DELHI, INDIA, December 19, 2018 (HPI): The Conference on Soft Power conducted by India Foundation’s Center for Soft Power concluded today in Delhi. The high level event was attended by several hundred participants and featured dozens of speakers including the Vice President of India, Venkaiah Naidu, who opened the event. The Daily Excelsior (source above) reported that the Vice President said that India has always been one of the foremost cultural forces in the world. “It is time that we focus on India’s rise as a soft power nation and the need for an India-centric discourse on soft power; how to maximise and deploy soft power assets, particularly to furthering national, regional and global interests. It was ‘Vishwaguru’ who provided cultural, spiritual & intellectual leadership. Knowledge-seekers from other countries used to come to Indian universities like Takshashila and Nalanda,” he said. He said that soft power was one of the “newest frameworks to understand and leverage India’s role in international order.”
Hinduism Today was there and editor in chief Paramacharya Sadasivanathaswami gave a well-received presentation (available on YouTube here: http://youtu.be/CWkPLvqimrE?t=1237). A story on the impressive event, by far the best organized and highest quality conference the magazine has covered, will appear it our next issue. (Our presence in Delhi is also the reason for the sudden lapse in new issues of HPI itself, which will now resume as usual.)
The entire conference was recorded and uploaded live on YouTube. The playlist can be viewed at:
http://youtube.com/channel/UCoa562Q8QrgTAAyqNsx36oA
See also the Foundation’s Facebook page: facebook.com/IndiaFoundation/
As is typical of conferences, the event received only passing mention in the media, though an article on a presentation of food as soft power appears here:
http://financialexpress.com/lifestyle/culinary-tales-preparation-of-indian-food-brings-to-fore-philosophical-axis-of-indic-civilisation/1422326/
And on education, here:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/education-leaders-need-to-address-importance-of-remodelling-indian-education-system-nalanda-univ-vc/articleshow/67187579.cms