National Seminar on Philosophy, History and Multiculturalism: Contesting Claims ( 24- 25 February, 2010)

Breaking the boundaries of colleges and University Seventy undergraduate Philosophy students from Dev Samaj College for women, Ferozepur captured the discussions relating to contesting issues related to philosophy, history and multiculturalism at the Department of Philosophy, Panjab University, Chandigarh.
It was a remarkable event that such a large number of undergraduate students participated in an academic seminar at Panjab University.
The seminar was organized by the Department of Philosophy, Dev Samaj College for Women, Ferozepur in collaboration with the Department of Philosophy, Panjab University, Chandigarh.
In the first session Chairman of the Department Dr. H.P. Sah and Principal Dr. Madhu Prashar extended the welcome address. Dr. Dharmanand Sharma, spoke on the relevance of Indian philosophy He highlighted the concept of Dharma in Buddhism. Dr. V.T. Sebastian informed the participants about the history of western philosophy, particularly the Greek philosophy. Lallan Singh Baghel brought the issues of recognition and other concerns related to equality. He criticized the ongoing politics in the name of language, caste and region going on in the country and emphasized on the concept of secularism as an essential value for humanity.
Dr. Asha Maudgil in her presentation sensitized the participants about the gender equality and encouraged the young girls to pursue higher education. . Dr. Shiwani Sharma brought the concepts of art and aesthetics in a creative manner. Rajeev Godara from Panjab and Haryana High Court in his presentation outwardly rejected the fatwa’s given by Khap Panchayats in Haryana. He said that “it is high time that the young generation should raise voice against the caste system and honour killings”
Dr. Deepak Kumar from Department of Political Science informed the participants about the culture and other identities of the north –east region. He inspired the young participants to develop respect for cultural diversity and language.
In the last session Bhawna and Amarjeet of Dev Samaj College for women, ferozepur raised their concern on the caste and class conflict going on in the country. A lot of questions were asked by the participants and there was a consensus that history and philosophy is essential for a critical dialogue to understand the social and political dynamics operating the society.
On the Second day of the national seminar Professor Harjinder Singh Laltu and Professor Akshaya Kumar of Department of English and Dr. Kiranpreet Kaur of Sociology department shared their views with the participants.
In the first session Harjinder informed the participants about Howard Zinn an American historian, author, activist, playwright, intellectual and Professor of Political Science at Boston University about his contribution to the society. Laltu informed the participants that that Howard wrote more than 20 books, which included his best-selling and influential A People's History of the United States. He said that “Zinn also wrote extensively about the civil rights, civil liberties and anti-war movements.”
Laltu said that it is important to remember Zinn because he questioned the justifications for military operations that inflicted massive civilian casualties during the Allied bombing of cities such as Dresden, Royan, Tokyo, and Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II, Hanoi during the U.S. War in Vietnam, and Baghdad during the U.S. war in Iraq and the civilian casualties during bombings in Afghanistan during the U.S.'s current and nearly decade old war there. Laltu sensitized the participants to raise voice against war and violence in the country. He said that Howard Zinn died recently on 27 january, 2010 and inspired the young generation to raise the voice of peace unlike Mahatma Gandhi.
Professor Akshaya Kumar raised the issue of the problem of writing history. He said that it is very fundamental to know who writes history and about whom history is been written. He said that the time has come when history should be critically evaluated and issues of feminism, secularism must be included in the history.
Dr. Kiranpreet shared her thoughts on the sociological aspects of Entrepreneurship and Gender issues.
The presentation was followed by discussion in which Amarjeet, Babbal, Veerpal, Harpriya, Navdeep Kaur, Head girl of Dev Samaj College for Women, and Rupinder Kaur President Philosophical Society, Amandeep kaur from Department of English PU, Anter from department of Physics PU, Monika from Department of Sociology PU raised important questions. Philosophy Department Chairman Dr. H. P. Sah and Academic secretary Lallan Singh Baghel appreciated the effort of Dev Samaj College for Women in organizing the event.