With senior Dhrupad exponent  Pandit  (Prof.) Ritwik Sanyal who will present ragas and  compositions attributed to the Dagarbani tradition 

 

By students of Pramod Kingston – Abhiraj Darbari, Ahana Darbari, Aubhik Mazumdar, Christine Grace Khumukcham, Eric Mervin A., Esha Bharadwaj, Manasvi Gupta, Meher Nandrajog, Nevin Manuel A., Ritu Elizabeth Samuel, Rohan Samuel, Samuel Peter and Wilson Samuel

 

By Baul Shafi Mondol from Bangladesh, who will be sing rare as well as popular folk songs of undivided Bengal especially of the renowned mystic singer of the Indian Subcontinent, Lalon Fakir. Lalon represents and exemplifies the true revolutionary and secular nature of his community known as "Baul", a community of wandering singers whose wisdom and wit do not come from academic training, but from an active contact with a life intensely lived

 

Accompanied by Jagannath Roy on percussion and Rohit Prasanna on flute 

 

Baul Shafi Mondal hails from Kushtia in Bangaldesh, the birth place of this famous mystic poet and singer, Lalon Fakir. He has been performing at national and international platforms since the past thirty years 

 

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.