National Seminar on Poverty and social exclusion in India: Need for paradigm shift towards an inclusive society

The Department of Sociology, Christ University in collaboration with Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore organized a two day national seminar on 12 and 13 March 2014, on the theme ‘Poverty and social exclusion in India: Need for paradigm shift towards an inclusive society’. It was funded by Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi. The seminar aimed at enabling dialogues on the conceptualization of poverty and social exclusion in India. It was attended by several   academicians, faculty and research scholars, policy planners, officials, representatives of civil society, NGOs, media, social and development practitioners from Bangalore and all across India.   Various aspects of poverty and social exclusion, especially the multidimensionality with respect to its intersection with social, economic and political exclusion were presented and discussed in this seminar.  We hope that the deliberations and discussions have given the participants an opportunity to reflect on the theory and practice of poverty and social exclusion to build an inclusive society. Inaugural Address In his key note address, Dr. Binay Kumar Pattnaik, Director, Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) set the tone for the seminar by introducing the concepts of poverty and social exclusion. He started with various theories of poverty and how it has been understood and debated by various scholars in different parts of the world. He elaborated on the four theories of poverty starting from the theory of Oscar Lewis to Anthony Giddens. He strongly disagreed with the idea of social exclusion given by Giddens. He also explained the changing definitions of poverty from just economic dimension to that of a standard social living. Thus, he could contextualize the theme of the seminar and its relevance in the Indian context. Release of the Proceedings of the Seminar Release of the Research Series  The proceedings of the seminar as well as a research series were released by the dignitaries during the inaugural session. The seminar had four sessions per day. Each session was defined with a specific conceptual framework.  Valedictory Program Dr. Anil J Pinto, Registrar, Christ University, in his valedictory address stressed the role of higher education institutions like Christ University in bridging theory and practice. The two day intellectual exercise ended by leaving lot of inputs for the academic fraternity to reflect on and to work upon.