1. Swami VivekananDa 150 Womens Initiative [sv150wi]

2. RECEPTION COMMITTEE Dr. SHANTA .V Chairperson Smt. Akhila Srinivasan MEMBER Smt. Hema Gopal MEMBER Dr. Kamala Selvaraj MEMBER Dr. Preetha Reddy MEMBER Dr. Nivedita R. Bhide MEMBER Smt. Vanitha Mohan MEMBER Smt. Rajalakshmi.R Secretary

3. Organising Committee Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam Chairperson Smt. Akhila Srinivasan Vice-Chairperson Smt. Hema Gopal Vice-Chairperson Dr. Kamala Selvaraj Vice-Chairperson Dr. Preetha Reddy Vice-Chairperson Dr. Nivedita R. Bhide Vice-Chairperson Smt. Vanitha Mohan Vice-Chairperson Smt. Rajalakshmi.R Secretary

4. Members Smt. Arthi Ganesh Smt. Aruna Sairam Smt. Bharathi Thirumagan Smt. Chandra Kantha Gariyali, IAS (Retd) Dr. Chitra Thangavel Smt. Chitra Visweswaran Smt. Ilampirai Manimaran Dr. Jaya Venugopal Smt. Indra Subramaniam Dr. Lakshmi. K.S. Dr. Nachiyar Smt. Nallammai Ramanathan

5. Members Dr. Nirmala Prasad Smt. NithyasreeMahadevan Dr. PremaPandurang Smt. Priyadarshini Govind Smt. Rajini Reddy Smt. Rani Muralidharan Smt. Dr. Y.G. Parthasarathy Smt. SheelaBalaji Smt. Thangam Meganathan Smt. Uma Kannan Dr. VasanthiBadrinath Dr. VijayalakshmiNavaneethakrishnan

6. Logistics Committee Sri. T. Chakravarthy Sri. P. Ganapathy Sri. S. Gurumurthy Sri. K. Prabhakar Sri. Sharon Rammohan Dr. Sumanth C. Raman Sri. U. Sundar Dr. S. Vaidyasubramaniam

7. Swami Vivekananda 150Women’s Initiative[sv150wi]How to prepare Indian women to lead the world at cross roads?

8. What is “modernity”? • Western modernity [or Western anthropological modernity] is extremely dangerous. It • Regards individual rights that override the family interests – as anthropological evolution • Celebrates sexual freedom – as women's liberation • Treats teenage sex and pregnancy – as acceptable • Views neglect of you parents and the infirm by your children – as inevitable • Clubs Women, Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgenders [LGBT] – as allied groups • Treats all those who disagree with these as un-modern, backward and inferior • In short, modernity celebrates a woman's external body and discards her inner spiritual core

9. Result: See the state of the “Modern” women in West • 41% of the babies in US and 47% in UK are for unmarried women and teenagers • 55% of the first, 67% of the second and 74% of the third marriages in US end in divorce • 51% of US families are without father and mother living together -- “fatherless America” • As 60% Americans are unmarried, US President's announces National Marriage Project; • The population-to-rape-ratio in US is 80 times India's UK's 120 times.

10. Superficial Indian understanding of West-centric “Modernity” Indian understanding about modernity is India is limited to western dress and English language – both mixed a vague idea of equality of sexes. But this is superficial.

11. Proved: Yet “Modern” Women in W west are an unhappy lot A 2009 Study of US and Europe by economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers focusing on the period from the 1970s to the mid-2000s when 2nd wave of feminism took place, found women had become less happy than they were before, despite economic independence.

12. Why this happened to the West? This perversion of life, family, men and women occurred due to unbridled individuals rights for all with no sense of duty to each other or to the family. Family relations are reduced to choices and contracts – with no cultural obligations. Result: The care of aged, infirm and unemployed has become government responsibility leading to virtual nationalisation of the families and bankruptcy of governments. Life sans responsibilities has perverted individual character and made men and women purposeless.

13. Educated Indian women need to realise they are different Despite all odds Indian women have kept family traditions, culture and values in functional form -- preserving the relation-based life that takes care of the elders, infirm and unemployed and educating children. The family is the most vibrant socio-cultural and socio-economic institution in India. With traditional cultural obligations driving the family life, the Indian family savings has gone up from 19% of the GDP in 1991 to 29% of the GDP in 2009 and that is the backbone of the Indian economy, says Goldman Sachs. Thanks to this, with very little foreign investment, India's growth rate rose up to almost 10% -- to shock the world.

14. West-centric modernity – threat to Indian women Young Indians wrongly equate and limit modernity to fashionable clothes and western manners, urban habits and the English language. In India as Indian women leaders, intellectuals and media are assuming Westernisation as modernisation. But the Japanese modernise without westernising by Nihonjhindron or Japaneseness; so does China by Neo-Confucianism........ And so India should modernise without Westernisation. There is the danger of Indian womanhood being perverted by Western modernisation soon, unless attended immediately. Indian women also need to protect their girls and children from the perversive aspects of western modernity which trivialise women and destroys families.

15. Declining West & Rising Asia and India • With the economic crisis of 2008, the West is declining socially culturally and economically. • Now the economic power is shifting to India which led the world for 1700 years and India and China to share super power status with US by 2030 – says the National Intelligence Council of US. • The west has now been weakened by cultural degeneration which has led to economic decline. This has imposed a huge global responsibility on India and Indian women.

16. The SV150 Women's Initiative to wake up the Indian women to realise their power Indian womanhood is Indian women's gift to the world. The rising India's soft power is already impacting on the West which bas begun listening to India [see Lisa Miller's article in News Week] – a U-turn from Indians listening to the West. This development coincides with the 150 birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda who envisioned India rising as the Global Power and it is being realised today. In the sacred birth anniversary of the greatest spiritual nationalist son of India the SV150WI is seeding the thought “Indian Women as the guide for the World at cross roads” to prepare the Indian women for this momentous task.

17. Convention on 23 January 2014 As the first step, the SV150WI plans to hold a massive women's convention on 23rd January 2014 at Gnanananda Hall (Narada Gana Sabha, TTK Road, Alwarpet) Chennai on 150th Birth Anniversary of the Swamiji consisting of women who are educated and achievers in diverse fields – Artistes, Musicians, Doctors, Lawyers, Chartered Accountants, Company Executives, Businesspersons and others – on the Theme. The Convention will constitute the Vivekananda150 Women's Foundation to carry forward the work.

18. Swami VivekananDa 150 Womens Initiative [sv150wi]