Invitation for Smarajit Ray Memorial Lecture on 16th July 2013 at 4pm at SERP Conference Hall
C S Reddy
4th July 2013
Dear All:
Sub: Invitation for Late Shri. Smarajit Ray Memorial lecture on 16 July 2013
We have great pleasure in inviting you for the memorial lecture on the occasion of 70th birth anniversary of late Shri. Smarajit Ray. The event will be held on 16 July 2013 at 4 pm in the conference hall of the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP), Hyderabad. The memorial lecture will be delivered by Dr.Rajesh Tandon, the co-founder and President of PRIA, based in New Delhi.
The topic for the memorial lecture during this year is ‘Role of Civil Society in the changing context of India’. This topic has been identified as Late Shri.Ray had deep interest and contributed a lot in the area of GO-NGO collaboration in the state of Andhra Pradesh. As a visionary, he strongly believed that the role of the civil society is highly critical for sustainable development and transformation in the society. During his long years of service in the Government, he played the role of mentor in evolving a strategy for NGO – GO collaboration. He was also appointed as the Executive Vice Chairman of the State Level GO-NGO Coordination Committee Chaired by the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. The memorial lecture on this topic would be a great tribute on his 70th birth anniversary.
The eminent personalities who have significantly contributed to the growth and functioning of the civil society in India will also be invited such as viz., Shri. Kaki Madhava Rao IAS (Retd), Chairperson of APMAS, Shri. B.N. Yugandhar IAS (Retd), Shri. R. Subrahmanyam IAS, Principal Secretary, Rural development, Govt. of AP and Dr.V.Rukmini Rao, Gramya, Mr.Malla Reddy, Executive Director, Accion Fraterna and others who played a key role in strengthening the civil society.
We look forward to have you on the occasion since your contribution will enrich the deliberations and bring in new strategies and approaches in further strengthening the role of the civil society keeping in view of the current context of development locally and globally.
Programme Schedule:
4.00 pm: Informal Get together of Participants (Hi Tea)
4.30 pm: Welcome by Shri C.S. Reddy
4.35 pm: Lighting of Lamp & garlanding Late Shri Ray’s portrait
4.40 pm: Presidential Address by Shri Kaki Madhava Rao
4.50 pm: Introductory Remarks by Shri BN Yugandhar
5.00 pm: Role of Civil Society – present & future by Dr. Rukmini Rao and Dr. Malla Reddy
5.20 pm: GO-NGO collaboration by Shri R. Subrahmanyam
5.30 pm: Smarajit Ray Memorial Lecture by Dr. Rajesh Tandon
6.10 pm: Vote of Thanks
We request you to accept our invitation and grace the occasion with your presence and contributions. Please find attached a brief about Late Shri Smarajit Ray and that of the Speaker at the memorial lecture Dr. Tandon.
I request you to confirm your participation to Ms. Anitha at APMAS by e-mail (es...@apmas.org or phone (9291333543 or 040-23547927 / 52).
Look forward to meet you on 16th July 2013 at 4:00 pm at SERP Conference Hall.
Thanking you,
Yours sincerely,
CS Reddy
CEO and Managing Director
Smarajit Ray, was born on 14th July 1943, at Kalimpong in West Bengal, close to what was then the border of Tibet.
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Smarajit Ray |
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1943 - 2005 |
Smarajit was a product of Presidency College in Calcutta where he studied Political Science and the Delhi School of Economics where he studied Sociology. He joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1967 and chose not to opt for his home state where he felt he would remain in his father’s shadow and instead was allotted to Andhra Pradesh. In 1972, he married Nandita, a Chartered Accountant, then working in Bombay but who enjoyed district life and who he succeeded in influencing with his own passion for Rural Development.
Shri Smarajit Ray IAS, who passed away on 31 October 2005, had an abiding interest in the issues of Rural Development, a department of government in which he spent many years of his working life. This commitment came from the fact that he believed that the greatest hurdle to India’s economic development lay in the persistent and sometimes seemingly intractable problem of rural poverty. Today, notwithstanding India’s growth and rising prosperity in many areas, this is nowhere less apparent than in the fact that the share of rural GDP continues to fall and the rural-urban gap continues to widen in all the essential indicators of life.
In his own career he did some pioneering work in some very critical areas of rural development. In his efforts he did not hesitate to join hands with others outside the government such as members of civil society and academics and to learn from them. Among the different areas where he made major contributions were:
- women’s self-help groups and self-help promoting organizations – he was among the founders of APMAS
- watershed development and other water related issues in rural areas – he was involved in the drafting of the first guidelines on watershed development
- school drop-outs and the ‘back to school’ program
- issues of tribal development and joint forest management
The thread running through all the above was the issue of rural livelihoods in which now APMAS has today, become deeply involved along with watershed development. Every year APMAS has endeavored to commemorate the birth anniversary of Smarajit Ray by taking up one of the areas of rural development in which he had been closely involved, either in the form of a lecture by an eminent person or through a panel discussion on a selected subject.
About Dr. Rajesh Tandon
Dr
Rajesh Tandon is co-director of UNESCO Chair on Community-based Research and
Social Responsibility in Higher Education. The University of Victoria, Canada,
awarded him the ‘Doctor of Laws’ in June 2008 in recognition of his
pioneering work in the area of civic engagement, governance and community based
research. Dr Tandon is co-editor of the forthcoming GUNI Report on
“Engagement, Knowledge & Higher Education: Rethinking Social
Responsibility” (2013).
Dr Tandon is co-founder & President of Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), New Delhi. Over the past 30 years, under his leadership, PRIA has been working towards the empowerment of the poor and marginalized such that they can collectively claim their rights and organize for self-reliant development. He is a pioneer in innovative methodologies in participatory research, participatory planning, monitoring & evaluation.
Dr Tandon has provided leadership on the Governing Boards of dozens of national and international civil society organisations over the past 35 years. He served as President of Asia & South Pacific Basic & Adult Education Association (ASPBAE) 1992-2000; Vice-President of International Council of Adult Education (ICAE) 1986-1992; founder of CIVICUS and its Chair of the Board 1996-99; founder –Chair of International Forum of Capacity Building of Southern NGOs (1997-2001); founder & Chair of FimForum for Democratising Global Governance. His expertise has been sought by UNDP, World Bank, UNICEF, UNV,WHO, ILO and others; he has also served on numerous committees of Government of India (its various Ministries and agencies), most recently on the Task force of the Planning Commission preparing for the 12th Five Year Plan on “Strengthening Community Engagement of Institutions of Higher Education”. He was invited to lead Citizens & Governance Program of the Commonwealth Foundation during 2001-04.
Dr Tandon has contributed frequently to scholarly journals, practitioner manuals, audio-visuals on a wide range of themes---participatory research, people-centred development, civil society, democratic governance, active citizenship. He has also authored and co-edited several books, the most recent of them being: Globalising Citizens (2010), Civil Society & Governance (2003), Reviving Democracy (2003), Voluntary Action, Civil Society & the State (2002).
