VIGIL - A Public Opinion Forum - http://www.vigilonline.com/
H-12/3, Pari Street, Kalakshetra Colony,
Beasant Nagar, Chennai - 600-090 - India

‘VIGIL’, public opinion forum came into being in Chennai, 18 years ago, in 1982, as a result of Shri Shivramji Joglekar’s visionary and persistent effort to bring together persons who wrote regularly to the ‘Letters to the Editor’ column in the English and the vernacular press. Shivramji’s life was committed to looking for and then bringing together people who were committed to public life and who gave their time to serve a social cause.

One such effort was to bring together people who responded to issues by writing to the editors of magazines and newspapers. Shivramji had great respect for these persons because he thought they were concerned and responsible citizens of this country who responded to issues that they considered important to the well-being of the people or that which affected our national interests.

From this modest but significant beginning, ‘VIGIL’ has evolved today into a vibrant and courageous public opinion forum, where the intelligentsia of Chennai gather together once every two months to listen to a lecture, debate or discussion on issues of national and topical import.

It has always been ‘VIGIL’s’ endeavour to inform and influence public opinion on important national events, issues and policies, particularly on those issues, when it seemed that there had not been adequate national discussion or when vested interests in the media, academia and the bureaucracy have indulged in doublespeak and even misinformation, as it happened when India signed the WTO in 1994, with no national discussion on the implications of the agreement, and again when India conducted nuclear tests in May, 1998.

In the last five years alone, ‘VIGIL’ has conducted meetings on issues as diverse as the following:

1. The Hawala Scandal

2. Judicial Activism

3. A day-long seminar on ‘The State of our nation'

4. Death of ideology (in the context of the elections to the 11th Lok Sabha)

5. Annadaanam

6. Food and National Security

7. Roots of our Nationhood

8. Human Rights vs The War against Terrorism

9. 'The morality of religious conversions' - a one day inter-disciplinary meeting

10. A public meeting on Pokhran II

11. What really happened in Kargil

12. The Civil War of Attrition in Srilanka

13. Jammu & Kashmir - Issues and Dimensions

Several other issues, besides topical issues on the national budget and a pre-election analysis of the manifestos of the major national political parties and formations, also have been discussed in other meetings / seminars.

‘VIGIL’ has presented from its forum to the intelligentsia of Chennai, only the very best of our experts, intellectuals and persons in public life. Reputed political commentators, persons from media, scientists, high ranking bureaucrats, police officers, noted members of the Bar, economists, retired army officers, intelligence officers and politicians have all been invited by ‘VIGIL’ to speak from our forum in the last five years.

Notable among our invitees were,

1. Dr. Arun Shourie (eminent columnist)

2. Dr. B.Ramamurthi (neurosurgeon)

3. Dr. C.V. Narasimhan (former Director, C.B.I)

4. Dr. Habibullah Badsha (Senior Advocate)

5. Dr. J.N. Dixit (former foreign secretary)

6. Dr. M.S. Swaminathan (agricultual scientist)

7. Dr. Swapan Dasgupta (deputy editor, India Today, New Delhi)

8. Ms. Arundhati Ghose (former Permanent Member, U.N)

9. Shri B. Raman (former addl.sec, Cabinet Secretariat)

10. Shri Cho Ramaswamy (editor, Tuglaq magazine)

11. Shri Ram Jethmalani (eminent lawyer)

12. Shri S. Gurumurthy (eminent columnist)

13. Shri T.N. Seshan (former chief election commissioner of India)

‘VIGIL’ believes that this nation’s social and political institutions are strengthened when organizations like ‘VIGIL’ undertake the duty of informing the people on important national issues which impact upon our collective thinking and action. The present set of office-bearers would like to add a new dimension to ‘VIGIL’s’ role in national life as a reputed public opinion forum.

In the last five years, the proceedings of very important meetings and debates have been forwarded to decision makers at the helm of affairs in New Delhi. We would now like to do so after every meeting, as a matter of course. To this end, if we can be assured of financial support through donations and sponsorship, we are confident that all our energies may be devoted to the task of identifying issues and concerned experts so as to provide the Government with our own modest input, not only by way of facts, data and information, but also by way of public opinion, which will provide Governments with the requisite indicators for future action and strategy.

To achieve this, we solicit the active participation of the intelligentsia of Chennai by way of their continued contribution through opinions, and suggestions for action, on the issues raised by ‘VIGIL’; we also solicit financial help from corporate firms and industrial and business houses which may empathise with and endorse ‘VIGIL’s mission in the service of our country.

The profile of ‘VIGIL’s members and office bearers are as follows:

1. G.R. Swaminathan, Secretary, ‘VIGIL’, (Advocate, Madras High Court).

2. Radha Rajan, Joint Secretary, (housewife, @home mother and an activist).

3. M.C. Vaijayanthi, (Public Relations Professional, formerly, journalist, ‘Hindu BusinessLine’).

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