Nobel laureate Amartya Sen said on Wednesday that India currently needs tolerance is "a very great virtue" and India needs it "very badly". Drawing the example of poet Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, who did not have enmity with any group but questioned all, Sen underlined the importance of sceptical tolerance.

The 82-year-old was delivering a lecture at a special convocation where he was given an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by his alma mater, the erstwhile Presidency College in Kolkata. During his lecture, the economist said that democracy is not a majoritarian rule, but also involves minority rights, liberty and liberty of expressions.