URBAN GOVERNANCE
Urban Sanitation (Swachh Bharat)
Introductory Remarks: Shri Prabhat Kumar, Former Cabinet Secretary & President, IC Centre for Governance
Keynote Speakers: Shri Jalaj Srivastava, Chairperson, NDMC; and Shri K.S. Mehra, Former Municipal Commissioner
Chairman: Shri D.S. Mishra, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development
Rethinking Disability in India
A discussion around the new book by Anita Ghai (New Delhi: Routledge, 2015)
Main presentation by Dr. Anita Ghai, Dept. of Psychology, Jesus and Mary College
Chair: Smt Brinda Karat
Discussants: Dr. Tanmoy Bhattacharya, Associate Professor, Centre for Advanced Studies in Linguistics, University of Delhi; and Shri Harsh Mander, social worker and writer, Director of Centre for Equity Studies
FILMS ON SPIRITUALITY AND OTHER DIMENSION
The Hidden Art of Islam: Explore the Tradition of Figurative Art at the Heart of Islam
(60 min; dvd; English)
Directed by Faris Kermani
A film hosted by Dr. Rageh Omaar
Muslim belief and tradition specifies that there should be no depictions of God or the Prophet Muhammad. In religious contexts, this constraint on what artists can depict extends to human figures and other living creatures as well. These prohibitions have inspired a rich visual culture based on calligraphy, Arabesque floral designs, and geometry, all of which feature strongly in the art and design found throughout the Muslim world, including mosques.
With the help of fine art and religious experts, host Rageh Omaar traces the effect of these beliefs over the centuries on the art and artists of the Islamic world and considers why depictions of pilgrims taking part in the Hajj pilgrimage have become part of the accepted tradition of Islamic art, including in work exhibited at British Museum
The 7th Destination
Dr. Benazir Patil is a development specialist by profession and has been working with several social development organisations both in India and internationally. Presently Advisor-Urban Health with Save the Children, India
Khudabakhsh, a wanderer at heart, just knew the destination he had to reach. But not knowing how that was to happen, what was the precise motive for his presence in that place, and why it had to be the seventh one, he travels relentlessly. An engrossing account of a young man’s journey, unfolding at each step the eternal verities of humankind, supremacy of the universal power, the commonness in the different religions, and the numerous mysteries that plague everyone’s mind one time or the other
Tajikistan in the 21st Century
Panelists: Professor Devendra Kaushik, former Chairman, Maulana Azad Institute of Asian Studies; Ambassador (Rtd). Vivek Katju; Prof. Riyaz Punjabi, former Vice-Chancellor, Kashmir University; Prof. Khoja Umarov of Tajikistan; and Prof. K. Warikoo, Centre for Inner Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Secretary General (Hony.), Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation
Chair: Dr. Lokesh Chandra, Chairman, Indian Council of Cultural Relations
Rabindra Jayanti Celebrations
By Bisakha Mukherjee from Kolkata
Chandalika
Tagore’s well-known dance drama presented in Bharatanatyam and contemporary dance styles
Choreographed by Anita Mullick, Saraswati Sanskriti Kendra, Kolkata
At the Altar of National Freedom: The Lives of Two Stephanians Hanged by the British in 1915
Discussant: Prof Amar Farooqui, Professor of History, Delhi University
Chair: Prof. Sucheta Mahajan, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, JNU
In 1912 the British had shifted the Imperial Capital from Calcutta to Delhi. On 23 December 1912 as the inaugural procession of the Viceroy Lord Hardinge passed through Chandni Chowk a bomb was hurled at the viceragal howdah. Lord Hardinge was wounded and a howdah attendant was killed. The blast also killed a boy and wounded several onlookers in the crowd. Amir Chand and Avandh Bihari, who had both been students of St. Stephen’s College, Delhi and were teachers at a Nationalist School in Kinari Bazar, Chandni Chowk were arrested in February 1914 and charged with the conspiracy to kill Lord Hardinge in the Delhi Conspiracy Case. Both were hanged on 8 May 1915 at Delhi Central Jail (presently the Maulana Azad Medical College Campus)
To Mark the 100th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of Amir Chand and Avadh Bihari: Two Freedom Fighters from Delhi