Smarajit Memorial Lecture

Dr Rajesh Tandon, President, PRIA will deliver the Smarajit Memorial Lecture in Hyderabad on 16 July 2013. He will talk on the “Roles of Civil Society in the Changing Context of India”, based on a recent global study entitled Civil Society @ Crossroads(http://www.pria.org/civil-society-at-crossroads-) in which Indian civil society was studied in-depth by PRIA.

Smarajit Ray (1943-2005) was an IAS officer who contributed a lot to shaping the policy on voluntary sector in Andhra Pradesh and in strengthening the complementary partnership between the government and NGOs. He had deep interest in rural and tribal development and was very passionate in addressing issues related to rural poverty and caring for the dignity of the poor. Every year APMAS has endeavoured to commemorate the birth anniversary of Smarajit Ray by taking up one of the areas of rural development in which he had been closely involved, either in the form of a lecture by an eminent person or through a panel discussion on a selected subject.