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“Debating Culture”, authored by Dr Anirban Ganguly was launched at the VIF on October 8, 2013, by Prof. Dilip Kr Chakrabarti, Professor Emeritus at the University of Cambridge, Prof. Kapil Kapoor, Former Pro-Vice Chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and Shri Ajit Doval, KC, Director VIF.

Initiating the discussions, Shri Doval observed that nations need to initiate and continue the exploration of their civilisational and cultural identity. Shri Doval also asserted that there was a need to strike the right balance between soft and hard power.

Prof. Chakrabarti while reviewing the book read out some relevant passages and observed that the book discusses some crucial issues and questions regarding our cultural awareness and identity. Calling it a path breaking effort, Prof. Chakrabarti decried the neglect of our heritage and called for a wider debate on the issue.

Prof. Kapoor, in his address, covered a broad spectrum of issues. He discussed the state of cultural affairs in the country today, the lack of cultural education, the larger questions of identity and civilisational perspectives and dwelt at some length on the process of deculturisation and observed that the book had discussed all of these while examining the cultural debate in India.

Dr Ganguly discussed the relevance of the book and the broad objective of the work. He pointed out that his purpose was to present the rich and multidimensional cultural debate of the past while arguing for initiating such a debate in the present.