Babu Gogineni (born Rajaji Ramanadh in 1968) is an Indian

Humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...

, rationalist, and

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

activist, who served as Executive Director of the

International Humanist and Ethical Union Humanists International (known as the International Humanist and Ethical Union, or IHEU, from 1952–2019) is an international non-governmental organisation championing secularism and human rights, motivated by secular humanist values. Found ...

(IHEU). Gogineni is the founder of,

South Asian South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, ...

Humanist Association and Indian Humanists. He is also the founder and owner of Skillguru, a training organization and private business. In his activism, Gogineni campaigns against established privilege and abuse of rights done in the name of religion. During his time with the IHEU, he led IHEU's worldwide campaigns for the protection of Bangladeshi writer

Taslima Nasreen Taslima Nasrin (born 25 August 1962) is a Bangladeshi-Swedish writer, physician, feminist, secular humanist, and activist. She is known for her writing on women's oppression and criticism of religion. Some of her books are banned in Bangladesh ...

, bringing Pakistani freethinker

Younus Shaikh Mohammed Younus Shaikh ( Punjabi, ur, , born 30 May 1952) is a Pakistani medical doctor, human rights activist and freethinker. When he was a teacher at a medical college in Islamabad, Shaikh was an active member of the South Asia Peace Move ...

to safety in Europe. In India, he successfully led the campaign for rehabilitation and protecting the rights of Sambhavi, a child who was claimed as a reincarnation of a Buddhist goddess. In 2003, Gogineni was one of the signatories to the

Humanist Manifesto ''Humanist Manifesto'' is the title of three manifestos laying out a humanist worldview. They are the original ''Humanist Manifesto'' (1933, often referred to as Humanist Manifesto I), the ''Humanist Manifesto II'' (1973), and ''Humanism and It ...

. He also identifies himself as a

Bright Bright may refer to: Common meanings *Bright, an adjective meaning giving off or reflecting illumination; see Brightness *Bright, an adjective meaning someone with intelligence People * Bright (surname) * Bright (given name) *Bright, the stage na ...

. Gogineni writes in English, French and Telugu. He was a columnist for Hyderabad-based daily newspaper '' Postnoon'' and wrote a column called "The Human Angle". He has also hosted a multi-language TV series called ''The Big Question with Babu Gogineni'' offering a Humanist perspective on

science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

and

civilization A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of a state, social stratification, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyond natural spoken language (namely, a writing system). Ci ...

. Gogineni travels domestically and internationally to spread humanism and awareness of social issues. He speaks on television on

superstition A superstition is any belief or practice considered by non-practitioners to be irrational or supernatural, attributed to fate or magic, perceived supernatural influence, or fear of that which is unknown. It is commonly applied to beliefs and ...

Humanism Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...

and

. He appeared on the second season of the reality TV show Bigg Boss Telugu. He was eliminated from the show after 63 days on Aug 12, 2018.

Early life and activism

Gogineni , the son of Aruna Kumari (née Vegunta) of

Eluru Eluru is a city and the district headquarters of Eluru district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is one of the 14 municipal corporations in the state and the mandal headquarters of Eluru mandal in the Eluru revenue division. The city ...

, West Godavari district,

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

and Gurubabu of

Tenali Tenali is a city in Guntur district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipality and the headquarters of Tenali mandal and Tenali revenue division. The city is renowned for art, culture, drama and hence, it is called ''Andhra ...

Guntur district Guntur district is one of the twenty six districts in the Coastal Andhra region of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The administrative seat of the district is located at Guntur, the largest city of the district in terms of area and with a po ...

was born in Hyderabad. At the age of 18, he became the youngest certified

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...

teacher in Hyderabad. He later graduated from

Nizam College The Nizam College is a constituent college of Osmania University established in 1887 during the reign of Mir Mahbub Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VI, in Basheerbagh, Hyderabad, Telangana. History The Nizampur University College was originally the "Mirsar ...

. He served as Joint secretary of Indian Radical Humanist Association, Bombay between 1988-1996; Vice-President of the Indian Rationalist Association, Hyderabad between 1993-1996; Secretary General of Rationalist Association India, Hyderabad between 1995-1996, and was part of South Asian Humanist Network, Bombay between 1995-1996, before moving to the United Kingdom in 1997, where he continued his activism work with the International Humanist and Ethical Union.

IHEU career

Gogineni was appointed as Executive Director of the

(IHEU) in 1997. He was associated with IHEU till 2015. During his long association with IHEU, Gogineni implemented the IHEU's move to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, turned IHEU into a multi-lingual proactive campaigning organization, arranged IHEU's lobbying efforts at an international level by securing Special Consultative status at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

, organized IHEU's first General Assembly (GA) in Africa, and conceptualized and founded the IHEU Centre for Bioethics at the UN in New York. He also helped organize IHEU's Congresses in Mumbai (1999), Amsterdam (2002) and Paris (2005), and its first GA in Africa (2004).

Positions held

* Executive Director, IHEU, from 1997 until 2015.

Keynotes, Lectures and Debates

* Mexico National University's Primavera lecture on

Globalization Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...

at the Anthropology Museum of Mexico City, 1999. *''Hinduism and the Myth of Evolution'' at conference on ''Darwin, Humanism and Science'' sponsored by

European Humanist Federation The European Humanist Federation (EHF, french: Fédération Humaniste Européenne, FHE), officially abbreviated as EHF-FHE, is an umbrella of more than 60 humanist and secularist organisations from 25 European countries. Founded in Prague in July ...

British Humanist Association Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious b ...

, and IHEU, 2009. *

World Humanist Congress Humanists International (known as the International Humanist and Ethical Union, or IHEU, from 1952–2019) is an international non-governmental organisation championing secularism and human rights, motivated by secular humanist values. Found ...

in Oxford, 2014. *

Cambridge Union The Cambridge Union Society, also known as the Cambridge Union, is a debating and free speech society in Cambridge, England, and the largest society in the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1815, it is the oldest continuously running debatin ...

Society's Debate, Cambridge University, 2014. *''The Human Angle'' lecture series (30+ lectures) in the US and the UK at MIT/Harvard University Humanist Hub, University of South Florida, Asian Rationalist Society Birmingham, South Asian Human Conference, North American Telugu Association (NATA) Conference, 2016. *''Championing the Light of Reason'' at TEDx Hyderabad, 2016.

In media

* ''What is Religion?'' a two-episode series of ''The Big Question'' radio program broadcast by

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

featured Gogineni, 2004. * ''Superstition Kills'', a documentary about superstition in India, made by Henrik Thomé features Gogineni, 2009. * ''The Big Question with Babu Gogineni'', a TV series hosted by Gogineni on

and

, 2015. * ''Open Heart With RK'', Season 2,

ABN Andhra Jyothi ABN Andhra Jyothy is an Indian Telugu language, Telugu-language 24-hour news channel launched on 15 October 2009. Aamoda Broadcasting Network is the holding company of the channel and is promoted by Vemuri Radhakrishna. The media house also ow ...

, 2015.

References

External links

''Superstition kills'', a documentary about superstitions in India featuring Babu Gogineni''Championing the Light of Reason'', Babu Gogineni at TEDx Hyderabad
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gogineni, Babu 1968 births Living people Telugu people Secular humanists Indian rationalists Indian humanists Indian atheism activists Writers from Hyderabad, India English-language writers from India Asian writers in French Telugu-language writers Pondicherry University alumni Bigg Boss (Telugu TV series) contestants