Humanist Bhavan at Inkollu<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

 

The Radical Humanist Centre, Inkollu, in Prakasam District, Andhra Pradesh, inaugurated its Humanist centre building, the Humanist Bhavan, in January 2003. The function was attended by nearly 250 Humanist activists from the area and guests from Belgium, Norway, Switzerland, USA, the Netherlands, and the UK. The centre, which can accommodate up to 200 people in its meeting room, also has a guest room and hopes to welcome visiting Humanists. It is the first permanent home for Radical Humanists in the state, and has been built on land donated by Ravi Subba Rao; Kodali Kamalamma, a 90-year-old activist, donated chairs for the new centre. Dr. Aramalla Purnachandra inaugurated the building, and IHEU President Levi Fragell inaugurated its library. Mr. Kurra Hanumantha Rao. President of Rationalist Association of India and of the Radical Humanist Centre, Inkollu, delivered the Presidential Address, on growing fundamentalism in the Indian context. Levi Fragell spoke on Terrorism and Religion (see p. 10) and speeches were also made by IHEU Vice-Presidents Roy Brown and Sonja Eggerickx, by Dhyan Vermeulen, and by Babu Gogineni.

 

A two-day study camp was held as part of the inauguration activities and covered Globalisation and Human Values, Saffronisation of Indian Society (Dr. Innaiah), Cosmology and Rationalism (Aaluri Prafulla Chandra), and Rationalism, Humanism and Politics (Veeranna), among other topics. Dr Vijayam, from the Atheist Centre, Sambasiva Rao, from the Atheist Society of India, and Sreeni Pattathanam and C. I. Oommen from Kerala were present to extend their fraternal support. Hetuvadi, the Telugu rationalist monthly, brought out a special issue on globalization to provide resources for the study camp. The well-known educator Pasala Bheemanna presented a magic show to expose miracle claims by god- men. IHEU donated CD-ROM sets of 75 Humanist books from the Bank of Wisdom to the Centre’s library. The events received good coverage in the media.

 

Prakasam District has an active Humanist tradition. In 1943 the Humanist philosopher Ravipudi Venkatadri founded a centre in the Inkollu region for the propagation of Humanism in memory of Tripuraneni Ramaswamy. Since then, the region has seen the establishment of the Chirala Renaissance Institute, Humanist Rationalist Publishers, and Viveka Vidyalayam, the Humanist School. The newly constructed Humanist Bhavan will be a focus for the training of journalists, for educating children in scientific thinking, and for conducting Humanist wedding ceremonies – a truly valuable resource for the further strengthening Humanism in the region.

 

Babu Gogineni