In order to commemorate the 60th anniversary of SGI President Daisaku Ikeda's visit to India in 1961, the Gandhi Media Centre based in Kerala, India conducted a scheduled programme with the topic, "Deciphering Dr Daisaku Ikeda's World Vision: A Series of Webinars on Books on Dr Daisaku Ikeda by Dr N. Radhakrishnan."

The first programme of the webinar series took place on February 24, 2021 and discussed the book entitled Daisaku Ikeda: Champion of hope and happiness, launched in Singapore on August 27, 2018, which Dr Radhakrishnan dedicated to President Ikeda for the SGI leader’s 90th birthday on January 2, 2018.

	Dr Nirmala Krishnan

Moderated by Dr Nirmala Krishnan, the panellists consisted of Dr Akash K Ouchi, Honorary Deputy Chairperson of Bharat Soka Gakkai; Mr Michael Yap, Singapore Soka Association Vice General Director; Dr Wendy Yee Mei Tien, Director of CITRA, University of Malaya; Mr Vishesh Gupta, Chairperson of Bharat Soka Gakkai (BSG), and Dr Namrata Sharma from the State University of New York.

Dr Ouchi kickstarted the event by briefly introducing the history of how Dr Radhakrishnan met President Ikeda, forming a lasting and wonderful friendship, and his involvement and contribution to the growth of BSG.

Following this was Mr Michael Yap who mentioned that he found the book full of inspirational gems as it provides numerous in-depth knowledge and intimate encounters between Dr Radhakrishnan and President Ikeda. Later, Mr Vishesh Gupta spoke in detail about the significant points in chapter one entitled "'The Power of One' in realising 'Ahimsa Paramo dharma' and the Gandhi, King, Ikeda triangle," covering various aspects such as non-violence, respect for others and differences and similarities among them.

Dr Ouchi	Mr Michael Yap
Mr Vinesh Gupta	Dr Wendy Yee

Dr Wendy Yee based her discussion on the second chapter entitled "Leadership and Value Creation and World Peace" emphasising the need to have a leadership that empowers the individuals and discover their own values, potential and true selves. Dr Yee, who is also a SGM leader, also spoke about the mentor-disciple relationship and the power of sincerity as demonstrated by the Buddhist parable, "The Poor Woman's Lamp."

Dr Namrata Sharma then looked into the challenges our world was facing then and talked about what the book has to offer to create a resilient and sustainable society (chapter 3) and how we can look to Daisaku Ikeda as a role model in various fields of life. She stressed on the importance of harmonious coexistence and value creation.

Dr Namrata Sharma	Dr Radhakrishnan

In his concluding remarks, Dr Radhakrishnan, who is also the chairman of Kerala Gandhi Smarak Nidhi expressed his delight and appreciation of the panellists and participants. Regarding President Ikeda as his mentor and the SGI as his family, Dr Radhakrishnan continued praising him warmly, shedding light on his characters and personality from various angles. This brought the informative webinar to an end, which saw participants, mainly from India, Malaysia, Singapore and USA.