3rd Khwaja Ahmad Abbas Memorial Lecture
 

By Saeed Akhtar Mirza, filmmaker, screenwriter, and author, widely regarded as a leading voice of socially engaged Indian parallel cinema, and a recipient of multiple National Film Awards.

The lecture celebrates the legacy of journalist, writer, producer, and filmmaker, Khwaja Ahmed Abbas.  
The programme shall begin with a 12- minute documenatry screening on Khwaja Ahmad Abbas.

Followed by a panel discussion titled ‘Khwaja Ahmad Abbas: A Karmayogi’s Polymathic Vision of Humanity’, where Saeed Akhtar Mirza will be joined by Syeda Hameed, former Member of the Planning Commission; Chairperson, KAAMT; Neelima Azeem, actor; and Neville Tuli, Founder, T.R.I.S. The discussion will focus on the vision and ideals of Abbas that defined his writings and work, while contemplating the relevance of Abbas’ work today.  

(Collaboration: Tuli Research Centre for India Studies (T.R.I.S.) and Khwaja Ahmad Abbas Memorial Trust)

Orange: A Short Documentary on Mental health
(15 min; English)
Directed by Suchita Bhatia 
 

Orange is a human rights and social impact documentary that explores mental health and caregiving with sensitivity and emotional depth. Through themes of dignity, resilience, and care ethics, the film highlights the invisible labour of caregiving and asks urgent questions about how society understands, supports, and honours care. The film has been screened at the premiere institutes like IIT, JNU etc for students to a deep emotional response.
The film screening will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by Suchita Bhatia, director of the film and a mental health advocate. The panel will feature Madhavan Narayanan—editor, journalist, writer, and columnist—and Prof. Sanghamitra Acharya, Chairperson and Professor at the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

The Trial That Shook Britain: How a Court Martial Hastened Acceptance of Indian Independence
by Ashis Ray  (Routledge, 2024)

Discussants: Dr Abhishek Singhvi ,Eminent Lawyer and Member Rajya Sabha; Subhashini Ali,CPI(M ) Leader and Former Member, Lok Sabha ; Ashis Ray, Academic Visitor at Oxford and Author of the book

Chair : Shyam Saran, President, IIC 
 

Dastan-e-Irfan-e-Buddha
(Urdu / Hindi / Pali / Sanskrit)
 

Written by: Poonam Girdhani; Performed by: Rajesh Kumar & Poonam Girdhani; Directed by: Mahmood Farooqui, writer, scholar, filmmaker, and performer, best known for reviving Dastangoi. Produced by: Anusha Rizvi

Dastan-e-Irfan-e-Buddha is a glimpse into the life, philosophy and world view of Tathagata, the enlightened one, aiming to introduce us to the man and a life that, in the words of Jawahar Lal Nehru, was the greatest soul to ever walk in Bharatvarsha. Built from sources including Thich Nhat Hanh, Dr B. R. Ambedkar, Ashwaghosha, Edwin Arnold, Rahul Sanskrityayan, Paul Carus, Therigatha, Intizar Husain and the Jataka stories.

Dastangoi is the art of oral storytelling rooted in the legendary tales of Amir Hamza, flourishing in the Urdu literary tradition of North India. Revived in contemporary times, it blends narration, voice, and imagination to bring epic stories alive.

(Collaboration: Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama
 

The 8th Social Change Annual Lecture

The Female Voice: Reinstituting Life
 

Speaker: Prof. Veena Das, distinguished anthropologist and Research Professor at Johns Hopkins University.

Chair: K.N. Shrivastava, Director, IIC  

This lecture argues for a renewed understanding of the project of anthropology and the anthropological tone in philosophy not through the super concepts of the knowing subject, but through an acknowledgement of the vulnerability of life and the constant work of reinhabitation and reinstitution it requires. The speaker’s claim is that the blind spot in classical theories of society lies in the exclusion of the work done by women in reinstituting life, through a contempt for the ordinary and the quotidian repetitions within which women find and nourish improvisations, newness, and expression. The constitution of the subject as the male subject, and the sexualization of language itself, marks the texture of abstract theorizing in the social sciences. Against this vision of theory, the speaker offers the work of women writers in the vernacular, with Krishna Sobti as an exemplar who demonstrates a method and theory through a female voice honed from the streets and born in the domestic, addressing the violence seeded in everyday life. The constant work of repair women undertake treats life not as an object external to the subject but as that within which the subject evolves, through a transfiguration revealed in attention to detail.

(Collaboration: Council for Social Development and Sage India)
 

Register here

Keynote speaker: Marc d. Paradis, Founder and Principal of SIYOM Consulting and Vice President & Dean of Data Science University at Optum.

Chair: Arjun Malhotra, Chairman of the IPHS Society at the Indian Institute of Public Health-Delhi. 
Discussant: Prof Ravi Mahajan currently associated with Apollo Hospitals Group and a leader in UK Anaesthesia and Intensive Care; and  Prof Suman Chakraborty,Director, Indian Institute of Technology,Kharagpur

The talk examines how emerging AI- and data-enabled capabilities can support that rethinking by enabling care models designed explicitly for population scale rather than incremental system expansion. Drawing on the experience deploying data and AI at scale within large health systems, it explores how care itself, rather than individual technologies, must be reengineered to meet national and population-level health needs.

(Collaboration:Open Health Systems Laboratory)
 

Sweet Excess: Crafting Mishti in Bengal
by Ishita Dey (Routledge, 2026)

Discussants: Dr. Brahma Prakash, writer, cultural theorist and Assistant Professor of Theatre and Performance Studies at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Shirin Mehrotra, independent food writer, researcher and content & communication strategist; Dr. Ishita Dey, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology,  Faculty of Social Sciences, South Asian University & Author of the book

Moderator: Prof. Kiranmayi Bhushi, Department of Sociology, School of Social Sciences, Indira Gandhi National Open University
 

Children’s cultural film festival, a screening of the best films on heritage made by children across different schools in Delhi-NCR
 

(Collaboration: Heritage Education and Communication Service, INTACH)
 

The Delhi History Congress is an annual conference organised by The History Collective with the support of the India International Centre. It aims to bring together historians to share and discuss new research on varied themes. The third annual event covers four themes - Entangled histories: Human, non-human and post-human; Sources and methods in history: The challenge of the oral and the visual; History of emotions; and Histories of conflict, contestations and co-existence

For more details on the programme and registeration please reach out to The History Collective.
Entry strictly by invitation only.

(Collaboration: The History Collective)
 

Set against rising global conflicts, polarization, and ecological stress, this two-day conference examines how Buddhist principles can inform diplomacy and sustainable coexistence. The conference brings together an eminent group of scholars and policy experts from India and Nepal who shall draw on India and Nepal’s shared Buddhist heritage. The conference explores cultural diplomacy, academic collaboration, heritage preservation, and policy-oriented dialogue to strengthen ties and advance regional and global harmony.

Click here for programme details

(Collaboration: South Asia Foundation)