History and Culture of India: A New Approach

Kireet Joshi (b. 1931) studied philosophy and law at the Bombay University. He was selected for I.A.S. in 1955 but in 1956 he resigned in order to devote himself at Pondicherry to the study and practice of the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. He taught Philosophy and Psychology at Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education at Pondicherry and participated in numerous educational experiments under the direct guidance of The Mother. In 1976, Government of Indian invited him to be Educational Adviser in the Ministry of Education. In 1983, he was appointed Special Secretary to the Government of India, and held this post until 1988. He was Member-Secretary of Rashtriya Veda Vidya Pratishthan from 1987 to 1993. He was appointed Vice-Chairman of the UNESCO Institute of Education, Hamburg, from 1987 to 1990. In the Ministry of Education, he was incharge of Higher Education. National Commission on Teachers, Languages, Youth Affairs and UNESCO affairs. He had been the Chairman of Auroville Foundation and is currently the chairman of Indian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPR). His published works include: Sri Aurobindo and Integral Yoga, Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, Education for Character Development, Education for Tomorrow, Education at Crossroads, Philosophy and Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and other Essays and Veda and Indian Culture.

Shri Kittu Reddy was born in the Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh in 1936. His father was one of the first MLCs when he was elected as a member of the Swarajya Paraty in 1924. He is the nephew of Late Sanjiva Redday, the former President of India. Since 1987,he has been giviing talks to the Indian Army on Indian culture, the Mission of India and Motivation and Leadership. In 1994, at the request of General BC Joshi, who was then chief of Aarmy Staff, he moved over to Delhi for two years to help him in his work. He was appoointed Adviser to the Army Welfare Education Society. After the passing away of General Joshi, he worked closely with General Shankar Roy Chowdhury, when he was the Chief of the Indian Army. Since then he has been in close touch with the INdian Army and has conducted workshops for the Indian Army, Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force. The workshops deal with Motivation, Leadership and the Indian Nation. They have been held both in Pondicherry at Sri Aurobindo Ashram and at training centers of the Armed Forces. He has also written two books, one for the INdian Army titled "Bravest of the Brave" and a very important book on history, named "History of India - A New Approach." In addition he has written a monograph entitled "Kargil, the manifestation of a deeper problem."