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
 
 

Panelists: Amb. Sharat Sabharwal, former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan; and Ms Suhasini Haidar, Diplomatic Editor, The Hindu

Chair: Amb. K.P. Fabian, Professor, Symbiosis University

Pakistan is in a crisis, a multidimensional crisis. There is an unstable quadrilateral of forces: the military, the civilian government, former Prime Minister Imran Khan, and the Supreme Court. How will the current ongoing turmoil impact India’s interest including national security? How might USA, China, and others including Saudi Arabia, seek to take care of their concerns?

Free Trade Agreements: India and the World

By V.S. Seshadri (Oxford University Press: 2023)

Discussants: Dr. Harsha Vardhana Singh, former Deputy Director General, World Trade Organisation (WTO); Dr. Mohan Kumar, Former Ambassador of India to France, Dean, Strategic and International Initiatives & Professor of Diplomatic Practice, O.P. Jindal Global University; Dr. Sanjaya Baru, former Media Advisor to PMO, commentator and policy analyst; and Dr. V.S. Seshadri, former Indian Ambassador to Slovenia and Myanmar, Senior Fellow, Delhi Policy Group and author of the book

Chair: Amb. Shyam Saran, President, IIC

WEBINAR

The Way Ahead

The twelfth and final session in the bi-monthly series on architecture, conceptualised by Anisha Shekhar Mukherji, is centred on a dialogue between several practitioners, teachers, activists and social entrepreneurs. 

They will discuss how we may take forward the key themes that have emerged from earlier sessions, to see how architecture can contribute positively to society and to culture, and enable us to move towards a more equitable and ethical way of building and living.

Introduced by Anisha Shekhar Mukherji, Conservation Architect, Author and Visiting Faculty at S.P.A. Delhi 

Moderated by Professor Snehanshu Mukherjee: Architect, Educator and Writer, Adjunct Professor, Indian Institute of Art & Design, New Delhi

Discussants: Professor Neelkanth Chhaya: Architect, Academic, ex-Dean Faculty of Architecture, CEPT University, Ahmedabad; Adjunct Faculty Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design & Technology, Bengaluru; Professor Ashok Lall: Architect, Teacher, Author, Proponent of environmentally and socially sustainable design, Design & Technology Chair at Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture (KRVIA) Mumbai; Rajat Kapoor: Architect, Practitioner of natural farming, Proponent of sustainable architecture; Rohan Nahar: Architect, Practitioner of Mud-Architecture and Sustainable practices of construction, Faculty at Padmabhushan Vasantdada Patil College of Architecture, Pune; Kalyan Akkipedi: Engineer, Social Entrepreneur, Fellow of the Aspen Global Leadership Network, Co-creator of Proto-Village, Andhra Pradesh; Professor Vibhuti Sachdev: Architect, Academic, Author, Dean of Architecture & Design and Director of GITAM School of Architecture, Visakhapatnam

Registration link

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xwfdfmRpT66UZ9JCTaxwLw