The Republic Relearnt: Renewing Indian democracy 1947-2024
By Radha Kumar (Vintage: 2024)

Discussants: Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament; and Dr. Radha Kumar, academic and author of the book

Chair: Shri Shyam Saran, President, IIC

A segment from the Act of the Ashoka Garden ('Aśokavanikāṅkam'), the Fifth Act of Shaktibhadra's play, Ascharyachudamani, showing Ravana addressing the Moon while pining for Sita

Presented by Margi Madhu, son and disciple of Guru Moozhikkulam Kochukuttan Chakyar, who was the torch bearer of the Ammannoor style of acting

With artists of Nepathya – Centre for Excellence in Kutiyattam

Accompanists: Thalam: Dr. Indu G.; mizhavu: Kalamandalam Manikandan & Nepathya Jinesh; edakka: Kalanilayam Rajan; and make-up: Kalanilayam Sreejith Sundaran

Kutiyattam is one of India’s oldest living theatrical traditions. In 2003, it was proclaimed Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
 

To be conducted by Margi Madhu and Dr. Indu G. from Nepathya – Centre for Excellence in Kutiyattam, Moozhikkulam, Kerala
 

Transformation – Emergence of Bangladesh and Evolution of India-Bangladesh Ties

By Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty (K V Publishers Pvt. Ltd.: 2024)

Discussants: Amb. Pankaj Saran, former Deputy National Security Adviser, Govt. of India and former High Commissioner to Bangladesh; Dr. Smruti S. Pattanaik, Research Fellow (SS), Manohar Parriker Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses; and Amb. Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, former Diplomat and author of the book

Chair: Amb. Shyam Saran, President, IIC

Panelists: Dr. Amarendra Khatua, former Director General, ICCR; Ms Arpana Caur, eminent artist; Ms Gargi Seth, Chief Curator, Indian Art Circle; Dr. Neerja Chandna Peters, artist and recipient of the IAC Art Fair Grant; and Ms Renuka Sondhi Gulati, artist, winner of  the IAC Art Fair Grant

Chair: Dr. Sanjeev Kishor Goutam, Director General, National Gallery of Modern Art

(Collaboration: Indian Art Circle)

Speaker: Dr. Arun Kumar, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Nottingham University, UK

Chair: Dr. Hem Borker, Assistant Professor, Department of Social Work, Jamia Millia Islamia

A history of defiance by Indian workers who refused to see themselves as mere laboring entities that elites and employers wished them to become. It is the colonial world of the late nineteenth and twentieth century where educational opportunities, especially for socio-economically oppressed castes and the laboring poor, were very limited and uneven. How state and non-state elite power attempted to shape laboring subalterns and how laboring subalterns experienced and responded to educational institutions and elite visions. The contestation between “dreams” of educated and literate subalterns and “educational visions” of elites shaped the projects of non-elite education and marked the birth of industrial and technical education in modern India

Speaker: Prof. Meenakshi Dhote, Dean and Head, Environmental Planning, School of Planning & Architecture, New Delhi

Introduction: Dr. (Mrs.) Malti Goel, President and CEO, Climate Change Research Institute

Special Remarks: Ms Maya Gupta, Director-Principal, Universal Public School; and Faiyaz Khudsar, University of Delhi

Chief Guest: Prof. D.P. Agrawal, former Chairman, UPSC and Founder Director, ABV-IITM, Gwalior

Third lecture in the World Environment Day Science Campaign organised in collaboration with Climate Change Research Institute

Speaker: Venkat Srinivasan, Head, Archives at NCBS and founding member and co-director, the Milli Archives Foundation

Chair: Prof. Aparna Vaidik, Prof. of History, Ashoka University

The Milli Archives Foundation (https://milli.link/about/) is a non-profit body dedicated to the nurturing of archives in South Asia. It facilitates discussions among the community around issues of diversity, archival standards, conservation, physical and digital access, pedagogy, privacy and the development of inclusive description standards. The talk will present an overview of four current projects run by the Milli Archives: a guidebook to look at the intersection of ethics, law and archives; a software annotation tool to allow additional user-driven description of archival objects; a benchmarking approach to assessing the quality of an archive in South Asia; and a two-day teaching module that covers ten steps for small organisations to set up their own archive, from sourcing to archival use.