Naad Pargaas hosts 11th edition of Amritsar Literature Festival
Scholars say varsities must raise their research standards, move beyond popular trends
The 11th Amritsar Literature Festival, organised by the student/researcher-run body, ‘Naad Pargaas’, recently opened at Khalsa College for Women. Delivering the keynote address during the inaugural session, Prof Akshay Kumar from Panjab University, Chandigarh, said that popular literature does not emerge on its own; it is created by writers who lack academic responsibility and a proper understanding of literature. He also criticised the tendency to treat any major theory as the ultimate truth and then conduct research on that basis.
During the same session, former Professor of English at Punjabi University, Patiala, Dr Rajesh Sharma, in his presidential remarks, stressed that universities in Punjab must move beyond current popular trends and comforts and focus on raising the standards of academic research. He pointed out that every artistic or literary work has its own inherent theory or framework, but we tend to study it through external theoretical lenses because it is difficult to understand.
The second programme of the day was a seminar based on fundamental questions of philosophy. Three research papers were presented —- Dr Uday Ratna (JNU) on ‘Habermas and Ambedkar’s thought’; Dr Ronald (Hansraj College, Delhi) on the concept of ‘Groundless Ground’ and Dr Lakhveer Singh (Hansraj College, Delhi) on ‘Michel Foucault’s thought’.
The third programme was a panel discussion on the theoretical position of literature, in which research scholars from various universities participated. In her presidential address, Dr Deepinderjit Randhawa said that in the contemporary era, no theoretical position can be considered final and all perspectives are given equal recognition.
On the opening day of the Amritsar Literature Festival, the second editions of two books were released —- ‘Understanding Religion’ by Dr Anand Spencer and ‘Sikhism and Post-Modern Thought’ by Dr Gur Bhagat Singh. Students showed keen interest in the book exhibition organised and purchased books of their choice.
Besides students and scholars from universities and colleges in Punjab, participants also came from universities in Delhi, Haryana and Jammu & Kashmir.
