Valedictory Address
The Great Pertinence of Gandhi to India and the World
January 30, 2024 at 3.00 pm IST to 3.45 pm IST
International Online Fellowship Program on Nonviolence & Peace -II (IFPNP-II)
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Sevagram Ashram Pratishthan Wardha, MS, India
in association with
Gandhi International, France
Academic University College for Non-violence and Human Rights- AUNOHR, Lebanon
MGM University, Chh. Sambhajinagar,Aurangabad, MS, India
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Valedictory Address
The Great Pertinence of Gandhi to India and the World
January 30, 2024 at 3.00 pm IST to 3.45 pm IST
Welcome : Dr. Siby K. Joseph
Director, IFPNP, Sevagram Ashram Pratishthan
Introducing the Chief Guest: Dr. D. Jeevankumar
Hon. Professor, Karnataka State Rural Development & Panchayat Raj University, Gadag
Valedictory Address :
Ambassador(Retd) Shri.P.A.Nazareth
Trustee, Sarvodaya International Trust
Bangalore
Author of
Gandhi's Outstanding leadership
&
Gandhi :Soul Force Warrior
Concluding Remark: Prof D. John Chelladurai
Dean, Interdisciplinary Studies and HOD, Gandhian Studies, MGM University
Ambassador (Retd.) Mr. Pascal Alan Nazareth,
Founder
of Sarvodaya International Trust
Mr. Pascal Alan Nazareth was educated at
St. Aloysius College, Mangalore and Loyola College, Madras, Mr. P A Nazareth
was selected for the Indian Foreign Service in May 1959. In his 35-year IFS
career, from 1959 to 1994, Mr. Nazareth has served in India’s diplomatic missions
in Tokyo, Rangoon, Lima and London,before his first Ambassadorial appointment
in 1979 as High Commissioner/Ambassador of India to Ghana, Liberia, Upper Volta
and Togo.
Subsequently, he served as Director-General,
Indian Council for Cultural Relations, New Delhi, Consul-General of India in
Chicago and New York, Ambassador of India to Egypt, and Ambassador of India to
Mexico and Guatemala.
Ambassador
Nazareth retired in May 1994. In March 1998, he established the Sarvodaya
International Trust, “to revive, invigorate and diffuse nationally and
internationally in a form and manner relevant to the contemporary and emerging
twenty first century scenario, the moral ideals and action programmes of
Mahatma Gandhi."
Thanks
to his tireless efforts, Mr. Nazareth has been able to establish Regional
Chapters across the country, which are active in spreading the vision and
mission of the Mahatma.
Mr. Nazareth has lectured at numerous prestigious
universities and Institutes in India and abroad such as National Institute of Advanced Studies
Bangalore, Benares Hindu University and Stanford, Yale, Columbia, Heidelberg, Uppsala
and Peking Universities.
His first book, ‘Gandhi’s
Outstanding Leadership’ published in March 2006 has come
out in 12 Indian and 23 foreign languages including Arabic. French, Mandarin, Russian and Spanish. Former
Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev has written the Foreword for nine of its
European language editions. The book has been widely acclaimed by leaders
across the world which include Barack Obama and APJ Abdul Kalam.
On October 9, 2007, Mr.
Nazareth was presented the U. Thant Peace Award for his ‘Life Time
of Dedication and World Service”. Among its previous recipients are The
Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
On October 2, 2012 and 2017, he delivered the
keynote addresses at the International day of Non-Violence events at the
United Nations in New York and the United Nations Library in Geneva.
Mr. Nazareth’s second book, Gandhi, the Soul
Force Warrior was published in 2019. Since then, the Kannada, Urdu, Serbian and Mandarin editions have been
published.
Mr. Nazareth published his autobiography, A
Ringside Seat to History in 2020. In the words of one of the reviewers
of the book, “Ambassador Nazareth modestly calls his autobiographical
masterpiece ‘A Ringside Seat to History’, but his narrative clearly
indicates he was not merely a witness to history, but often its maker. He was
very much the mover, a summiteer not a Sherpa, and also a soft-power warrior.
His post-retirement evangelism of Mahatma Gandhi is a continuation of his
diplomacy which stressed India’s heritage of non-violence and universal
brotherhood.”
In the words of another reviewer, the book “captures the author’s humanism, unbending
commitment to honest conduct in public service, perceptible ingenuity at
problem solving and undying regard for Gandhian ideals…There are many facets to
this book, but perhaps the most important one is the author himself. His life
and the way he lived it, has lessons for all. It will soothe those
who today are dismayed by a slow erosion of Gandhian values from Indian society
and India’s foreign policy.”
Mr. Nazareth’s life and mission stand testimony to
a famous exhortation of Mahatma Gandhi: “A small body of determined spirits
fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.”
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