FILMS OF THE SPIRIT

Curated by Rajiv Mehrotra

 

Diksha (Hindi)

(120 min; 1991; dvd; English subtitles)

Director: Arun Kaul

 

Diksha was the first feature film by film society activist, Arun Kaul. Based on the eminent Kannada novella ‘Ghatashraddha’, Kaul’s film is sturdily crafted, especially remarkable for its atmospheric details and the fluidity with which the story set against the feudal order is narrated. Told through the eyes of a child inducted into the Brahminical order, the plight of an unwed mother is harrowing. In a weaker moment during the long absence of her father, the young widow falls to temptation

 

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

 

THE IIC DOUBLE BILL MUSIC CONCERT 

 

Sitar Recital

By Harvinder Kumar Sharma from Haryana, disciple of Ustad Vilayat Khan

 

AT 19:00

Hindustani Vocal Recital

By  Riya Banerjee from Delhi, disciple of Shri Arun Debnath

 

Draft NEP 2019: Can India Become a Leader in Higher Education?

Speaker: Prof. Vinod Kumar Singh, Professor of Chemistry, IIT Kanpur. A recipient of several awards and honours such as Swarnajayanti Fellowship Award, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize and the Padma Shri, he has been elected as a Fellow of academies including The World Academy of Sciences 

Chair: Prof. Anita Rampal, Faculty of Education, University of Delhi

 

No country can become a developed one without a strong education system. The new draft education policy (NEP) is in the right direction for making us a global leader. Can just a policy on paper bring such a change? The answer can be yes and no. The talk will elaborate how we can come on the world map of higher education system

 

Book Discussion Group

 

 

 

Africa in World Affairs: Politics of Imperialism, the Cold War and Globalisation

 

By Rajen Harshe (Oxon, Routledge, 2019)

 

 

 

Discussants: Ambassador Virendra Gupta, former Indian High Commissioner to Tanzania; Prof. Ajay Dubey, Centre for African Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University; and Ambassador Rajiv Bhatia, Distinguished Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies Programme, Gateway House

 

 

 

Chair: Ambassador Sudhir Devare, former Director General, Indian Council of World Affair

 

 

(Collaboration: Toxics Link)

Prof. M.G.K. Menon Memorial Lecture 2019

 

Can India become a Global Leader in Science?

Speaker: Prof. C.N.R. Rao, Linus Pauling Research Professor and Honorary President of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore, and former Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India

 

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

Tibet and the Himalayan Borderlands

Panelists: Prof. Mahendra P. Lama, Professor, Centre for South Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Prof. Nimmi Kurian, Centre for Policy Research; and Prof. Vasudha Pande, Lady Shri Ram College

 

Moderator: Prof. Sangeeta Thapliyal, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University

 

The panelists will discuss communities and trade across the borders. How did the closure of the borders affect communities’ lives? A few trade routes have been opened between Tibet and the Indian and Nepal Himalayas. The panel will examine how this impacts on the people and their local and national economies

 

Punya Tithi – Spiritual Merit through the Lens of Dance

Manis of Odissi in the tradition of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, Padma Vibhushan

 

Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra’s choreographies as well as those of his disciple, Smt Sharon Lowen’s will be presented 

Gandhi Aur Mrityu

Speaker: Dr. Kumar Prashant

 

Chair: Shri Ashok Vajpeyi

 

(Collaboration: The Raza Foundation