MIT professor Sriprakash Kothari to chair World Hindu Congress in Chicago; Dalai Lama, Richard Gere among speakers

Washington: A top professor of the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sriprakash Kothari, would chair the second World Hindu Congress set to be held in Chicago this September, organisers of the mega event have announced. More than 2,000 delegates from over 80 countries are expected to attend the second edition of the quadrennial conference to be addressed by nearly 250 eminent speakers from across the globe, including Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, Hollywood actor Richard Gere and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. [caption id=“attachment_4509985” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  MIT professor Sriprakash Kothari. Image courtesy: worldhinducongress.org[/caption] “It gives me great pleasure to announce the highly distinguished and world-renowned Sriprakash Kothari as the chairman for the World Hindu Congress 2018,” Abhaya Asthana, convener of the Congress, said. Kothari is the Gordon Y Billard Professor and head of the department of economic, finance, and accounting at the Sloan School of Management, MIT. With close to two decades at this premier institute, he recently completed a six-year stint as deputy dean at the Sloan School of Management. He is the co-chair of the Board of Governors of the Asia School of Business, Kuala Lumpur, faculty director of the MIT-India Program and an editor of world-renowned academic publication Journal of Accounting and Economics. In a statement, Kothari hoped that the World Hindu Congress (WHC) would bring greater awareness and enlightenment throughout the world about the Hindu view of life through a message of spirituality, harmony and inclusiveness. “The Hindu tradition accommodates diversity and welcomes evolution of thought. I view this as an opportunity to march forward in our quest for a better society,” he said in a message to WHC organising team. “WHC must work towards a society that not only values meritocracy, morality, and accountability for action, but also compassion for the weak and disadvantaged as its cornerstones; to transcend the regional, linguistic and denominational identities into a larger Hindu identity. WHC must be at the forefront in championing these causes,” Kothari added. Noting that an inescapable conclusion from history is that the journey towards spiritual attainment, social reform, and political freedom traverses through economic advancement, Kothari said the WHC must foster cooperation among those with ideas and with resources, and view commerce as a necessary means of furthering Hindu society for a better world tomorrow. The three-day conference in Chicago from 7 to 9 September would have seven parallel conferences on economics, education, media, organization, politics, women and youth.