Day two of the Lit for Life 2019 event in Chennai provided the city’s literary enthusiasts with many interesting session. In the first session of the day Dr N Ezhilan and N Ram were in conversation with Kanimozhi for the session on ‘Dravidian Ideology in Praxis: Homage to Kalaignar Karunanidhi’. While discussing about ideologies related to Dravidian politics, Kanimozhi mentioned that Dravidian Politics is all about social justice, self-respect, caste system and its barriers which today people refer to as Human Rights.
Kanimozhi also said that Dravidian politics has always believed in inclusive progress. The panellists then discussed the contributions made by Karunanidhi in terms of health facilities, insurance schemes for the aid of common people. When asked how Karunanidhi was as a father, Kanimozhi said that he was always there for her. "Kalaignar Karunanidhi valued personal relationships; forgave people easily as he understood that people are full of flaws. He was an emotional person which reflected in his political ways as well," Kanimozhi added.
The session on ‘What Ails Indian Science and What Can Be Done about It?’ was an informative discussion between Nobel prize winner Venki Ramakrishnan and Dr K Vijay Raghavan. During the session Ramakrishnan highlighted that, the investment in science and research in India has been declining. He goes on to explain that while other countries are increasing their investment in R&D India too must follow. Ramakrishnan also suggested that Indian corporates could possibly play a big role in aiding this by increasing their investment in science and technology.
