History
From the Director’s Desk
As the Centre has moved into the next decade since its inception in 2009, it is necessary to recall how and why the Centre came into being in Baroda and what were its founding principles as envisaged by its founder Balvant K. Parekh. Balvantbhai was looking for someone and an institution to carry forward and spread in India the message of Alfred Korzybski, the originator of the “discipline” of General Semantics, which he claims had helped him a lot in his business and in his own self-development. He found me and the institution I helped found, Forum on Contemporary Theory, almost accidentally, which seems to be an incident already foretold, and from that time on things happened almost irresistibly until Balvant Parekh Centre was created where Forum on Contemporary Theory was located with the generous support of Balvant Parekh and the Parekh family. The two institutions have been working together since then, mutually reinforcing each other through programmes, publications, research libraries and their global outreach through academic collaboration and exchange.
It is heartening to note that since its inception four of us including Balvantbhai have received Talbott Winchell Award from the Institute of General Semantics, USA for their promotion of GS Studies in India; and two of our scholars have been awarded Hayakawa Book Prize from the Institute of General Semantics for their books published in association with Balvant Parekh Centre. Some of the notable contributions the Centre have made for the study and research in general semantics and other human sciences include the publication of the journal Anekaant: A Journal of Polysemic Thought; national and international seminars and conferences it organized during the period on topics of inter-disciplinary interest (“Enigma Series”), and its attempt to bring under its purview local and regional interventions in its various programmes spread across Gujarat. It was also possible for us to have with us through the series of Memorial and Distinguished Lectures held in Baroda many eminent scholars from India and abroad for critical exchange of ideas with local scholars in Baroda. As we have moved into the next decade through the past few years of transition, we must assess our achievements and failures and like a conscious “time-binder” look forward to the years not yet “traversed” for a productive and meaningful continuity and change.

- Prafulla C. Kar
Director