In the midst of the growing debate on 'intolerance', industrialist Ratan Tata today said freedom to decide what one has to do is the one thing that can make the nation shine and governments should have no role in telling people what to do.
"If India is to shine now and in future, people must have the freedom to decide. While governments can be in the business of monitoring, they should have no role in telling people what to do," the chairman emeritus of Tata Sons said while interacting with students of SRM University at nearby Kattankulathur.
"If India should shine let people have the freedom to decide," a release quoted him as saying.
Urging students to be honest in whatever profession they choose in future, he said that as they go through life, they would find many things in their profession down the line which they could not find in college.
"Be honest in what you think and do and this goes for any profession," he said.
Noting that people are yet to have access to basic health care facilities and there was social stigma on disability, Tata said, less attention has been given to disability- oriented vehicles.
"We don't even have a ramp in many pavements to address the needs of people on wheel-chairs," he said.
On students taking up education overseas, he said it would not be the case if educational institutions offered proper "facilities" and "faculties".
To a query on support given by him to various start-ups, he said, "I like investing in young companies, but money-alone and greed is not what I am for," he said.
Held simultaneously across two iconic cultural venues -
the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), Nariman Point and Prithvi Theatre, Juhu - the four-day festival will also feature Frank Moorhouse, Ma Thida, Sanjaya Baru, P. Chidambaram, Jairam Ramesh, Girish Karnad, Anuvab Pal, Keki Daruwalla, Kiran Nagarkar and Jayant Narlikar, among others. Legendary lyricist and poet, Gulzar, and the suave Indian film director and producer, Karan Johar, will lend the festival a flavour of Bollywood.
Founder & Festival Director Anil Dharker says, "'Who are the stars of the festival this year?' is a question I am asked everywhere I go. What can I say? For us, all the writers coming here are stars in their own right. The best known writer in Argentina or Germany or Brazil may not be a household name in India, but nevertheless, they will have a huge international reputation. Simon Armitage, the formidable British poet who holds the prestigious chair of Professor of Poetry at Oxford University, will also be here. But is he a household name? So I take the safe route and mention names everyone in India has heard of: Amitav Ghosh and Gulzar, Shekhar Gupta and Vir Sanghvi, Mahroof Raza (one of the few sane voices on television news) and P Chidambaram.
All our participants will ensure that the festival lives up to its lively image as a platform where literature is truly celebrated through freedom of speech and expression, and where there is never a dull moment. We are thrilled to bring to the audiences of Mumbai and the country, the first glimpse of this annual literature fiesta. More authors will be announced at the end of this month with the full programme revealed in November."
On a lighter note, Anil Dharker recounts, "When his agent told me that John Gray had agreed to come, I wrote back, 'That's great. Men are From Mars, Women are from Venus is a hugely popular book here.' 'But that's another John Gray!' the agent replied. It turns out that the John Gray we were actually talking about is a former Professor of Political Philosophy at both Oxford and the London School of Economics.
How fortunate, I said to myself, that I was corresponding with John Gray's agent, and not the man himself. And even more fortunate to have him attend and share his thoughts on matters ranging from Al Qaeda to atheism.
