IIC/WNCB DIALOGUES ON CHILD LABOUR

Shantha Sinha, leading child rights activist, Founder-Secretary, M.V. Foundation and former Chairperson, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights from 2007-2013; Sudarshan Suchi, Chief Executive Officer, Save the Children, India; and Vicky Roy, formerly a Delhi street child, now an acclaimed photographer — in conversation with Monica Banerjee, Country lead, WNCB Alliance in India.

[Organised in collaboration with Work: No Child's Business (WNCB) to mark International Year for Elimination of Child Labour (IYECL - 2021)]

PANELISTS: Dr. John Cherian, Consulting Editor, Frontline; Prof. P.R. Kumaraswamy, Professor of Contemporary Middle East, Centre for West Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Hony. Director, Middle East Institute; and Prof. Bansidhar Pradhan, Professor, Centre for West Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University

CHAIR: Amb. K.P. Fabian

The Israel-Palestine Dispute has once again flared up on 10th May, with the Hamas firing rockets into Israel and the latter retaliating with air strikes. A cease-fire was agreed to after 11 days. The grim toll includes over 280 human lives lost, 77,000 rendered homeless in Gaza, not to speak of the destruction of infrastructure including water and electricity, hospitals, schools, and even a library. There is talk of reconstruction and even of the two-state solution. The panelists will address the issues including the two questions: Why did this crisis occur when it did? The role of the United States; What next?

8th Edition of the Dialogue to Develop a Vision for the Environment of Delhi - 2025

SPEAKERS: Ms. K. Sujatha Rao, Former Union Health Secretary; Prof. K. Srinath Reddy, President, Public Health Foundation of India; Prof. Naresh Gupta, Former Director Professor, Maulana Azad Medical College; Dr Ajay Aggarwal, COO, Omega Hospitals; and Dr. Indranil Mukhopadhyay, Health Economist, Associate Professor, O. P. Jindal Global University

MODERATOR: Suhas Borker, Founder Member, Green Circle of Delhi

It was a catastrophic scenario when Delhi was struck by the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. On 20th April 2021, Delhi reported its highest single-day Covid-19 spike ever, after it added over 28,395 coronavirus cases. Delhi's healthcare system failed. Amid a surge in infections and deaths, Delhi ran out of hospital beds, oxygen and medicines. This was despite Delhi having the highest density of super-speciality hospitals, doctors, beds and specialists. Why did so many people in Delhi die without access to basic medical services?

The lessons learnt from the recent crisis call for a concerted endeavour to revamp and optimize the health eco-system of Delhi. Can Delhi develop a sustainable model of primary healthcare led Universal Health Coverage? Can Delhi strengthen its health eco-system to manage regular and emergency healthcare as well as prepare for biological disasters? Can Delhi's healthcare infrastructure meet the needs of non-Covid patients in the current and near future scenarios, in anticipation of the Covid crisis remaining for some time? Can a transparent plan of action be prepared and implemented laying down clear lines of institutional accountability?

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

(Collaboration: Green Circle of Delhi)

A series of films to celebrate the centenary year of Luis García Berlanga (1921-2010), arguably one of the greatest Spanish film directors of his time and an arch-satirist of Spanish society. Remarkably, much of his best and most cutting work were made under the scrutiny of a censorious dictatorship. The online film series revisits four ground-breaking films that played a significant role in his career and evolution as a filmmaker. Organised in collaboration with Cervantes Institute, New Delhi; Filmoteca de la AECID, ICAA; Filmoteca Española, AC/E; and Academia del Cine, Spain.

The films can be viewed every Friday night of June 2021 on the Instituto Cervantes Vimeo channel, for a duration of 48 hours.

Calabuch [Spain/Italy; 92 min; 1956; b/w; Spanish with English subtitles]

Director: Luis García Berlanga

Recipient of the OCIC Award, Venice Film Festival 1956; CEC Award for Best Actor & Best Original Story, Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Spain 1957; and Prize of the National Syndicate of Spectacle for Best Film, Best Supporting Actor & Best Screenplay, National Syndicate of Spectacle, Spain 1956

In the middle of the Cold War, tired of working on the construction of atomic bombs and alarmed by the destructive scope of his discovery, a North American scientist of international prestige flees his country and takes refuge in the anonymity of a peaceful town on the Mediterranean coast called Calabuch. The affable professor Hamilton not only integrates perfectly into the small town of Calabuch, forging a deep friendship with his neighbours, but there he will find the happiness he craved for

Illustrated lecture [40 min] by Ms Caterina Brazzi Castracane, historian, author and tour guide

Ferrara located in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy is the first modern city and one of the culturally most important of Italian Renaissance city states. The historic centre of Ferrara has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1995. For three centuries the town was ruled by the Este family, whose Renaissance court was among the finest in Italy, attracting artists and writers alike. 

(Organised in collaboration with Italian Embassy Cultural Centre and Bell’Italia 88)

Concert by Bianca Gismonti (vocal and piano) and Julio Falvigna (drums), well-known contemporary jazz artists from Brazil.

The artists will be accompanied by other guest artists to present three compositions – Festa do Carmo with Mestrinho, accordion (Brazil); Escadas da Penha with Frank Colón, percussion (Puerto Rico); and Celestial Sphere with Navin Gandhari, belabahar (India); and Paolo Andriolo, bass.

(Collaboration: Embassy of Brazil)

[84 min; 2011; English]

Directors: Jason Cohn & Bill Jersey

Narrated by James Franco

The husband-and-wife team of Charles and Ray Eames were among the most important American designers of the 20th century. The Eameses are best known for their ground-breaking contributions to architecture, furniture design, industrial design and manufacturing, and the photographic arts. The Eamses visited India in 1957 at the invitation of the Government of India to explore the problems of design and to make recommendations for a training programme. Their India Report defined the underlying spirit that would lead to the founding of the National Institute of Design and the beginning of design education in India.

Video recording of a lecture [56 min] delivered by Prof. Slavoj Žižek, well-known Slovenian political philosopher, cultural theorist and author, at the 2011 Festival of Dangerous Ideas, Sydney, Australia.

In the late 90s, political theorists, economists and politicians were talking confidently about the “end of history” and the undisputed triumph of liberal "democratic" capitalism. Communism was written off as dead and buried. But after 9/11, the Arab Spring, and the protests spreading over Europe, the ideological gloss of capitalism may be beginning to fade. If the alternative is Putin's muscular Tsarism or China's authoritarian capitalism, then renovating the idea of communism may matter profoundly. For philosophical rock star and brilliant iconoclast Slavoj Žižek, it is something that we should demand, no matter how impossible it seems.

BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP

Rogues Among The Ruins
by Achala Moulik

ABOUT THE BOOK: A satire on the workings of the Indian civil service machinery, the book Rogues Among the Ruins  uses irony, humour and sarcasm to unveil the reality of powerful men and women who think they rule the country. The first part of the book ‘Life Among the Ruins’ provides a fascinating fictionalised account of the Archaeological Survey of India giving us a glimpse of its history and its workings.  A morally neutral civil servant caught in the conflict between power and ideals, chronicles a later era in the second part, ‘Romance Among the Ruins’. Not betraying any bitterness, the book  adopts the style of great masters like Cervantes and Gogol who in search of truth and justice, always evoke laughter through tears. 

PANELISTS: Dr Uday Balakrishna, formerly of the Indian Postal Service, currently visiting faculty, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore ; Shri Manish Purohit, co-founder of 'Authors UpFront'; Shri. N.S. Vinodh, investment banker and author; Ms. Achala Moulik, IAS (Retd.), & author of the book.

CHAIR: Shri K.N. Srivastava, IAS (Retd), Director IIC