To celebrate and commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Sri Lala Lajpat Rai, a national seminar was conducted at School of Graduate Studies, Jain (Deemed-to-be University).
Sri. Konduri Lakshminarayana, CEO, M/s. Shell MRPL Aviation Fuels and Services Ltd., expressed his inability to make it to the inaugural session due to inevitable reason through e-mail and also sent a loaded message conveying the significance and relevance of such celebration (especially on Lalaji and his contributions as ‘Punjab Kesari’) through the Ministry of Culture organizing lectures at various educational institutions in different states of the country.
Sri. K. V. Acharya, Chief Guest of the seminar spoke about transformation of self, give and take in society, ‘sanskar’, trends in the enrollment to college education through times and consequent effects, the triangular relationship of individual, family and country, diversified aspects leading to negative trends in society, role of biographies of freedom fighters such as Lalaji to inspire and help the youth to walk away from darkness to light leading them in the right direction.
Major Arvind Kumar, NCC Officer and Professor of Hindi, Jain (Deemed-to-be University) and special guest of the occasion spoke about the great deeds of freedom fighters and the role of youth to acknowledge and respect the same. He also gave a strong message to the students to develop an attitude of giving back to our nation and inculcate that habit among the future generation.
Keynote address was given by Mr. T. N. Ramakrishna with a power point presentation on the life and contributions of Lala Lajpat Rai in a very elaborate manner, to highlight few aspects, Lalaji as an activist, reformer, legal expert, visionary, statesman, patriotic entrepreneur, founder of educational and financial institutions, association with Arya Samaj, social service, books written by him and so on.
Mr. Praveen Kumar, Financial Consultant, M. D. R. T. (USA) presented a paper highlighting the contributions of Lalaji and also conveyed that the youth need to be proactive to promote nationalism, that was followed by a brief question and answer session.
At the valedictory session, chief guest Dr. S. R. Leela, Ex. MLC focused on the multi-faceted contributions of Lalaji and then spoke about individual attitude, priority and goals which have to align to the common benefit of masses. She highlighted the fact that fellow feeling is declining and that it is important to bridge the gap between the privileged and the under privileged through an attitudinal transition for the welfare of all. Biographies of great people should be read by all to get inspired and emulate their noble ways and educational institutions should encourage a holistic approach (through setting up a section on patriotism in libraries) to mould better human beings and not merely churn degrees leading to money making endeavours. Essence of Indian culture and heritage enables to promote such an atmosphere and promote a true nation dreamt by the great souls who sacrificed their lives for a bigger cause.
