India-Africa building synergies in peace, security and development 
By Ruchita Beri (Pentagon Press; 2024)

Discussants: Mr. Cedrick C. Crowley, Acting High Commissioner, South African High Commission; Dr. Uttam Sinha;

Prof. J.M. Moosa, and Ms Ruchita Beri, author of the book

Chair: Amb. Gurjit Singh

Speakers: Cmde. C. Uday Bhaskar, Director, Society for Policy Studies; Lt. Gen. Satish Nambiar Retd., former Deputy Chief of the Army Staff,  former Head of Mission of UNPROFOR, the United Nations Protection Force and Director, United Services Institute; Shri A.S. Dulat, former Secretary, RAW; and Shri Sushant Singh,  Lecturer, Yale University

Chair: Shri Shyam Saran, President, IIC

Seed Stories

(42 min; 2024; Odiya/Kui/English)

Directed by Chitrangada Choudhury who will introduce the film

Screening will be followed by a discussion with Suhas Borker, Editor, Citizens First TV (CFTV) and Trustee, IIC

In a village in the Niyamgiri mountains of the Eastern Ghats of Odisha, a heroic effort is underway: ecologist Dr. Debal Deb and his 3-member team are conserving over a thousand endangered ancient rice varieties. The Eastern Ghats region of Odisha is one of the surviving biodiversity hotspots in the world, where (indigenous) Adivasi communities, such as the Kondhs, possess knowledge that allows them to grow multiple crops with their seeds, which have evolved over the centuries.

Meanwhile, the village and the wider region are changing irreversibly due to the arrival of genetically modified cotton seeds and their associated agrochemicals. “Seed Stories” offers deep insight into how this is reshaping a geography and a people immersed in agroecological knowledge, and altering their attitudes towards agriculture, food and ecology. 

Programme Details

Speaker: Prof. Sachidananda Mohanty, Member, University Grants Commission and former Vice-Chancellor, Central University, Odisha

Chair: Dr. Karan Singh

Opening Remarks: Shri K.N. Shrivastava, Director, IIC

Sri Aurobindo’s reputation as a poet, patriot, revolutionary, mystic, exponent of integral yoga and the future evolution of Man, has eclipsed for long, his socio-cultural and intellectual vision. His pivotal role in the intellectual history of ideas, more fundamentally, his contributions to the making of the Indian nation, and his relevance to modern India, have not been sufficiently recognized in the academic world and public culture.

Citing instances from his multivolume work, this talk will argue that Sri Aurobindo’s thought vision is central to understanding the crisis of the contemporary world

Punjabi Centuries: Tracing Histories of Punjab

Edited by Anshu Malhotra (Orient Blackswan: 2024)

Discussants: Dr. Yogesh Snehi, Assistant Professor, School of Liberal Studies, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University, Delhi; Dr. Kanika Singh, Director, Centre for Writing and Communication, Ashoka University, Sonepat; Dr. Arti Minocha, Associate Professor, Dept. of English, Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi; and Prof. Anshu Malhotra, Dept. of Global Studies and Kundan Kaur Kapany Chair for Sikh & Punjab Studies, University of California at Santa Barbara, and author of the book

Moderator: Dr. Aparna Balachandran, Associate Professor, Dept. of History, University of Delhi