India Looks Ahead: Jayaprakash Narayan Memorial Lectures 1990-2001

This significant book is the confluence of thoughts of twelve outstanding personalities on various key questions India is faced with and is pointing the way for the future. These brilliant minds have articulated their thoughts through the medium of Jayaprakash Narayan Memorial Lectures. Among the great personalities whose thoughts form parts of this book are a Nobel Laureate, The Dalai Lama; a Bharat Ratna, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam; a Padma Vibhusan, Soli J. Sorabjee; a former Prime Minister, V.P. Singh; a former Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Prof. Madhu Dandavate; an OBE, Surur Hoda; a Defence Minister, George Fernandes; a diplomat, A.K. Damodaran; a Gandhian, Ravindra Varma; a former Member of the Planning Commission, S.P. Shukla; a journalist, Ajit Bhattacharjea; and a social democratic ideologue and biographer, Pradip Bose. The themes they have dealt with encompass India’s vision to become a developed nation, secularism, social justice, violence and non-violence, India’s security concerns, human rights, power as an instrument of socio-economic change, challenges from globalisation and liberalisation, and so on. Together, the book contains food for thought for India’s political elite, policy makers, intelligentsia, academics and ordinary citizens who are concerned about the country’s welfare in future.