Dear All, Jai Bheem
* * *Boston** Area NRIs Celebrated 117th Birth Anniversary of Dr. B.R Ambedkar* Boston area NRIs created a history at MIT/Harvard by celebrating *117th Birth Anniversary of Dr. B.R Ambedkar *for the first time. Two distinguished guests are invited for this special occasion, they are: Dr. Christopher Queen (Dean, Harvard University, Boston, USA) & Professor. Uma Chakravarti (Delhi University, New Delhi, India). There was a good response from the audience that included Indian community members and Alumni and students of MIT & Harvard universities and the attendees came all the way from New York City and Vermont. Dr. Shobha Singh the senior Indian American leader was among those who graced the occasion. All the attendees requested to continue this tradition every year. On this special occasion, Dr. Christopher Queen, who has done extensive study of Dr. Ambedkar's life and his teachings spoke about his legacy and the vital role Dr. Ambedkar played in shaping the vision for Modern India based on principles of liberty, equality and justice. Dr. Queen encouraged the new generation of Indian leaders to come forward to carry on his vision to build a new egalitarian society where all the citizens of India have equal opportunities and can enjoy their due share in the nation building. Dr. Queen also stressed the fact that Media, Judicial System, and Law & Order should play a critical role and should operate independently free of political and other influences. Prof. Uma Chakravarti spoke about Dr. Ambedkar's struggles for downtrodden communities and women's rights. Prof. Chakravarti said that Dr. Ambedkar's ideology is very much relevant to the contemporary India and his ideals and vision for the country laid out in the constitution is yet to be fulfilled even after 60 years of democracy. She stressed the need for modern India to tackle all the contradictions including; caste, religion, gender and labor with the same urgency. Prof. Chakravarti also expressed concern over the ongoing globalization in India which is adversely impacting the downtrodden without proper safeguards. During the Question & Answer session, the audience enthusiastically engaged in discussions about Dr. Ambedkar's history, legacy, and current societal problems and also covered geo-political issues and impact of Globalization on Indian community. Dr. Shobha Singh presented the mementos to the guest speakers. The meeting was organized by Dr. Venkat Maroju, Rayadas Manthena, Dr. Abha Sur and Dr. Omar Khalidi. The event photographs can viewed at the following link. http://picasaweb.google.com/vmaroju/DrAmbedkarJayanti_MIT04142008 -- Ranjit --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to greenyouth@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
