PHYSICAL PROGRAMME

Contested Lands: India, China and the Boundary Dispute
By Maroof Raza (Westland Non-Fiction: 2021)

Discussants: Amb. Sujan R. Chinoy, Director General of the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses; Prof. Alka Acharya, Professor, Centre for East Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University; and Shri Maroof. Raza, strategic analyst and author of the book 

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

PHYSICAL PROGRAMME

An exhibition of photographic panels to mark the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s war of liberation. The photographs traces the history of the Liberation War starting with the peoples’ movement against the military regime that culminated in the transformation of East Pakistan to Bangladesh.

The Discovery and Dispersal of Relics: The Modern History of Buddhism
Illustrated lecture by Prof. Himanshu Prabha Ray, author and historian who is currently affiliated to the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, Oxford

Chair: Prof. Madhavan K. Palat

The relics of the Buddha are said to have been divided into eight soon after his parinirvana or passing away in the 6th century BCE. Textual accounts mention a second redistribution by the Mauryan king Ashoka in the third century BCE when 84,000 stupas were built over the Buddha’s relics across the Buddhist world. This talk shifts the focus to the nineteenth and twentieth century dispersal of relics, as these were discovered through archaeological excavations at stupa site. These sacred objects often became pawns in cultural diplomacy as colonial officials sought to cement ties with Buddhist countries through presentation of relics.

Speakers: Prof. Surajit Mazumdar, Professor of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Prof. Partha Sen, former Professor of Economics, Delhi School of Economics; Prof. R. Kavita Rao, Professor National Institute of Public Finance and Policy; Prof. Vikas Rawal, Professor of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University; and Dr. Zakaria Siddiqui, Associate Professor, Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation, Thiruvananthapuram

Moderator: Suhas Borker, Convener, Working Group on Alternative Strategies and Editor, Citizens First TV (CFTV)

For India's industrial sector, a mere recovery to the pre-Covid situation would not amount to much given that stagnation and a shrinking relative significance in the economy have been its features for the past decade. In response to Covid-19, fiscal policy was not leveraged and redistribution was given a short shrift; also there are emerging concerns in respect to finances of states; can the continued eschewal of fiscal policy to expand demand and reduce inequalities and reliance mainly on supply side measures, produce a magic that has been conspicuous by its absence for a long time? The three farm laws have been repealed after a historic struggle by farmers – what should be the future direction of policies in the agricultural sector?  India's rank is low in the global hunger Index - why? what has the government done about it? On climate change, Post-Glasgow conference - what exactly is India up to? is there a net-zero commitment on serious modelling? Is coal going to be phased out?

(Collaboration: Working Group on Alternative Strategies)

Click here to Register
 

The Brandenburg Gate: History of a Symbol
(42 min; 2021; English)
A film by Florian Optiz
DW DocFillm

Built in 1793, the Brandenburg Gate received little attention at first. That changed when Napoleon triumphantly entered the city through the gate after his victory over Prussia in 1806 - and took its Quadriga to Paris as a spoil of war. After the charioteer returned to Berlin in 1814, the Brandenburg Gate became a national symbol of triumph. Following the Second World War, the gate stood at the place where two opposing political systems met. Here, East and West confronted each other, from either side of the Wall. That changed in 1989, when people from East and West crossed the Wall at the Brandenburg Gate to embrace each other. More than any other German monument, the Brandenburg Gate has been exploited again and again for the politics of power; its symbolism has been reinterpreted numerous times; and it has been used and abused as a backdrop by countless political groups.
 

Samuel Beckett: Silence to Silence (Ireland)
(80 min; 1984; English)
Director: Seán O’Mórdha 

What a sensitive documentary can do, and what Seán O'Mórdha's Samuel Beckett: Silence to Silence does admirably, is bring together the man's life and work in a way that offers glimpses of how the one flowed into the other. For those who haven't read much about the singular Nobel Prize-winner, the documentary provides illuminating details of his childhood, school days and his war years with the French resistance; for admirers, there are tantalizing snatches of his prose, poetry and inimitable plays.

A two-part BBC television series with British gardener and broadcaster, Monty Don. Monty Don travels the Islamic world and beyond from Morocco to India in search of Paradise Gardens celebrated in the Koran and uncovers the influence they've have had back in the UK.

Episode I: Spain, Morocco and Iran | ( Click here to watch )
(58 min; English)
Director: Jason Holmes

Monty starts in Spain, a country synonymous with Christian traditions but which, for 800 years, was actually Islamic. At the Alhambra, he discovers the basic building blocks of paradise gardens - green spaces divided into four by channels of water that meet at a central fountain. In Seville, Monty explores their symbolic significance. Water is the key feature of these gardens. In Morocco, Monty discovers the wide variety of paradise gardens. But it is Monty's final stop that sheds the most light on the origins of these incredible gardens. In Iran, he explores the huge influence emanating from the gardens of old Persia. In the cultural centres of Isfahan, Kashan and Shiraz, Monty visits some of the most exquisite gardens in the world and then in the middle of the desert, comes across the secret to their creation. 

PHYSICAL / ONLINE  PROGRAMME

A WEEK OF BOOK LAUNCHES 
DECEMBER 13th-17th 

MONDAY DECEMBER 13th 

FURROWS IN A FIELD by Sugata Srinivasaraju
H D Deve Gowda, Fali Sam Nariman, Farooq Abdullah, Jairam Ramesh & Sitaram Yechury will release the book followed by conversation 
Moderator : Praneet Bubber
 

6.30pm | Multipurpose Hall
Watch it live  https://youtu.be/9BjxIqfJfBI

TUESDAY DECEMBER 14th 

Hindi Ki Pehli Adhunik Kavita by Sudipti
Conversationalist : Anu Shakti Singh
 

12 noon | Annexe Court
Watch it live https://youtu.be/cnacdE5ePgA

Rangon Ki Manmani by Waseem Nader
Conversationalist : Dr Bakul Dev

2 pm | Annexe Court
Watch it live https://youtu.be/T3uO-QHN2xs

Law, Humour and Urdu Poetry by Ejaz Maqbool
Conversationalist : Hasan Zia 

4 pm | Annexe Court
Watch it live https://youtu.be/Cy0OEj89G2E

Satyajit Ray by Raghu Rai
Conversationalist & Moderator : Ina Puri 

6.30 pm | Annexe Court 
Watch it live https://youtu.be/zd6JvrNw5lo

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 15th

Tulidas Ka Swapna Aur Lok by Jyotish Joshi
Conversationalist : Dr Sunita 

12 noon | Annexe Court
Watch it live https://youtu.be/1ryFWCoYUyk

Murti Bhanjan by Kshama Kaul

2 pm | Annexe Court
Watch it live https://youtu.be/j7Zj0HV01cg

A Bird from Afar by Anshul Chaturvedi 
Moderator : Preeti Gill

4.30 pm | Annexe Court
Watch it live https://youtu.be/OXo7KD_mvnk

Maut Ki Kitaab by Khalid Jawed
Conversationalist : Azhar Iqbal 

7pm | Annexe Court
Watch it live https://youtu.be/Tyv6r-d5lAg

THURSDAY DECEMBER 16th 

Lovers Of Rampore by Ashok Chopra
Moderator & Conversationalist : Huma Khalil

4 pm | Rose Garden
Watch it live https://youtu.be/4LXKyz9vTMc

Asylum by Daman Singh
Moderator & Conversationalist : Priyanshi Patel

6.30 pm | Rose Garden
Watch it live https://youtu.be/3EVIX4w1YOY

FRIDAY DECEMBER 17th 

Land of the Gods : The Story of Haryana by Arjun Singh Kadian
ijBaayant 'Jay' Panda and Sanjeev Sanyal will release the book followed by conversation
Moderator : Shazia Ilmi

6.30 pm | Annexe Court
Watch it live https://youtu.be/N-bA9uqU9Ss