Roundtable: Countering Internal Security Challenges in Xinjiang: Rise of Surveillance State?

 

Panelists: Prof. K. Warikoo, former Professor at Centre for Inner Asian Studies, SIS, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Dr. Mahesh R. Debata, Director, UGC Area Studies Programme, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Dr. Debasish Chaudhuri, Adjunct Fellow, Institute of Chinese Studies; Dr. Shagun Sharma, Assistant Professor, PG Govt. College for Girls, Chandigarh

 

 

 

Chair: Ambassador Ashok K. Kantha, Director, Institute of Chinese Studies

 

 

 

In the face of series of violent incidents and unrest in Xinjiang between 2013 and 2015, the present Chinese leadership appears to have realized that the dual strategy of overall regional development and coercion could neither ensure much coveted social order and regional stability nor accelerate the process of national blending between the Han and local ethnic minorities. The panel discussion will deliberate on China’s policy in Xinjiang and lessons for India in Kashmir, ‘external involvement’ in the internal challenges in Xinjiang and state’s responses, assimilationist approach to the local unrest, new surveillance system and ‘de-radicalization’

 

 

 

(Collaboration: Institute of Chinese Studies)

Construction Waste Management – Policies and Challenges

With an unprecedented growth in urbanization, the quantum of construction and demolition waste is constantly increasing. While it is estimated that the construction industry in India generates about 10-12 million tons of Construction and Demolition (C & D) waste annually, efforts to manage and utilize this waste is very little. This has led to private contractors utilizing unscientific dumping methods thereby putting severe pressure on scarce urban land as well as reducing life spans of landfill and water bodies. There have been expressions from the public to regulate disposal of this waste that can damage the environment. There are great initiatives around the world for a Circular Economy and an economy that is regenerative by design. It refers to a global initiative in which the producer and consumer are equally responsible. This Dialogue would focus on the current status of policies and regulations and the challenges in implementing a sustainable building waste management policy.

 

The objective is to find future course of action through public debate and embedded professional involvements.

 

Is there any form of scientific attempt from the Government to encourage reuse and recirculation of these materials? How can professionals and civil society groups contribute to this effort?

 

Presentations will be made by four speakers

 

Chair: Prof. Joseph V. Thanikal, Associate Dean and Director, School of Construction

 

(Collaboration: RICS School of Built Environment

 

(Collaboration: Centre for Equity Studies; and The Wire) 

 

ENGINEERS AND THE SOCIETY 

 

Interlinking of Rivers and Management of Water Resources

Presentations by Shri A.B. Pandya, Secretary General, ICID & former Chairman, Central Water Commission; and 

Shri S. Masood Husain, Chairman, Central Water Commission, Govt. of India

 

Chair: Dr. S.K. Sarkar, former Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources and Distinguished Professor, TERI

 

(Collaboration: Consulting Engineers Association of India (CEAI)

METAMORPHOSES: TALKING TECHNOLOGY

 

Automation, Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Jobs

Speakers: Ms Anna Roy, Advisor, NITI Aayog; Shri Rajat Gupta, Senior Director, McKinsey & Company; Shri Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Founder and Executive Vice-Chairman, Info Edge (India) Limited – Naukri.com; and Dr. Didar Singh, Senior Fellow, Delhi Policy Group and Member, ILO Global Commission on the Future of Work

 

Chair: Dr. R. Chidambaram, former Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India

 

Current and anticipated developments in technology, such as advances in automation, artificial intelligence and machine learning, are leading to concerns about their impact on jobs. Many employment streams we are familiar with today may be rendered redundant in the next few decades. There may be new jobs guaranteed by the technologies of the future, but they require different skill sets and educational curricula. Are our societies prepared to adapt these changes? What will be the likely impact on a country like India, where for several years into the future, millions of jobs will have to be found for a young and expanding demography? This session on ‘Automation and the Future of Jobs’ will debate these issues

 

(Collaboration: NITI Aayog; and Centre for Policy Research)

CREEDS OF OUR TIMES

Curated by Rajiv Mehrotra

 

Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies: Part I/III

(90 min; 2015; dvd; English)

A film by Barak Goodman

 

Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Siddhartha Mukherjee, this three-part series tells the complete story of cancer, from its first description in an ancient Egyptian scroll to the gleaming laboratories of modern research institutions. The film interweaves a sweeping historical narrative; with intimate stories about contemporary patients; and an investigation into the latest scientific breakthroughs that may have brought us, at long last, to the brink of lasting cures

 

(Collaboration: The Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama)

 

Lotika Varadarajan and Maritime Traditions of India

A multi disciplinary scholar and polymath, Dr. Lotika Varadarajan’s varied academic insights and scholarship, and her work on maritime traditions of India, stands out for its detailed observations on community heritage and practices held within littoral communities. 

 

The exhibition presents photographs taken by her from Gujarat to Bengal, and Andaman and Nicobar islands and Lakshadweep from 1979 to 2010. They provide a glimpse of the seagoing lives of Indian coastal communities from the pre-2004 tsunami era. The exhibition covers traditions, practices and cultures of boatbuilding and navigation from littoral India and the islands that is yet to recover itself in a substantial manner

 

(Collaboration: Centre for Community Knowledge, Ambedkar University, Delhi)

First Lotika Varadarajan Memorial Lecture 2018 and Exhibition

 

Anchoring the Indian Ocean Studies

Speaker: Dr. Samuel Berthet, Associate Professor, International Relations and Governance, Shiv Nadar University. Samuel Berthet has been coordinator of two successive European projects on South Asia-Europe Maritime History. He is currently working on Chittagong, circulations and shipbuilding in the Northern Bay of Bengal

 

 

MAHATMA GANDHI: 150 YEARS

 

Gandhi As a Dissenter

Inaugural lecture by Prof. Ashis Nandy

 

Chair: Shri Ashok Vajpeyi

 

First in a new series of programmes organised from October 2018 to October 2019 to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Organised in collaboration with The Raza Foundation

 

FILMS ON WILDLIFE AND ENVIRONMENT

 

A Second Life (30 min; 2004; dvd; English)

Director: Nutan Manmohan

 

Recipient of the Delhi Chief Minister’s Special Award, CMS Vatavaran Film Festival

 

Through the experiences of two children, the film investigates the murky side of information technology, whereby tonnes of hazardous e-waste is seeping into developing countries like India

 

Ambi Jiji’s Retirement (30 min; 2006; dvd; English & with subtitles)

Director: Nandini Bedi

 

Recipient of the First Prize, Jeevika South Asia Right Livelihood Award; and Zee News Livelihood Award, CMS Vatavaran

 

Ambi Jiji always planted her crops on soil where forests have been burnt. This jhum field would then be abandoned and left to regenerate into a forest and a new one burnt. However, increasingly, jhum fields are being turned into orchards which provide cash and food security. Through Ambi Jiji and her daughters, we witness the passing of a way of life in a remote village in Meghalaya

 

(Collaboration: World Wide Fund for Nature-India)