Sustainable Infrastructure – Role of Quantity Surveyor

 

 

Development of infrastructure boosts the economy and sustainable infrastructure is the way forward for India in this direction. Sustainable infrastructure tries to add value to the facilities in the long run thereby improving the standard of living. The focus of sustainable infrastructure projects is to optimize aspects such as energy consumption, water consumption, solid waste management etc. which requires considerable cost in sustainable engineering that can reap benefits from the perspective of life cycle costs. A quantity surveyor plays a pivotal role in the construction of sustainable and energy efficient infrastructure. The balance of sustainability and affordability is a challenge for the Quantity surveyor in delivering sustainable infrastructure. In addition to traditional ways of estimating and controlling costs, the quantity surveyor has to look at the concepts of whole life costing and cost effective sustainable strategies to evaluate the green costs of projects. The Quantity surveyor has to adopt offsite construction methods to minimize the costs as well as energy consumption. There is need for the quantity surveyor to drive the mission of sustainable directives without compromising profitability. The objective of this dialogue is to discuss the competencies, future roles and strategies that a Quantity surveyor could make in delivering sustainable infrastructure

 

(Collaboration: RICS School of Built Environment, Amity University)

 

FILMS OF THE SPIRIT

Curated by Rajiv Mehrotra

 

The Passion of Joan of Arc (110 min; 1928; dvd; b/w; silent)

Director: Carl Th. Dreyer

 

Recipient of the NBR Award for Top Foreign Films, National Board of Review, USA 1929; and OFTA Film Hall of Fame for Motion Picture, Online Film & Television Association 2010 

 

Dreyer's most universally acclaimed masterpiece remains one of the most staggeringly intense films ever made. It deals only with the final stages of Joan of Arc's trial and her execution, and is composed almost exclusively of close-ups: hands, robes, crosses, metal bars, and (most of all) faces. The narrative of this profound and passionate film constitutes a double struggle: one between Joan and her captors (the English army and the French clergy) and the other within her own self

 

(Collaboration: Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama; and National Film Archive, Pune)

 

 

India and the World

 

In Conversation

H.E. Mr. Farhod Arziev, Ambassador of Uzbekistan in conversation with Ambassador Ashok Sajjanhar, President, Institute of Global Studies

 

(Collaboration: Foreign Policy Research Centre)

 

 

INDIA-JAPAN DIALOGUE

 

Coping with Gujarat and Fukushima Disasters: Reminiscences and the Way Forward

Indian and Japanese who had worked together in rescue, evacuations, relief and rehabilitation operations in the aftermaths of Gujarat earthquake in 2001, and in the Tohoku triple disaster of 2011 (Fukushima disaster) will share their experiences of dealing with the mental and physical trauma, problems of rehabilitation and livelihood of the affected communities

 

At 15:00: Opening Remarks: Embassy of Japan

 

15:10 – 17:30: Relief and Reconstruction: Reminiscences

Gujarat earthquake (2001)

Speakers: Tomo Kawane, a member of the local co-ordination team for Japan Disaster Relief sent by Govt. of Japan. International Co-ordinator, Friends of All, Ahmedabad, Associate Director, Japan Desk, RMJ & Associates, Mumbai & Ahmedabad

 

L. Mansingh, IAS, Chief Co-ordinator of Relief and Rehabilitation, Kutch

Uday Bhanu Patanayak, Architect involved in the construction of Bhuj hospital post Kutch disaster

 

Fukushima Disasters (2011)

Alok Awasthy, National Disaster Rescue Force

Kenichiro Hiramoto, Curator, Iwate Tsunami Memorial Museum, Japna

Alok Prasad, former Indian Ambassador to Japan

 

17:30 – 18:30: Round Table Discussion: The Way Forward

Chair: Ambassador Alok Prasad

 

Katsuo Matsumoto, Chief Representative, JICA

FICCI Disaster Relief Cell

Ashok Jain, MOSAI

 

Summing up: Ambassador Alok Prasad

Closing Remarks: Prof. Sushila Narasimhan

 

(Collaboration: MOSAI; India-Japan Friendship Forum; and Mombusho Scholars Association of India)

 

14th Annual Discussion on the State of Parliamentary Democracy in India

Speakers: Prof. Surinder Singh Jodhka, Professor, Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Shri Venkitesh Ramakrishnan, Senior Associate Editor, Frontline; and Shri Sitaram Yechury, General Secretary, CPI-M 

 

Moderator: Suhas Borker

 

(Collaboration: Working Group on Alternative Strategies)

 

Public Service Broadcasting Day – 2019 (Jan Prasaran Divas)

12 November – the day Gandhiji made his first and only live broadcast on All India Radio is commemorated as Public Service Broadcasting Day. On this day in 1947 Gandhiji addressed more than 2 lakh refugees at the Kurukshetra Camp from Broadcasting House, New Delhi. Gandhiji held no public office or position in Government and it was truly a public service broadcast

 

10:30  – 11:00 at Gandhi-King Memorial Plaza

Commemoration 

Choirs from Schools of Delhi NCR

 

11:15  – 12:30 at C.D. Deshmukh Auditorium 

Usha Mehta's tryst with freedom: Reliving the moments with Rita Mukerjee, former Chief Producer, All India Radio

Usha Mehta was arrested on 12 November 1942 and the Underground Radio Transmitter confiscated in Bombay

 

Discussion on Public Service Broadcasting and Speaking Truth to Power

Lead Presentation: Suhas Borker 

 

Media students are encouraged to participate in the programme

 

(Collaboration: Jan Prasar and Gandhi Yuva Biradari)

 

INDIAN ARCHAEOLOGY

Jainism in Early Bengal: Archaeological Prospective 

Illustrated lecture by Shri Shubha Majumdar, Deputy Superintending Archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of India, Kolkata Circle

Chair: Dr. B.M. Pande

 

Several archaeological discoveries in the 19th and 20th centuries by British administrators and later Indian as well as foreign scholars have authenticated that Jainism has had a long history in different parts of early Bengal. The speaker will speak about his the work carried out over a period of 6 years to put together a comprehensive picture about Jainism in early Bengal vis-à-vis its gradual development, the features of Jaina art and iconography as well as temple architecture 

 

INDIAN ARCHAEOLOGY

Jainism in Early Bengal: Archaeological Prospective 

Illustrated lecture by Shri Shubha Majumdar, Deputy Superintending Archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of India, Kolkata Circle

 

Several archaeological discoveries in the 19th and 20th centuries by British administrators and later Indian as well as foreign scholars have authenticated that Jainism has had a long history in different parts of early Bengal. The speaker will speak about his the work carried out over a period of 6 years to put together a comprehensive picture about Jainism in early Bengal vis-à-vis its gradual development, the features of Jaina art and iconography as well as temple architecture 

 

Films on Wildlife and Environment

 

The Last Show on Earth (102 min; 1992;dvd; English)

A film by Philip Cayford

 

The story of extinction on a global scale, from the South Dakota plains with their protected buffalo herds to snake stalls in Taiwan. Philip Cayford interviews conservationists and observes illegal traffickers to bring out the root causes of extinction—loss of habitat, overpopulation and greed—even as the film celebrates individual efforts to save species. A visual and musical tour de force, it is narrated by Kenneth Branagh with music by Elton John and David Gilmour

 

(Collaboration: World Wide Fund for Nature-India)

 

Films on Wildlife and Environment

 

The Last Show on Earth (102 min; 1992;dvd; English)

A film by Philip Cayford

 

The story of extinction on a global scale, from the South Dakota plains with their protected buffalo herds to snake stalls in Taiwan. Philip Cayford interviews conservationists and observes illegal traffickers to bring out the root causes of extinction—loss of habitat, overpopulation and greed—even as the film celebrates individual efforts to save species. A visual and musical tour de force, it is narrated by Kenneth Branagh with music by Elton John and David Gilmour

 

(Collaboration: World Wide Fund for Nature-India)