Subject:  Mahatma Gandhi and the Internet Age

Speaker:  Mr. Sudheendra Kulkarni

Time:  14:30—16:00 P.M.,  Dec. 4, 2012  (Tuseday)

Place:  Meeting Room, the 2nd Floor, Libarary (North), SZU

Sponsor:  Centre for Indian Studies, SZU

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Sudheendra Kulkarni is an activist of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India’s main opposition party. He is a member of the National Executive of the BJP. He is also a social activist, the Chairman of the Observer Research Foundation Mumbai,a leading columnist in Indian newspapers and a commentator on TV channels.For six years (1998-2004), he worked as an Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to India’s former Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. His principal work in the Prime Minister’s Office was in preparing speeches for the Prime Minister.

Kulkarni’s first book MUSIC OF THE SPINNING WHEEL: Mahatma Gandhi’s Manifesto for the Internet Age was released by India’s former President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on September 4, 2012. (Published by Amaryllis, New Delhi); pages 725; Rs. 595) The book seeks to highlight Gandhi’s prophetic thoughts on science, technology and sustainable development for tomorrow’s nonviolent world. Arguing that the Internet and other digital-era technologies have the potential to realise Mahatma Gandhi’s revolutionary message as symbolised by the spinning wheel, it attempts to bring out a new dimension of Gandhi’s life and philosophy (especially his misunderstood thoughts on science, technology and industry) by showing why he may be regarded as a visionary of the Internet Age.