By Dr TANIA SAILI BAKSHI
Valley of Words, Literature and Art Festival believes that literature, arts, deliberative endeavours have the power to usher innovative thinking to make the world a better place.
An important and watched out segment of the festival has been the prestigious Vox Populi Parliamentarians Debate, curated by Dr Amna Mirza. The debate this year shall be broadcast during Valley of Words finale to be hosted in Dehradun on 12th – 13th November for wider dissemination.
Vox Populi an integral part of the Valley of Word is where Parliamentarians from different political parties engage in a freewheeling discussion on a topic of significance for the polity, society, economy, cultural horizons amongst others.
This year taking the stride forward, the topic of debate is ” A double digit growth is possible only with urbanization”, where lawmakers from various political parties make it a point to participate. This star online session will be relayed over VoW’s social media handles as well as the National Digital Library platforms across the globe.
The panelists for this year’s discussion include Dr Ashok Bajpai (BJP), Vivek Krishna Tankha( INC), Sant Balbir Seechewal(AAP), Prof. Manoj Kumar Jha(RJD), Dr. Amar Patnaik(BJD), K. Keshava Rao(TRS), Dr. V. Sivadasan( 3 weeks to go! INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE & ARTS FESTIVAL CPIM), and Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu(YSRC) with the context setting being presented by Rajeev Ranjan Srivastava, Group Editor at Deshbandhu newspaper and DB Live who bring forth the idea and thought behind the topic.
This year too the debate has been curated by academician, author, social entrepreneur Dr Amna. Pointing towards the significance of this segment Dr Amna said, “our life needs creative inputs & debates and ideas of public representatives adds new dimensions to our understanding of the present. The views of MPs in all the debates are creative visions that are of enormous value for everyone to comprehend issues in public domain.”
The curator of the Festival, Policy Historian & Analyst Dr Sanjeev Chopra states, “it is great privilege for the Festival to have our board of governor Dr Amna got such a diverse panel of MPs to express their views in a meaningful dialogue. This is an important time for discussion on topic of urbanization & growth – for this is the phenomenon that will mark the ‘AmritKaal’ of India’s Independence. If we can handle this well, we will truly resolve many of our issues, and emerge as the ‘Vishwa Guru’ in the real sense of the term.” He further adds, “Great literary works have been influenced by great works of art, and multifaceted aspects of arts are inspirational for literature too. When combined, art and literature have signified major movements often interacting & influencing one another.”
This year’s Vox Populi attempts to surpass the benchmark set by the previous years. Do tune in on the 13th of November to watch this segment.
