In a two-day ‘National Seminar on Politics of Inclusion: Empowering Minorities in India’ organised by the Department of Political Sciences, UoH on September 5-6, 2017 at Conference Hall, School of Social Sciences various academicians from eminent Universities graced the occasion and enlightened the gathering with their views on concerns regarding the minority communities in India.
Sri B. Chandrasekhara Rao, Convenor for the National Seminar and faculty in the Department of Political Science, UoH gave a valedictory address and talked about the contribution of students in enriching paper presentation sessions happening for the last two days. With gratitude he said that these 42 paper presentations gave us better understanding of the minority issues.
Prof. Amir Ullah Khan, Director, CSE, MANUU, who was the special guest of second and last day of the seminar focused on problems faced by the minorities in a developing nation like India. He also threw light on the economic importance given to minorities and representation of Muslims in his speech. “The most suffered minority even after so much of development is still ‘Women’ He said with a lot of gravity.
As a renowned economist he asked the gathering what they think is stopping India’s progress to which he answered, “When it comes to development we all focus on poverty and not inequalities which exist everywhere in India and is the major cause of all our problems”. Congratulating the organizers he opined how the seminar threw light on some of the really interesting and exciting questions related to minorities which need to be addressed.
Chief Guest of the seminar, Sri B. Shafiullah Khan, I.F.S., Vice-chairman and Managing Director, TSMFC, Hyderabad, started his speech by welcoming everyone and congratulating the participants. Talking about the Telangana state he emphasised how Telangana state has always been a minority rich state and how the government has always worked for the development of these minorities. He touched upon various issues such as literacy, unemployment, failed government policies and proudly spoke about several policies launched by the Telangana State which tackled the need of around 50% of the minority community in a short span of less than two years.
The Guest of Honour, Prof. G. Sudarshanam, Former Professor of Political Science, UoH was felicitated by UoH Pro-Vice Chancellor and Chair for the Seminar Prof. B.P. Sanjay and his former students during the ceremony. Thanking the dignitaries and his students for honouring him Prof. G. Sudarshanam talked about his professional life, his connection with his students and his experience at the university. He said “Teaching is a two way process and you get to learn a lot from your students as well.” Prof. Sudarshanam who joined the UoH in 1985 has so far successfully guided more than 20 PhD scholars and 30 MPhil students.
In the end Dr. Mohammed Ghouse, Department of Political Science, UoH while giving the Vote of Thanks, thanked the dignitaries, collaborating partners of the event such as UPE-II and Government of Telangana, delegates and the participants for bringing out more focus on minority issues.
There were 42 presentations in total and more than 100 people attended the seminar.
The seminar was organized around 8 important themes for the presentations that covered the following topics
Politics of inclusion: contemporary debate
Political parties and minorities
Public policy and minorities
Politics and identity
Political empowerment and minorities
Debating minorities
Inclusion and minorities
Democracy and role of state
-Swati Pant and Monika Tiwari, M.A. Communication