Ayodhya And The Future India
Contributors and Participants
Contributors
ARUN SHOURIE, former editor of the Indian Express, is a well-known journalist and political analyst of our times. He spoke in this series of talks at the Centre on January 3, 1993 and also in a public meeting on the Ayodhya issue held a day earlier under the aegis of Vigil, a public opinion forum of Madras city. His contribution in this volume is compiled from his public speech of January 2, audio-tape of which was kindly made available by the organisers, and the talk and discussions at the Centre.
SANJIVI GUHAN, emeritus professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies, has been a senior civil servant and economic adviser to the chief minister of Tamilnadu. He spoke at the Centre on February 14, 1993.
ABDUS SAMAD, president of the Indian Union Muslim League in Tamilnadu, is a veteran parliamentarian, and has been actively involved in politics at local, provincial and national level for four decades. He spoke at the Centre on January 27, 1993.
CASIMIR GNANADICKAM, The Most Reverend the Archbishop of Madras-Mylapore, is a highly regarded scholar who has always remained active in the public life. He has recently completed 50 years in the service of the Church. His Grace spoke at the Centre on February 17, 1993.
S. GURUMURTHY, a chartered account by profession, is a well-known commentator on public events, whose public consciousness has been moulded by an unflinching dedication to the ideals of Indian national resurgence. He has had a long and close association with Sri Ramanath Goenka, the founder of Indian Express and a doyen of Indian journalism. He spoke at the Centre on February 26, 1993.
K. N. GOVINDACHARYA, general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party, is considered to be one amongst the new generation of incisive political thinkers active in the public life of India today. As a pracharak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha, Sri Govindacharya has dedicated his life to the cause of Indian national resurgence. He spoke at the Centre on February 19, 1993.
DHARAMAPAL, is a pioneering historian of the spirit and the organisational genius of pre-British India. He, through his thought and writings, has inspired a whole generation with new visions of a resurgent India, regenerated through the varied skills and talents of her people, and leading the world towards an Indian millenium. He spoke in this series on February 28, 1993.
JITENDRA BAJAJ, director of the Centre, is a theoretical physicist by training and a former resident editor of Jansatta, the Hindi daily of the Indian Express group. He is a student of the Indian ways of organising science, society and polity.
Participants
The meetings were attended by a large number of participants, many of whom also took active part in the discussions that followed the talks by the main speakers. It has been possible to mention only a few of the participants by name in the discussions compiled in this volume. They are:
C. N. KRISHNAN, professor of electrical engineering at the Madras Institute of Technology with a keen interest in the traditional Indian sciences and technologies; VENUGOPAL AMBADY, former officer of the Indian Railways with a scholary interest in the history of the religions of the world; S. KRISHNAN, who has a keen interest in Indian thought and is engaged in applying the Indian ways in the field of school education; RADHA RAJAN, teacher of English and Russian with a deep interest in the evolution of the current Indian polity; K. RAVI, free-lance journalist dedicated to the cause of national resurgence; ASHOK JHUNJHUNWALA, professor of elecrical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, with a keen interest in the exploration and propagation of the traditional Indian sciences and technologies; CHAMUNDESHWARI BAJI, social activist and a keen observer of the current Indian polity; A. VAIDYANATHAN, former member of the planning commission and emeritus professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies; S. NEELAKANTHAN, director of the Madras Institute of Development Studies; R. PARTHASARTHY, lecturer in Geography in a college in Madras and a social activist; S. BALACHANDRAN, marketing executive and a social activist; S. SOUNDRARAJAN, former additional auditor-general of India and a liberal humanist; K. RAMASUBRAMANYAN, a young Sanskrit scholar with a training in physics and who is currently engaged in the study of Indian astronomical texts; M. S. SRIRAM, theoretical physicist engaged in research on the Indian astronomical tradition; R. RADHIKA, a young computer engineer with a deep interest in the current polity of India; K. V. VARADARAJAN, professor of economics in a Madras college, who has an abiding interest in understanding and exhibiting the overwhelming contribution of the swadeshi component of economy in the economic life of India today; M. D. SRINIVAS, chairman of the Centre and a theoretical physicist who is keenly interested in the Indian ways of organising science and society; K. H. MARIWALA, former professor of physics in the Institute of Mathematical Sciences at Madras; T. M. MUKUNDAN, senior fellow of the Centre, who is interested in traditional Indian sciences and technologies and is a practitioner of Ayurveda and Yoga; FATHER KRIPAKARAN, secretary to His Grace the Archbishop of Madras-Mylapore; E. G. TULAPURKARA, professor of aeronautical engineering in the Indian Institute of Technology at Madras; K. PREMA, scholar of Sanskrit and Hindi; P. S. THIAGARAJAN, professor of mathematics at the SPIC foundation for mathematics at Madras; M. SEETHARAMAN, theoretical physicist with a keen interest in the Indian society and polity today; ASHOK MEHROTRA, who is a keen student of religion and politics; S. BHARATAN, mechanical engineer with an active interest in the cause of Indian national resurgence; UDAYSHANKAR, a young computer engineer; C. T. VAIRAVAN, bank executive with a keen interest in current polity; SEKHAR RAGHAVAN, senior fellow of the Centre and a theoretical physicist who is currently engaged in a study of the temples in Chengalpattu district of Tamilnadu.
