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Amid the exchange of words between Visva-Bharati and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen over the economist's alleged unauthorised possession of land, the university on Sunday asked the economist either to discuss the matter with it or the issue will be settled in court. The central university issued a statement saying it is putting facts on record and requests Sen to do what is required to be done to protect his self-esteem and Visva-Bharati's reputation. Two options are open: the confusion that Prof Sen seems to be happily nurturing shall be cleared with the intervention of the court of law or through discussion with the Visva-Bharati authority, the statement read. Alleging that a mudslinging is taking place by those seeking to fulfil their vested interests over the matter, the statement said the issue needs to be addressed freely and frankly with no baggage carried from distortions of the reality. The university sent two letters within three days last week to Sen, asking him to immediate
Claiming that Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has been occupying parts of a plot of land in an "unauthorised" manner in West Bengal's Santiniketan, the Visva Bharati has urged the economist to hand over that portion to the central university. A letter signed by the deputy registrar of the university on Tuesday said the residence of the noted economist has been built on an area, which covers extra 13 decimals of land. The university also said it was ready to undertake a joint survey of its representatives and the surveyor or advocate deputed by Sen to verify the claims if he wanted. "It has been found from records and physical survey/demarcation that you are in unauthorised occupation of 13 decimals of land belonging to Visva Bharati..." the letter said. "You are requested to hand over the said 13 decimals of land to the university at the earliest," it added. The Nobel laureate's father Asutosh Sen had taken 125 decimals of land on lease from the varsity in 1943, its spokesperson Mahua
Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen asserted that it would be a mistake to think that the 2024 Lok Sabha election would be a one-horse race in favour of the BJP, and felt that the role of a number of regional parties would be clearly important for the upcoming general election. The 90-year-old economist also said that though Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee has the ability to be India's next Prime Minister, it is yet to be established whether the West Bengal Chief Minister could be able to pull the forces of public dismay against the BJP. "I think a number of regional parties are clearly important. I think the DMK is an important party, the TMC is certainly important and the Samajwadi Party has some standing but whether that could be extended I do not know. "I think it would be a mistake to take the dismissive view that there is no other party that can take the place of BJP since it has established itself as a party with a vision that is inclined in the direction of Hindus over the
Noted economist and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has said that there is a need to "build trust" to overcome "terrible misunderstandings" among people of different religions. Sen, who was in Kolkata to attend a private function organised for school children by his trust -- Pratichi -- also said that "ignorance and illiteracy" have led to some of these differences. "We live in a world where terrible misunderstandings are very common between religions... We have all kinds of differences. Some of the differences come from illiteracy and ignorance," Sen said, speaking at the event arranged by 'Pratichi Trust' in collaboration with another organisation, 'Know Your Neighbour'. "(There is a) need for building trust. If a Muslim gentleman takes a different view, we need to ask the question, why is he taking a different view?" Sen said. The economist, to put across his point that views may differ from one person to another, referred to an incident when he had taken his daughter Antara for a ..