Nehru Memorial Lecture

The Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Trust was established in 1966 by The Earl Mountbatten of Burma as a memorial to his great friend the late Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India. The annual lecture series started in the same year. Below is a list of past speakers and lecture titles. The full lecture text is provided where available. 

1966 -  Lord Butler of Saffron Walden, 'Jawaharlal Nehru - The struggle for independence' (PDF)

1968 - The Earl Mountbatten of Burma, 'Reflections on the transfer of power and Jawaharlal Nehru' (PDF)

1970 - Vengalil K. Krishna Menon, 'Personal memories of Jawaharlal Nehru' (PDF)

1971 - Lord Blackett of Chelsea, 'Aspects of India's development' (PDF)

1973 - General J N Chaudhuri, 'Nehru and the Indian Armed Forces' (PDF)

1974 - P N Haksar, 'The relevance of Jawaharlal Nehru' (PDF)

1975 - Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, 'The Nehru family and its imprint on modern India' (PDF)

1978 - Sir Harold Wilson, 'Nehru and the New Commonwealth' (PDF)

1980 - The Earl of Listowel, 'The British partner in the transfer of power' (PDF)

1983 - T N Kaul, 'Nehru, the Idealist and Revolutionary' (PDF)

1985 - Shridath S Ramphal, 'Rekindling Nehru's internationalism' (PDF)

1988 - Dr Sarvepalli Gopal, 'The English language in India since Independence and its future role' (PDF)

1989 - Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma, 'Nehru's internal impact on India as Prime Minister' (PDF)

1990 - Nani A Palkhivala, 'Forty-three years of Independence' (PDF)

1991 - Mark Tully, 'The Media in India' (PDF)

1993 - Amartya Sen, 'The idea of India' (PDF)

1993 - Kapila Vatsyayan, 'Indian art: the one and many'.

1994 - John Grigg, 'Indo-British mythology about the approach to Independence' (PDF)

1995 - Shyam Benegal, 'The Indian film industry and popular cinema' (PDF)

1997 - Dr Manmohan Singh, 'India and the world economy'.

1998 - Kenneth Clarke, 'India and the New Global Economy' (PDF)

1999 - Arundhati Roy, 'The cost of living' (PDF)

1999 - Narayana N R Murthy, 'Software enterprises - temples of New India' (PDF)

2001 - Asma Jahangir, 'Human rights in South Asia' (PDF)

2003 - Linda Colley, 'The Indian Armed Forces and politics since 1947: putting difference in context' (PDF)

2003 - HRH Prince Hassan of Jordan, 'Multilateralism: alignment for peace?' (PDF)

2005 - Montek Singh Ahluwalia, 'India in a globalising world' (PDF)

2006 - Lord Patten, 'Democracy and development: friends or foes' (PDF)

2007 - Ratan Tata, 'Entrepreneurship in Modern India' (PDF)

2009 - Lord Nicholas Stern, 'Climate change, internationalism and India in the 21st century' (PDF)

2010 - Gopalkrishna Gandhi, 'Britan, Gandhi and Nehru' (PDF)

2011 - Professor Lord Bhikhu Parekh, 'The crisis of Indian democracy' (PDF)

2012 - Professor Sunil Khilnani, 'Making Asia: India, China, and the struggle for an Idea' (PDF)

2014 - Dr Neil MacGregor

2014 - Shivshankar Menon, Jawaharlal Nehru and world order'.

2023 - Professor Madhavan Palat, 'Nehru's democratic dilemmas' (PDF)