Mangaluru: The Third edition of Mangaluru Lit fest that attempts to showcase the ancient Indian wisdom of peace inaugurated on Saturday, 27 March at the ocean pearl.
Former principal secretary, Shakti Sinha inaugurated by lighting the lamp. The theme of the 3rd edition is “Reimagining the idea of Bharat.”
The panelist for the first session Dr. Nandakumar was present on the occasion. Along with Professor Madhav Nalapat, Vikram Sood, Professor Dattesh Prabhu, who joined via Video Conference.
“India has moved from taker to giver. It’s a transformation that everybody could see. Amidst the corona post-pandemic India has shown its strength over China. The country has produced medicine and has become a big supplier of covid vaccines to the world countries” said Shakti Sinha IAS, former principal secretary of PM of India.
He said “Covid had thrown many challenges, especially China at our borders. But now India is not hesitant, sense of responsibility has helped India to stop China from occupying our lands. The country saw a lockdown which was strong. And that helped to stop the pandemic. India is at the start of becoming vishwaguru. Moreover, the Atma nirbhar policy taking India to a higher level.”
Vikram Sood has spoken about the importance of narratives in bolstering power in international geopolitics. He pointed out that narratives bring a psychological impact that is rather unseen. As an example, he talked about the narrative of the US military is the strongest military in the world, whereas, if examined, it could be seen that the US had not won a single war since the 1940s. So he pointed out that narratives need not be in touch with reality but yet it makes a whole lot of difference in the way the country is perceived, he said.
Prof. Madhava Nalapat, Chairman, UNESCO Chair, MAHE, said, the narrative of India including ancient heroes has given the status of myth by the colonizers, whereas in the western countries, the tales of Alexander the Great and Julius Ceasar from the Roman Times are still given the primary importance. He continued that India has a premise for great narratives. India stands for vasudeva kutumbakam. The whole world is one family. Our six thousand years old civilization stands as evidence to a great narrative. We are carrying this heritage forward.
Speaking on the contemporary issues India is facing with China, he said, India is a country that could reach the same level of achievement as China. China fears this potential of India, and hence, aims to decapitate India’s attempt to become an economic power. However, the present government is striving hard to build strong international relationships with all of the world. Prime Minister’s G 20 summits meetings were important because through this platform Narendra Modi raised the issue of black money and later yoga got world stage. Through SAARC India took leadership, and helped the world through vaccination.
Professor Dattesh Prabhu, categorically stated that days of Non-alignment policies were gone. India has matured to take an independent stance on global issues. He expressed happiness that India led by the present government is doing it with the highest standards of moral values. As an example, he stated how the world was totally concerned about Vaccine Nationalism and Hegemony given the conflict between the USA and China. India did not let this narrative build as it started the altruistic measures of Vaccine Mytri.
