[Reader-list] Invitation to a Lecture by Shailendra Raj Mehta on 27 July 2017 at CSDS

[Praveen Rai]

Centre for the Study of Developing Societies

invites you to a lecture





*Free Speech and Academic Freedom *

*in India and in the West*

by *Shailendra Raj Mehta*





*Donald R Davis* will Chair

Thursday, 27 July 2017, 5.30 pm
                              *RSVP *

CSDS Seminar
Room,
                        Tel:
011 23942199

29 Rajpur Road, Delhi
110054
Fax: 011 23943450

Please join us for tea at 5 pm
                                          email: jaya at csds.in





In India, the tradition of free speech could be traced in the Rig Veda,
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 16 Mahajanpadas, sermons of the Buddha and the
edicts of emperor Ashoka. The free public gatherings and discussions in the
universities of Nalanda and Vikramashila in ancient India continued during
the medieval period of Akbar and Dara Shikoh which culminated with the
enshrining of free speech in the Indian constitution in 1947. The roots of
free speech in the West could be found in the Greek texts starting with
Homer, Socrates, Plato and Libanius followed by Milton, Mill and Kant and
then Bertrand Russell and others in modern times.



The struggle for free expression in social and religious realms in the West
is analyzed in the context of democracy while the Freedom of enquiry comes
much later. In contrast the Indian tradition of free speech is
contextualized in an environment of wide diversity of views that coexisted
from the ancient period and can be summarized as freedom of enquiry. A
possible philosophical underpinning is also proposed that is grounded in
the celebration of diversity that characterises Indian thought.



*Shailendra Raj Mehta* is the President and Director of MICA where is also
Distinguished Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Prior to this,
he was, respectively, the Chairman of the Board of Management at Auro
University, Vice Chancellor of Ahmedabad University and Visiting Professor
of Business Policy at IIM-Ahmedabad.



He taught Economics and Strategic Management at Purdue University for 16
years. He is currently working on an institutional history of the ancient
universities in India.



*Donald R Davis* is Associate Professor at the University of Texas at
Austin, USA.

-- 
Praveen Rai
Academic Secretary
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
29, Rajpur Road
Delhi - 110054
Phone: 91-11-23942199
http://www.csds.in/praveen.rai