Secular Rethink- Approach

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The Approach

1. Round Table Discussions

We aim to bring together diverse groups of individuals, activists, supporters, policy makers etc to discuss and debate these issues. By doing so, we aim to bring in a diversity of views and approaches that will enrich our own understanding; and build long term partners in the public education and advocacy process

So far, we have held round-table discussions with:

• Ram Guha, historian [columns in Outlook, The Telegraph]
• Sudheendra Kulkarni, veteran journalist [columns in The Indian Express]
• Harsh Mander, former IAS officer and founder of Aman Biradari
• Dr. Ashish Nandy, sociologist
• Vijay Pratap, activist and founder of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam
• The late Prof. V.P.Sathe, legal scholar who worked extensively on a common civil code
• Yogendra Yadav, political scientist

Among those who have participated in these discussions apart from the CfP team are:
• Anu Aga, Chairperson, Thermax
• Shailesh Gandhi, RTI activist
• Smriti Koppikar, journalist
• Arvind Krishnaswamy, senior corporate executive
• Nandan Maluste, senior corporate executive
• Rohini Nilekani, founder, Akshara, Bangalore
• Prabodh Parikh, writer and journalist
• Anjum Rajaballi, film script writer
• Satish Sahney, former Mumbai Police Commissioner
• Ingrid Srinath, CEO, CRY (Child Rights and You)

2. Public Advocacy

In the coming years CFP will seek to take the ideas that emerge from the Round-table Discussions and the Essay Competition to the public through a series of:
• Public lectures and seminars with a particular focus on youth
• Workshops with schools and colleges
• Partnerships with the media and corporate sector

3. Essay Competition

The Citizens For Peace - Indian Express Essay Competition

We, as Citizens for Peace, have a dream — a dream that moves us to do more than just celebrate India’s cultural diversity.

The Essay Competition is one way of creating a public platform for collective introspection that will help us to move towards a fresh and finely tuned understanding about what it means to be Secular. In other words this is the quest for a State of the Art Secular culture for India in the 21st century.

This annual essay competition, held since 2005 in collaboration with the Indian Express, has been our very first major step towards nurturing an open space in which citizens from all over India and all walks of life can voice and share their concerns and aspirations.

The response has been heartening. Hundreds of essays in English and Hindi have came in from across India — Shimla to Salem, Jamnagar to Kolkatta and some from small villages. Most of the entries were painstakingly prepared and filled with a passionate determination to foster a social political climate of fairness between not only different religions but also castes.

Essay themes:

2005 : “A Secular Re-think” [Read the essays].