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Nationalism in India: Prospects and Challenges
Vishwa Jyothi Don Bosco College Karunapuram organized the Annual Philosophical Symposium on ‘Nationalism in India: Prospects and Challenges’ on 24th August, 2016 in the college auditorium. The resource person for the symposium was Rev. Fr. Joy Kaipan Sdb, Ph.D, the principal of Don Bosco Philosophate, Aluva.
Nationalism is one of the important topics in the present scenario. These days the topic in consideration has become one of the central issues to be discussed upon, all over the world. It is primarily because of the many anti-national movements and of politicizing the spirit of nationalism for one’s own hidden selfish motivations.
Keeping the present situation of the society wherein nationalism has taken so many different forms, the discussion of the topic was very apt. It was a great learning and enriching experience for all of us. The symposium began by invoking God’s blessings after that the principal Fr Tom Parecattil SDB initiated the topic with the words of welcome and by making us aware of the importance of the topic in the current society. Then six of our third year brothers namely Brs. Niju, Dibakar, Sushant, David Peter, William and Satyendra Kumar presented their papers on different aspects of nationalism like, the clarification of terms and relevance, types of nationalism, positive and negative effects of nationalism, rise of Indian nationalism, Hindu nationalism, and the challenges of nationalistic trends in India. 
Brothers presented their papers very systematically and they were very much informative and thought provoking.
After the presentation of the papers we had group discussions on the questions given by the resource person. It was very active and encouraging one because through these group discussions we had a good opportunity to voice out all our opinions and views. It was also a great occasion for us to clarify our doubts. Fr Joy Kaipan encouraged the brothers to clarify their doubts on the topic. Brothers brought out some of the important issues. After clarifying all the doubts and answering all the questions Fr Joy Kaipan concluded the symposium by giving his opinions. It was a great learning experience and it helped us to be aware of the present situation of the society, especially with regard to the spirit of nationalism.
