Hyderabad|India|February'2010: Gandhian Values are very relevant in today’s world said Prof. Douglas Allen while delivering the University of Hyderabad Distinguished Lecture to a packed audience at the Sir C V Raman Auditorium on the University Campus on February 11, 2010.

The Lecture organised by the University of Hyderabad was titled “Mahatma Gandhi and Violence Today: Economic Violence and Swaraj”. Prof. Allen says that he is amused to find how Indians have treated Gandhi differently in different period of times. While Indians See Gandhi as the apostle of peace they also hold Gandhi responsible for some of the major blunders that have occurred in the post independence Indian history.

The lecture was an attempt to rediscover some of the profound ideas of Gandhi such as ‘Swaraj’ and the his idea of means being equally moralistic as the ends.

Professor G Nancharaiah, Dean, School of Social Sciences gave the welcome address. Prof. Naresh Kumar Sharma, Coordinator, Centre for Gandhian Economic Thought,School of Social Sciences introduced the speaker. Prof. Prakash C. Sarangi, Pro Vice Chancellor presided over the lecture and Sri. C P Mohan Kumar, Registrar proposed the vote of thanks.

Prof. Douglas Allen is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Maine, USA. His areas of research and teaching specialization are phenomenology, Eliade, Indian philosophy, Gandhi, comparative East-West philosophy and religion, and political philosophy. During 2009-2010, he is in India on a Fulbright-Nehru Senior Research Fellowship to do research on “Mahatma Gandhi and Violence, Terrorism, and the Contemporary World,” and he is writing a new book on Mahatma Gandhi.

Reachout's News Bureau
February' 2010