Shivraj Chouhan to Give 67th Sardar Patel Memorial Lecture

A lecture series older than most institutions of independent India is about to add another name to its roll. Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and of Rural Development, will deliver the 67th Sardar Patel Memorial Lecture on 27 October 2026 at three in the afternoon. The venue is the Rang Bhawan Auditorium of Akashvani on Sansad Marg in New Delhi. Entry is open to all on a first come, first served basis, subject to seats being available in the auditorium.

When it is broadcast

The lecture is recorded and then carried across the whole Akashvani network on the Jayanti of Sardar Patel, 31 October, at 9.30 in the night. That pairing of a lecture a few days early and a broadcast on the birth anniversary itself is the settled pattern of the series.

The series and the man

Akashvani has run the annual Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Lecture since 1955 in memory of independent India’s first Deputy Prime Minister, who also held the Information and Broadcasting portfolio. Remembered as the architect of national integration and popularly as the Iron Man of India, Patel is the figure whose legacy the series was created to keep alive.

Who has spoken before

The first lecture in the series was given by Bharat Ratna Shri C. Rajagopalachari, independent India’s first Governor General. The podium has since been taken by a long line of leaders, scientists and historians. Among them are Dr. Zakir Hussain, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Shri Morarji Desai, Dr. Karan Singh, Dr. M. S. Swaminathan, Justice Leila Seth, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, Shri Arun Jaitley, Shri Ajit Doval, Dr. S. Jaishankar, General Bipin Rawat and Dr. S. Somanath. The previous edition, the 66th, was delivered by Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Labour and Employment.

Why it matters

Over seven decades the series has grown into a store of thought and opinion on a wide spread of subjects, and a way of understanding the reach and depth of the country’s culture and its questions of development. Recordings of earlier lectures are kept on the official YouTube archive of Prasar Bharati.