The Department of Political Science, Southfield College Darjeeling in collaboration with Azim Premji University, Bangalore; Eastern Himalayan Foundation, Darjeeling and St. Josephs College Darjeeling organized a full-day workshop on “Dialogues on Democracy and Development” on the 2nd of May 2023 in Damien Hall from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. From Azim Premji University, Dr. Anjor Bhaskar conducted the workshop along with Ms. Mashqura Fareedi and her team from the Eastern Himalayan Foundation.
The major themes for the varied sessions were Fraternity, Democracy and Environment. The emphasis was on strengthening a basic understanding of Constitutional Values enshrined in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution. The sessions were very interactive in nature where students were required to analyze various case studies and give their viewpoints. Since there were students from both Southfield College and St. Joseph’s College, this event also provided an opportunity for both these batches to interact with each other. Such workshops which provide our students a platform to think and speak critically with regard to pertinent themes in Political Science is much needed in order to strengthen democratic values from below. We thank all the collaborators for this and are looking forward towards more such events in the future.
Southfield College was founded as Loreto College, in Darjeeling in August, 1961 as a women’s college. At the request of the Government of West Bengal, the Irish Branch of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Darjeeling Loreto Educational Society agreed to take care of its management. However, due to the lack of personnel the Loreto nuns were compelled to hand over the college to the Government of West Bengal, hence to be run as Southfield College.