. Also, we awardvisiting short-term Fellowships to enable scholars totravel to other places such as our Academic Centre inLucknow and avail the library facilities.Over the years, we introduced several changes inthe selection and recruitment of Fellows. We havealso attempted to streamline the administration ofthe fellowship programmes so that there is a greatertransparency in the selection of the scholars and lessred tape on the part of ICPR and greater accountabilityon the part of the Fellows so that our limitedresources are best used.One of the major problems with the Fellowships isthe meager honorarium attached to them. A beginningscholar gets a paltry sum of Rs.6,000/- permonth. The honorarium for the National Fellow islowly Rs.25,000/- per month. We have represented tothe Government that the Fellowship amounts need tobe revised and significantly enhanced. I know that thiswill happen soon under your leadership.Another problem faced by our Fellows, especiallyJunior Fellows, is the lack of local expertise to guidethem in their research. As we interview the applicationsfor the Fellowships, we find many of them arehandicapped by the fact that the local guide supervisingthe work does not simply have the necessaryexpertise in the relevant area of specialization. We arenow taking steps to remedy this problem. We haveintroduced a system of mentoring. Under this system,a Junior Fellow enrolled for Ph.D. in an institution atGuwahati can have a mentor in Goa, whom the scholarcan contact on a regular basis by mutual agreement.

The mentoring scheme will make this link possible byidentifying mentors and suitably compensate them forthe time they give to work with the ICPR scholar.The proposal we have for establishing the Indian Instituteof Philosophy and the ICPR Regional Centersare also geared to help the Fellows in significant ways.The mentoring would be done under the tutelage ofthe IIP, and the Regional Centers would have periodicalworkshops that would benefit the Fellows in thatregion.We believe the establishment of the Indian Instituteof Philosophy and the Regional Centers is an urgentnecessity. We have submitted detailed proposalsfor starting them on a very modest scale as soon aspossible. We have already lost a significant amountof time during this plan. We know that your timeis fully consumed in developing and implementingmega projects like establishing new central universities.However, I would like to impress on you thatit is the well thought out small budget proposals likethose we submitted that would give maximum returnfor our investments in terms of quality addition to theexpected expanded access to education.The Indian Institute of Philosophy is a well conceivedexperiment to develop a low-cost, high-tech endeavourthat would have a virtual campus and floating faculty.It would have a number of innovative programmeslike the “mentoring system” that would make distancedisappear between the budding scholars and thoseexperts that could help them bloom. The mentorscould be drawn from anywhere in the world. Thusour scholars would have direct access to the best intheir fields of research.Again, the Regional Centers as envisaged will not bemere regional offices of the ICPR. They will not beset up with the goal of decentralizing the work ofICPR. Rather, they are designed to develop as centerswith their own identities to reflect the native ethos andthe sustainable pluralism inherent in Indian thought,so that we could all appreciate the colourful, culturalmosaic of co-existing multiple identities to whichIndia has been a home for millennia.We have been conducting regular workshops to ourJunior Fellows. We have also attempted to utilize theservices of National Fellows and Senior Fellows tolecture at institutions across the country. We haveproposals to provide computers to each of our Fellowsso that they could make full use of internet and be inconstant touch with their mentors and other expertsand coworkers.The study and research in philosophy itself is likely toundergo major changes in the coming years. Philosophywill no longer be seen as searching for the “reallyreal.” The days are also past when philosophersserved as self-certified therapists to diagnose conceptualconfusions in thought and treat to clear thoseconfusions. There can be no perennial philosophy;nor can philosophy afford to limit itself to speculativethought, divorced from the existential conditions.Philosophy like other academic disciplines deals withproblems. Problems are situated in a context and aculture. Therefore, context and culture give meaning toproblems and also suggest possible ways of resolvingthem.Recognizing this, we at the ICPR are increasinglyfocusing our attention on nationally relevant problemareas like violence, terror, equality, identity, genderand integration. We have submitted a major projecton “Indian Identity and National Integration” forsupport from the Planning Commission. Also we areencouraging applied philosophy, interdisciplinary andcross-cultural studies of philosophy. We have everyhope that with your support our efforts will begin toyield fruits during the coming years.Let me say again, Sir, how delighted we are that youare here today. Your presence and your messages willsurely inspire all of us, specially the young scholars,to move forward with hope and optimism that theywould be important contributors to our nationaldevelopment. Ideas are more powerful than any otherpossessions one could have because those possessionsthemselves are the products of ideas. As philosophers,we play with ideas not as a game of entertainment butas sporting our true national role to build India as anintellectually vibrant and spiritually powerful country.

ICPR’s ActivitiesICPR Lifetime Achievement Award for the year 2011Professor Rajendra PrasadProf. Rajendra Prasad has been nominated for LifeTime Achievement Award of ICPR for the Year2011.Rajendra Prasad (b. 1926) taught Philosophy atPatna University and Indian Institute of Technology,Kanpur. He was a Fulbright Smith-Mundt Fellow, aFellow of the Rockefeller Foundation, U.S.A. and wasthe National Fellow of the Indian Council of PhilosophicalResearch. He has published many books aswell as scholarly papers in several learned journals. Hispublications include Regularity, Normativity and Rules ofLanguage and Darsana Sastra Ki Ruparekha (in Hindi);Ends and Means in Private and Public Life (edited). He hasalso edited the journals Indian Review of Philosophyand Darsanika Traimasika, and a co-editor of IndianPhilosophical Quarterly and Pariimarsa.Activity at ICPR Academic Centre LucknowReport of the International Philosophy Dayorganized at the Academic Centre, LucknowProfessor S.P. Gautam interacting with the studentson the concepts of philosophy at St. Anthony School,LucknowICPR has been observing the World Philosophy Daysince 2002 when UNESCO had launched it with theidea of celebrating the third Thursday of Novemberevery year commemorating the birthday of Socrates.The main aim of establishing such a day is to callpublic attention to the enlightening role that philosophycan perform in public life and in facing worldproblems beside the benefits that philosophic educationand teaching of philosophy can receive in life ofindividuals and communities, whatever the professionof individuals, and whatever be the heritage and traditionsof communities . World Philosophy Day is a dayfor the promotion of philosophy and of philosophicdialogue.This year ICPR in its Academic Centre, Lucknow alsodecided to celebrate the World Philosophy Day underthe directorship of Professor Satya P. Gautam, ViceChancellor of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule RohilkhandUniversity, Bareilly, who is also a Council Member.He envisaged a blue print of organizing this year tofulfil one of the goals set up by UNESCO, namely, to10

highlight the benefits that teaching of philosophy cansecure in public life by imparting an awareness amongstudents of schools and colleges.So 18th of November 2010 being the third Thursdaywas chosen by us to organize the event in the followingway.1) Interaction with the students in the local collegeswhere philosophy is taught at the UG level.2) Interaction with students in a few good schoolsin Lucknow.3) A function at the Academic Centre inLucknow..The day began at 8.00 a.m. in the morning for ProfessorSatya P. Gautam and the Director (P&R) when theywent to two important convent schools namely,Nirmala Convent and St. Anthony School. About 350students gathered in these schools belonging to IX, X,XI and XII classes where Professor S.P. Gautam gaveStudents spell bound, listening to Professor Gautam’slecture at Nirmala Conventa lecture on the importance of philosophy. There wasa good interaction between the students and ProfessorGautam when they had raised some significant questionslike how can philosophy be useful to studentsand in life? What is the concept of friendship, loverelationships? etc., what is the concept of God andits relationship to philosophy? Professor Gautam bylecturing in these schools gave an idea to the schoolchildren about the Nature of Philosophy and itssignificance for clear thinking, morality, society andgood citizenship.The whole forenoon was spent in these schools, whileProfessor D.N. Dwivedi, Allahabad was requested todeliver a lecture on the theme Philosophy and Life atthe Navyug Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Lucknow.The college arranged a programme of celebrating thisday on a large scale basis. More than 100 students,faculty, non teaching staff and the Principal attendedthe event and there was large scale interaction.The interest aroused in the students by Professor D.N.Dwivedi was so much that all the students alongwithfew teachers came to the Academic Centre and visitedthe Library.In the afternoon, the Academic Centre had aprogramme wherein, the Director of the eventProfessor S.P. Gautam, alongwith ProfessorD.N.Dwivedi and Professor Rakesh Chandra spoke onthe theme “Philosophy and Life.” Professor RajendraPrasad chaired the session.Professor S.P.Gautam started his lecture on thefollowing three issues.i) Thinking about Thinkingii) Thinking about the Worldiii) Thinking about Life.He enlightened the audience on what exactly adialogue was meant to be and the possibility and limitsof knowledge. Professor D.N. Dwivedi spoke directlyon the theme and started with the statement “All theproblems of Philosophy are directly or indirectlyrelated with life”.Professor S.P. Gautam delivering his lecture11

He traced from the history of philosophy how philosophywas related to life and its problems. ProfessorRakesh Chandra spoke extensively on “the Role ofeducation and Philosophy of Education and on theissues of Education for Democracy, purpose andsignificance of philosophy of life.” The programmewas well attended by faculty members of LucknowUniversity and students.Professor Rajendra Prasad gave his presidential remarksby linking it with the background of celebrating theInternational Philosophy Day as the birthday ofSocrates. The method of Socrates which was conceptualin nature was highly emphasized.Thus the whole day was devoted to philosophicalthinking by scholars, students, educationists andteachers of Philosophy.This year the National Education Day was celebratedat the Academic Centre, Lucknow on the 11th ofNovember 2010, commemorating the birthday ofMaulana Abdul Kalam Azad. It was decided that aone day seminar-cum-workshop be held on the theme“Philosophy of Education: Ideas and Ideals”. Thetheme was well suited for the occasion as scholarsfrom various streams were invited to speak on thesubject and also to chair the session.Education Day 2011The programme began right at 10.00 a.m. sharp whenProf. G. Mishra gave his welcome address. He spokein a very lucid manner about the importance of theday and the significance of the theme. Before givinghis formal address, Dr. Mercy Helen, Director (P&R),Academic Centre welcomed the dignitaries and floralbouquet was presented to each of the speakers andthe Chairperson and also to the Member Secretary.There were three sessions in all. The first session hadProfessor K.K. Sharma of the Education Departmentfrom Ambala as the speaker. He spoke on (a) basicelements enveloping philosophy of education, (b)Innovative ideas building human thought; and (c) Roleof ideas in building new structure of philosophicalthought. His focus was also on the universal aims ofeducation. It was indeed an enlightening lecture.The second speaker of the first session, ProfessorSatya P. Gautam, Vice-Chancellor of M.J.P. RohilKhand University, Bareilly spoke very crisply andbriefly on (i) the aims of philosophy of education,Audience during the session(ii) forms of education (iii) levels of education and(iv) kinds of education. While speaking at length onthe tasks of education, he put forward the first taskas transmission of knowledge to the new generation.The second task according to him is to trainthe new generation with active members and finally hedelved deep on the task of making the new generationresponsible citizens by participating in new knowledgeand skills. A very interesting point he made about thetask in general, is trying to understand oneself and thesociety and to interpret one’s own views. He said thatthe dominant situation of education is more of theartha-karma model than the dharma-moksha model ashe felt that the Marxian model is the artha model andthe psychoanalytical model is the karma model.The challenge we should have is to examine our modesof thinking and take out the value oriented enterprise12

that is hidden not being as citizens seeing education asa commodity alone.This session was chaired by an eminent scholar,Professor Rajendra Prasad. In his remarks, he emphasizedon the question as to how a philosopher couldcontribute to reform education. His only answer wasnot by doing politics but by doing philosophy well.He also spoke at length on the concept of the goodteacher. According to him, a good teacher is one whocultures his personality and intellect. He felt, philosopherscan produce real thinkers.The second session had only one speaker, ProfessorUmesh Vashistha from Department of Education,Lucknow University. The session was chairedby Professor R.L. Singh from Allahabad. ProfessorVashistha dwelt at length on Philosophy of Education,modern approaches to philosophy of education,research done and ideas or ideals or solutions to offerto philosophers of education.Professor R.L. Singh concluded this session with hisinteresting and thought provoking remarks.The third and the last session had Professor D.N.Dwivedi from Allahabad, a very well- known scholarwho spoke on the philosophical concept of education.He traced the history from Socrates Plato- Western andto Indian thinkers on how they viewed at the conceptsof philosophy, namely, wisdom, and knowledge. Healso touched on Chomsky, Shankara, Skinner, PaulRicouer, Sartre, Heidegger on different aspects ofknowledge. He began his lecture by going back to theetymology of the word ‘education’.He concluded by saying that the task of the philosophershould be to encourage students to not onlyacquire knowledge and information but also to be acritical thinker.The session ended with a vote of thanks proposedby Dr. Mercy Helen, Director (P&R) of ICPR. Sheexpressed her gratitude on behalf of the Centre to allthe speakers and also to the chair persons and MemberSecretary. She thanked the local invitees for havingcome leaving their college and other activities andsparing their valuable time in attending the NationalEducation Day.Lecture of Professor Mushirul Hasanon 18th February 2011 at the Academic Centre, LucknowA lecture programme was organized by the AcadmeicCentre, Lucknow by Professor Mushirul Hasan,former Vice Chancellor of Jamia Millia University. Theprogramme began with a welcome to the Chairperson,Professor R.R. Verma and the well-known GandhianScholar, Professor Mushirul Hasan by Dr. MercyHelen, Director (P&R). Professor G. Mishra introducedthe speaker to the august audience. ProfessorHasan spoke on Gandhian Legacy. He used his laptopwhile delivering the lecture.At length, Professor Hasan presented his views onGandhi as a forgotten figure. He traced in this connection,the story of National movement and emphasizedon the point as to how ideas shape movements. ThenProfessor G. Mishra introducing the speakerhe stressed on the legacy aspect of Gandhian influenceon the present movement. How Gandhi’s ideologieshave given rise to Social Movement. Finally, Professor13

Hasan brought out the view as to how Gandhi foresawthe possibility of interfaith. Through Non-violence,Conflict resolution and solidarity of the people, thegoal of nation building in modern terms could beachieved.Professor Mushirul Hasan delivering his lectureThe lecture was well appreciated by scholars whoattended the lecture session. There was a good dealof discussion. Professor G. Mishra thanked ProfessorHasan for his deep commitment and his acceptanceto visit the Academic Centre to deliver the interestinglecture.Report on the Workshop on Advaita Vedantaat the Academic Centre, Lucknow from 20 to 30 January 2011A National Workshop was planned by the Council onAdvaita Vedanta at the Academic Centre, Lucknowto be conducted by no less than a great figure likeProfessor R. Balasubramanian, a doyen of IndianPhilosophy of the country, an expert in Advaita Vedantain particular among other areas. The Council’s officehad circulated about this workshop much before andalso posted in the website and called for applications.More than 100 applications were received. Finally,after much consideration, the Council had selected40 scholars to participate in this workshop beginningfrom June 20th to 30th, 2011 at the ICPR, AcademicCentre at Lucknow.This unique workshop had followed a lecture schemehighlighting the preliminaries of the traditions ofAdvaita, with Periodisation of the history of Advaita,the basic doctrines of Advaita, the compositions ofSankara, the Siddhi literature in Advaita and on Suresvara,the spokesman of Sankara. There were eightlectures during the 10 days period which coveredthe scope of Advaita, the objectives of Advaita,the Methodology of Advaita, The Problematic ofConsciousness, The self and the not-self liberationand the Means thereto. The Director of the workshopvery meticulously and methodically conducted theworkshop by spending more time with the scholarsfrom 10.00 am to 6.00 pm.The inauguration of the workshop on 20th January,had begun with an invocation by Professor S. Revathyfrom Madras University followed by presenting floralbouquet to the Director of the Workshop, ProfessorR. Balasubramanian, Professor R.R. Verma, the ChiefParticipants attending the WorkshopParticipants attending the Workshop14

Guest and Professor G. Mishra, the Chair person.Thereafter, Dr. Mercy Helen, Director (P&R) gave herwelcome address. The Keynote address was presentedby Professor R. Balasubramanian, which was followedby Professor R.R. Verma giving an Inaugural Address.Soon after this, Professor G. Mishra delivered thePresidential Address which was followed by a vote ofthanks by Mrs. Sadhna Nagar, Assistant Librarian.Everyday, the forenoon sessions were occupied byProfessor Balasubramanian giving lectures followed byintense discussions. The afternoon sessions had tersetextual study by the participants. The resource personsProfessor G. Mishra delivering thePresidential Address at the Workshopduring the workshop were, Professor S. Revathy andProfessor G. Mishra. One of the days was given tothe participants for Library consultation and on thepenultimate day a test was conducted for all the participants.It was found that out of 20 questions, almostall the participants scored maximum marks, indicatingthat the workshop lectures were fully understood andgrasped by them.On 30th the Valedictory Session took place when Dr.Mercy Helen welcomed the dignitaries and the participantsto the last session of the workshop. This sessionwas chaired by Professor G. Mishra. Again the Councilhad the privilege of inviting Professor R.R. Verma, theChief Guest for this session. The Valedictory remarkswere given by Professor R. Balasubramanian. Thenthe Chief Guest gave made some significant contributionthrough her final remarks to the participants ofthe workshop. Few of the participants like, ProfessorUma Chattopadhyaya, Dr. Mao, Dr. Sidhu Poudyaland Dr. Rajesh gave their positive feedback, which wasa great source of encouragement. There was then thedistribution of the certificates to the participants bythe Director of the Workshop. The Member Secretarygave his address which was followed by a vote ofthanks by Mrs. Sadhana Nagar.ICPR’s Other ActivitiesPromotion of Teaching of Philosophy inProfessional Institutions in the CountryICPR is planning to initiate its scheme to promotethe teaching of Philosophy in professional institutionsin the country. It is worth mentioning that bythe formation IITs, Philosophy has been a componentsubjects under the Department of Humanity andSocial Sciences. In line with this tune ICPR initiating apromotional scheme to grant few leading ProfessionalInstitute in our country to start a course in Philosophy.Under this scheme this year four Institutions havebeen selected for the grant of total Rs 6.0 lakhs forthree years.1. National Law University, Bengaluru,2. Shastra University, Tanjavur3. GITAM University, Vishakhapatnam,4. LNMIIT, JaipurOut of total grants (Rs. 6.00 lakhs) for the first yearRs. 3.00 lakhs will be released and Rs. 2.00 lakhs andRs. 1.00 lakh will be released for second and third yearrespectively. While releasing the grant it was intendedthat a matching grant will be compensated in thesecond and the third year and for future by the respectiveinstitutions to continue the scheme. ICPR wishesto institutionalize the programme if found successfulby the granted institution for further continuation ofthe Scheme.15

ICPR funded International Seminarsand ConferencesInternational Conference on “The Global Crisis andHegemonic Dilemmas” held at India International Centre, New DelhiThe US President Barack Obama’s recent visit to NewDelhi coincided with another significant event in thepolitical and academic history of the city, namely, theglobal meet of world-renowned Leftist political andeconomic experts who participated in a two and ahalf day conference on The Global Crisis and HegemonicDilemmas held at India International Centre on the 8th9th and 10th of November, 2010. This InternationalConference was collaboratively funded by the IndianCouncil of Social Science Research, Indian Councilof Philosophical Research, Department of PoliticalScience of Delhi University, Department of Sociologyof New York University and the Popular Educationand Action Centre, New Delhi.On the first day of the Conference November 8,2010, the central theme for the opening session of theconference was “The Global Crisis and HegemonicDilemmas”. Leo Pan Itch (Professor of PoliticalScience at York University, Toronto, Canada), PerryAnderson (Professor of History and Sociology atthe University of California, Los Angeles, USA), andVivek Chibber (Professor of Sociology at New YorkUniversity, New York, USA) participated as speakerswhile the session was chaired by Mani Shankar Aiyar(the former minister of Panchayati Raj, GOI).On Day Two, November 9, 2010, the morningsession of the conference revolved around thetheme of “Emerging Powers: Allies or Rivals?”The speakers were Boris Kagarlitsky (Director ofInstitute of Globalization and Social Movements,Moscow, Russia), Chaohua Wang (Research Scholar inChinese Studies at the University of California, LosAngeles, USA) and Anand Swaroop Verma (Columnistand Editor of Samkaleen Tisri Duniya, New Delhi).Professor Javed Alam (Chairperson of the IndianCouncil of Social Science Research) was in the chair.The speakers analyzed the politico-economic scenarioof three emerging powers - Russia, China and India -to examine the probability and repercussions of theirfuture alliance or rivalry.On Day Three, November 10, 2010, the theme forthe concluding session of the last day of the conferencewas “Towards a Socialist Alternative: Reorientingthe Left”. The speakers were Michael Lowy (EmeritusResearch Director in Social Sciences at the NationalCentre of Scientific Research, Paris, France) and AchinVanaik (Professor of International Relations andGlobal Politics at Delhi University, Delhi). The chairwas Kamal Mitra Chenoy (Professor at the school ofInternational Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University,New Delhi). The speakers evaluated the strengths andweaknesses of the Leftist political strategy in LatinAmerica, Europe and India with a view to carve outthe desirable future course of action.ICPR National Seminars/Conferencesin different parts of the Country“Human Rights and Social Justice” held at Utkal University, OrissaThe ICPR sponsored national seminar on “HumanRights and Social Justice” was held from 8th to 10thOctober, 2010 in the M.K.C.G. auditorium, UtkalUniversity. The academic event was organized underthe directorship of Prof. Aditya Kumar Mohanty,16Head. of the Dept. & Coordinator, CAS in Philosophy,Utkal University. The seminar was inaugurated at10 a.m. with Prof. P.K. Mohapatra, Retd. Professor ofPhilosophy, Utkal University in the chair. Prof. RajendraPrasad, Retd. Professor of IIT, Kanpur, delivered the

key-note address and Prof. Hrudananda Ray, eminentphilosopher and educationist graced the occasion asthe Chief Guest. The seminar was attended by eminentscholars from different universities across the country.The presence of other participants like Prof. B. Kar,Retd. Prof. of Utkal University, Prof. R.C. Pradhan ofUniversity of Hyderabad, Prof. Ashok Vohra of DelhiUniversity, Prof. G. Mishra, Member Secretary ofICPR, Prof. Y.V. Satyanarayana of Andhra University,Prof.(Mrs.) M. Ghosh of North Bengal University andProf. G. Vedaparayana, Retd. Prof. of S.V. University,Tirupati made significant difference to the academicambience in the seminar. The seminar was one of itskind both in terms of large number of participantsand the high quality of deliberations that ensued.The inaugural session was followed by first academicsession in which Prof. R.C. Pradhan presented hispaper on “Understanding Social Justice: Can Institutionsand People Meet?” The session was chaired byProf. B. Kar. In the second academic session Prof.P.C. Mishra of P.G. Dept. of Law, Utkal Universitypresented a paper on “Distributive Justice” underthe chairmanship of Prof. G. Mishra. The third andthe last academic session of the day was chaired byProf. T. Patnaik, Retd. Professor of Philosophy, UtkalUniversity in which Prof. Netrananda MalIa, Retd.Prof. of Philosophy, NEHU presented a paper entitled“Human Rights, Social Justice and Morality”.The academic sessions of the day were followed by acultural programme at 6.30 p.m.. The artists of RAWAAcademy performed Odishi and folk dances whichwas witnessed and enjoyed by more than 250 people.The second day’s programme on 9th October 2010started with the fourth academic session at 9.45 a.m.in which Prof. Asha Mukherjee acted as the chairperson.In this session the paper entitled “Dharmaand Dandaniti (Punishment): Mirror of Justice andRights” was presented by Prof. Ashok Vohra. Thefifth academic session was conducted with ProfessorG. Vedaparayana in the chair in which Prof. G. Mishradelivered the lecture on “Quality of Living and Livingwith Dignity”. It was followed by the sixth academicsession in which Prof. Y.V. Satyanarayana was thespeaker under the chairmanship of Prof. AshokVohra. The paper was on “Preferential Treatment orReverse Discrimination: A Justifiable Means for SocialJustice”. After the lunch break, the seventh academicsession started at 2.15 p.m. with Prof. Jayanti Jagdeb,Retd. Professor of Philosophy, Utkal University inthe chair. Dr. Gopal Sahu, Reader in Philosophy, AllahabadUniversity presented the paper on the topic“Women’s Right and Men’s Duty: A Critique of Feminism”in this session. The eighth academic sessionwhich was the last session of the day, was chaired byProf. A.K. Mohanty, Head of the Dept. of Philosophy,Utkal University and the Director of the seminar. Inthis session Dr. Aparajita Mukhopadhyaya, Reader inPhilosophy, Jadavpur University presented her paperon “The Concept of Human Right as embedded inBuddhist Philosophy”.The closing ceremony of the seminar together withthe remaining sessions was on 10th October 2010and it started at 9.45 a.m. with Prof. R.C. Pradhan inthe chair and Prof. P.K. Mohapatra as the speaker. Hepresented the paper entitled “Human Rights: Whatand Why?” in this ninth academic session. In the tenthacademic session Prof. G.P. Das, Retd. Professor ofPhilosophy, Utkal University presented the paper on“Rights, Justice and Good Life: A Conceptual Study“. This session was chaired by Prof. Manjulika Ghosh.After the tea break, the eleventh academic sessionproceeded under the chairmanship of Prof. Y.V. Satyanarayanaand the paper entitled “Two Paradigms ofSocial Justice” was presented by Prof. S.K. Mohanty,Retd. Professor of Philosophy, Utkal University. Afterthe lunch break, the twelfth academic session began at2.00 p.m. in which Prof. Jagannath Dash, Professor ofAnthropology delivered a lecture on “Rights of TribalPopulace”. The session was presided over by Prof. N.Malla, Retd. Professor of Philosophy, North EasternHill University.In the Valedictory function the delegates of theseminar expressed their views regarding the deliberationsof the seminar. The Director of the seminarextended heartiest thanks to all the delegates for theirmeaningful participation which highly enriched theacademic deliberations during the seminar.17

scholars participated in the seminar. Papers were readon Prabhachandra, Siddhasena Divakara, HaribhadraSuri, Hemachandracharya and Gunaratna Suri, Paperson Pandit Sukhlalji, Dr. Naginbhai and their contributionto non-Jaina philosophy were also presented.The subject of the seminar was the first of its kindand further exploration is needed in the area. Participantswhole-heartedly congratulated Indian Councilof Philosophical Research and L. D. Institute OfIndology for their unique venture. More such seminarsare needed to make further studies in this andother similar unexplored areas.‘Remembering the Pundits of Eastern India’at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, KolkataA National Seminar on ‘Remembering the Pundits ofEastern India’ was jointly organized by the RamakrishnaMission Institute and the Indian Councilfor Philosophical Research (ICPR), New Delhi on12, 13 & 14 November 2010. The objective of theSeminar was envisaged as including a discussion ofEastern India’s contribution to philosophy in generalincluding the contribution to the debates and discussionsof philosophies of other cultures. In responseto the invitation by the Institute, a good number ofbrilliant scholars and pundits who are conversantwith such subjects participated in the Seminar andpresented their papers. The Seminar was inauguratedon 12 November 2010 at 5.30 p.m. in the VivekanandaHall of the Institute. After the Vedic Chanting by themonks and brahmacharins of the Institute, SwamiSarvabhutananda, Secretary of the Institute, gave theWelcome Address. Swami Tatlwavidananda, Principal,Ramakrishna Math Vivekananda Veda Vidyalaya,Belur Math, delivered the Inaugural Address. Prof. P.K. Mukhopadhyay, presently a National Fellow, of theIndian Council of Philosophical Research, New Delhi,gave the Key Note Address. Prof. Minati Kar, formerlyProfessor of Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit, Visva BharatiUniversity, presented an updating of the extant Surveyof the Scholars and their works in a lucid manner.Prof. Godabarisha Misra, Member Secretary, IndianCouncil of Philosophical Research New Delhi deliveredthe Presidential Address. The Vote of Thankswas proposed by Prof. Nirmalya Narayan Chakraborty,Reader, Department of Philosophy, Rabindra BharatiUniversity.The Academic Sessions began next day i.e. on 13thand continued till 14th evening. There were SevenAcademic Sessions in all apart from the Pandit Parishadheld on 13 November. Each Session was coordinatedby an eminent scholar. Scholars and students ofvarious colleges and Universities participated as GuestObservers who also engaged themselves actively inthe discussions that followed the presentations by thescholars.‘Philosophical Perspectives on Multiculturalism and Pluralism’held at Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur, U.P.The Inaugural Session of this National Seminar beganon Nov. 27, 2010 at 11-00 am in the Samwad Bhawanof DDU, Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur. TheInaugural Session was presided over by Prof. SabhajitMishra, Former Head, Dept. of Philosophy, GorakhpurUniversity. Prof. M.M. Trivedi, Former Head,Philosophy Department and Dean Faculty of Arts,Gorakhpur University welcomed the guests, participants,local and out-station visitors from differentUniversities and parts of the Country. Prof. R. L.Singh, Philosophy Dept., Allahabad University, deliveredthe Inaugural Address. Prof. S. P. Dubey, formerHead, Dept. of Philosophy, Jabalpur University,Jabalpur (M.P.) delivered the Key-Note Address. AsChief Guest, Sri Ganesh Shankar Pandey Chairman,U.P. Legislative Council explained the meaning, natureand characteristics of Indian culture and its interrelationshipwith other religions and cultures. Prof. D.N.19

Dignitaries on the DaisTripathi, Retired Professor and Head, Ancient HistoryDept., Gorakhpur University and Former Chairman,Indian Council of Historical Research, New Delhi,delivered his address as guest of honour and threwlight on the theme of the seminar. In the end, Prof.C.P. Srivastav, Dept. of Philosophy, GorakhpurUniversity, proposed a vote of thanks. During threedays of the National Seminar, Technical Sessions wereheld besides the Inaugural and Valedictory Sessions.All the sessions came to an end with Prof. D. N. Yadav,Director of the Seminar, proposing a vote of thanksto all the participants and resource persons.“Social Concerns in Indian Philosophy”at Cotton College, GuwahatiA National Seminar was organized by the Dept. ofPhilosophy, Cotton College, Guwahati on “SocialConcerns in Indian Philosophy” from 29th Novemberto 1st December, 2010. The inaugural session waspresided over by Prof. (Dr) Shyam Kishor Singh,former Head of Philosophy, Manipur University. Theinaugural address was given by Prof. Dilip KumarChakravarty. He pointed out that the Vedanta systemcontains a world -affirming Philosophy. Dr. S.K. Singhin his speech pointed out that Indian Philosophy has aholistic approach. The concept of karma, he pointedout, is to be studied in the context of this holisticapproach.The meeting was very well attended. The beautifulinaugural song was presented by the students of theDept. of Philosophy of Cotton College.From 29-11-2010 to 1-12-2010 there were eightacademic sessions in which more than thirty paperswere presented. The Valedictory function was held onThe seminar in progress1st December which was presided over by Dr. GeetaGoswami, Head of the Department of Philosophy,Cotton College. Dr. Dayananda Pathak, Principal,Pragjyotish College was the chief guest. Dr. JagadishPatgiri, the Director of the seminar, in his speechthanked the ICPR, the philosophical community ofthe city, the students, the college authorities and allwell wishers for their help and co-operation.“Swami Vivekananda on Universal Religion and its relevanceto World Peace” held at Govt. College, (Auto) Angul, OdishaThe two day ICPR sponsored National seminar on“Swami Vivekananda on Universal Religion andits Relevance to World Peace” was inaugurated on11 December 2010 at 10-30 AM in the conferencehall of Govt. College (Auto) Angul. Srimad SwamiSamarpananandaji Maharaj of Swami Vivekananda20

University, Belur, Kolkata inaugurated the seminarby lighting the lamp and garlanding the portrait ofSwami. Vivekananda while Professor S.K Mohantywas in the chair. The Director of the seminar BasantKumar Dash gave the introductory remarks aboutthe seminar. Swami Samarpananandaji delivered theinaugural address in which he pointed out that SwamiVivekananda was the one who highlighted the conceptof practical Vendanta. Prof. A.K. .Mohanty, Head,Dept. of Philosophy, Utkal University, was the Guestof Honour. In his speech he talked about the presentcrisis in human civilization. Prof Jayanti Jagadev deliveredthe Keynote Address in which she highlighted theconcept of secularism. After the inaugural session, thefirst academic session was held under the chairmanshipof Prof. B. Kar. Dr. Tapan Dey of VidyasagarUniversity, West Bengal, presented a paper entitled“Vivekananda on Practical Vendanta”. The secondacademic session was held with Prof. Tandra Patnaikin the chair. Two papers were presented; one by HarishSahoo entitled “Swami Vivekananda on UniversalReligion” and the other by Dr. Laxman Behera entitled“World Peace through Universal Religion is. anImpossibility”. The presentations .of the papers werefollowed by very lively discussions and the remarksby the chair. The third academic session was chairedA view of the Inaugural Functionby Prof. Netrananda Malla. Prof. Ganesh. Prasad Daspresented a paper entitled “The Nature and the Needof a Universal Religion: Swami Vivekananda’s Vision”and Dr. D.M. Praharaj presented a paper entitled“Universal Religion: Human Values”.During the course of two days and in 6 academicsessions, 12 papers were presented and discussedexcluding the key note address. This created an activeacademic environment for the students and teachersof Philosophy and the students and teachers of othersister disciplines belonging not only to Govt College(Auto), Angul but also the adjoining Colleges of Anguldistrict, from which a good number of students andteachers had joined as participants.Department of Philosophy, University of Pune, PuneThe Department organized a two day seminar by Prof.Anand Paranjpe on Indian Psychology in the Departmentand Centre for Advanced Study in Sanskrit ofPune University.The response of the seminar was very good. About 50participants attended and participated in the two dayseminar. Professors, researchers and students from thedisciplines like Philosophy, Psychology and Sanskritwere the major participants.The Audience at the Lecture Programme21

66th Research Project Committee approved the grants for the followingSeminars/Conferences/Workshops/Refresher CoursesS. No. Name of Proposer Title of the Seminar Budget Estimate/Required1. Dr. Ram Chandra MajhiAssam University, SilcharNational Seminar on the Limits of theThought and BeyondMay 2-3 2011Rs. 3.00 Lakhs(NER)2. Dr. Sanusri BhattacharyaMahavidyapith, Bankura3. Dr. Bijaya KrishnaBaripada, Orissa4. Professor Mohini MulIickNew Delhi5. Professor M.A.LakshmitathacharMysore6. Dr. D.C. ShrivastavaKanpur7. Dr. Veena KumariPatna (Bihar)8. Dr. Prakash Chandra SahooCuttack (Odisha)9. Professor N K AmbasthaDhanbad (Jharkhand)10. Professor Priyavrat ShuklaRani Durgavati UniversityJabalpur11. Dr. Chintamani MalviyaVikram University, Ujjain12. Professor J P N MishraJain Vishwabharati University,Ladnun13. Professor R.P. SinghJNU New Delhi14. Professor R.B. TripathiRashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan,New Delhi15. Professor S.Prasad,GITAM University,VishakhapatnamNational Seminar on Prama,Pramana in Indian Philosophy16–17 July 2011National Seminar on Social Justice andViolation of Women’s Rights (India)7-8 September 2011Workshop on Rendering of theCategories of Indian Thought in theEnglish Language PerspectivesOctober 2011Seminar on Concept of Shakti Accordingto the Different Systems of IndianPhilosophy and ScienceCulture of Religion and Trans-culturalReligionMoral Crisis in ContemporaryIndian Politics12-14 August, 2011Practical Ethics : Vision and Valuesfor the Professional15 – 16 July 2011National Integeration:Old and New Bearings5-7 June, 2011Workshop on ContemporaryIndian PhilosophyJune, 2011Society and Nation Making MoralitySeptember, 2011Promotion of Para psychological Abilitiesand Consciousness through meditation22 -24 September, 2011International Vedanta CongressDec 28-31, 201115th World Sanskrit ConferenceJanuary 5-10, 2012Spiritual Aspects of Mahatma Gandhi :Philosophy and Practices2-4 Oct 201122Rs. 0.50 LakhsRs. 0.50 LakhsRs. 2.50 LakhsRs. 0.75 LakhsRs. 1.50 LakhsRs. 1.50 LakhsRs. 1.50 LakhsRs. 1.50 LakhsRs. 2.50 LakhsRs. 2.00 LakhsRs. 2.50 LakhsRs. 2.50 LakhsRs. 2.50 LakhsRs. 2.50 Lakhs

16. ICPR to organize a National Seminar on “ThePhilosophical Exposition of Professor T.M.P.Mahadevan” at Madras University, Chennai,Rs.3.50 lakhs. Professors R. Balasubramaaiam,R. Gopalakrishnan, the retd Head of theDepartment of Philosophy, Madras University,and Prof. G. Mishra will be the coordinators ofthe Seminar.17. ICPR to organize a National seminar on “Contributionsof Professor K.S. Murty” .at AndhraUniversity, Visakhapatnam for which Rs. 5.00lakhs are sanctioned. Professor Ashok Vohra,Professor V. Satyanarayana and Professor K.R..Rajani will be the co-ordinators.18. ICPR in. collaboration with Ramkrishna Mission,lnstitute of Culture, Kolkata, to organize anInternational Seminar on “Cultural Unity ofIndia: Past Present and Future for which Rs.5.00lakhs sanctioned to the Institute, Professor P.K.Mukhopadhyay will be the coordinator.19. The request for additional grant of Rs.2 lakhs forthe workshop on Trika Philosophy at AcademicCentre, Lucknow was considered.20. Two Refresher Courses in Lucknow andBhubaneswar for which Rs.4.00 lakhs each wassanctioned.Grants for ProjectsProjects were approved along with amounts sanctioned and the duration of the projects mentioned against eachbelow:S.No Name of Applicant Project Title Amount Sanctioned1. Dr. Divya SharmaMaharaja Sayajirao Universityof BarodaBaroda – 390002Gujarat2. Prof. M.A. LakshmithathacharPresidentSamskriti FoundationMysore – 5700043. Mr. Batskhem MawleinAssistant ProfessorUnion Christian CollegeShillong – 7931224. Professor C. UpendraIndian Istitute of TechnologyIndoreIndore – 4520175. Prof. Pradip Jyoti SinghTezpur UniversityForgiveness (Kshama) as a themein Indian Psychology of ValuesPreparation of History ofPhilosophy of VisistadwaitaRethinking Understanding, Tribaland Dialogue in Gadamer’sFusion of HorizonsExplaining the Moral Compass :Away from the Dead EndPhilosophy in Performance :A study of Bhakti ExpressiveForms in AssamRs. 2.00 Lakhs sanctioned fortwo yearsRs. 5.00 Lakhs sanctioned fortwo yearsRs. 1.00 Lakh sanctioned forone yearRs. 1.00 Lakh sanctioned forone yearRs. 5.00 Lakhs sanctioned for atotal period of 3 years23

6. Mr. Avinash PandeyUniversity of MumbaiSantacruz (E)Mumbai – 4000987. Dr.(Mrs) Akoijam ThoibisanaAssistant ProfessorDept of PhilosophyGauhati UniversityAssam – 7810148. Professor Sangeeta MenonNIASBangaloreOrality in the StructuralistPhilosophy of LanguagePhenomenology of Multiculturalismwith special reference toNorth East IndiaAn International Programme onConsciousness studiesRs. 1.50 Lakhs sanctioned fortwo yearsRs. 1.00 Lakh sanctioned fortwo yearsRs. 3.00 Lakhs sanctioned forone yearICPR has initiated a new scheme of Book Grants underwhich ICPR publications will be given to respectiveapplicants / Philosophy Departments/University/Book GrantsInstitutions etc. This year 41 Institutions had beenrecommended for the Book Grants under this schemegiven as below:S.No.Departments1 Department of PhilosophyDr. Hari Singh Gour Central University,Sagar – 47003, M.P.2 Department of Philosophy and ReligionBanaras Hindu University,Varanasi – 221005, U.P.3 Department of Cultural StudiesTezpur University,Napam, Tezpur – 784028, Assam4 Department of PhilosophyGauhati UniversityGuwahati – 781014, Assam5 Department of PhilosophyUniversity of North BengalDarjeeling, West Bengal - 7344306 Mathabhanga College,Dist. Cooch Behar – 736146, WB7 Principal,Post Graduate Govt CollegeSector 46, Chandigarh – 1600478 Department of PhilosophySree Sankaracharya University ofSanskrit, Kalady – 683574, KeralaS.No. Departments9 Sanatan Dharma College,Ambala Cant - 13300110 P.G. Department of PhilosophyRavenshaw UniversityCuttack - 753003Odisha11 Department of Applied PhilosophyM.J.P. Rohilkhand University,Bareilly – 243006U.P.12 Kaivalyadhama,SMYM SamitiKuvalayananda Marg,Lonavla – 410403Maharashtra13 Swami Ramananda Teerth MarathwadaUnivesity, Nanded – 431606Maharashtra14 Union Christian College,Ri Bhoi -793001, Meghalaya15 Jadavpur UniversityJadavpur – 700032, WB24

S.No.Departments16 Bankura Zilla Saradamani MahilaMahavidyapithaNutanchati, Bankura – 722101, WB17 Asutosh College92, SP Mukherjee RoadKolkata – 70002618 DirectorSchool of Philosophy and CultureMata Vashno Devi UniversityKatra – 182320J&K19 Department of PhilosophyFaculty of ArtsM.S. University of BarodaVadodara – 39002, Gujarat20 Department of PhilosophyGovt College for WomenThirunananthapuram,Kerala – 69501421 Department of PhilosophyUniversity of Pune,Pune – 41100722 Department of Philosophy & Centrefor Philosophical Research,Madura CollegeMadurai -625011, Tamilnadu23 Choudwar College, Choudwar,Cuttack – 754071, Odisha24 Jnana-Deepa VidyapeethRamwadi, Nagar RoadPune – 41101425 Department of Philosophy,Ramkrishna Mahavidyalaya,Kailashahaar, North Tripura – 79927726 Tripura UniversityGandhighat, Agartala – 79900127 Patkai Christian CollegeChumukedima – SeithekemaBPO Patkai – 797103Dimarpur Nagaland28 P.G.G.C.G. -11ChandigarhS.No.Departments29 Cachar College,Trunk Road, Silchar - 788001,Assam30 Department of Philosophy,D.M. College of ArtsImphal – 795001, Manipur31 GITAM Institute of Management,GITAM UniversityVisakhapatnam, A.P.32 Yoga Depatment,Barkatullah University,Bhopal – 462026, M.P.33 Sohan Lal Dav College of EducationAmbala City – 134003Haryana34 Department of PhilosophyAmbedkar College,Fatikroy- 79929035 North TripuraAnnamalai UniversityAnnamalai Nagar – 60800236 Department of PhilosophyThe University of Burdwan, Golapbag,Burdwan - 71310137 Pratap Centre of Philosophy AmalnerNear Pratap College, Manmad Road,Amalner – 42540138 Patanjali UniversityPatanjali Yogpeeth,Delhi Haridwar Highway NearBahadrabad -249402Haridwar, Uk39 Department of PhilosophyUniversity of HyderabadHyderabad – 500046A.P.40 Kamala Nehru CollegeAugust Kranti Marg,New Delhi - 11004941 Department of Philosophy,Nayagarh Autonomous CollegeNayagarh75202325

Periodical LecturesEwing Christian College, Allahabad, U.P.Philosophy Department, Ewing Christian Collegehas organized two periodical lectures under I.C.P.R.scheme on ‘Contemporary Relevance of Spiritualityand Science’ and ‘A Comparative Appraisal of Shankarand Kant’ on 25th February, 2011. The first lecture wasdelivered by Professor D. N. Dwivedi of PhilosophyDepartment, University of Allahabad and the secondone by Prof. R. L. Singh, Department of Philosophy,Allahabad University. The welcome speech was givenby Dr .S .B. Singh, Associate Professor and Head,Philosophy Department of Ewing Christian Collegeand the vote of thanks by Dr. S.K .Shukla, AssociateProfessor in the same Department .These Periodicallectures were well attended by the students ,the Principalof the college and some faculty members.Navayuga Women P.G. College, Lucknow, U.P.A periodical lecture programme was organized by theDepartment of Philosophy, Navayuga Women P.G.College, Lucknow on 1st March 2011. The lecturewas delivered by Prof. Roop Rekha Verma, FormerVice-Chancellor, Lucknow University & Prof. BalrajChauhan, Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Ram Manohar LohiaNational Law University on “Gender Discrimination”and “Judicial Activism & Morality” respectively at thecollege auditorium which was attended by a very largenumber of participants (approximately 250) includingthe Principal, other faculty members, faculty membersfrom Lucknow university & from other institutionsand non teaching staff & students of the college. Theaudience was very much enthusiastic in participatingProfessor Roop Rekha Verma delivering the lecturein the lectures and enjoyed to their full satisfaction.All their queries on the subject matter were replied byProf. Verma and Prof. Chauhan.Govt College (Autonomous), Angul, OdishaThe dignitaries on the daisA Periodical lecture on “Practical Ethics” was organizedby Sri B.K. Dash, Head, Dept. of Philosophyand was held on 9th March 2011 in the conferencehall of Govt. College, Angul. The lecture (seminar)was inaugurated by Prof. G.P. Das by lighting thelamp and was chaired by Dr. S.D. Dash, the Principall/C of the College. Prof. G.P. Das and Prof. Smt.Jayanti Jagadev were the speakers on the occasion.The Seminar came to life with invocation song by thestudents of the department followed by introductoryremarks by Sri B.K. Dash, Head, Dept. of Philosophy26

and welcome address by the Principal I/C of thecollege. Prof G.P. Das delivered his lecturers on practicalethics. Prof. Jayanti Jagadev delivered her lectureon a specific aspect of practical ethics. The title ofher paper was “Physician-Patient relationship”. Thelecture was attended by all students of the departmentand teachers from peripheral colleges and also bymost of the teaching members of the college itself. Afruitful discussion was followed by the lectures. Everybodyenjoyed the seminar. At the end a formal voteof thanks was offered by the Seminar Secretary, MissSubhini Dehury.Sree Narayana College, Kollam, KeralaThe Department of Philosophy, Sree NarayanaCollege, Kollam conducted an ICPR sponsoredLecture on “Relevance of Philosophy in the ModernWorld” on 10th March, 2011. Dr. M. Viswanathan,Principal of the College inaugurated the session. Dr.G. Padmakumar, Head, Department of Philosophyand Associate Professor of Philosophy, GovernmentCollege for Women was the resource person.The session started at 10.00 a.m. After the inauguration,Dr. G. Padmakumar delivered his lecture on thetopic “Relevance of Philosophy in the Modern World”.The lecture was really informative and interesting.Teachers and students from other departments of thiscollege and students and teachers of the DepartmentA view of the programof Philosophy attended the session. About 146 participantswere present.Salipur College, Salipur, OdishaThe periodical lecture on “Liberation in Indian Philosophy”was held in the seminar room of the Dept. ofPhilosophy, Salipur College, Salipur on 12th MarchPeriodical Lecture program at Salipur College2011. Prof. Debendra Kumar Rout, Principal ofSalipur College was the Chairperson. Prof. GaneshPrasad Das, formerly Professor of Philosophy, UtkalUniversity was the resource person. At the outset,Dr. (Capt.) Madan Mohan Das, coordinator of thelecture, introduced the resource person and the topicto the august gathering. Prof. Ganesh Prasad Das inhis speech highlighted the notion of ‘Liberation’ asconceived by different Indian thinkers like Carvakas,Buddhists, Jainas, Samkhyans, Nyaya-vaisesikas,Mimamsakas, Advaita Vedantins, Caitanya and Vaisnavaphilosophers. Lastly, he concluded that liberationis renunciation in action, but not renunciation of action.After the lecture, Mrs Manisha Tripathy, lecturer ofthe Dept. extended a vote of thanks to all.27

Govt. P.G. College, Mandsaur, M.P.A Periodical Lecture Programme was organizedby Department of Philosophy, Govt. P.G. College,Mandsaur on 14 March 2011. The programme wasinaugurated by College Janbhagidari Committee President,Shri Himmat Singh. Principal Dr. R.K. Sohoniwelcomed the speaker and all the participants ofthe lecture programme. Professor Ramjee Singh wasinvited to deliver the lecture and he spoke on GandhianPhilosophy and its application towards the solutionof modern social problems. The lecture prgrammewas attended by students, teachers of philosophy andmany others.Professor Ramjee Singh being honouredGovernment Ranbir College, SangrurThe Department of Philosophy organized a PeriodicalLecture on the theme, Human Ethics and SocialResponsibility on 15 March 2011. Rtn. Amjad Ali wasthe Key Speaker. Dr. Tanuja Shrivastava, Director ofBGIET, Sangrur presided over the function. Facultymembers of the college and students from thephilosophy and other streams attended the lectureprogramme.Professor Amjad Ali delivering the lectureDeshbandhu College, Delhi University, DelhiA lecture was organized on “Relevance of Philosophyin Current Society” in Deshbandhu College,University of Delhi, on 25th March 2011. Prof. VibhaChaturvedi, Department of Philosophy, University ofDelhi as well as Prof. Aditya Kumar Mohanty, Head,Department of Philosophy, Utkal University, Orissadelivered their lectures on the particular theme. Prof.Chaturvedi emphasized the conceptual aspects ofPhilosophy highlighting the acts of philosophizing aswell as philosophy in general, whereas Prof. MohantyProfessor Vibha Chaturvedi delivering her lecture28

enlivened the audience with enormous illustrationsfrom various fields of life to help them in understandingPhilosophy as a layperson.The lecture session was attended by about 75-80teachers as well as more than 150 students of theCollege. The lecture was followed by a very interesting& well attended interactive session.Finally, the organizer Dr Subasini Barik, In-chargeof Department of Philosophy, Deshbandhu Collegeconveyed her gratitude through the ritualistic voteof thanks to all those (ICPR, the funding institution,both the speakers, the Principal of DeshbandhuCollege and the audience-- the teachers and students)who made this event a grand success.Govt. Rajindra College, Bhatinda, PunjabPrize awarded to a studentDepartment of Philosophy, Govt. Rajindra College,Bhatinda organized a lecture progranne on 25thMarch 2011. The lecture was presented by Dr. ShivaniSharma Angiras, Assistant Professor, Departmentof Philosophy, Panjab University, Chandigarh. Thetopic was “Interpreting the Fundamentals of Philosophyof Art”. Prizes were given to the students ofPhilosophy for scoring highest marks so as to increasethe interest of students in the subject. The progammewas actively attended by students and facultymembers. The local media printed the reports of theprogramme.D.M. College of Arts, Imphal, Manipurorganized ICPR sponsored Periodical LectureThe Philosophy Department of D.M. College ofArts, Imphal, Manipur organized ICPR sponsoredPeriodical Lecture on the 31st March, 2011 at thecollege auditorium. The lecture was delivered by Dr.S. Shyamkishore Singh, Retd. Professor and Dean ofHumanities, Manipur University on the topic “Culture:A Conceptual Study.” The programme was presidedover by Dr. A. Nungshitombi Devi, Principal, D.M.College of Arts, Imphal. (Manipur). The lecture wasattended by a large number of students, teachers andinvitees.Professor S. Shyamkishore Singh deliveringhis lecture29

ICPR Special Lecture ProgrammeCentre for Philosophy, School of Social Sciences, JNUProfessor Anil Gupta, distinguished Professor ofPhilosophy, University of Pittsburg, USA, deliveredICPR sponsored national Lecture on “Experienceand Perceptual Judgment” on 26th Nov. 2010 at 11:00a.m. in the Conference Room, Centre for Philosophy,School of Social Sciences, JNU, New Delhi. Theparticipants included faculty and the research scholarsof Centre for Philosophy, faculty from IIT Delhi,Department of Philosophy, D.U., and some of itsaffiliated colleges.Professor Anil Gupta addressed the issues like: Whataccounts for the reasonableness of perceptual judgments,and what is the contribution of experienceto it? He critically considered the answers offered byFred Dretske, Christopher Peacock, Wilfrid Sellarsand others. He then offered a proposal of his own.The proposal was built on ideas he had developed inhis book, Empiricism and Experience. The presentationwas followed by a well informed discussion.Department of Humanities & Social Sciences,Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, MumbailIT Bombay, organized a talk on 5th January 2011by Prof. Anand C. Paranjpe, Professor Emeritus,Psychology and Humanities at Simon Fraser Universityin Canada. His more recent work is focused on theunderstanding of psychological principles embeddedin traditional Indian thought. The session began withintroduction of the speaker by Professor K. Narayanan,Professor of Economics and Head, Department ofHumanities & Social Sciences, lIT Bombay and it waschaired by Professor Meenakshi Gupta, Professor ofPsychology. Prof. Paranjpe gave his research presentationon “Indian Psychology: What and Why?” in whichissues like : the nature of consciousness, personhood,cognition, emotion, and volition were pointed out.In another presentation, Prof. Paranjpe talked aboutLokmanya Tilak and Karma Yoga which was organizedin the faculties of Sailesh J. Meheta School ofManagement and H & S.S. IIT Bombay. A separatetime for discussion and question-answer were the partof the talk. Prof. Ashish Pandey, Sailesh J. MehetaSchool of Management gave the vote of thanks in thisevening session.Professor Anand C. Paranjpe, ICPR Visiting Professor (Overseas) for theyear 2010-11 at Karnataka State Open University, MysoreTwo special lectures on Indian Psychology were organizedin the Department of Studies in Psychology,Karnataka State Open University, Manasagangotri,Mysore on 11th January, 2011. The lecture programmewas inaugurated by the Vice-Chancellor Prof. K.S.Rangappa. The audience included the Master’sdegree Psychology students of Open Universitynumbering 150, Master’s degree Psychology studentsof the University of Mysore, Faculty members fromPsychology, Philosophy, Sanskrit and other departments,Research Scholars of Psychology Departmentand other invitees.The inauguration function was followed by the firstlecture by Professor Anand, C. Paranjpe, Emeritus,Simon Fraser University, Canada on the theme “Whatand Why of Indian Psychology”. The lecture went onfrom 12 p.m. to 1.00 p.m. and was followed by livelyquestion and answer session for about half an hour.30

Lighting of the LampThe second lecture on the theme “Advaita as a theoryof personality” was delivered by Prof. Paranjpe from4 to 5 p.m. and it was also followed by a questionand answer session. Prof. Paranjpe highlighted thedifferences between modern psychology and IndianPsychology, by dwelling on the philosophical foundationsof the two psychologies and elaborated on theneed for conducting research on Indian Psychology.He emphasized that the two psychologies can complementeach other. Since the Open University studentsstudy about Indian Psychology as part of their courseon Systems and Contemporary Trends in Psychology,the lecture topics were of immediate relevance to themand they were immensely benefited by Prof. Paranjpe’stwo lectures. The participants showed a lot of interestin the two lectures and interacted with many questionsput to the guest speaker. Subsequently reading materialsrelated to Indian Psychology that included Prof.Paranjpe’s power point presentation was distributedamong the participants.Prof. Anand C. Paranjpe at Andhra and Gitam UniversitiesA lecture programme of Prof. Anand Paranjpe wasorganized at Gitam University from 17th to 18thJanuary 2011. Prof. Paranjpe delivered two lecturesin Gitam University on “Indian Psychology :Whatand Why” and “Foundations of Indian Psychology inthe Upanishads” respectively. Prof. Anand Paranjpealso delivered two lectures at Andhra University from19th to 20th January, 2011 on the topics “A theoryof Personality According to the Advaita Vedanta”and “Subject-Object relations in Shankara’s AdyasaBhashya”. Prof. K. Ramakrishna Rao, Chairman ofICPR graced as Chief Guest for these lectures. Prof.S.R. Krishna, the Principal, Gitam Institute of Managementand Prof. S. Prasad were also present during theprogramme. Faculty, scholars and students of Deptof Philosophy, Andhra university as well as fromGitam University got benefited by the lecture and theProfessor Paranjpe delivering his lecturefollowing debate. According to Prof. K.R.Rajani, whowas the coordinator of this lecture programme, theentire lecture programme got conducted in a decentmanner.Professor Max L. Velmans, ICPR Visiting Professor (Overseas)for the Year 2010-11 at University of HyderabadProfessor Max L. Velmans delivered his Lecture on“Reflexive Monism: How to Arrive at an Eastern PlaceFrom a Western Direction” on 15th February, 2011at 2.30 P.M. in the Seminar Hall of the Departmentof Philosophy, University of Hyderabad. It was wellattended by Faculty, Research Scholars and students31

not only of the Department of Philosophy, but alsoof the other Departments of the University.At the outset, Professor S.G. Kulkarni, Head of theDepartment of Philosophy, welcomed ProfessorVelmans. Then Professor R.C. Pradhan, co-ordinatorof the ICPR Lecture introduced the speaker to theaudience.Professor Velmans made a power-point presentationof his Lecture. He outlined the broad features of histheory of mind and consciousness called ReflexiveMonism. In course of his lecture, Professor Velmansmade a comparison between his theory of ReflexiveMonism and the Vedantic theory of consciousness,especially of Sankara and Sri Aurobindo. ProfessorVelman’s lecture was followed by lively discussion.Many searching questions were raised by the Facultyand Research Students as to how reality can be bothphysical and psychological at the same time. Othersimilar queries were made regarding how the third-Professor Max Velmans makinga power-point presentationperson and the first-person perspectives can co-existwithin the same framework.A vote of thanks was proposed by Professor PrajitK. Basu. He also thanked the ICPR for choosingthe Department of Philosophy of the Universityof Hyderabad for the Lecture and for providing thegenerous grant for arranging the Lecture.Prof. A.K. Chatterjee, ICPR Visiting Professor 2010, atAllahabad UniversityProf. Gauri Chattopadhyaya welcomingthe speaker and the participantsProfessor A. K. Chatterjee had chosen to talk on“Laws of Thought.” Prof. Tapan Kumar Chakraborty,Head, Department of Philosophy, Kalyani University,Kalyani, West Bengal, presided over the LectureProgramme. Professor and Head, Dr. Gauri Chattopadhyaya,formally welcomed and introduced the speaker,Prof. Chatterjee and Prof. Tapan K. Chakraborty to agathering of about 60 participants that included thefaculty members and students of the department andfrom constituent colleges. Prof. Chatterjee started hislecture with the genesis of the laws of thought andtraced its discussion to Stoic logicians. The lucid, logicaland analytical lecture delivered by Prof. A. K. Chatterjeegenerated a lot of queries, comments and debateamong the participants. Prof. Tapan K. Chakrabortypresented an elaborate comment on Prof. Chatterjee’slecture. The Department expressed its hearty thanksto Indian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPR),New Delhi for the generous funding which enabledthe organizing of this lecture programme.32

World Philosophy DayDepartment of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT, KanpurDepartment of Humanities and Social Sciences, lITKanpur organized the one day programme for celebrationof World Philosophy Day. The programme washeld on 9th November 2010 on the topic “ How andwhere Navya-Nyaya techniques entered Vyakarana”and the speaker was Prof. Malhar Kulkarni, Departmentof HSS, lIT Bombay. Prof. Malhar Kulkarni whiledelivering his lecture spoke upon one of the importantfeatures of post 13th century Indian Philosophy andthe influence of Navya-Nyaya system on other schoolsof thought. He stated Raghunatha and Gangesa, thetwo Navya-Nyaya philosophers brought about a revolutionin the field of Nyaya which spread into otherdisciplines such as Mimamsa, Vedanta, Alankara andVyakarana.This talk also addressed these issues with special focuson Vyakarana. It also highlighted the importance ofthis influence from the point of view of ComputationalLingusitics.Prof. Malhar Kulkarni, IIT Bombay delivering lectureat IIT Kanpur on the programme of WPD celebrationThe entire academic staff of IIT Kanpur; Dept. ofphilosophy, Christ College, Kanpur; Departmentof philosophy, DAV college, Kanpur attended theprogramme with approximately 50 scholars.Department of Cultural Studies, Tezpur UniversityThe Department of Cultural Studies, Tezpur Universityorganized a special programme as a part of WorldPhilosophy Day to mark the birth anniversary ofSocrates, the great philosopher, in association withIndian Council of Philosophical Research, on the 19thof November 2010. Prof. Ranjit Kumar Dev Goswami,renowned scholar, critic and formerly Head of theDepartment of English, Gauhati University, deliveredtwo lectures on the theme ‘Relevance of the SocraticMethod in Contemporary Indian Society: The Role ofTeachers and Students’ . Attended by research scholars,students and faculties of the School of Humanitiesand Social Sciences of Tezpur University, the meetingwas chaired by Prof S.K. Dutta, Dean, School ofHumanities and Social Sciences. Welcoming the gatheringProf P.J. Mahanta, Head of the Department ofCultural Studies, gave an outline of the programmeunder the joint auspices of the Indian Council of PhilosophicalResearch and the Department.In his lectures, Professor Goswami dwelt on the spiritof relentless questioning that was encouraged bySocrates more than two thousand years ago. Talkingabout the influence of thinkers like Parmenides andHeraclitus on Socrates, Prof Goswami threw lighton the relevance of Socrates in contemporary times,particularly the heterogeneous conditions prevailing inthe country where the need of the hour is opennessto divergent views. Citing examples from the presenteducational system of the country, Prof. Goswamihighlighted the continuing relevance of the Socraticideals.The lectures were followed by an interactive session inwhich the faculty and the students actively participated.Dr Parasmoni Dutta, Assistant Professor, Departmentof Cultural Studies, proposed the vote of thanks.33

ecause Philosophy is integral to all human life. Inthe first session Dr. Sajiwan Prasad, Rtd. Principal ofKisan College, Sohsarai (Nalanda, Magadh University)chaired and conducted the deliberations. He spokeon how to do research work and the methodologyof teaching. He also suggested some of the reformsessential in research work. In this session, teachers andresearch fellows of the Department participated in thedebate.Inaugural Function of Celebration ofWorld Philosophy Day at Patna UniversityThe second session was chaired by Dr. I.N. Sinha,Rtd. Professor & Head, Department of Philosophy,Patna University, Dr. Ramendranath, Reader & Head,Department of Philosophy, Patna College, Patna(Patna University) delivered keynote address. In hislecture, he sketched philosophy in six divisions anddenied metaphysics & epistemology as well as philosophyof religion as philosophy proper but acceptedsocial and political philosophy as well as ethics, especiallyapplied ethics as Philosophy in the real sense.He did seek Philosophy’s future in socio-political andmoral philosophy in the modern world.In the valedictory session Dr. S.E. Ahsan, Rtd.Professor & Head, Department of Philosophy, Collegeof Commerce, Patna (Magadh University) summedup the deliberations of the seminar. Dr. N.P. Tiwary,Professor of Philosophy, Patna University proposed avote of thanks, and Dr.R.S. Arya, Professor of Philosophy,Patna University conducted the entire seminar.Ramkrishna Maha Vidyalaya, Kailashahar, North TripuraIn order to observe International Philosophy Day, aregional seminar on “Misuse of Amniocentesis andThe Future of Indian Girl Child” was organized by theDepartment of Philosophy, Ramkrishna Mahavidyalaya,on 27th November 2010, The programme gotunderway by lighting the Lamp of Wisdom. Theseminar was inaugurated by Sri Ratish Majumder,Principal of R. K. Mahavidyalaya in the presence ofother dignitaries like Dr. Jasawanta Roy, Dr. SudhirChakraborty, Associate Professor in Philosophy,Rabindra Sadan Girls’ College, Karimganj, Assam,Dr. Debashish Tarapdar, Superintendent, R.G.M.Hospital, Kailashahar, Dr. Bapu Sen, Medical &Health Officer, R.G.M. Hospital and other professorsof the college, paper presenters and an overwhelmingnumber of students. The guests and the audience weregreeted by Sri Surajit Sen, Assistant Professor, R.K.Mahavidyalaya. The key note address was given by Dr.Sudhir Chakraborty who highlighted the importanceof girl child in our society. He felt that only propermentality and education is the correct antidote to thismalaise. Mr Dhanaram Reang, Deputy Collector ofKailashahar, expressed his apprehension about genderdisparity. Then in his presidential address, Principalof Ramkrishna Mahavidyalaya, Mr. Ratish Majumderconveyed his message to all. He felt that youth mustbe protected from the evils of modernism and valuesshould be practised to safeguard the girl child. Theinaugural session ended with a vote of thanks fromDr. Subrata Sharma, Organising Secretary and Head,Department of Philosophy, R.K. Mahavidyalaya.35

Vidyasagar University, Midnapore, West BengalA seminar was organized by the Department of Philosophyand the Life-world of Vidyasagar University,Midnapore, Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal on theoccasion of the celebration of the World PhilosophyDay on 29.11.2010 sponsored by the Indian Councilof Philosophical Research, New Delhi. ProfessorSwapan Kumar Pramanik, Honourable Vice-chancellorof Vidyasagar University inaugurated theseminar. Professor Sankar Prasad Sinha, Dean of Arts& Commerce presided over the inaugural ceremony.Other officials were also present there. ProfessorGopal Chandra Khan (retired), the University ofBurdwan and Professor Hironmoy Bandopadhaya(Retired) of Jadavpur University were the speakers. Intheir lectures they highlighted the Need of Philosophy asCore Subject in School and Higher Education.Dr Tapan Kumar De, Head of the Department ofPhilosophy and the Life-world, welcomed the gathering.An essay competition on the topic Need ofPhilosophy as a Core Subject in School and Higher Education”had been held. Miss Sudipti Kar, Sri Pradip KumarMandaI, and Sri Surya Kanta Pradhan stood firstsecond and third respectively in this essay competition.They were felicitated. Dr. Bhupendra ChandraDas, one of the faculty members of the Departmentthanked all who were related to the seminar directly orindirectly.Department of Philosophy, Assam University, SilcharThe World Philosophy Day was celebrated in theDepartment of Philosophy, Assam University on the29th of November 2010 with the financial help ofIndian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPR) NewDelhi and Assam University. The Department organizeda one day programme on the theme ‘Dialoguebetween Science and Philosophy’.The inaugural session started at 11 a.m. in the morningat Bipin Chandra Pal Seminar Hall, Assam University.The students and the scholars accorded a very warmwelcome to the honorable guest speaker ProfessorPartha Ghose, Senior Scientist, Platinum JubileeFellow, National Academy of Sciences, India and alsoProfessor and Academic coordinator of S. N. BoseCentre for Basic Science, Kolkata; Prof. TapodhirBhattacharya, honorable Vice-chancellor, A.U.;Professor G. D. Sharma, Pro-vice chancellor (Science,Technology and Management) and Prof. GautamBiswas, Pro-vice chancellor (Humanities and otherAllied Disciplines), Dean, School of Humanities andalso Professor of Philosophy. They were welcomedProf. Partha Ghosh, Prof. T. Bhattacharjee, VC,Prof. Gautam Biswas in the main programmeof WPD celebrationand felicitated by the students of the Department ofPhilosophy, Assam University. Besides, teachers fromdifferent departments of Assam University, teachersfrom various local colleges, scholars, researchers andstudents from various institutes and centers were alsopresent in the celebrations.The program started with an inaugural song by thestudents of the Department. The welcome addresswas delivered by Dr. R.C. Majhi, the Head of the36

Department of Philosophy. He explained the significanceof the day. Prof. Biswas briefly explicated therelevance and importance of dialogue between scienceand philosophy.Prof. Partha Ghose greeted everyone and presentedhis valuable speech on ‘Embodied cognition’. Afterthis inaugural session, Dr. Bhaskarjeet Neog, a facultymember, offered the vote of thanks.Centre for Philosophy, JNU, New DelhiDr. Oinam Bhagat and others on the daisA one-day colloquium on “Reading of Discourses onConsciousness” was organized to mark the celebrationof World Philosophy Day 2010 on November 29by Centre for Philosophy, Jawaharlal Nehru Universityin collaboration with Indian Council of PhilosophicalResearch, New Delhi.The colloquium was organized keeping in mindtwo objectives: (i) to engage with interdisciplinaryapproaches in understanding philosophical concepts/issues, and (ii) to go beyond the confines of civilizationand disciplinary boundaries. Prof. Nandu Ram,the moderator of the first Round Table, started thecolloquium by raising basic questions: “What do weunderstand by consciousness, whom do we ascribe itto, and whose consciousness are we talking about?” Dr.Bhagat Oinam initiated the discussion by talking aboutdifferent methodologies engaged while talking aboutdifferent discourses as well as debates on consciousness.Prof. Satya P. Gautam started his presentationby drawing attention to the nature of philosophicalconcepts that are essentially contested. Prof. GopalGuru raised the question: “Can one manage to dotheorization without raw experience?” The SecondRound Table was on Ontological and EpistemologicalDiscourses (1). Prof. Mrinal Miri moderated theproceedings. The first speaker of the second session,Dr. C.A. Tomy, talked about self knowledge. Dr. M.A.Devasia presented his views on the metaphysics ofconsciousness in Advaita Vedanta. Dr. Manidipa Senraised the questions: can the subject of self experiencebe the object of self awareness; can the subject bean intentional object of its own consciousness? TheThird Round Table was on Ontological and EpistemologicalDiscourses (2). Prof. Gurpreet Mahajan, themoderator of third session, laid emphasis on the importanceof reading and understanding of the history ofconsciousness, how it evolved and how in the 19thcentury it became so important to reconstruct thereality. She also highlighted the idea why consciousnesscannot be talked of in isolation and how it involves theother. Prof. Rekha Basu tried to trace the history ofconsciousness in phenomenology and how consciousnesswas understood in continental philosophy. Dr.Ajay Verma made a comparison between the understandingof consciousness in the Indian tradition andthe Western tradition by taking different philosophersfor scrutiny. Prof. R.P. Singh talked about the historyof philosophy - the breaks and ruptures in the history.He also showed how consciousness had been studiedin philosophical discourses from the perspectives ofmonism, dualism and pluralism. Dr. Prasenjit Biswastalked about the concept of consciousness understoodby contemporary, “non-classroom” philosophers likeZizek and Agamben. He talked about the plasticity ofconsciousness which is self destructive . He raised thequestion: “Can we recover the subject from the deathof the death wish?” The Fourth Round Table was onAesthetic, Literary and Ethical Discourses. Prof. Vibha37

Chaturvedi moderated the session. Dr. Shashi Motilaltalked about the nature of moral consciousness. Prof.Tista Bagchi started her presentation by underliningthe difference between medical ethics and bio-ethics.She compared the degrees of consciousness as coma,anaesthetic, sedation, total consciousness to the waking,dreaming and deep sleep states of the Upanishads. Dr.Anuradha Ghosh dwelt on the reading of consciousnessin literary criticism. Prof. H.S. Shivaprakash alsomade a presentation. The Fifth Round Table was onSocial, Political and the Psychological Discourses.Prof. Franson Manjali moderated the session in whichDr. Minati Panda and Dr. Sujatha V. expressed theirviews.The colloquium spread out into the areas of possiblestudies on consciousness from the vantage points ofdifferent disciplines. Each speaker successfully introduceddifferent areas where new research initiativescould be taken up. The colloquium ended with a voteof thanks given by Dr. Manidipa Sen. The colloquiumtruly represented a discussion on interdisciplinarydiscourse, cutting across civilizational boundaries.Department of Philosophy & Religious StudiesAndhra University, VishakhapatnamThe Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies,Andhra University, Vishakhapatnam conducted a Oneday Seminar on “Future of Philosophy in the ModernWorld” on 29th November, 2010.Department of Philosophy, Magadh University, Bodh GayaA day long seminar was organized by the Dept. ofPhilosophy, Magadh University, Bodh Gaya on theoccasion of International Philosophy Day on 30November 2010. The focal theme of the Seminar was“Gandhi’s Philosophy of Education”. Two speakerswere invited to deliver lectures.The inaugural session began at 11.30 am. Dr. B.P.Shastri (Pro- Vice Chancellor, Magadh University,Bodh Gaya), Dr. Ram Sarekh Singh (Prof. and Head,P.G. Dept. of Philosophy, Magadh University, BodhProfessor Ramjee Singh delivering lecture on theoccasion of World Philosophy DayGaya), Dr. Ramjee Singh (Retd. Professor & Head,T.M. Bhagalpur University, Bhagalpur), Dr. R.C. Sinha(Retd. Professor & Head, Patna University, Patna),Dr. Neelima Sinha (Professor & Programme Coordinator,‘SAP’, Dept. of Philosophy, Magadh University,Bodh Gaya) were the dignitaries on the dais. Prominentamong the dignitaries off the dais were: Dr.Dinesh Singh, Head of the Dept. of Philosophy, GayaCollege, Gaya, Dr. Veena Sharan, Professor of Philosophy,Gaya College, Gaya, Dr. V.K. Singh, Reader &Head, Dept. of Philosophy, A.M. College, Gaya, Dr.Kalawati, Reader and Head, Dept. of Philosophy,G.B.M. College, Gaya and Dr. B.D. Lal, Professor& Head, P.G. Dept. of Hindi, Magadh University.Almost 60 persons including students and teachers ofthe Philosophy and other subjects, media persons andothers attended the function.The formal Inaugural Session was started with thelighting of the lamp and Pushpanjali to Devi Saraswati.Welcome address was delivered by Dr. R.S. Singh,Head, Dept. of Philosophy, Magadh University. Dr.Neelima Sinha, Coordinator of the Programme intro-38

duced the notion of World Philosophy Day and thefocal theme. Dr. B.P. Shastri, the Pro. Vice-Chancellordelivered the Presidential Address.The Seminar was concluded with a vote of thankspresented by Dr. Neelima Sinha, Professor &Programme Coordinator, ‘SAP’ who organized thisfunction for the P.G. Dept. of Philosophy, MagadhUniversity. Special appreciation and thanks was givento ICPR for its activities and funds provided to theDept. for the celebration of International PhilosophyDay.Department of Applied Philosophy, Faculty of Education andAllied Sciences M.J.P. Rohilkhand University, BareillyPhilosophy, MJP Rohilkhand University (campus),Bareilly. Vice-chancellor of the University, ProfessorSatya Pal Gautam inaugurated the function and alsotook the charge as the main speaker. Professor N.P.Singh, Dean, Faculty of Education and Allied Scienceschaired the inaugural session and Professor A.K. Sinha,Head, Department of Ancient History & Culture wasthe special invitee.Professor S.P. Gautam, VC, MJP Rohilkhand Universitydelivering his lectureThe celebration of World Philosophy Day 2010sponsored by ICPR, New Delhi was organized on30th November 2010 by the Department of AppliedPhilosophy, MJP Rohilkhand University (campus),Bareilly with zeal and great enthusiasm. ProfessorRajendra Prasad, Retd. Professor of Philosophy, IIT.,Kanpur, delivered the lecture on the topic ‘Philosophyand Life’. The celebration of World Philosophy Day2010 was organized by the Department of AppliedThe celebration was organized in two parts. The firstpart of the celebration was the inaugural portion andthe second part was panel and general discussion.The inaugural session began at 11.30 A.M. and thesecond part was started at 3.00 P.M. Professor SatyaPal Gautam, the chief-speaker and Vice-chancellorof the University, delivered his lecture on the theme‘Philosophy and Life’. The first session was begunwith welcoming the guests. Dr. A.K.Singh, Sr. Lecturerand students of the Department welcomed the guests.Professor N.P. Singh highlighted the specific featuresabout the Faculty and the Department. Dr. RajjanKumar was the Convener of the programme.Department of Yoga, Barkatullah University, BhopalThe World Philosophy Day was celebrated by theDepartment of Yoga, Barkatullah University, Bhopalon 30 November 2010 with the financial assistanceprovided by the Indian Council of PhilosophicalResearch, New Delhi. The theme of the One DaySeminar was ‘Need of Philosophy as core subject inSchool and Higher Education’. The program startedat 09:30 a.m. and was concluded at 5:30 p.m. Hon’bleProf. Nisha Dubey, Vice ‘Chancellor, BarkatullahUniversity. Bhopal, was the Chief Guest of theSeminar. The seminar was attended by around 200persons, including the students, faculty and guests.39

Professor S.V. Rao delivering his addressThe key note address was delivered by Prof. S.V. Rao,Retd. Dean, Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal. Severalexperts on the subject were invited to present theirviews on the theme, like Swami Rajeshwaranand ji,who emphasized that by including Philosophy as acore subject in education children will develop insightto know themselves. Dr. Shivdatt Mishra, Asst. Prof.,Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya, Bairagarh, Bhopal, alsounderlined the need of learning Indian philosophy bystudents, which helps one in resolving the complexitiesof life. Prof. Vineeta Awasthi, HOD of Philosophy,Naramada Govt. College, Hoshangabad, and otherexperts in the area presented their views on this occasion.Dr. Sadhana Dauneria, HOD, Department ofYoga, Barkatullah University, Bhopal, was the coordinatorof the programme. Vote of thanks was given bySmt. Manju Sharma.Department of Philosophy, Karimganj College, AssamA one day Regional Seminar on applied philosophy wasorganized by Department of Philosophy KarimganjCollege, Assam on 30th November, 2010 for celebratingthe World Philosophy Day. Dr Alpana Talukdarwas Organizing Secretary of the Programme.The first technical session was chaired by Dr. R.C.Majhi, H.O.D. of Philosophy, Assam University.Three papers were presented during the session,entitled “Bhagavad Gita and stress management” byDr. Ravi Khangai, “Philosophy and different aspectsof education” presented by Dr. Sapan Dutta and“Environmental Ethics: A general view” presentedby Dr. Nibedita Nath. The second technical sessionwas chaired by Dr. Santanu Dutta, Ex HOD. Deptof Political Science, Karimganj College. Two paperswere presented during the session: “The ImportanceCentre for Jain Studies, University of Rajasthan, JaipurOn the occasion of celebration of International Philosophyday, a one-day regional seminar was organizedunder the Joint auspices of the Centre for Jain Studies,U.O.R., Jaipur and Indian Council of PhilosophicalResearch, New Delhi on the topic “Ahimsakahar KaDarshan” on 30th November, 2010. The seminar40The Dignitaries on the Daisof Ethics in Information Revolution” presented byProf. Bikash Bhargab Sarma and “The Time to ApplyEthics in Indian Politics” presented by Prof. AparnaGhosh.was attended by more than eighty students, researchscholars and faculty members of the Departmentof Philosophy, Hindi, Sanskrit, History and Jainism.The following ten scholars delivered / presented theirlectures / papers: Prof. Dayanand Bhargava, Ex-Dean& Head, Dept. of Sanskrit, J.N.V. University, Jodhpur,

Chief Speaker; Prof. K.C. Sogani, Ex Head, Dept. ofPhilosophy, M.L.S. University, Udaipur; Prof. Anil Jain,Director. Centre for Jain Studies on “Ahimsakahar”and Prof. Shiv Sagar Tripathi, Ex-head, Departmentof Sanskrit, University of Rajasthan. Dr. Jasbir Singh,Ex- Chairman Minority commission of Rajasthan; wasthe Chief Guest of the Seminar. The welcome addresswas delivered by Prof. Anil Jain, Director, Centre forJain Studies. The Seminar ended with a vote of thanksby the co-ordinator. He also thanked ICPR for thegrant without which the programme could not havematerialized.Deliberations at the SeminarVikram University, School of Studies in Philosophy, Ujjain (MP)The Department of Philosophy, School of Studies inPhilosophy, Vikram University of Ujjain celebratedthe International Philosophy Day on 14th December,2010 in accordance with the guidelines given by IndianCouncil of Philosophical Research (ICPR). TheDepartment organized a one day programme on thetheme “Relevance of Philosophy and Present Crisis”.The welcome address was delivered by Dr. ChintamaniMalviya, I/C Head of the department, Prof.T.R. Thapak, Honorable Vice Chancellor, VikramUjjain University, VC, and other dignitariesof the programmeUniversity, talked about the importance of Philosophyin every aspect of human life. Prof. A.P. Dubey,Head, Department of Philosophy, Dr. HarisinghGaur University, Sagar talked about the relevance ofPhilosophy through the way of Ethics and humanity.He mentioned that at the present time, our life iscompletely materialistic life. So we should live our lifetruly on the path of Ethics. The speech was followedby a brief interactive session. Dr. Y.G. Joshi EmeritusProf. MPSSR Ujjain mentioned that we should havevirtue of satisfaction in our life. Then only we can liveour life with happiness. Prof. S. Parashar, renownedsocial scientist; Director, Ambedkar Chair mentionedsome good issues of Philosophy from society. TheProgramme ended with a speech from the DepartmentHead, Dr. Malviya who thanked ICPR for thegrant without which the programme could not havematerialized. the Programme was conducted by Dr.Pooja Vyas, Vikram University Ujjain and the vote ofthanks was given by Mr. Alok Goyal, ICPR, ResearchScholar.Annamalai University, Annamalainagar, Tamil NaduICPR Sponsored World Philosophy Day Celebrationwas held on 21st December 2010 in the Departmentof Philosophy, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar, Tamil Nadu. A One day Regional Seminar on41“The Philosophy of Man and Environment” wasorganized by the Department of Philosophy, AnnamalaiUniversity on 21st December 2010. The Seminarwas inaugurated by Dr. M. Ramanathan, Vice-Chan-

VC, Annamalai University speaking on the occasioncellor, Annamalai University at 10:00 a.m. in theUniversity Guest House Seminar Hall. The Vice-Chancellor, in his inaugural address pointed out thenecessity of philosophy in all walks of life irrespectiveof professions and insisted on humanistic approachnot only towards human beings but also towards allbeings in the world to bring about National and WorldIntegration. Dr. Sreekumar N., Associate Professor,Department of Humanities and Social Science (IIT),Chennai, delivered the keynote address. Dr. SubashiniR. Gandhi, Professor and Head, Department of Philosophypresided over the function. Dr. S. Veerapandianformally welcomed the dignitaries and participants.Dr. D. Selvaraju, Dean, Faculty of Arts, Professor andHead, Department of Sociology gave the felicitation.Dr. N. Baskaran, Dr. R. Murali and Dr. SreekumarNellickappilly presented their papers. In addition tothe staff members from Department of Philosophy,staff members from other departments, academicians,research scholars and students from variousregional universities and colleges participated in thisSeminar. The staff members from Madura CollegeMadurai, APA College of Arts and Culture, Palani,Vivekananda College, Chennai, Poompuhar College,Melaiyur, Government Arts College, Kumbakonamand National College, Trichy also participated as outstationparticipants. Over 150 members includingstudents attended the seminar. The participants of theseminar felt that the seminar was beneficial for boththe researchers and also the faculty for further researchin the time to come. The function came to an end at5.30 p.m. with National Anthem.Department of Sanskrit and Philosophy ofPG Govt. College for Girls, ChandigarhMain Programme at Govt Girls College Chandigarh42Department of Sanskrit and Philosophy of PostGraduate Govt. College for Girls, Sector-II, Chandigarh,organized a Regional Seminar on the theme“Reconsidering Classical Indian Thought”. Theseminar was sponsored by Indian Council for PhilosophicalResearch, New Delhi, to commemorate thebirth anniversary of Socrates declared by UNESCOas World Philosophy Day. In the Inaugural Session,Prof. Ramakant Angiras was the Chief Guest andProf. Dharmendra Goel, Professor Emeritus, Departmentof Philosophy, Panjab University, Chandigarh,was Invited as Guest of Honour. Prof. K.K. Sharma,Former Pro-Vice-Chancellor, NEHU, Shillong andDirector, Centre for Sri Aurobindo Studies, Sohan LalDAV College of Education, Ambala City, delivered hisKey Note Address on the theme “Growing Influenceon Classical Indian Philosophy”. Dr. Sham Lata, Vice-Principal and Programme Convener, welcomed thedistinguished speakers, guests and also introduced thetheme of the Seminar. Prof. K. K. Sharma emphasizedthat the Philosophy of a country is the essence of itsculture and civilization which springs from ideas thatprevail in its atmosphere and bears its unconscious

stamp. During the programme papers were presentedon different topics and themes like Indian Value Systemwith special reference to the Holy Quran, MahabharataKi Naitik Shiksha etc. A fruitful discussion occurredwith the questions asked by the students and participants.It made both sessions fully interdisciplinary innature and source of fresh knowledge. Teachers fromthe Departments of Punjabi, Hindi, English, French,Public Administration, Psychology, Home Scienceand students of Depts. of Sanskrit and Philosophyjoined the seminar and engaged in active participation.Dr. Desh Raj Siswal, Organizing Secretary, presentedthe report of the seminar and thanked all dignitaries,paper presenters and participants.Department of Guru Nanak Studies ofGuru Nanak Dev University, AmritsarThe Department of Guru Nanak Studies of GuruNanak Dev University, Amritsar organized a lectureon ‘Future of Philosophy in the Modern World’ and anEssay Competition Programme to celebrate the WorldPhilosophy Day-201O and it was sponsored by IndianCouncil of Philosophical Research, New Delhi.Prof. Shashi Bala, Dean Faculty of Humanities andReligious Studies, welcomed the delegates and statedthe aims and objectives of World Philosophy Daywhich was initiated by UNESCO since 2002 and thisday is marked as Global observance of the birthdayof Socrates on the third Thursday of November everyyear. Its aim is to attract scholars to engage themselvesin philosophical reflections on contemporary issues.Dr. Shashi Bala also introduced the activities, projectsand research work going on in the Department.Prof. Geeta Manaktala, Senior Prof. in Dept. of Philosophy,from Punjab University Chandigarh delivereda lecture on the theme ‘Future of Philosophy in theModern World’. She stressed the role of philosophy incultivating human values, Self-empowerment, integrationof human personality and in creating harmonioussocial co-existence. Professor Radha Sharma, SeniorProf. of History and Dean, Social Sciences presidedover the function and gave away cash prizes to studentswho got first, second and third positions in the EssayCompetition. At the end of the programme Dr.Shashi Bala proposed the vote of thanks and inspiredthe students by pointing to them the significance ofPhilosophy in the modern age.Delegates from different colleges also participated inthe discussions. Prof. Balwant Singh Dhillon, Prof.Jaswinder Kaur Dhillon, Dr. Manvinder Singh, Dr.Bharatvir Kaur, Dr. Vipin Kumar and Dr. A.K. Khoslafrom D.A.V. College. Amritsar, Mrs. Anu Khannafrom B.B.K.D.A.V. College, Amritsar, Mrs. KusamLata from Arya College Pathankot, Md. Martinea fromAustria and many others were also present.World Philosophy Day : Programme atGurunanak Dev UniversityParticipants in the Programme43

Fellows’ Meet – 2010Dignitaries on the dais at the Fellows’ Meet 2011ICPR Fellows’ Meet Programme for the year 2010was scheduled on 21-23 December 2010 at JNU.The Inaugural Function of the Fellows’ Meet wasorganized in continuation to the Award Functionprogramme at Vigyan Bhawan on 22nd December2010 followed by the Life Time achievement AwardFunction Programme. The programme was inauguratedby Shri Kapil Sibal, Hon’ble Minister of HRD.To begin the programme Professor K. RamakrishnaRao, Chairman ICPR delivered his welcome address inwhich he spoke about ICPR fellowship programme asone of the most significant programs of the Councilthat has sustained and encouraged the basic researchesin the field of Philosophy in our country. He furtherpresented the problem of the enhancement ofthe Fellowship rate at par with the UGC. After thewelcome address Shri Kapil Sibal, Hon’ble Ministerof Human Resource and Development addressed tothe Fellows gathered from various universities arounddifferent parts of the country to take part in this Meetprogramme. He further mentioned about the workshopand Fellows Meet programmes organized forthe purpose of interaction between fellows as wellas guidance to the Junior and General Fellows by theSenior and National Fellows and other experts in thefiled of philosophy. After the welcome address byProfessor K. Ramakrishna Rao, Hon’ble Minister ShriKapil Sibal delivered his inaugural address to the ICPRFellows gathered from different parts of the countryacross various universities. He spoke about Philosophyas ultimate analytical understanding of our journey.He stated that Philosophy is not such like Hobbe’sof theory and Law, is not about concept of SocialContract theory, but is much more than that. He alsotalked about the identity of homosapiens, cosmos. Hefurther spoke about integration of Science, thoughtand journey of the thoughts to understand the innerworld. He expressed his support towards releasing44

of more funds to the ICPR fellowship programmetoward making it at par with UGC level.To mark the event as memorable to all on the behalf ofthe Indian Council of Philosophical Research, a shawland a memento was presented to Hon’ble Ministerby Professor K. Ramakrishna Rao, the Chairman ofICPR. The programme ended by Vote of thanks givenby Professor G. Mishra, Member Secretary, ICPR.Professor R.Balasubramanian giving reorientationLecture to ICPR FellowsRao, National Fellow of ICPR gave their reorientationlectures and interacted with ICPR Fellows.Professor K. Ramakrishna Rao presentinga memento to Shri Kapil Sibal, Hon’ble Ministerof Human Resource and DevelopmentWhile thanking Professor G. Mishra expressed heartiestthanks and gratitude to Shri Kapil Sibal, Hon’bleMinister of HRD and other ministerial officers anddignitaries gathered in the Programme.During this Fellows’ Meet Programme various reorientationlectures were organized from 21-23 December2010 at SSS I Auditorium, Jawaharlal Nehru University.Professor R.P.Singh, Department of Philosophy, JNU,New Delhi was the coordinator of this programme.On the 21st December 2010, the programme startedon 2.30 p.m. with an orientation lecture by Professor.R. Balasubramanian, the distinguished Philosopherand former Chairman of ICPR. After the teabreak, the next session started by 5.00 p.m. in whichProfessor P.K. Mukhopadhyaya, Professor SrinivasaOn 22nd December 2010 after inaugural program atVigyan Bhawan orientation programmes were scheduledfrom 2.30 p.m. onwards in which ProfessorBijoy H. Boruah, IIT, Delhi, Professor P.K. Mukhopadhyaya,Professor Krishna Roy, Professor SrinivasaRao and Professor Rakesh Chandra interacted withFellows and answered their questions and looked intotheir difficulties and problems they were facing.On December 23, 2010 Professor P.K. Mukhopadhyaya,Professor Rakesh Chandra and ProfessorSrinivasa Rao delivered their orientation lecturesand answered the queries and questions of researchfellows.ICPR Fellows attending Lecture Programme45

ICPR FellowshipsProfessor G.C.Nayak has been nominatedas the National Fellow of ICPR for the Year 2010-11G.C. Nayak, born and brought up at Cuttack (Orissa),India, was the best graduate of Utkal University in1954, 1st Class 1st in MA (Philosophy) at Allahabadin 1956, and got his Ph.D. from the Bristol University,U.K. as a Commonwealth scholar in the year 1965.He was Professor and Head of the Post-GraduateDepartment of Philosophy of Utkal University from1978 to 1989 and the Vice-Chancellor of Sri JagannathSanskrit Vishvavidyalaya, Puri from 1989 to 1992,Visiting Professor in the Department of BuddhistStudies and Philosophy at Nagarjuna University from1992 to 1994, and in the Department of ReligiousStudies at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada in1995, he was the Senior Fellow, ICPR during 1996-98,and UGC Emeritus Fellow, at BHU, Varanasi during1999-2000. Presently, he is a Fellow at the Indian Instituteof Advanced Study, Shimla since 2001.Professor Nayak has been the General President ofthe Indian Philosophical Congress in 1992, and of theAkhil Bharatiya Darshan Parishad in 2001. Some ofhis important publications are Evil, Karma, and Reincamation(1973), Essays in Analytical Philosophy (1978),A nalytical Studies in Buddhist Philosophy (edited) (1984),PhilosophicalR.ejlections (1987), Nehru and Indian Culture(edited) (1990), Evil and the Retributive Hypothesis (1993),Philosophical Enterprise and the Scientific Spirit (1994),Understanding Religious Phenomenon (1997), and MadhyamikaSunyata(2001).Other FellowshipsSenior FellowshipsProfessor Venkat ReddyProfessor V. Venkat Reddy was awarded SeniorFellowship of the Council. Professor Ventak Reddy(born 1940) did his M.A. (Philosophy, University ofDelhi and M.A. Psychology and Ph.D.(Philosophy)from Osmania University, Hyderabad. His topic ofthe Research was Significance of Suffering in thephilosophy of Mahatma Gandhi. He had joined in thefaculty of the Department of Philosophy, OsmaniaUniversity, Hyderabad and remained head from 1998to 2000. He also has been U.G.C. Professor Emeritusfrom 2004-2006. Professor Reddy has been renownedscholar in both field i.e. psychology and Philosophy.He has published 10 books and contributed severalresearch articles in the area.46

Book Release FunctionShri Kapil Sibal, Hon’ble Minister of Human Resource and Development,releasing the book “Cognitive Anomalies, Consciousness and Yoga”by Professor K. Ramakrishna RaoThe Book Release Function followed the inauguralfunction of the Fellows’ Meet at Vigyan Bhawan, NewDelhi. Shri Kapil Sibal, Hon’ble Minister of HumanResource and Development released the book “CognitiveAnomalies, Consciousness and Yoga” written byProfessor K. Ramakrishna Rao, Chairman, ICPR. Atthe start of the programme, Professor R. Balasubramanianwhile introducing the book to the audience,mentioned that the author had tried to construct abridge between culture and spirituality in terms ofthe Eastern and the Western thought. Professor JanakPande, Vice-Chancellor of Central University ofBihar, and Professor Girishwar Mishra, Professor ofDepartment of Psychology, University of Delhi alsointroduced the other aspects of the book pointing outthat this book will create an interdisciplinary dialogue,besides being a handbook on the subject.Shri Kapil Sibal, Hon’ble Minister of HRD releasedthe book and in his address he termed this work byProfessor K. Ramakrishna Rao as his Magnum Opuswhich presents the analytical views and relations ofarts, scientific thought, philosophy and consciousnessat large. After this Professor K. Ramakrishna Rao wasfelicitated with a memento and shawl by Shri KapilSibal, Hon’ble Minister, and by Professor R. Balasubramanian.At the conclusion of the programme, ShriSanjay Sethi, the publisher of the book, proposed thevote of thanks.47

Vigilance Awareness Week 2010ICPR Staff observing the Vigilance Awareness WeekVigilance Awareness Week was observed in ICPR from3 - 7 November, 2010. A programme was organizedat Darshan Bhawan, ICPR Head Office, New Delhito pledge the constitutional oath about integrity andtransparency in all spheres of activities and vigilancein working, growth and reputation of the organizationthrough collective efforts.All the officers and officials of ICPR shall observetheir duty consciously and act without fear and favour.The pledge was read by Dr. Arun Mishra, Director(A) and taken by all the employees present during theprogramme at ICPR Head Office, New Delhi. Furtherin the programme Shri R. Chakraborty, DeputySecretary (Retd.), Department of Higher Education,MHRD and presently consultant at ICPR spoke aboutthe significance of constitutional values and the observanceof Vigilance Awareness Week.The staff alongwith the officers taking a pledge onVigilance DayForthcomming ProgrammsBuddha Jayanti Lecture ProgrammeMonth of May, 2011Shankar Jayanti Lecture ProgrammeMonth of May, 2011ICPR Foundation Day Celebration ProgrammeMonth of July/August, 201148

Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical ResearchEditor : Mrinal MiriVolume XXVII No. 3 Volume XXVII No. 4ArticlesBarbro FrödingVirtue Ethics and Partiality to Oneself:Organ Donation within FamiliesT.S. RukmaniVij¤ånabhiku: The Så√khya-Yoga-VedåntåcåryaSivakumar ElamboorananA Senorian Objection to Simmonsian AnarchismRahul GovindTime, Freedom and Mechanism in GandhiísHind SwarajAnanta Kumar GiriKnowing Together in Compassion andConfrontation: The Calling of TransformativeKnowledgeDiscussion and CommentsMohini Mullick: Pandits and Professorsby Nalini Bhushan and Jay Garfield:A DiscussionKantilal Das: Meinong on Object,Existence and Ontological Commitment:A Critical ObservationReview ArticlesSrinivasa RaoInvading the Sacred: An Analysis of HinduismStudies in AmericaAmitabha Das GuptaTradition and Truth: Writings in Indianand Western PhilosophyArticlesPrajit K. BasuScientific Explanation and Efficient Cause:A Reconstruction of Albertus MagnusíDe MineralibusBhaskarjit NeogThe Formation of Collective IntentionKoshy TharakanMaking Sense of ìOther Cultureî:Phenomenological Critique of CulturalRelativismAnkur BaruaPhilosophy and Literature: The Sense ofan OppositionSaitya Brata DasThe Abyss of Human FreedomAnupam YadavThe Other in a Moral DiscourseReview ArticlesAsha MukherjeeThe Nature of PhilosophyNirmalya GuhaDishonoured by Philosophers:Upamåna in Indian EpistemologyBOOK rEVIEWNirbhai Singh: Philosophical Contributionsof Bhaktas and Gurus to Indian Cultureby S. Panneerselvam