Union Minister Anurag Thakur to deliver Sardar Patel Memorial Lecture

Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur will on Monday deliver the annual Sardar Patel Memorial Lecture on the occasion of National Unity Day, an official statement said.

The memorial lecture is organised by All India Radio (AIR) to mark the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, India's first home minister who is considered the chief architect of integration of the erstwhile princely states with the Union of India.

Eminent personalities such as C Rajagopalachari, Dr Zakir Hussain, Morarji Desai, A P J Abdul Kalam, Jayant Narlikar, M S Swaminathan, Arun Jaitley, Ajit Doval and S Jaishankar are among those who have delivered this prestigious memorial lecture in the past on wide-ranging subjects related to India and its socio-economic strides.

The recording of Thakur's lecture will be broadcast across the entire AIR network on October 31, the birth anniversary of Patel which is celebrated as National Unity Day, the statement issued on Sunday said.

Another programme, 'Sardar Patel- Rashtriya Ekta ke Shilpi', based on the profile of the Iron Man of India and excerpts from the previous editions of the memorial lecture will also be broadcast by Prasar Bharti on the National Unity Day, it said.