PHYSICAL PROGRAMME

Speakers: Qurban Ali, journalist and son of the late Capt. Abbas Ali; Ms Subhashini Ali, daughter of Col. Prem and Capt. Lakshmi Sahgal, former Member of the Loka Sabha and President, All India Democratic Women’s Association; and Shri Satish Jacob, formerly Deputy Bureau Chief, BBC and author of Amritsar: Mrs Gandhi’s Last Battle and Hotel Palestine Baghdad

(Collaboration: Business & Community Foundation)

Political Parties and the Indian Constitution: A Whip Too Far?

Speakers: Dr. Rahul Verma, Fellow, Centre for Policy Research; and Mr. Aradhya Sethia, PhD Candidate, University of Cambridge

Moderator: Ms Ritwika Sharma, Senior Resident Fellow and Lead (Charkha), Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy

From 1947 to today, India has transitioned from a one-party state, to one with multiple national as well as regional parties. Politics has become polarised over the last few years, and political parties have had a crucial role to play in how that has come about. The political party, as a unit, has not merited extensive discussion in constitutional law or theory. With the recent culmination of Legislative Assembly elections in five states, the time is ripe for a discussion on the role political parties play in the functioning of Indian democracy.

(Collaboration: Charkha, the Constitutional Law Research Centre, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy)

Registration link
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_8xIZBtBPTy2K0csLL0kNCw

Coordinator: Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Ashok K. Mehta

A Post Oli and MCC Nepal: The Triangular India-Nepal-China matrix

Panelists: Mr. Amish Raj Mulmi, Editor, writer and columnist for Kathmandu Post, author of All Roads Lead North: Nepal’s Turn to China (Amazon:2021); Amb. Ranjit Rae, former Indian Ambassador to Nepal; Mr. Kanak Mani Dixit, author and journalist; and Dr. Nihar R. Nayak, Research Associate, Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses

Chair: Maj. Gen. Ashok K. Mehta

The panellists will discuss what the post Oli and post US-Aid MCC bill passage in Parliament in Nepal means in shaping its domestic politics as well as the eternal India-China-Nepal triangular relationship.
 

Hagia Sophia: Istanbul's Mystery | Click here to watch
(54 min; 2015; English)
Directors: Gary Glassman, Olivier Julien, Larry Klein 

Whether serving as a Christian church, Islamic mosque, or secular museum, Hagia Sophia and its soaring dome have inspired reverence and awe. For 800 years, it was the largest enclosed building in the world—the Statue of Liberty can fit beneath its dome with room to spare. How has it survived its location on one of the world's most active seismic faults, which has inflicted a dozen devastating earthquakes since it was built in 537? As Istanbul braces for the next big quake, a team of architects and engineers is urgently investigating Hagia Sophia's seismic secrets.

https://www.documentaryarea.tv/player.php?title=Hagia%20Sophia:%20Istan…

Diaghilev: The Years Abroad (UK) | Click here to watch 
(58 min; 1968; b/w; English)

First transmitted in 1968, this is the first of two BBC Omnibus programmes about the Russian impresario Diaghilev. Presented by Peter Ustinov, this episode focuses on Diaghilev’s early life and the first seasons of his legendary ballet company Ballets Russes from 1909 until the outbreak of war in 1914. Friends and colleagues, including Cecil Beaton and prima ballerina Tamara Karsavina, reveal what Diaghilev meant to them and the impact he had on both ballet and the artists he commissioned.

https://vimeo.com/264210514
 

Wagner and Me (UK/Switzerland/Russia/Germany)
(89 min; 2010; English)
Director: Patrick McGrady

Actor and writer Stephen Fry explores his passion for the world's most controversial composer - Richard Wagner. But Stephen is Jewish and lost family members in the Holocaust, so can he salvage the music he loves from its dark association with anti-semitism and the Nazis? Shot on location in Germany, Switzerland and Russia, the film includes unique behind-the-scenes access to the Bayreuth Festival, the annual extravaganza of Wagner's music held in the composer's own purpose built theatre. Animated by Stephen Fry's trademark wit and intelligence, and featuring a soundtrack of Wagner's extraordinary music, this is a fantastic introduction to the life and legacy of one of the most important composers ever, and a must-see film for those who already know and love his music.

A BBC documentary series presented by art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon, exploring Russian art from the origins of the Russian icon from its roots in Byzantium to today. The series consists of three episodes: the first episode "Out of the Forest" explores the origins of the Russian icon from its roots in Byzantium; the second episode "Roads to Revolution" tells of how art moved from being a servant of the state to an agent of its destruction; and the third and final episode "Smashing the Mould" looks at Russian art from the early revolutionary days in 1920s, through World War Two and the Cold War, to today.

Episode 2 - Roads to Revolution | Click here to watch
(51 min; English)
Director: John Mullen

This episode explores how Russia changed from a feudal nation of aristocratic excess to a hotbed of revolution at the beginning of the 20th century and how art moved from being a servant of the state to an agent of its destruction.

https://watchdocumentaries.com/the-art-of-russia/

(58 min; 1989; English)
Director: Christopher Sykes

With Martin Amis, A.S. Byatt, David Suchet, John Rowe

How Vladimir Nabokov wrote his most famous novel, and why it is one of the greatest novels ever written.

PHYSICAL PROGRAMME

The discussion will be led by Shri Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, Senior Editor, The Hindustan Times

Discussant: Amb. Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa, former Indian Ambassador to Japan; and Ms Indrani Bagchi, Senior Editor, The Times of India

Chair: Shri Shyam Saran, Life Trustee,IIC

Kindly please make a note, the discussion will be conducted in-person and is not a webinar. We would be very grateful if you could kindly send us your confirmation to attend on the email id given below:

Email: iicprogrammeassist@gmail.com
Tel: 011 24609406