NEW YORK (TIP): Consul General of India in New York, Ambassador Dnyaneshwar Mulay, announced holding of a lecture series through the year 2014-15 with a view to enhancing the image of India.

Mr. Mulay made the announcement at a meeting he held with media persons at the Consulate on March 6. Speaking about the objective of organizing one lecture a month by eminent scholars, Mr. Mulay said it will serve to portray India rightly to the mainstream Americans and the second generation of Indian Americans.

He said it was necessary to emphasize upon our identity, contribution, achievements and the role India is playing on the world scene. It is of utmost importance to also understand how the world perceives us and how we perceive the world. Ambassador Mulay referred to the coming general elections and said here was an exciting democratic exercise being undertaken in which 814 million people will be voting.

About 23 million eligible voters have been enrolled in the 18 to 19 age group, nearly 3 percent of India’s voters. Around 930,000 polling stations will be set up for the month-long election using electronic voting machines, first introduced in 2004. He said this exciting story needed to be told. Decrying the tendency to carry only the negative stories of rape and crime, Ambassador Mulay said a positive picture of India should be presented before the world.

He added that the proposed lecture series will attempt to present a fair picture of India to the mainstream Americans and the second generation of Indian Americans. The first lecture in the series is scheduled for March 21st at 5 P.M. at the Consulate. Mr. Suketu Mehta, author and thinker, will speak on India & US: Traffic of Ideas.

Other eminent scholars to deliver lectures include Bobby Ghosh, Editor-inchief, Time International; Prof. Ashutosh Varshney, Professor of Political Science at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island; Mr. Marshall M. Bouton, President Emeritus, The Chicago Council on Global Affairs; Prof. Jagdish Bhagwati, Columbia University; Mr. Benoy K. Behl, Art Historian and Critic, New Delhi and Prof. Devesh Kapur, Director, Center for Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.