The Hindu Business Line : XLRI getting big heads together for `Conclave'

'REUNITING India with Bharat' has been chosen as the theme for XLRI's latest initiative on connecting people, pithily called `Conclave' and billed as the first attempt of its kind by the Jamshedpur-based business school.

Opinion leaders of various hues, cutting across social and economic lines, have been invited to put their minds together with a view to creating what Fr Casimir Raj, Director of XLRI, thinks will emerge as `thinking planks' for policy-makers.

The target group includes such well-known personalities as Mr Anna Hazare, Mr M.S. Swaminathan, Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Mr Deepak Parekh, Ms Amrita Patel and even the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram. Many others, including a few who are big names internationally, have been written to as well.

But why choose such a theme as a starting point? Why is there at all a need to fuse India with Bharat? The XLRI authorities respond to the question by simply referring to the divide that exists between the rich and the poor, the literate and the illiterate, urbanites and rural folks.

"We wanted to focus on a theme that is all-pervading, one that affects each of us in some way or other. India and Bharat are concepts that often divide some of us from the rest of our countrymen," indicates Fr Raj, who has recently taken over as the director. XLRI has even thought of involving overseas organisations such as UNIDO in the Conclave, he added.

The idea is to bring together a wide range of interests, each represented by persons who are stalwarts in their chosen fields. While there had been efforts at bonding with diverse interests earlier, the canvas is larger this time.

The immediate plan, however, is the publication of something akin to a position paper. XLRI hopes to host a Conclave every year at its sprawling campus, building each around a distinct theme.

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