J&K ex-Governor NN Vohra to open 2-day seminar on Punjab today

New Delhi, March 3

Starting Monday, the National Institute of Panjab Studies, Bhai Vir Singh Sahitya Sadan, New Delhi, will organise a series of international seminars on the overarching theme, “Punjab at Crossroads”.

The series aims to generate a serious and comprehensive debate around the challenges Punjab is grappling with.

The two-day seminar on “Political economy and governance of Punjab”, the first in the series, in collaboration with the India International Centre, will be inaugurated here on Monday by former Governor of Jammu and Kashmir NN Vohra, who has had a long association with the state and has witnessed its governance from close quarters.

Institute leaders said the seminar had been designed under the guidance of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, known for ushering in an era of liberal economy, and SS Johl, leading agricultural scientist and consultant to four former Prime Ministers.

Acclaimed experts of the sector from India (JNU, DU, Ashoka University, IP University, BR Ambedkar University and from the universities in Punjab) and abroad (Cambridge, Oxford, Bonn, California, Paris) will participate in the seminar. Mark Juergensmeyer, responsible for setting up chairs of Sikh Studies in California, will also join online.

The valedictory address will be delivered by well-known economist Pritam Singh Gill from Oxford Brookes University.

Former information and broadcasting minister and MP from Punjab Manish Tewari will be the chief guest.

Prominent delegates at the seminar will be Sucha Singh Gill, Sukhpal Singh (IIM, Ahmedabad), and Pinaki Chakraborty, besides 12 scholars from abroad.

Former chief secretary of Punjab Ramesh Inder Singh and eminent economist Lakhwinder Singh Gill will present papers themed “Governance of Punjab: Some issues” and “Political economy: Theory, practice and policy”, respectively.

There will be 13 presentations in the two-day seminar.

The sessions would be chaired by established scholars and administrators.

The seminar, the institute said, had been mooted with the idea that challenges faced by Punjab were multiple and there were as many perspectives on the issues and on the way forward.