Churning Ideas

In two years of existence,Pune International Centre has contributed to nation-building policies through lectures,paper presentations and film festivals

Ask famous scientist Dr R A Mashelkar what he envisions the Pune International Centre (PIC) to be and he throws back a question: What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of Pune? Each person who is asked this question has a different answer the monuments,the leaders it has produced,even some of the food items famous in the city. After Mashelkar hears them out,his response is always the same: About 20 years from now,I want this city to be known for the PIC. I may not be around then,but I hope we would have made that kind of an impact.

Touted as a Vichar manthan Kendra,the PIC which is set to celebrate its second foundation day on September 24 was founded after Mashelkar and economist Dr Vijay Kelkar discussed the need for a common platform where like-minded people could deliberate over issues that affected the nation and the globe. They shared the idea with some others and were encouraged to go ahead. Thus,the board of founding trustees was formed with eminent personalities such as Arun Firodia,Anu Aga and Dilip Padgaonkar with Mashelkar as president and Kelkar as vice-president. Now we have over 200 individual members from various walks of life,around 20 institutional and five corporate members,each included for the contribution they can make to the aims and objectives of PIC, says Prashant Girbane,director of the centre.

Girbane shares that PIC is working towards its objectives by organising panel discussions which include lectures on matters of national importance and working groups to produce papers that would influence national policies and also film festivals. We have already held about 12 panel discussions and lectures over the last two years. Some of the lectures were addressed by the likes of Nobel prize recipient Dr R K Pachauri,former president Dr A P J Abdul Kalam and Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram. We have addressed issues such as energy environment and ecology,governance and economics and have seen the impact it has produced in national policies, says Girbane. He adds that along the line,founding member Latika Padgaonkar pointed out that PIC was not doing enough for arts and culture. The other members agreed and that is how we organised three film festivals at National Film Archives of India. The festivals were also intentionally planned to expose audience to niche genres. So one was an Afghanistan film festival,the other a festival of Bangla films on liberation and the third was of Buddhist films, says Girbane.

Looking ahead,Mashelkar says in the pipeline is a series of lectures titled Reinventing India: Perspectives from States,which was launched by Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan on August 25. In view of the upcoming elections,we are also in the process of producing papers that would use our collective wisdom to provide impartial,positive and balanced views on individual areas such as agriculture,education and health. We are a neutral empire and will present ideas that we are convinced will contribute to Indias growth, says Mashelkar.

Girbane adds that a film festival of Buddhist films is being worked out for the near future. A plan to build their own centre is also on the cards. Architect Christopher Benninger,who is also a trustee in PIC,has already mapped out a plan for for the structure.

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