Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister Bibek Debroy on Saturday stressed the need to rediscover the rich civilisational history of the country.
Participating in a panel discussion on ‘The Meaning of India’ at the Pondy Lit Fest 2018 held here, he said, “India was not invented or discovered the day we got independence. It has a rich cultural history. And we have disowned several parts of that history.”
Bemoaning the tendency to ignore the past, he said “the history as taught today has a jaundiced view”.
Speaking at another panel discussion on ‘India and the Changing World’ at the fest, he said several archaic laws should be repealed to achieve all-round progress.
He also wanted more participation by individuals and communities in nation-building.
Space for new ideas
For the nation to progress, space should be given for new ideas to flourish. “There was only one idea that dominated from 1950-91. Why should there be only one idea. It is important to have more ideas flourishing,” Mr. Debroy said.
Member of Parliament Swapan Dasgupta, while participating in a panel discussion, said constraining nationhood to post-independence would not serve any good. “The nation pre-dated the independence. Our sense of the past when we got freedom was imperfect and the imperfection only increased in the days after we achieved independence,” he said.
Ancient philosophers like Chanakya and the emperor of Maurya, Ashoka, were made to fade away from our collective consciousness, he said.
“The Constitution of India is very important. It defines the rule of the public life. But it does not tell us how we were in the past,” said Mr. Dasgupta.
The fest got off on Saturday after the organisers decided to cancel the inaugural function on August 17 following the death of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Published - August 19, 2018 12:00 am IST
