Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Apr 5: Union Minister of State in PMO with Independent Charge of Northeast, Dr Jitendra Singh said here today that intellectual honesty is as important as intellectual thought and that most of the conflicts in intellectual arena arise when the thought is devoid of honesty and instead influenced by extraneous considerations.
In his inaugural address as Chief Guest at the one day conference on the theme “Communicating India”, organized by Vivekananda Internat-ional Foundation in collaboration with Prasar Bharti, Dr Jitendra Singh said, much of what was witnessed over the last one year in the name of tolerance or intolerance of freedom of speech, appeared to be very selective in approach as a result of which, what was conveniently tolerated by a section of intelligentsia on one occasion, became an object of tolerance of another occasion. A constant introspection coupled with critical appraisal of one’s inner self is what finally churns out an unbiased belief or conviction, he said.
Describing youth aspiration as the predominant factor determining contemporary India’s thought process, Dr Jitendra Singh said, a relatively safe approach for the youth in the university is not to get affected by the imposing milieu of the prevailing intellectual culture and instead to work within to seek one’s own original belief from the core of one’s conviction.
Describing courage and consistency as essential ingredients which sustain the conviction, Dr Jitendra Singh said, if one belief truly believes in what one speaks, he also then develops the courage and consistency to sustain it. On the other hand, many of the most brilliant intellectuals get lost in the confusion of topsy turvy world because they inadvertently begin to speak what they do not believe and finally the falsehood spoken by them becomes their personal truth.
Dr Jitendra Singh’s lecture was followed by a lucid interaction in which youth from different streams of academics participated with great enthusiasm and involvement.
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