Global Conference on Satyagraha begins tomorrow

New Delhi, Jan 28 (UNI) Several heads of states and governments, ministers, parliamentarians, leading academicians and Gandhian leaders will attend the two-day international conference here, beginning tomorrow, to mark the centenary of the satyagraha movement started by Mahatma Gandhi.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi will inaugurate the conclave, organised by the party, while Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will address the concluding session.

The conference is being attended, among others, by Nobel Laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mohammad Yunus, Ahmed Kathrada -- who symbolised the historic struggle against the anti-apartheid regime in South Africa along with Nelson Mandela-- and C K Prahlad, who specialises in the private sector's role in poverty alleviation.

The principal thrust of the two-day meet is 'to give a practical content to the concepts of freedom, equality, justice, peace and essential unity of humankind as well as of diverse cultures and religious beliefs', conference spokesperson Devendra Nath Dwivedi said.

The Congress' decision, under the leadership of Ms Gandhi, to celebrate the Satyagraha Centenary is an act of faith and aims at renewal of the nation's faith in Gandhian ideals which are of ''enduring value and are valid for all times'', he said.

The subjects around which the deliberations will be structured, address the ideological and moral questions that are agitating the contemporary world and which at the same time relate to the core beliefs and concerns which have gone into the making of Mahatma Gandhi's world view. The subjects also reflect the primary items on the Congress' national and international agenda.

The conference will conclude with the adoption of a historic Satyagraha Centenary Declaration, Mr Dwivedi added.

UNI