FLO Honours Amartya Sen

The FICCI Ladies Organization (FLO) and its parent body, Andhra Pradesh State Council (APSC), jointly held a felicitation program for Prof. Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate and Bharat Ratna, in the city on Thursday night at N Convention in Hi-Tech City.

This was the first time for any industrial body in the city to honour the world-renowned economist. The function was graced by a gathering of 250, comprising office bearers, members of FLO and APSC, past chairpersons, representatives of various industrial bodies, government officials, and faculty members of various educational institutions.

Welcoming the gathering, chairperson of FICCI FLO Jyotsna Angara said, "Nearly 10 million businesses are owned by women across the world. Women have that power and potential to prove their mettle."

Chairperson of FICCI Andhra Pradesh State Council expressed her gratitude to Sen for giving FLO and APSC an opportunity to honour him as well and to listen to him. She further said that FICCI would plant ten trees in his honour and maintain them.

In his brief address to the gathering, Amartya Sen said that people must focus on important issues rather than just keep blaming governments. "People are the government and the government is people. You can't blame the government for everything," he opined. Further, he said that governments in a democratic set-up know what best works for their people. "In fact they do what people expect them to do," he said.

"Problems are aplenty. But, we should have a culture of discussing them, resolving them for good. Solutions lie in the problems itself in many problems," he observed.

Replying to a question about what advice he would give his two children Indrani and Kabir, he said. "Why advise people? I am against giving them advice.... We can't give just one piece of advice to our children. It is a continuous process. You keep giving them directions," he said.

On another question on why India fails to have world class universities and what is to be done to create a few, he said, "Talent is abundant in India. What is the problem is quality, which lacks in this country. We too had some great universities like Nalanda. Now we see many in USA, UK and other countries. Why we don't have world class universities... is not a big mystery. It is just that we never paid attention. We never thought of creating some of them. Since we have great talent in all spheres of our life, let us create some world class universities. We need a lot of them."

Replying to another question, he said that 55% of people in Bangladesh have toilets, while in India, less than 40% of the population has toilets. "India lags behind countries like Bangladesh and Sub-Saharan Africa in ensuring basic and very essential amenities like public toilets," he noted.

Sen felt that India could not develop industrially on par with European countries. "Neglecting scientific education is the reason for this. Modern India ignores the importance of science and maths, whereas our ancestors excelled and did wonders in mathematics and became pioneers in the world. We are unable inherit that strength in us in this age. Peace is the most sought-after thing for the development of any nation. Another reason why we have not progressed on par with the best in the West is instability, which has hampered our development," he analysed. (INN)