Jharkhand CM to deliver lecture on tribal rights at Harvard

Ranchi (Jharkhand) [India], December 26 : Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren will deliver a keynote lecture on "tribal rights, sustainable development and welfare policies in Jharkhand" virtually during the 18th annual "India Conference" at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to be held from February 19 to 21, 2021.
According to the official Twitter handle of the office of the chief minister, Soren has accepted the invitation sent to him on Friday.
"The Chief Minister has accepted the invitation and thanked the organisers. He will be speaking on tribal rights, sustainable development and welfare policies in Jharkhand," the tweet read.
The tweet also attached a picture of the invitation, sent to the chief minister on Friday, seeking his consent to be a part of the "India Conference" as a speaker on a keynote panel.
"India Conference" is the largest student-run meeting in North America focusing on India and one of the world's leading forums for dialogue, debate, and networking around issues pertaining to contemporary India.
Suraj Yengde, a PhD scholar and senior fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, sent the invitation letter, saying his work, in particular, has been of keen interest "to most of us as you merged a proud tribal indigenous politics with a development agenda...for strengthening of democracy that is locked in caste and feudalistic nepotism".
"We are looking to have Hemant in the chief ministers' panel virtually to discuss on the issues of governance, state-centre relations, handling of Covid-19 and the intersections of caste and tribal identities in the current politics," the letter read.