The Department of Urdu, School of Humanities, University of Hyderabad (UoH) in collaboration with the UNESCO Chair in Vulnerability Studies, University of Hyderabad organized a Two-Day National Seminar on the topic Vulnerability and Urdu Literature – Social, Historical and Cultural Perspectives on 23rd – 24th August 2023 at the Auditorium, School of Humanities. The Institution of Eminence (IoE), University of Hyderabad funded the seminar.

The Inaugural Function scheduled on 23rd August was presided over by Prof. B. J. Rao, Vice Chancellor, University of Hyderabad and the Chief Guest of the event was Prof. Syed Ainul Hasan, Vice Chancellor, Maulana Azad National Urdu University. Prof. Anisur Rahman, former Head, Dept. of English, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi delivered the keynote address. Prof. J. Prabhakar Rao, Dean i/c, School of Humanities welcomed the guests to the school. Prof. Habeeb Nisar, the then Head, Dept. of Urdu welcomed all the audience. Prof. Pramod K. Nayar, Chair, UNESCO Chair in Vulnerability Studies briefed about the chair and the concept of vulnerability in English Literature worldwide. Prof. Aftab Ahmad Afaqui and Prof. Safdar Imam Quadri were the Guests of Honour in the inaugural session. Dr Md. Zahidul Haque, Associate Professor in the Department of Urdu and Faculty Fellow, UNESCO Chair in Vulnerability Studies presented the aims and objectives of the seminar. He compere the inaugural session.

The seminar had five technical sessions wherein the scholars from different subjects and from different parts of the country presented their research papers. This seminar was pioneering and first of its kind on this topic in Urdu Literature where the scholars from other disciplines presented their papers mainly in Urdu Language along with some in English. Prof. Neshat Quaiser (Centre de Sciences Humaines, Delhi) from Sociology, Prof. Shailendra Kumar Verma (MGKVP, Varanasi), Dr. Habibullah Shah (DDE, University of Kashmir) and Ms. Ummul Fatmi (MGKVP, Varanasi) represented the Education discipline, Prof. Anisur Rahman and Dr Shabeeh Rahat from English, Prof. Tabir Kalam (BHU, Varanasi) from History, Prof. Niranjan Kumar Sahay (MGKVP, Varanasi) from Hindi, Prof. Afroz Alam (MANUU, Hyderabad) from Political Science participated and presented their papers along with the following from Urdu discipline Prof. Aftab Ahmad Afaqui (BHU, Varanasi), Prof. Safdar Imam Quadri (Patliputra University), Dr Irfan Ahmad Malik (Central University of Kashmir), Dr Misbahul Anzar (MANUU, Hyderabad), Dr Firoz Alam (MANUU, Hyderabad), Dr Musharraf Ali (BHU, Varanasi), Dr Md. Irshad Ali (Maulana Azad College, Kolkata), Dr Masroor Ahmad Haidri (LN Mithila University, Darbhanga), Mr. Faiyaz Ahmad Wani (Central University of Kashmir), Mr. Md. Aasim Badr and Mr. Javed Rasool Sheikh (University of Hyderabad).

A mesmerizing cultural evening named as Shaam e Ghazal was also organized on 23rd August at the same venue, Ustad Sabir Habeeb Khan accompanied by Dr Sanjay Kingi on Sitaar and Mr Harijeet Singh on Tabla enthralled the audience.

Prof. Gajendra Kumar Pathak, Head, Dept. of Hindi chaired a technical session.

Prof. Pramod K. Nayar presided over the Valedictory Session on 24th August which was co-chaired by Prof. Habeeb Nisar. Prof. Neshat Quaiser, Prof. Safdar Imam Quadri and Prof. Anna Kurian were the Chief Guests in this session. Participants of the seminar and a large number of students and Research scholars from the Urdu, English, Hindi and other Departments of the university expressed their views. The seminar ended with the vote of thanks by the seminar coordinator.