On 5 April 2018, a panel discussion on India’s cultural linkages was organized at the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF). The panelists were Dr. Shashi Bala, Dean, Centre for Indology, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and Ms. Masooma Rizvi, artist and conservationist. The discussion was chaired by Dr. Arvind Gupta, Director, VIF.
On 10 February 2017, Dr. Kalyan De, a US-based Netaji enthusiast and engineer by profession, delivered a refreshingly insightful talk on Netaji Subash Chandra Bose’s inimitable contribution to India’s freedom struggle. Quoting extensively from the UK’s official archive, De made out few interesting observations about the events that shaped India’s freedom movement, especially after the conclusion of the Second World War. An interesting Q&A session followed the talk.
In 2013, the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) published the first five volumes of its multi-volume History of Ancient India Series. Three of the remaining six volumes are to come out shortly and the last three are scheduled to be out the next year. A discussion on the Series was organized on 28 February 2018 at the VIF. Among the panelists were: Dr. Arvind Gupta, Director, VIF; Prof. Dilip Chakrabarti, Emeritus Professor of South Asian Archaeology at Cambridge University and Editor of the Series; Dr.
Talk by Pravrajika Divyanandaprana, Monastic Member of Ramakrishna Sarada Mission and Principal, Nivedita Vidyamandir, New Delhi
The Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) organized a panel discussion to commemorate the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda on 12 January 2018. The eminent speakers in the panel were Dr. Swapan Dasgupta, Member of Rajya Sabha, Dr. K Subrahmanyam, Pro-Chancellor, S-VYASA (Yoga University), and Dr. Anirban Ganguly, Director, Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation (SPMRF).
Driven by the myopia of profits and an ego that craves superiority over fellow brethren, man is leading a life of wanton devastation, and going through what is perhaps the most violent time in history. At stake is not just our own lives and values, but the environment that sustains us, and, by extension therefore, the very future of our planet.
It will be recalled that ‘SAMVAD’ is an initiative of Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) that was borne out of dialogue between the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The purpose was to adopt principles of Asia’s age-old spiritual teachings of Hinduism and Buddhism to address modern-day issues threatening human civilisation.
The VIF arranged a talk on the contributions towards India’s independence made by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. The talk was delivered by US-based Dr Kalyan De, an engineer by profession and an authority on India’s freedom struggle. Quoting extensively from official British documents to validate his arguments, Dr De stressed that Netaji’s contribution towards India’s freedom struggle has been far deeper than what is realised so far. The ‘Quit India Movement’, for example, was never entirely Gandhiji’s or the Congress’ show.
Amb Kanwal Sibal, former foreign Secretary and one of India’s best-known diplomats, launched his collection of poems ‘Snowflakes of Time: Memories and Musings’ at a public event organised by the VIF. The collection, besides revealing a thoughtful, sensitive and introspective persona of Amb Sibal, also reflects his views on some of the major diplomatic challenges he faced as a career diplomat spanning over forty years of service. Adding to the delight of audience, he read out stanzas from his collection in a voice that rang with emotions and nostalgia.
‘Soft Power’, a term coined by Joseph Nye in the late 1980s, has been gaining increasing salience in foreign policy debates the world over. While in India, the use of soft power as part of Indian diplomacy had begun even before the term was coined, efforts to leverage various strands of India’s soft power in a sustained manner started gathering momentum with the coming of second NDA-led government to power in 2014. Observance of the United Nations sponsored ‘International Yoga Day’ was an evidence of that endeavour, Prime Minister Modi being its leading flag bearer.