In a Seminar's Wake

NEWS FROM.llAS 23 he seminar on 'Fifty Years women's status by the governrnent of India's Independence' and the NGOs. However, she organized by the Institute In a Seminar's Wake regretted the wide gap between T provisions in the law and their ~om 24 to 27 September 1996 aimed at reflecting and exchanging experiences Samir Banerjee reviews the Institute's National Seminar on implementation. on the five decades of India's Fifty Years of India's Independence Vir Bharat Talwar in his 'Tribals in independence so that a systema!ic Free India: Victims of Progress' processes of understanding of this past could Betrayal', sea thing! y attacked the state can see the source of the continued focused on detrimental and acculturation, revitalize our vision. To revisit the of education in independent India. dominance of English, the emergence assimilation marginalization and past, particularly while meditating on Gopi Chand Narang, in his paper of an agricultural education to sustain leading to tribal societies. He drew the significance of a term as contextual 'Linguistic Id.entity in North-Central the emerging green revolution, the alienation of to the disturbing fact that and relative as 'freedom', is a difficult India: The Case of Urdu', emphasized creation of conditions for American attention tribal societies could task. To initiate this discourse, the the relationship between cultural penetration and consolidation over much of what in terms of Institute had suggested some broad identity and language, and drew our the political economy as a whole, and teach - particularly , sensivity to the views themes. They included the significance attention to the strange predicament <l systematic replacement of Gandhi's sustainability and practices of others, etc.-w~ being of the metamorphosis of the notion of of Urdu being termed alien in its own conceptofbasiceducation. B.S. Dahiya lost. Shekhar Pathak in his swaraj into the reality of a sovereign homeland. However, he saw hope for in his 'Education in Free India: Fifty Years of state and the implications of freedom Urdu in the overlap ofUrdu and Hindi, Promises and Pitfalls' suggested 'Halat-e-Himalay: Development and Destructihn in the for India, particularly in terms of the thanks to the television, films, and liberating education from the ,Mountains', sought to future and of human civilization. ghazals. stranglehold of bureaucrats and Himalayan the destruction caused by Narendra Mohan in his 'Search for politicians by making it autonomous, highlight unsustainable mobilization practices Papers and Individual Presentations the Meaning of Independence in and stressed the need for improving in a fragile eco-system. Giving ample Literature' began by recalling the quality of primary education and detail on the destruction and the B. K. Bhattacharya's paper which nostalgically the fond hopes at the of selective vocationalization at the anomalies generated, Pathak showed opened theseminarwasaninteresting dawn of independence. These, middle levels. that while the holding capacity ofsuch blend of hopes, reflections on the however, have remained hopes and In his 'Freedom or Fei~rdom', Vi jay can be understood 'Indian Revolution' and a dialogue the reality is one of tension, crisis, S. T. Shankardass suggested that eco-systems through a study of specificities, local with past leaders-Gandhi and Lohia. anomalies, curtailing of creative human rights movements had much histories, sus.tainability practices, local Bhattacharya felt that the Indian spaces, and a growing hiatus between potential to usher in genuine freedom, genius,externallinkages,etc., itcannot revolution remained unfinished, and national and regional identities. T. R. but felt that such movements have to be made elastic by prising them open that in order to find inspiration we S. Sharma in his 'Translating Literary 'give up both their state base and their in the name of development and need to go back to a proper evaluation Texts: A Phenomenological Study' western conceptual legacy.' His of the freedom movement. Taking discussed issues of translation from analysis, while stressing 'rights' and progress. For Shivaji K. Panikkar in his stock of the past fifty years, Ajit Indian languages to English, and 'needs', did not explicitly address the 'Political Significations: Modern Bhattacharjea, in his 'From White to elaborated a theory of translation issue of 'responsibilities.' L. B. Verma Indian Art and Art Criticism', 'art is a Brown Elite', found it hard to suppress using Indian aesthetic categories such made a presentation on 'Living Fifty historical category, conditioned by the a sense of 'deep disappointment, of as msa, riti, alat~kara and dhwani - Years of Freedom: An Exercise in Oral political economy'. hopes betrayed, of grave anxiety for aspects of a literary text which the History.' It was not clear how one particular Panikkar described how different the future.' Bhattacharjea, however, translator has to encounter. could come to grips with the paradigms beginning with the saw a ray of hope in the initiative of In 'Is a Fresh Look at The Consti complexities of traditional symbolism, Nehruvian mode, to the inter activists who have shown what tution Necessary?' Sandeep Shastri particularlywithinlanguage. Thomas ventionist, the solipsistic to the mobilizing around linking the analysed the Indian parliamentary Pantham, in his provocative paper neo-narrative mode guided the Indian academic right to information with system. Contrary to the expectations 'Indian Secularism and Its Critics: artists. While the presentation focused the practical right to livelihood, does that this primary political forum of Some Reflections', argued that the on the artist-elite-critique-dealer to evoke grassroots consciousness. the country would foster an egalitarian Gandhian vision of Indian secularism hegemony, it left one with a disturbing Bhupinder Parihar in his 'National political milieu, it has largely been 'entailed a relative automony of the feeling that aspects such as inspiration Integration in a Pluralis~c Society' used for consolidating sectarian political and the religious ( qr~a ethical and instinct were being reduced to emphasized the lack of system aspirations and positions of power. In or spiritual or moral) such that they being handmaidens of history. building initiatives in free India. For his 'Foreign Policy and the Discourse can engage each other in a constructive Krishna Sobhti's 'Aaj aur Kal' was him, 'in the present socio-political of Freedom in India', Bhupinder Brar way.' a creative artist's presentation - her existential predicament, the difficult postulated freedom as a 'condition Rani D. Shankardass in her, 'The effort was to articulate the reflections question is how to strike a balance that is constantly restructured and Patelian Tradition of Indian Unity: of an ordinary human being; to present between unity and diversity, between reappropriated by continually Origins, Manifestations and Mis how a simple citizen comprehends national identity and cultural polari subjects'. representations', suggested that Patel, enduring the constant exchange with society ties, between ethnic and linguistic To be able to outline the contours unlike other leaders, was a pragmatist and its institutions. Peering into multiplicities.' Addressingtheefficacy of the debate on intellectuals, Peter De to the core, most comfortable w hen different social sections, people, of the judicial process, particularly in Souza in his paper; 'The Political 'identity or community-interest was forums, practices, she found a complex here of human rights, I. P. of Intellectuals in visibly dominant'. For him 'national the sp Responsibility of creative responses, regressions and Massey suggested that since indepen India', began by situating them in assertion' was not to be confused with hope. Above all, what impressed h er dence, there has been an evolution terms of three locations - within the 'nationalist feelings', while discipline most was the enthusiasm of a yet-to from civil and political rights to university system; as part of the and unity were interchangeable mature dynamism found among the economic, social and cultural rights. cultural context of a post-colonial notions. However, the consideration youth, women and environmental For B. G. Tandon, the appropriate society; and, lastly, in terms of their of discipline a nd unity as inter movements. way to describe the Indian condition class background. While the changeable can be fraught w ith after fifty years of freedom was emergence of a plurality of points of contradictions and m ay, as From the Wake 'anarchy'. And the reason was clear. view has led to an oscillation in the Shankerdass cautions, ' produce After fifty years there is no question The 'Indian character is a compound quality of the discourse ethics, the unintended effects'. that we needed a holistic, wide of seven deadly sins - irrationality, emerg~g importance of executive and A glaring absence in the agenda of ranging understanding of actions and religiosity, materialism, physical political authority has managed to the seminar was pointed out by U. events. The seminar had the potential feebleness, conservatism and infuse a mix of conformism, scepticism Vindhya who wondered whether the to make a meaningful effort in this conceitedness'! Som P. Ranchan and pedantic notions of social justice. absence of any discussion of gender direction. Expectations were deep, suggested that we moved away from Through a critical and incisive issues was a

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