Introduction by Shri Vijay Bhushan, former Secretary to the Govt. of India and Member, State Wildlife Board of Himachal Pradesh

 

Followed by

An audio-visual presentation by Shri Jairaj Singh, Chairman, The Tiger Haven Society who are recipients of this year’s Award founded by the legendary conservationist, Billy Arjan Singh of Dudhwa National Park fame

 

Chief Guest: Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan, Chairperson, IIC-Asia Project

Guest of Honour: Dr. Sunita Narain, Director-General, Centre for Science and Environment and former recipient of the Award

 

The Trans-Himalayan Cold Desert Cultural Landscapes of India

Speaker: Dr. K.C. Nauriyal, Shimla Circle, Archaeological Survey of India

Chair: Professor R.C. Agrawal
 

 

Rooted in Buddhism, the culture of the region is strongly affiliated with Tibet but traces of Indian influences make it unique. The difficult terrain and climate of the region have shaped the location and nature of settlements that are nestled in valleys near rivulets. In addition to the difficult living conditions, phenomena such as global warming and Himalayan glacier melting are adding to the challenges being faced by the community and threatening their whole way of life. The region has Outstanding Universal Values both of cultural and natural heritage property as defined by UNESCO for a World Heritage Site. As compared to similar property the world over, this is much larger in scale and demonstrates the confluence of two national cultures – Indian and Tibetan

 

Speakers: H.E. Mr. Deep Upadhyaya, Ambassador of Nepal; Shri Siddharth Varadarajan, journalist; and Shri K.V. Rajan, former Indian Ambassador to Nepal

 

Moderator: Prof. Sangeeta Thapliyal, Jawaharlal Nehru University

 

A Manual on Conservation of Historic Gardens: The Indian Context Based on the Florence Charter on Historic Gardens

Speaker: Dr. Priyaleen Singh, Professor at the School of Planning and Architecture

 

Keynote address by Shri Tejendra Khanna, former Lt. Governor of Delhi

 

Speakers:  Shri Niraj Sethi, Executive Director, Engineers India Ltd; Shri Ravi Agarwal,  Founder  Director, Toxics Link  and  Shri Manik Thapar, Eco Wise Waste Management Pvt. Ltd.

Mubarakpur located in Azamgarh district in Uttar Pradesh has been a historic weaving centre since the 14th century. With power-looms overwhelming the cluster,  this seminar presents a case-study on building a sustainable collective structure for handloom renewal

 

Illustrated lecture by Dr. Nayana Goradia, author/biographer who dabbles in History and Education

Chair: Shri Swapan Dasgupta

 

Hailed as ‘a very Superior person’, from his Eton days, George Nathaniel Curzon was the last of the British Moghuls. British imperialism reached its high noon in his regime but seven years later he returned home a broken man, his viceroyalty in shamble. Was this a result of a fatal flaw in his personality? Dr. Goradia looks for answers in the tales surrounding the man

 

The book edited by Arundhati Subramaniam, will be introduced by Shri Ashok Vajpeyi

 

Ms Arundhati Subramaniam will trace the trajectory of the book, interspersed with readings of translations 

By Shri Keki N. Daruwalla and Shri H.S. Shiva Prakash

 

Chair: Dr. H.K. Kaul, The Poetry Society (India)

 

Eating God: A Book of Bhakti Poetry edited by Arundhati Subramaniam (Penguin, 2014) has been described as ‘a wonderful mix of 48 voices, spanning several centuries, in adept, stylistically varied translations’ [with an} ‘extensive and deeply intimate introduction…elegantly ushering readers into a trance-like receptiveness’ (The Sunday Guardian)

 

Arundhati Subramaniam is the author of four books of poetry. Her recent collection was awarded the inaugural Khushwant Singh Poetry Prize, selected as the Winter Choice of the Poetry Book Society, UK and shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Poetry Prize