Speakers: Ms Mohua Moitra, Member of Parliament; Dr Ajay Gudavarthy, Associate Professor, Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University; and Ms Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty, National Affairs Editor, The Wire

Moderator: Suhas Borker, Editor, Citizens First TV (CFTV) and Trustee, IIC

This is the 19th edition of the annual discussion started in 2006
 
(Collaboration: Working Group on Alternative Strategies)
 

PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING DAY 2024
(Jan Prasaran Divas)
 
Public Service Broadcasting Day on 12 November commemorates the day Gandhiji made his first and only live broadcast on All India Radio. On this day in 1947 Gandhiji addressed more than 2 lakh refugees at the Kurukshetra Camp from Broadcasting House, New Delhi. Gandhiji held no public office or position in Government and it was truly a public service broadcast. Since 2000, this day has become an occasion to spread awareness about the concepts and values of Public Service Broadcasting in the country.
 
10:30 to 11:00 at Gandhi - King Memorial Plaza & C. D. Deshmukh Auditorium
Commemoration 
Followed by 

At 11:15 to 12:15 at C.D. Deshmukh Auditorium
Discussion
Usha Mehta's tryst with freedom on radio: during the Quit India Movement Usha Mehta was arrested on 12 November 1942 and the Underground Radio Transmitter confiscated in Bombay. S.N. Sahu, former Press Secretary to President K. R. Nayanayanan, relives the moment. 
 
Discussion on Public Service Broadcasting: Watchdog or Lapdog
Lead Presentation: Suhas Borker, Mediaperson and Trustee, IIC

Media students are encouraged to participate in the programme so that they are exposed to the concepts and values of Public Service Broadcasting.

(Collaboration: Jan Prasar)

Curator: Prof. Himanshu Prabha Ray

Kamakshi’s Temple at Kanchipuram

Illustrated lecture by Ms Renuka Narayanan, former Arts Editor, The Indian Express and former Director, Indian Cultural Centre, Embassy of India, Bangkok who writes a weekly column on religion and culture for the Editorial Page of The New Indian Express

Chair: Prof. Nilima Chitgopekar

According to Indian metaphysics, Kanchipuram is the sole ‘mokshapuri’ or ‘salvation city’ in South India, the other six being wellnorth of the old boundary between the north and the south, the river Narmada. In this salvation city, the Kamakshi temple, dated variously to the Pallavas and the Cholas, is the physical and cultural hub and the only space focused on the Ambal or Devi, the sacred feminine energy. The talk introduces how this ancient monument lives through notions of sacred geography at ‘the court of the love-eyed goddess’, its animating concepts of ‘mokshapuri’, ‘shaktisthalam’ (space/sanctuary of the goddess) and ‘ghtika sthanam’ (seat of leaning) etc.  

Great Cases series discussion no: 6

 The Great Cases of CJI DY Chandrachud – An Appraisal of Judicial Legacy

Panelists: Raju Ramachandran, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India; R.C. Chavan, former Judge, Bombay High Court; and Maja Daruwala, Chief Editor, India Justice Report

Chair: Arghya Sengupta, Founder and Research Director, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy

(Collaboration: Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy)

Hindustani Flute Recital

By Bhaskar Das from Mumbai, disciple of Pt. Gopal Das

At 19:00 
Bharatanatyam Recital

By Swetha Vivek from Bangalore, disciple of Guru Shri Adyar K. Lakshman and Smt Chitra Chandrasekhar Dasarathy

An exhibition on Abu Abraham’s work in his centenary year

Inauguration by Prof. Romila Thapar on Wednesday 6 November 2024 at 18:00

A walk through of the exhibition will be conducted on

9 November at 16:00 hrs by Christel Daevadawson, Professor English, University of Delhi

10 November at 12:00 hrs by Uma Chakravarti, Professor of History and filmmaker

16 November at 17:00 hrs by Manoranjan Mohanty, former Professor of Political Science

Closing Walk 

Tuesday, 19th November 5:00 pm 2024 by Janaki Abraham Abu’s Daughter and Prof. of Sociology

(Collaboration: Dept. of Cultural Affairs, Govt. of Kerala; and Kerala Lalithakala Akademi)

Speaker: Shri Kamal Malhotra, Non-resident Senior Fellow, Global Economic Governance Initiative, Boston University Global Development Policy Center, USA; former U.N. Secretary General’s Representative and Head of the U.N. in Malaysia, Turkey and Vietnam (2008-2021). Shri Malhotra received the President of Vietnam’s ‘Order of Friendship’ in 2021

Chair: Dr. Harish Khare, political scientist, senior journalist and public commentator

The Republic of Turkiye sits at the geographic and geo-political crossroads of Europe, the Middle East and West Asia, and is both a regional power and a global middle power. For more than two decades since 2002, President Erdogan has attempted to reshape it politically, economically, socially and in terms of its foreign policy which has sought to assert Turkiye as the leader of the Muslim, especially the Sunni Muslim, world.

The talk will explore the results over the last two decades in all these dimensions, both in terms of their policy and institutional impacts as well as more broadly for Turkiye's democracy and for its
secularism, a hallmark of the preceding Kemal Ataturk era. It will also seek to provide some pointers to the future of both democracy and secularism in Turkiye.
 

The Written Canvas
Letters to Keshav Malik from Artists and Thinkers

To celebrate the birth centenary of Keshav Malik, well-known art critic and poet, an exhibition curated from a remarkable collection of over 300 letters written by some of India’s most celebrated artist and art writers to Keshav Malik. This collection includes correspondences from Jahangir Sabavala, Biren De, M.F. Husain, Francis Newton Souza, S.H. Raza, Shobha Broota, and Gayatri Sinha. The letters offer a unique insight into the personal professional and throw light on Indian art history and interactions between Malik and these personalities.

Curated by Gaurav Kumar

Inauguration by Dr. Karan Singh on Monday, 4 November 2024 at 18:00 

(Collaboration: Art Konsult)
 

Ekla Chalo (Walk Alone/India)
(90 min; 2020; Marathi and English)
Writer & Director: Nachiket Patwardhan

Gandhiji’s 150th birth anniversary is celebrated through the coming of age of Kalyani Rao, a wannabe NRI who arrives in Pune India, to complete her doctoral thesis on ‘Gandhiji and Contemporary Pune’. Rabindranath Tagore’s famous poem ‘Ekla Chalo’ is seen by many as a tribute to the Mahatma and this song helps awaken Kalyani’s spiritual instinct. 

Ekla Chalo reveals a transition of the Mahatma to Bapu, through fiction as well as the nostalgia of romantic archival clips that can help convey his message of tolerance, peace and compassion to a new generation of Indians.