By Soumen Bhattacharya from Kolkata, disciple of Pt. Soumitra Lahiri

 

 

Crowdsourcing: An Overview

A talk by Dr. Mausam, Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Delhi and Affiliate Faculty, Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle

 

(Collaboration: DELNET)

 

The Sax in the City (60 min; 2016; dvd; English subtitles)

Directed by Praveen Kumar who will introduce the film

 

Screening will be followed by a discussion

 

In Mumbai perspectives keep changing. The Koli fisher folk of this string of islands birth their own music-singing, dancing playing on festive occasions. Anand Vaiti is part of this unique East Indian Band culture but wants to learn the saxophone and, against all odds sets out, surreptitiously following a man who turns out to be the legendry Joe Pereira.

 

A small community of saxophone players in Mumbai, the film introduces and reintroduces them...

 

The Food – Pesticides and Plastics in It!
 

Series Moderator: Naresh Gupta, Director-Professor, Maulana Azad Medical College
Keynote Speaker: Dr. A.K. Sharma, Consultant, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India
 
Panelists: Dr. A.K. Sinha, Plant Protection Advisor, Ministry of Agriculture; Prof. (Dr.) Roopa Vajpeyi, Academic and Consurmer Activist; and Dr. Naresh Gupta
 

(Collaboration: Health Environment Foundation in association with Consumers India)

 

BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP

 

Realising the Demographic Dividend: Policies to Achieve Inclusive Growth in India

By Santosh Mehrotra (Cambridge University Press, 2016)

 

Discussants: Shri T. K. Arun, Editor, The Economic Times; Dr. Rathin Roy, Director-General, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy; Shri Nitin Desai, Member PMs Climate Change Advisory Council; Dr. Ramesh Chand, Member Niti Aayog; and Dr. Manoj Panda, Director-General, Institute of Economic Growth

 

Chair: Shri Bibek Debroy, Member Niti Aayog

 

To Mark the 26th Anniversary of the Presidential assent to the Prasar Bharati Act, 1990

 

Discussion on: Can AIR ever cross the Rubicon: From a Mere Tool of Communication to a Broadcaster for Transformative Change?

Panelists: Sir William Mark Tully, veteran broadcaster and former Bureau Chief of BBC, New Delhi; Rita Mukerjee, former Chief Producer, AIR; Om Thanvi, former Executive Editor, Jansatta; Dr Umakant, Dalit Activist; Prof. Hemant Joshi, Professor, Indian Institute of Mass Communication; Vinod Sharma, Political Editor, The Hindustan Times; Rajeev Kumar Shukla, DDG, AIR  and Shri Leeladhar Mandloi, former DG, Air

 

Chair: Suhas Borker, Convener, Jan Prasar

 

(Collaboration: Jan Prasar)

 

Maharashtra Sanskritik Diwas 2016

 

Lokmanya: Ek Yug Purush (145 min; 2015; dvd; English subtitles)

Director: Om Raut

 

The film will be introduced by Suhas Borker

 

Lokmanya Ek Yug Purush is a Marathi biopic based on the life of freedom fighter Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak. The film released in 2015, marks Om Raut's directorial debut after a career as a writer and director for MTV Networks, New York. The saga unfolds through the eyes of a young journalist, who reads through a book on Tilak's life and visualises how the great leader's ideas inspired thousands of youngsters to join the freedom struggle. A brilliant portrayal of Tilak by Subodh Bhave keeps you glued throughout.  The film raises many contemporary questions: how we have forgotten our freedom fighters and their sacrifices that got us freedom and how there is an overpowering and nagging doubt even today about the kind of freedom we have - are we really free?  

 

 

Mere Desh ki Dharti (60 min; 2006; dvd; English subtitles)

Director: Sumit Khanna

 

In our effort to achieve food security, have we compromised on food safety? The film investigates the impact of pesticides as they enter the food chain

 

(Collaboration: Public Service Broadcasting Trust)

 

On the occasion of World Literacy Day

Adult Literacy – Facts & Fiction

 

The complexities attached to Literacy in rural India - Facts & Fiction

Speakers: Captain Indraani Singh, Founder Literacy India & Senior Air India Pilot; Ms. Purnima Gupta, Nirantar; and 

Dr. Aapga Singh COO of Rotary International Literacy Mission

 

The dichotomy between private, state and rural educators - their training qualifications and teaching methods; the shortage of trainer teachers in rural areas - immediate actions by Government

Speaker: Dr. S.Y. Shah, Director, International Institute of Adult and Lifelong Education, Vice- President, Indian Adult Education Association

 

Andragogy - Teaching Adults is very different from teaching children - Training the Trainers

Speakers: Dr. Shalini Advani Director Pathways World School, Noida; and Ms. Meeta Sengupta Education Strategist

 

The Global Learning Crisis also includes the acute shortage of teachers at all levels (UNESCO report) - What may India propose? 

Speaker: Ms. Meeta Sengupta

 

The difficulties of implementing and sustaining adult literacy programmes for women with disabilities 

Speaker: Smt Priyo Lall , Director, Special Education, Raphael Ryder Cheshire International

 

Moderator: Smt Jayshree Misra Tripathi  , Independent Consultant, International Education & Adult Women's Literacy.

 

 

Maritime Archaeology and Project Mausam: Reconnecting Across the Indian Ocean

Speaker: Professor Himanshu Prabha Ray, Hony. Prof. Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich

 

Chairperson: Prof. Madhu Bhalla, formerly of Delhi University 

 

This presentation will discuss the Ministry of Culture’s Project Mausam, which was launched at the 38th World Heritage Session at Doha, Qatar on 20th June, 2014 and its implications for maritime archaeology in India. The intertwining of natural phenomena such as monsoon winds or Mawsim in Arabic and the ways in which these were harnessed historically to create cultural networks provide building blocks for contemporary societies, as they work towards universal values and trans-border groupings – both of which underwrite UNESCO’s 1972 World Heritage Convention