Priyankar Upadhyaya: Gandhi in Contemporary Peace Continuum

-

 


On 4th October 2020, The History Department of Kirori Mal College along with the Internal Quality Assurance Cell of Kirori Mal College organized a 5-day International Webinar on the topic RELEVANCE OF MAHATMA GANDHI IN THE 21ST CENTURY: PHILOSOPHY, POLITICAL IDEAS AND SOCIO-SPIRITUAL DIMENSION to observe the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

In the 2nd day of the Webinar, we have had with us Professor Priyankar Upadhyaya, UNESCO Chair for Peace, Benaras Hindu University, Global Fellow, Peace Research Institute Ohio (PRIO), who spoke on the 4th October 2020 at 3pm IST on the Gandhi in Contemporary Peace Continuum. Prof. Upadhyaya holds M.Phil. and Ph.D from the Jawaharlal Nehru University and holds Advance International Diploma(s) in Conflict Resolution from Uppasala University, Sweden. He is also a scholar of University of London and the Woodrow Wilson Centre for International Scholars, Washington DC. He is a recipient of many reputed awards like the Guest Scholar Award of the Woodrow Wilson Centre of International Scholars in 1992, Faculty Research Award and many more. He has been a faculty of Political Science and Confluct Resolution in many parts of the world, including Montreal, Northern Ireland, Sweden and United States. He is currently teaching International Relations and Peace Studies at the Benaras Hindu University and has occasionally served as guest expert on various news channels. He was also invited by President Barack Obama to the White House to attend a meeting on Religious and Interfaith dialogue. On 24th of May 2018, a book titled 'Long Walk of Peace: towards a culture of prevention' authored by Prof. Upadhyaya was published by UNESCO, was launched at the UN Library at Geneva.

The event was moderated by Kajal Diwan, 3rd year student of History Department of Kirori Mal College and Ridhi Jain, 3rd year student of History Department of Kirori Mal College. Prof. Upadhyaya delivered an enlightening lecture and he discussed about how Gandhi believed that Peace is not the destination, but a way of life. He emphasised the fact that how Gandhi put humans at the centre of everything and how categoric he was.

He also discussed at lengths on 'peaceful' as a continuum, also how peace had been an empowering phenomena. He also introduced to us Gandhi's vision of holistic peace as sustaining peace and how Gandhi believed in both direct and indirect violence. He ended the lecture with Gandhi's thoughts and feelings on how he thought small children young be made aware and taught about peace at an early age.

His lecture was followed by a very intriguing QnA sessions with the audience. Prof. Devji’s profuse knowledge upon the subject was received and appreciated very well by the audience and the event thus ended on a very positive and fulfilling note.

-

Author:


Kaustubh Bhatnagar
2nd Year, History Hons. KMC

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

College And Pandemic

-
Image
It had started raining so I sat down with a cup of tea to relax after being done with all my hectic online classes. My head was aching of continuous staring at the computer screen along with an incessant back pain due to sitting uncomfortably for five hours taking lectures and making notes. That has been every student’s life lately since online classes have started. In that moment, it all seemed almost unbearable for me, so I just closed my eyes to let it all sink in.  I couldn’t help but think about our last day at college before the outbreak of covid-19 and the events that followed thereafter.   Mid-sem break was around the corner and I was pretty much excited to be leaving for home that day. I had my entire semester planned out and was eagerly waiting for the events of even semester to unfold. Well, along with the even semester comes the excitement and thrill of witnessing the famous Delhi University fests. ( I’d be lying if I say that fests were not one of the reasons...
Read more

Was It All Okay?

-
Image
Everybody asks how is Barani, nobody asks how are you? So, how are you? Were you okay? Was it all okay and insane this entire lockdown period? Is it just the GDP or your mood too, which went down? Did you feel that nothing is right? Did you miss somebody? Did you cry all alone? Was it really so hard to express? Did you fight? Did you scream? Was it really so hard to get up from the bed?  Did you just lie on the bed whole day long? Did you tell everybody you have nothing to wear and nothing to read thus, its not your fault that you don't feel good and lie on bed the entire day? Is it really about the clothes and the books? Come on! you wear the same two-three t-shirts and you hardly study!  Do you miss college? I do. Do you miss meeting you friends? You really miss that cute sense of freedom where you could do anything without explaining your parents, don't you? Do you feel burdened with thoughts?  Do you end up overthinking all the time? Did you fight with your parents? D...
Read more

Stories of A Drowning World

-
Image
  Introduction “God ordered his man to build an ark big enough to accommodate a pair of all the animals of this world along with his wife, because the flood was coming.” This story may feel familiar not only to you but millions of people of different religions and civilizations. The story of a ‘flood’ that wiped out the entire humanity could be heard in every part of this world although with some regional variations. The variation could be seen best in the difference of names of the ‘man’ ranging from Noah to Manu and many more. These stories are in existence from centuries and have a vast history. But the stories are not free from questions of scholars, theologians, geologists, historians, and even atheist. Why almost every ancient civilization mentions about flood? Are these stories just myth? Which story is the truest? How did these stories come into existence? And most importantly, was there any such flood? Answering these questions is difficult but not impossible. A revisi...
Read more