‘Rethinking the Nehru Legacy: The Long Twentieth Century’

16112014

Nehru Memorial Museum and Library

cordially invites you to a Conference

at 9.00 am on Monday-Tuesday, 17-18 November, 2014

in the Seminar Room, First Floor, Library Building

on

‘Rethinking the Nehru Legacy:

The Long Twentieth Century’

Our commemoration takes the form of a reflection on Nehru and his world. His universe obviously included India, but it embraced all of humanity. As he shaped India in so many different ways over more than five decades, he was aware, more than most of his generation, that it was an India in the world, not an India locked into itself. He ceaselessly reflected upon how this particular was related to an universal and how they shaped each other. Perhaps India itself provided a model of it, of how the immense multiplicity within India could constitute the larger entity, which he summed up in the formula, “unity in diversity.” To this end, the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library is hosting a series of three events, each with a distinct focus and thematic coherence.  This conference will be the third of the event in the series.  This would not be specific to India, although India would obviously not be excluded. It will be a reflection on the entire century, from 1914 to 1991 if dates have to be given, and the legacy into the twenty-first century. It should not be specific to Nehru either. It should be conceived as an examination of the universes he occupied and from which he drew so much sustenance, without constantly relating it to Nehru’s thought and action. It would embrace all the big questions of the day, which engaged Nehru’s attention, as it did that of everyone else who reflected on the human condition. The principal themes would be the usual ones of democracy and nationalism, war and barbarism, science and religion, the division and the integration of the world, and finally on utopia and dystopia. It should be left to scholars to range freely on subjects of their choice with the one constraint, that they should not limit themselves to one small issue. As a tribute to Nehru it should be large and grand in vision and accomplishment.  All are open events and aim to provide a platform for original and creative scholars to share their approaches with us.

Programme Schedule:                              Monday, 17^th November, 2014

9.00 am. – 9.05 am.	Opening Remarks and Welcome: Prof. Mahesh Rangarajan, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi.
9.05 am.- 10.05 am.	Session I
Chair:	Prof. Madhavan K. Palat, Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, New Delhi.
Speaker:	Prof. Sunil Khilnani, India Institute, King’s College, London, UK. ‘Nehru and the Making of Asia’s futures’
10.05 am.- 10.25 am.	Tea Break
10.25 am.– 11.25  pm.	Session II
Chair:	Dr. Ashok Desai, Author and Commentator, New Delhi.
Speaker:	Prof. Madhavan K. Palat, Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, New Delhi. ‘Nationalism: Universal, composite and unitary’
11.25 pm. – 11.45 pm. 11.45 am. – 12.45 pm	Tea Break Session III
Chair:	Mr. Anil Nauriya, NMML.
Speaker:	Prof. Andre Beteille, Delhi School of Economics and National Research Professor, Government of India. ‘The Pursuit of Equality’
12.45 pm. – 1.45 pm.	Lunch
1.45 pm. – 2.45 pm.	Session IV
Chair:       Speaker:	Prof. Mahesh Rangarajan, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi. Dr. Ashok Desai, Author and Commentator, New Delhi. ‘From Jailbird to Ruler: Nehru’s precipitate initiation’
2.45 pm. – 3.05 pm. 3.05 pm. – 4.05 pm. Chair: Speaker:	Tea Break Session V Dr. Rashmi Pant, NMML. Mr. Anil Nauriya, NMML. ‘Nehru, Gandhi and the Cabinet Mission: A debate revisited’
	Tuesday, 18th November, 2014
9.00 am. – 10.00 am.	Session VI
Chair:	Ms. Vrinda Grover, NMML.
Speaker:	Mr. Dinesh C. Sharma, Journalist and Author, New Delhi. ‘Nehru and the Computer Revolution: Foundations and Transitions’
10.00 am. – 10.20 am.	Tea Break
10. 20 am. -11.20 am.	Session VII
Chair: Speaker:	Mr. T. N. Ninan, Jawaharlal Nehru Fellow, New Delhi. Prof. Pulapre Balakrishnan, Centre for Development Studies, Thirvananthapuram, Kerala. ‘Nehru and the Economy: A twenty-first century view’
11.20 am. – 11.40 am.	Tea Break
11.40 am. – 12.40 pm.	Session VIII
Chair:	Prof. Mahesh Rangarajan, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi.
Speaker: 12.40 pm. – 1.40 pm.	Dr. Arupjyoti Saikia, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati. ‘Assam, Nehru and the Making of India’s Eastern Frontier 1946-1950s’ Lunch
1.40 pm. – 2.40 pm.	Session IX
Chair: Speaker:	Prof. Madhavan Palat, Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, New Delhi. Dr. Srinath Raghavan, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi. ‘Nehru’s India in a Changing World: Foreign and security policy in the early years’
2. 40 pm. – 3. 00 pm.	Tea Break
3.00 pm. – 4.00 pm.	Session X
Chair:	Dr. Rakhee Kalita Moral, NMML.
Speaker:	Prof. Sajal Nag, NMML. ‘Nehru and the Northeast: Discovery, ideas and the imagination for a borderland’
4.00 pm.:	Concluding Session