CULTURAL CONNECT

LOKMANTHAN IS THAT INTENDED CHURN WHICH WOULD PROVIDE A CHANCE TO ALL ETHNIC GROUPS AND COMMUNITIES TO BRING FORTH THEIR TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE IN VARIOUS SPHERES WHICH ARE ENTWINED IN THEIR CULTURAL PRACTICES

- RAJIB DUTTA

Lokmanthan, the churn of the nation, is a journey embarked upon by Prajna Pravah to seek cultural and traditional treasures hidden in the various corners of our country. Lokmanthan is a platform to all thinkers and practitioners for whom the national interests are primary. The very concept of Lokmanthan is conceived as a "Colloquium of Nation First Thinkers and Practitioners' that offers a common platform to not just intellectuals but all those who have excelled in their respective fields and contributed to realising the idea of Rashtra (Naionhood).

For the last ten centuries, India was in a state of insularity facing political and social precariousness which not only had an impact on its social and religious values, but also knowledge and economic prosperity. However, the essence of our Rashtriyata lays not in religious, political or administrative apparatus but on an immutable culture binding masses across the country. This is an attempt to connect intellectuals and practitioners in connecting the present to the past, and thus create a future which can secure our cultural heritage.

Lokmanthan was first organised in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh in the year 2016 and the theme was "Decolonising of Indian Minds" which is an attempt to reinvent the national self-consciousness and linking the young generation to the lost roots of our culture. Similarly in 2018 Lokmanthan was organised in Ranchi, Jarkhand with the theme "Bharat Bodh-Jana Gana Mana".