New Facets of Early Historical Archaeology and Buddhist Art and Architecture

Essays in Honour of Dr. R.C. Agrawal
Edited by C.B. Patil and Vinay Kumar (Sharada Publishing House: 2022)

Speakers:Dr Himanshu Prabha Ray, Sanskrit Scholar; Historian & Archaeologist; Dr. Alok Tripathi, Additional Director General (Archaeology), ASI; Sh. C. B. Patil, Former Deputy Superintending Archaeologist & Editor of the book; Prof. Vinay Kumar, Asst. Professor, Banaras Hindu University & Editor of the book

Chair : Sh. K. N. Shrivastava, Director, IIC

Curator: Prof. Himanshu Prabha Ray
 
Coins of the Realm: A Numismatic Overview of Eighteenth Century India

Illustrated lecture by Dr. Sanjay Garg, Deputy Director, National Archives of India and Officer on Special Duty, Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, Min. of Culture, Govt. of India. Dr. Garg is the author of many books on numismatics including Monetary Foundations of the Raj (Manohar & Routledge, 2019) and the edited volume The Raj and the Rajas: Money and Coinage in Colonial India (Routledge 2023)
 

Chair: Dr. Shashank Shekhar Sinha

The eighteenth century in India saw a unique blend of political, cultural, social, and economic transformations. The decline of the Mughal Empire from about the beginning of the eighteenth century and the political ascendency of the British East India Company, a number of revivalist powers (the Sikhs, the Marathas, the Rohillas etc.), and a horde of Indian princely states, was almost simultaneous. The talk will focus on the symbiotic relationships between various coins and currencies – which were in a constant state of flux, vis-à-vis multiple sovereign authorities during major political transitions during the eighteenth century India

Curated and Introduced by Sunit Tandon and Samaresh Chatterji
 
Vincenzo Bellini: La Sonnambula (The Sleepwalker)
(138 min; 2010; dvd; English subtitles)
With Natalie Dessay (Amina); Juan Diego Florez (Elvino); Michele Pertusi (Count Rodolfo); Jennifer Black (Lisa); Jane Bunnell (Teresa); Jeremy Galyon (Alessio); Bernard Fitch (Notary)
 
A Metropolitan Opera, New York Production by Mary Zimmerman
The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Chorus and Ballet
Conductor: Evelino Pidò
 
International bel canto stars Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Florez play the young lovers in this tale of a young girl whose sleepwalking puts her romance in jeopardy. Mary Zimmerman’s groundbreaking production offers a teasing interplay of reality and fantasy, with the opera set in a modern-day rehearsal room where the players are preparing a traditional staging of the opera. What is unmistakable is the beauty of Bellini’s haunting melodies and a feast of sublime singing from the matchless duo of Dessay and Florez.
 
Introduced by Sunit Tandon

SCREEING SCHEDULE

Curated by Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati, the Paramacharya of Satyanada tradition (Founder of Bihar School of Yoga, Munger). The programme integrates five yogic aspects – mantras, asanas, pranayama, Yoga nidra and Ajapajapa meditation
 
To be conducted by Dr. Alka Tyagi
 
Members interested in participating in the Yoga programme are requested to kindly please register by email on iic.programme@gmail.com on or before 3 June 2023
 

Heavy Metal: How a Global Corporation Poisoned Kodaikanal

By Ameer Shahul (Pan MacMillan India: 2023)

About the book
A terrifying investigative account of a global corporation’s role in perpetrating India’s greatest mercury poisoning catastrophe.
In 2001, a Hindustan Unilever-owned thermometer factory in Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu, made national headlines when a massive dump of broken mercury thermometers was discovered at a local scrapyard. As the multinational corporation conducted one hasty internal assessment after another to save face, state authorities discovered that the company had violated all acceptable guidelines for toxic waste disposal measures, causing grievous harm to its workers’ health and the region’s fragile ecosystem.As evidence of mercury poisoning among workers mounted, the local community – aided by environmental watchdog Greenpeace and various public-interest organizations – launched a battle against the multibillion-dollar conglomerate that would last fifteen years, culminating in an undisclosed settlement paid to 600 of its ex-employees. And despite the factory’s closure, scientific reports would reveal mercury levels to be 1,000 times higher than the safe limit, raising serious concerns about HUL’s toxic legacy in the hill station.For years, Ameer Shahul, a former investigative reporter and Greenpeace campaigner, closely tracked the Kodaikanal mercury poisoning case. The result is Heavy Metal, a blistering account of a colossal industrial tragedy precipitated by corporate negligence and acts of omission and commission at the highest levels.

The author will be in conversation with: Ms. Karuna Ezara Parikh, Writer & Activist  

 

Vegetation dynamics in high altitude Garhwal Himalayas and impact of climate variability in the downstream including Delhi NCR using multi temporal satellite images and spatial analytics
 

Presentation by Dr. Yogita Shukla, Founder and CEO, AddGEO Foundation

Presentation by Prof. Shreekant Gupta, Professor, Delhi School of Economics and IPCC Author

Chair: Suhas Borker, Founder Member, Green Circle of Delhi and Trustee, IIC

Vegetation dynamics in high altitude Garhwal Himalayas and impact of climate variability in the downstream including Delhi NCR using multi temporal satellite images and spatial analytics

The series is dedicated to the memory of Shri Mahesh N. Buch, civil servant and environmentalist, who passed away on 6 June 2015 and who had given the keynote address at the inaugural edition of the Dialogue in 2013

 (Collaboration: Green Circle of Delhi)

Workshop on Cities and Plastics Pollution: Challenges and Solutions
World Environment Day 2023 Science Campaign
 
Chief Guest: Prof. P.S.N. Rao, former Director, School of Planning & Architecture, New Delhi
 
Keynote Address: Ms Beate Langset, Counsellor, Climate & Environment, Norwegian Embassy (tbc)
 
Speakers: Dr. Malti Goel, President, Climate Change Research Institute; Prof. R.K. Khandal, President, R & D and Business Development, India Glycols Limited; Dr. Saurabh Manuja, Waste Management Advisor, Cities Combatting Plastic Entering Marine Environment (CCP-ME), GiZ; Shri Gautam Sen, former Executive Director, ONGC and former Senior Vice President, Reliance; Dr. R. Venkatesan, Technical Consultant, National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), Chennai; Dr. Shyamala Mani, formerly Professor, National Institute of Urban Affairs, Delhi; Dr. Anuradha Amos, Principal, St. Thomas’ Girls Sr. Sec. School, Delhi; and Shri A.K. Jain, former Commissioner (Planning), Delhi Development Authority
 
Chair: Prof. D.P. Agrawal, Former Chairman, UPSC
 
(Collaboration: Climate Change Research Institute, New Delhi)
 

Recent Excavations at Purana Qila

Illustrated lecture by Dr. Vasant Kumar Swarnkar, Director, Archaeological Survey of India
 
Chair: Shri B.M. Pande
 
Purana Qila, prevalently identified as the ancient site of Indraprastha, has revealed a continuous habitational deposit of 2500 years. The site was initially excavated in the seasons 1954-55 and 1969-73 by Dr. B.B. Lal. The continuous chronological sequence begins with a pre-Mauryan period, excavated for the very first time in the Archaeological Survey of India’s excavations conducted under the supervision of Dr. Vasant Kumar Swarnkar, in excavation seasons 2013-14 and 2017-18; and presently in 2023. Important finds from the recent excavations include a ring well of Mauryan period, a house complex of the Kushana period, seals and sealings of the Gupta period, Vaikuntha Vishnu image of Rajput period, a miniature intricately carved image of Ganesha in soapstone, a circular terracotta plaque of Gaja Lakshmi, and, coins of different periods, etc.

“What on Earth is Happening to Pakistan”

Speaker: Amb. T.C.A. Raghavan, former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan

Moderator of the series: Suhas Borker

Introduction: Vinay Kumar, Secretary General, Press Club of India (PCI)

The series of Conversations with Media is jointly organised by IIC and PCI; and is hosted by them alternately every month

An exhibition of paintings, acrylic on canvas

By Swati Goel from Delhi
 
Preview on Thursday, 8 June 2023 at 18:30