The second edition of the Bhopal Literature and Art Festival (BLF) will be held from January 10 to 12, 2020 at Bharat Bhawan.
There will be 56 Knowledge Sessions, and about 80 authors and distinguished literary and public affairs personalities will be discussing culture, environment, politics, contemporary affairs, management, literature and history.
Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Karnal Nath will be inaugurating the festival. The Sushila Devi Award for the Best Fiction Author in English in 2019 will be given away. There will also be a launch of Anthony DeSa's new collection of stories titled "One for Sorrow, Two for Joy".
This was informed at a press conference organised here on Tuesday by Festival organising committee chairman Raghav Chandra and secretary Meera Dass.
They said in view of the pressing challenges that we face because of climate change and poor management of the environment, there, will be a special focus this year on the environment and conservation.
Among the key speakers this year will be Magasaysay Award winner and renowned water conservation man Rajendra Singh, Bharati Chaturvedi who is the founder of the acclaimed waste reduction body t Chintan and has been recipient of the Knowledge of the World Award by John Hopkins University; Mridula Ramesh who is the author of the acclaimed, the Climate Solution and is an investor in clean technologies; Jairam Ramesh the former Union Minister of Environment who has written extensivelybn the Environment and Forest issues; Amita Baviskar a Professor at the Indian Institute of Economic Growth who writes about the sociology of environment; Pamela Malhotra who started the first private wildlife sanctuary in India located in Karnataka; Dr Raghu Chundawat who is an eminent authority brt( tiger conservation; Professor Mahesh Rangarajan who heads the Liberal Arts and Environment faculty of Ashoka University and is a prolific author on environment history and; Prof Erach Bharucha, Director of the Bharati Vidyapeeth Institute of Environment Education and Research.
Raghav Chandra said "We are expecting Shashi Tharoor to be a keynote speaker who will speak from his book Why I am a Hindu.
On international affairs the former Foreign Secretary and National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon will be speaking about the intricacies in the making of India's foreign policy. Pradeep Baijal will be speaking about how the onslaught of our powerful neighbor China can; be contained. Minnie Vaid will talk about India's space mission to Mars and its future".
He further informed that Arghya Sengupta, a legal expert will be debating about whether the Indian Higher Judiciary is duly independent and accountable or not.
Former Chief Election Commissioner of India Naveen Chawla will be discussing about elections in India.
