Kolkata: While talking to young students, teachers at a programme organised by Pratichi Trust, Amartya Sen, the Nobel laureate economist, said that the "atmosphere of intolerance" currently permeating India won't last for long and that people will have to band together to combat it.
When a seventh-grade student asked Sen about the “benefits of a combined pursuit”, Sen responded, “Is diversity always good? Of late, India has had diversity which was not there before. There is a need to look at both advantages and disadvantages of diversity.”
The economist used the platform to converse about the growing atmosphere of intolerance with young minds. , “This situation will not last long. People are being beaten up if they don’t agree or simply do not listen to others. People will have to work together. Differences must be sorted out. We need to reduce the distances between us," said the economist as reported by The Indian Express.
When asked by a teacher as “how can we retain the country’s diversity”, the Nobel laureate reminded the audience of what Mahatma Gandhi had said. “Gandhi said during the initial phase of the struggle for Independence that we should reduce the distances between ourselves. Our ability to respect others is decreasing. And this is one of the reasons we are lagging behind,” he said.
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