With a lively discussion on civil society and its role in precipitating grassroots-level change, the first edition of 'Literature and Ideas Festival' organised by the Delhi Gymkhana, one of the oldest clubs in the country, kicked off here today.
The panel discussion on 'Role of Civil Society: Change from above or below' saw panelists Mani Shankar Aiyar, Pavan Varma, Suhel Seth and Dipankar Gupta in conversation with journalist Vikram Chandra.
Speaking at the discussion, Congress leader Aiyar underlined the importance of having a vibrant democracy at the grassroots level, pointing out the failure of bureaucracy in effecting change at the lowest level.
"We have a system where the bureaucracy is very good at getting the money from Delhi to the state capital, and from there to the district magistrate's office. But results are very poor in making that last mile delivery. It is essential that in addition to democracy in Delhi and democracy in state capitals, we have a really vibrant democracy at the grassroots level," he said.
Speaking on the role civil society must play, Aiyar pitched for "a rewriting of the relationships between NGOs and locally elected institutions" so that instead of substituting the local governments, they assist them.
"If instead of a top heavy bureaucratic mechanism, we should go right down to the people, and say we trust the people. For after all who understands hunger better than a hungry man, who understands the need for a roof over his head than somebody without shelter, and who understands the need for literacy and education more than some illiterate person," he said.
Varma questioned the "paranoia" behind cancellation of the licenses of 13,000 NGOs last year.
"In recent times there appears to be almost a paranoia about organisations and civil society. I am not saying all of those actions are wrong, but between June and September last year some 13,000 NGOs had their licenses cancelled and many of them for reasons which are frivolous.
"The foreign funding coming in for NGOs should follow procedures. I believe we should follow rules, there a should be monitoring of NGOs. But I don't believe that there should be this level of suspicion or hostility," he said.
A not-for-profit initiative, KLF is an annual literary
retreat festival which brings together celebrated authors, leaders and opinion makers from across the country in Dhanachuli, a village in Uttarakhand.
Supreme Court judge Justice A K Sikri, in his address, sought to draw a connection between literature and the judiciary, saying that judges are also writers, as they have to pen down lengthy judgements.
"We also help you (writers) by providing plot points for your fiction," the Supreme Court judge remarked tongue- in-cheek.
The three-day festival, which is part of a larger vision to develop Dhanachuli into a model cultural village, this year will first travel to the Jim's Jungle Retreat in Jim Corbett National Park and culminate at the foothills of the Himalayas at Te Aroha in the village.
Thought-provoking sessions on the role of nationalist ideologies in shaping global politics, the inadequate representation of Dalit literature and how the definition of a star in Hindi cinema has evolved over the last decades dominated the first day.
The day also saw a discussion around "our collective inability to produce another good detective fiction series since the epic Karamchand"; a tribute to Pakistani writer Intizar Husain; literature in the flash/fast age among others.
Interactive performances like storytelling and dastangoi were also held, besides tales from the wild, first-hand accounts from Dhela village in Corbett and dramatised readings.
The following days of the festival will see a host of other faces from the world of literature, publishing, cinema and politics including Amish Tripathi, Ravi Subramanian, Preeti Shenoy, Jerry Pinto, Shinie Antony and Rakhshanda Jalil.
Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Pavan Varma, Shatrughan Sinha from the world of politics and law and leading publishers will also be present, along with many speakers like Afia Aslam, Ali Akbar Natiq, Ameena Saiyid, Asif Farrukhi, Asif Noorani, Sabyn Javeri, Mohsin Sayeed from Pakistan.
The festival will continue till October 13.
