A series of documentaries presented by the historian Bettany Hughes. Travelling across present locations, Bettany explores the cultural and political pasts of ancient peoples, including the Greeks, Minoans and Egyptian.

The Ancient Worlds: Helen of Troy | Click here to watch
(52 min; English)

Bettany Hughes travels across the eastern Mediterranean to disentangle myth from reality and find the truth about the most beautiful woman on earth. She is 'the face that launched a thousand ships'; the woman blamed for the Trojan War - a conflict that caused countless deaths - but who was the real Helen of Troy?

PHYSICAL PROGRAMME

Edited by Vikram Chopra (Heritage Publishers, 2021)

Guest of Honour: Dr. Karan Singh
Chief Guest: Shri N.N. Vohra, President, IIC

Followed by a panel discussion with
Dr. Minoti Chatterjee, former Principal, Kamala Nehru College, University of Delhi and theatre person; Dr. Rajiva Verma, Former Professor of English, DU; and Dr. Vikram Chopra, former Associate Professor, University of Delhi and editor of the book.

PHYSICAL PROGRAMME

The Fractured Himalaya: India Tibet China 1949-1962
By Nirupama Rao (Penguin Viking, 2021)

Chair: Shri N.N. Vohra, President, IIC

Discussants: Amb. Chandrashekhar Dasgupta, former Ambassador to China and the European Union; Shri Manish Tewari, Member, Indian National Congress and former Minister of Information & Broadcasting; and Amb. Nirupama Rao, former Foreign Secretary, former Ambassador to China and USA
 

Farmers and Agricultural Commodity Futures in India
Speaker: Shri Sanjay Mansabdar, founder and Managing Director, Dvara E Registry, an AgriFin Tech startup that works with farmers, FPOs, value chain companies, insurers and lenders on a famer productivity and financial inclusion platform called Doordrishti

Chair: Shri Siraj Hussain, Visiting Senior Fellow, ICRIER 

Monuments and their Connected Histories: Stories from Delhi, Agra, and Fatehpur Sikri
Illustrated lecture by Dr. Shashank Shekhar Sinha, independent researcher and author of Delhi, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri: Monuments, Cities and Connected Histories, 2021)

Introduction: Dr. Himanshu Prabha Ray

Chair: Dr. Swapna Liddle

The talk will revolve around three lesser-known stories connected with three iconic monuments which are now known as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. These stories, one each from Delhi, Agra and Fatehpur Sikri will uncover the layers and complexities which do not get adequate attention in the conventional narratives

Discussion on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 and Discrimination Law
Speakers: Prof. Mohsin Alam Bhat, Associate Professor, Executive Director, Centre for Public Interest Law, Jindal Global Law School, O.P. Jindal Global University; and Ms Thulasi K. Raj, Advocate, Supreme Court of India & Kerala High Court and Visiting Fellow, Melbourne Law School, Australia

Moderator: Shri Lalit Panda, Senior Research Fellow (Charkha), Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (“CAA”) has been a lightning rod of controversy, drawing out starkly different public views about the law’s legitimacy. Conspicuously, discussions on the subject have heavily relied on the language of the Constitution and its promise of equality, non-discrimination, and secularism, However, there is much about the constitutional guarantee of equality that needs clarification before it can be meaningfully applied in the case of the CAA. This is especially so in the case of discrimination law, a field of law that protects individuals and groups against discrimination on the basis of characteristics like race, religion, sex and caste.

A new year-long series of monthly conversations jointly curated and presented with Charkha, the Constitutional Law Research Centre, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy. The conversations have been envisaged to spark thoughtful, nuanced discussions on some of the most significant constitutional challenges of our times. The conversations will focus on three broad themes – understanding Indian democracy, unpacking Indian federalism, and unearthing civil liberties
 

Asoca: A Sutra
By Irwin Allan Sealy (Penguin Viking, 2021)

Discussants: Dr. R. Mahalakshmi, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Dr. Shonaleeka Kaul, Associate Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Shri Arvinder Singh, journalist and author; and Shri Irwin Allan Sealy, author of the book