Seminar on ' Whither democracy"

Chennakesavarao
Apr 16
2 min read

An interactive seminar on ' Whither democracy : current trends in India and its beyond " was held at the Neelam Rajasekhar Reddy Research Centre at the CR Foundation on 5 April 2025. Retired Prof, Journalist and media expert Dr Padmaja Shaw of Osmania University, Prof Murali Karanam of NALSAR University, Hyderabad , Prof Ajay Gudavarthy, Associate Professor, Political Science in the School of Social Sciences in Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi have participated and addressed the seminar.

Dr Anji Reddy, Assistant Professor in the Nagarjuna University presided over the proceedings.

Welcoming the participants, the Centre's Director Dr Suresh Babu has underscored the current challenges to the democracy in India. He called for putting efforts by the progressive thinking people to study with a view to find solutions to these challenges such as inequality, poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and political corruption.

In his presentation Dr Anji Reddy presented an overview of democracy since independence particularly from 80es till date. He observed that the though the democratic process in the country has started on a positive note and has gradually acquired neoliberal, cultural and nationalistic character which served the interest of the ruling elite. This has eventually led to deep economic inequality.

Prof Smt Padmaja Shah in her speech highlighted the conspiracy and attempts by one particular section of the media business houses to mislead the society with confusing content. She opined that the social media in all its forms has brought more damage than benefits.

Prof Murali Karnam underscored the concept of public education of the society which would help in analysing the sinister plans and policies of the ruling party.

Prof Ajay of JNU talked about the ruling BJP's strategy of making social engineering in various states. He brought the example of Haryana where the BJP succeeded in it's penetration. He mentioned about how BJP/RSS are succeeding by expanding its foot print through cultural and emotional identify. He called the left parties to recalibrate their approach and devise a new mechanism to reach out to various sections of the society.

The seminar concluded with a vote of thanks by Smt K Jyotsna of C Raghavachari Trust.