China and the Emergence of a Global Small Hydropower Network, ca 1980s

Speaker: Dr. Arunabh Ghosh, Associate Professor, Department of History, Harvard University. A historian of modern China, his interests include social and economic history, history of science and statecraft, environmental history, and transnational history. Ghosh is the author of Making it Count: Statistics and Statecraft in the Early People’s Republic of China (Princeton, 2020)

Chair: Shri Shyam Saran, President, IIC

This talk explores China’s role in emerging global small hydropower networks of the late 1970s and 1980s. Starting early in the decade, Chinese small hydropower expertise and technology traveled across the Global South, and even made its way to the United States. China also came to play an increasingly central role in a host of ambitious international hydropower conferences – in places like Kathmandu, Nairobi, and Hangzhou. The talk will trace and contextualize this story, unpacking in the process how Chinese expertise was exported abroad and how it came to serve as a benchmark for global small hydropower projects

First lecture in a new bi-monthly series focusing on contemporary China

(Collaboration: Centre for Chinese Studies, Ashoka University; and NYU Shanghai)
 

Satish Kumar: Abundant Love

By Jagdish Rattanani (Triarchy Press: 2023)

About the book:

Satish Kumar: Abundant Love is the first in a new book series covering "long-form conversations" with global leaders who offer us perspectives away from the dominant narratives of our times. The first book covers insights, experiences and reflections from Satish Kumar, a Jain monk who became a follower of Vinoba Bhave, then went on a global peace yatra during the 'Bay of Pigs' crisis and later went on to found Schumacher College in Devon, UK, at the Dartington Estate, which has connections going back to Raibndranath Tagore. Jagdish Rattanani is the editor of the book series, which also seeks to make the point that listening, engaging and learning can come from meaningful conversations. To help unpack complex issues, the book celebrates 30 hours (and more) of conversation rather
than the 30-second soundbite.

Speakers :

Shri Arun Maira, Former Chairman, Boston Consulting Group; Former Member, Planning Commission

Dr. Saamdu Chetri, Executive Director, GNH movement of Bhutan

Dr. Sudarshan Iyengar , Former Vice-Chancellor, Gujarat Vidyapith

Shri Jagdish Rattanani, Assistant Prof. SPJIMR ; Director, The Billion Press

Conceptualised by Dr. Ashwani Kumar

From 10:00 to 13:00
Workshop on Understanding the Basic and Common Cause of Back Pain
Workshop for IIC Members and staff to be conducted by a team of doctors who will address the most common causes of back pain, how to manage it through intelligently applied exercise-based physiotherapy

Open to IIC members and staff members of IIC

At 16:00
Back Pain: Do’s and Don’ts
Speaker: Dr. Bhavuk Garg, Professor, Department of Orthopaedics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi
Chair: Dr. Ashwani Kumar

Back pain is the second most common condition that affects individuals of all ages, causing discomfort and hindrance to daily activities. It can stem from various causes: muscle strain, herniated discs, and arthritis or spinal deformities. Understanding the underlying factors and appropriate management strategies is crucial for relieving pain and improving the quality of life
 

Curator: Prof. Himanshu Prabha Ray

Tracing the Beginnings of the Harappans: New Excavations at Rakhigarhi

Speakers: Dr. Sanjay Manjul, Jt. Director General, Archaeological Survey of India; and Dr. Ajay Yadav, former Additional Director General, Archaeological Survey of India

Chair: Prof. Himanshu Prabha Ray

This talk will address the much-debated question of the beginnings of the Harappan civilization based on the ongoing archaeological excavations by ASI at Rakhigarhi, perhaps the largest Harappan site in India. Situated on the banks of the river Chautang, a palaeo-tributary of Drishadavati, the site is covered by two revenue villages by name Rakhi-khas and Rakhi-shahpur in Hisar, 150 km from New Delhi
 

Who are These People?

by Leena Nandan 

About the book:

Every year, hundreds of young enthusiasts join the Civil Services of India--the over-ambitious, the go-getters, the underdogs, the indifferent and the heroes. They are all here in this action-packed thriller, described with a deft hand and a witty bent of mind. Experiencing the romances, the sacrifices, the action and the monotony, the prizes and the perils, even as a sinister plan to attack the nation unfolds.  To get to know Who Are These People, the book unveils various contours of a civil servant.

Speakers:

Sh. Amitabh Kant, G20 Sherpa ;  Former Chief Executive Officer, Niti Aayog (Chair)
Ms. Gauri Singh, Deputy Director-General, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) 

Sh. Shiv Murari Sahai, IPS (Retd.)
Sh. Jagmohan Gupta, Advisor, National Mission for Clean Ganga
Ms. Leena Nandan, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change, GoI & Author of the book

An exhibition by HRI Institute for Southasian Reseach and Exchange
Curated by Laxmi Murthy and Pawas Manandhar

Using photographs, artworks, illustrations, installations, text and digital displays, the exhibition shares glimpses of a journey exploring the structural roots of sexual violence against women in four countries of Southasia – Nepal, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Critically examining through an intersectional lens, prevailing imagery and discourse around gender inequality and challenge the stereotypical depiction of sexual violence on the female and queer body

Participating artists: Subha Wijesiriwardena and Shermal Wijewardene (Face of a Campaign/Sri Lanka); Nikita Tripathi (Digital Reverb/Nepal); Niharika Popli and Pakhi Sen (The City that Spoke to me/India); Muktasree Chakma (As they See Us/Bangladesh); Prasuna Dongol (Before you were my mother/ Nepal); Pushpa Rawat (Sita Online/India); Rawyan Shayema (Hair/Bangladesh); Barkha Mukhiya (Flames of a continuous field/Nepal); Parismita Singh (A Manual of Hate: How to tell the story of our Times/India); and Changing the Narrative 

COMPLETE SCHEDULE

Sita ke Badalte Roop (The Changing forms of Sita/India)
(80 min; 2022; Hindi with English subtitles)
Directed by Pushpa Rawat who will introduce the film

Pushpa Rawat plays Sita in the local Ramlila, opening up public spaces for women in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh

This film is a part of the exhibition “Create, Collaborate, Catalyse: Reflections on Sexual Violence in South India” on view at the Art Gallery, Kamaladevi Complex

Before you Were My Mother (Nepal/India)

(73 min; 2022; Nepali/Meitei/Newari with English subtitles)
Director: Prasuna Dongol

Prasuna tries to come to terms with the differences she has with her mother and seeks a way to define her own life

AT 14:00
Gay India Matrimony (India)
(67 min; 2019; Bengali with English subtitles)
Director: Debalina 

Gay India Matrimony is a film that revolves around three characters exploring their marriage prospects, with one of them documenting their travails.

AT 15:15
Iqraar-naama (The Agreement/India)
(55 min; 2021; Hindi/Punjabi/Urdu)
Director: Priyanka Chhabra

A story of love and loss – an archive of “Home” in a partitioned subcontinent

AT 16:15
This Stained Dawn (Pakistan)
(89 min; 2021; Urdu with English subtitles)
Director: Anam Abbas

Karachi’s young feminists organize a woman’s march, coming up against Pakistan’s radical religious right.

AT 17:50
Gaine (Nepal)
(25 min; 2019; Nepali with English subtitles)
Director: Pradeep Dhakal

Recipient of the Award for Best Student Film, Film Southasia, Kathmandu 2022

…a journey into the lives of musician of a dying folk form that has been critical to a culture but has also been a vehicle for the dissemination of news in an era before the digital age - From the Jury Statement

AT 18:30
Taanga (Longing/India)
(90 min; 2021; English/Hindi/Punjabi/Urdu)
Director: Bani Singh

Recipient of the Ram Bahadur Trophy for Best Film, Film South Asia, Kathmandu 2022

This poignant film pans out from an individual’s life, making powerful connections to a larger historical narrative, a process in which a history of loss, home, fraught relationships and identity at large continue to cast a dark shadow on the present realities of the subcontinent - From the Jury Statement

COMPLETE SCHEDULE

The Heartbroken Lover (India)
(10 min; 2021; Hindi with English subtitles)
Director: Ridhima Sharma

Tea and sympathy for heartbroken lovers at the innovative neighbourhood chaiwallah

AT 18:15
Highways of Life (India)
(52 min; 2020; Meitei with English subtitles)
Director: Amar Maibam

Highways of Life is a detailed look at the high octane lives of Manipur’s highway truckers

AT 19:10
Ghar Ka Pata (Home Address/India)
(67 min; 2020; English/Hindi/Kashmiri)
Director: Madhulika Jalali

Of longing, transience and memory – the story of a young Kashmiri Pandit woman finding her way home…
 

COMPLETE SCHEDULE

Strike with the Beat (Myanmar)
(25 min; 2021; Burmese with English subtitles)
Director: Sai Kyaw Khiang 

On February 1, 2021, Myanmar’s military seized power and detained State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, President U Win Myint and elected government members. After the coup, young Burmese calling themselves the Drum Revolution group came out on the streets and protested against the military junta. The junta brutally cracked down on peaceful protesters.

AT 18:30
Amid the Villus (Sri Lanka)
(46 min; 2021; Tamil with English subtitles)
Director: Sumathy Sivamohan 

When the civil war in Sri Lanka ended in 2009, the displaced people of Palaikuli in Musali South (northern Sri Lanka) returned to their homeland. Their homecoming was beset by a number of problems and challenges, including stone posts being driven into their land. 

AT 19:20
Moon on the Man (India)
(75 min; 2021; English/Hindi with subtitles)
Director: Prince Shah

Moon on the Man is an observational and exploratory feature length documentary that questions the most basic assumptions of reality, perception and choices.
 

A festival of 14 exceptional nonfiction films from South Asia produced in the last two years. The festival encapsulates the flavors of the Subcontinent with films about people from India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The festival includes the award winners of Film Southasia Festival 2022, Kathmandu as well as other films selected to showcase the variety, treatment and intensity that marks the world of Southasian documentary and non-fiction. Organised with Film Southasia, Kathmandu. The festival also includes an exhibition by Hri Institute for Southasian Research and Exchange, Southasian Trust, Kathmandu

COMPLETE SCHEDULE

At 18:00
Introduction
By Kanak Mani Dixit

The Secret Life (Pakistan)
(13 min; 2020; Urdu with English subtitles)
Director: Nadeem

A glimpse into the lives of indigenous people in the Hunza valley of Pakistan

AT 18:35
Gurkha Girl (Nepal)
(35 min; 2021; Nepali with English subtitles)
Director: Bishal Rokka Magar

Co-Recipient of the Tareque Masud Award for Best Debut Film, Film Southasia Kathmandu 2022

As news surfaces that Britain is recruiting Nepali girls in its British Gurkha regiments, Dilmaya, a young girl from a mountain village, sees it as a life changing opportunity and devotes all her time in preparation.

AT 19:15
The Casteless Collective – Prologue (India)
(90 min; 2021; Tamil/English)
Director: Monesh

Music breaks barriers of caste and class in performances by a revolutionary band. The documentary chronicles the story of India’s most revolutionary political musical outfit The Casteless Collective (bold) from its inception through the release of its debut album “Magizhchi” (Joy) in 2019.