Dr Kosambi an active fighter for peace: Ansari

Panaji, Feb 4 (UNI) Vice-President Mohammad Hamid Ansari today said late Dr Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi was an active fighter for peace.

''We see merit in D D Kosambi's vision that peace was a pre-requisite for development and that true peace required true democracy where all human beings are equal,'' said Mr Ansari in his inaugural lecture at the D D Kosambi Festival of Ideas Lecture series held at the Dinanath Mangeshkar Kala Academy Complex here.

The four-day lecture series is organised by Directorate of Art and Culture Government of Goa and and the D D Kossambi Birth Centenary Celebration Committee.

The Vice President said Dr Kosambi was an active fighter for peace and, in the heydays of the Cold War, spent time analysing the cause that prevented peace. He held the view that peace was a prerequisite for development and that true peace required true democracy where all men are truly equal and no one claims any superiority. His focus was on peace in the global community.

Mr Ansari further said the struggle for world peace must therefore be a quest for equality, justice and democracy. The modalities of furthering it would inevitably be conditioned by public awarness and public action.

Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi was a legendary figure in the field of history, besides a revered mathematician and an acknowledged Polymath, who introduced new perspectives and methods in Indological studies. This year is being celebrated as the birth centenary year of this illustrious son of Goa.

Earlier, Chief Minister Digamber Kamat, in his welcome address, described Dr Kosambi as one of the intellecutual giants born in Goa and need to pass on the valuable contriution of such personalities to the new generation. The Government will also initiate urgent steps to renovate and maintain his 'samadhi' at Vardha in Maharastra.

He also assured that the lecture series, initiated this year, will be made an annual feature.

Goa Governor S C Jamir, Dr Meera Kosambi, the daughter of late D D Kosambi and Dr Maria Aurora Couto, chairperson of the Centenary Committee, also spoke on the occcasion.

UNI SRN SSS SP HT2247