Ways of Renewing Designs with Communities, Another Way of Building

Discussants: Prof. Savyasaachi, Anthropologist, Professor and former Head, Dept. of Sociology, Jamia Millia Islamia; Prof. Snehanshu Mukherjee, Head of Interior Architecture and Design, Indian Institute of Art & Design, New Delhi; Anisha Shekhar Mukherji, Conservation Architect, author and Visiting Faculty, School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi; Kanchan Joneja, architect, design researcher and visual designer; and Dr. Prabir Das, architect and Consultant on Sustainable Architecture

A continuation of the IIC series of dialogues on architecture, Talking Architecture 13 will discuss ways of ‘Renewing Designs with Communities, Another Way of Building’, through examples of alternative design practices in the 2023 Routledge publication of the same name. The session is dedicated to the memory of Professor Ashish Ganju (1942-May 2021) and his enduring belief in ‘the ability to create well-being in our habitat, a promise inherent in the knowledge-base architecture’
 

Speaker: Prerna Singh Bindra, author, wildlife conservationist and was formerly a member of India’s National Board for Wildlife. Prerna has authored The Vanishing: India’s Wildlife Crisis published by Penguin Random House and co-edited Wild Treasures, an anthology on Natural World Heritage Sites of Asia. A board member of Hathi- Sathi Foundation which works to enable safe shared spaces for people and elephants in north-east India. She is currently pursuing her PhD at the University of
Cambridge.

India has 42 of the world’s 50 most polluted cities; our rivers are sewers and is ranked second in deforestation after Brazil between 2015-2020. While these figures might be contested, there is no denying that India is an environment basket case, and our wildlife is in a crisis with even some endemic species ie. The Great Indian Bustard and the hangul facing extinction. While India has shown remarkable achievements in conserving endangered megafauna like tigers and Asian elephants, they stand threatened with India’s development juggernaut and consequent demand for energy, power and infrastructure. Troublingly, the legal, policy and institutional framework is being restructured to weaken safeguards protecting forests and wildlife. This lecture will dwell on the issues, explain why conservation matters and why it needs to be a mainstream electoral issue.



 

India and the Global South: Prospects & Challenges
Edited by Amb. Surendra Kumar (Wisdom Tree: 2024)
 
Discussants: Dr. Rajiv Kumar, economist and former Vice Chairman of Niti Aayog; Amb. Lakshmi M. Puri, former Assistant Secretary General, United Nations, former Deputy Executive Director, UN Women and former Indian Ambassador to Hungary; Shri T.K. Arun, senior journalist, The Economic Times; and Amb. Surendra Kumar, former diplomat, Founder President, Indo-American Friendship Association and Editor of the book
 

Speakers: Prof. N. Sukumar, Professor, Dept. of Political Science, University of Delhi; Prof. Sanghamitra Sheel Acharya, Professor, Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Prof. Sumeet Mhaskar, Professor, Jindal School of Government and Public Policy, O.P. Jindal Global University; Prof. Y. S. Alone, Professor, Visual Studies, School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University; and Dr. Harish S. Wankhede, Assistant Professor, Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University
 
Moderator: Suhas Borker, Convener, Working Group on Alternative Strategies and Trustee, IIC
 
This discussion is part of the series on Social Justice and Empowerment  started in 2010 and held every year on 1 May to commemorate the life and work of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar
 
(Collaboration: Maharashtra Sanskritik ani Rannaniti Adhyayan Samiti; and Working Group on Alternative Strategies)
 

Speaker: Prof. Baladas Ghoshal, former Professor of Southeast Asia and South-West Pacific Studies, and Chairman, Centre for South and Southeast Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. He was ICCR Chair in Indian Studies, Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow 2013; Honorary Distinguished Fellow, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies; and Visiting Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research

Chair: Amb. Rajiv Bhatia, Distinguished Fellow, Foreign Studies Programme, Gateway House

Over the course of the last year and a half, four national elections were held in countries of Southeast Asia, namely in Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and in Indonesia. Each one of them were consequential bringing about regime and policy changes. While the priorities in each of these countries were distinct, the common focus was political stability, economic development in the post Covid-period and foreign policy directed towards preservation of national sovereignty and balancing the major relations that were in turmoil due to the breakdown of understanding between the United States and China. The change in the political developments of these countries will have a major impact not only in the domestic politics of these countries, but also on regional developments as well as their approaches to the United States and China. More importantly, new challenges will emerge in India’s engagement with the region and will require calibrating and fine-tuning of strategies to deal with them.

Speaker: Dr. Kishore Singh, former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education. He has collaborated with the intellectual community and professional bodies for raising public debate on issues of critical importance for the realisation of the right to education. He remains engaged in fostering the cause of education, giving lectures at Universities and interacting with public institutions

Discussants: Shri J.S. Rajput, former Member of UNESCO Executive Board; and Dr. I.V. Subba Rao, former Secretary to the Vice President of India and former Chief of Literacy & Non-Formal Education, UNESCO, Paris

Chair: Prof. N.V. Varghese, former Vice-Chancellor, National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA)

Conceptualised by Prof. Himanshu Prabha Ray

God on the Hill – The Secret Life of Monuments

Illustrated lecture by Dr. Srikumar M. Menon, Associate Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies. An architect who specializes in ancient and early architecture of the Indian subcontinent, Srikumar’s academic interest focus on ancient architecture, prehistoric monuments, as well as later monuments, such as stupas and temples

Chair: Dr. Shashank Shekhar Sinha, Publishing Director, Taylor & Francis Group

The book, God on the Hill and Other stories is a collection of ten stories mostly set around ancient monuments and the sites they occupy. Inspired by locales, monuments and myths associated with them, encountered by the author during nearly two decades of fieldwork studying the ancient architecture of India, these stories focus attention to less-known aspects of these monuments. The talk will bring alive the remarkable monuments and locales which inspired the ten stories ranging from megalithic structures in Kerala and Karnataka and an early historic Buddhist stupa to an exquisite rock-cut temple on the Kumaon Himalaya
 

Speaker: Dr. Neera Agrawal, independent historian who has taught history at Mithibai College and Patkar College, University of Mumbai

Chair: Prof. Sucheta Mahajan, former Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Convenor, IIC-Sectoral Policy Group on History

The fascinating tale of the Merchants of the port town of Cambay begins from the time when Queen Elizabeth I of England sought permission to trade with India in 1583 and addressed the Mughal Emperor Akbar as “the King of Cambay” to 1818 when Peshwa Baji Rao II was deposed by the English and Cambay came directly under British rule. Cambay, which had
become a major centre for the manufacture and supply of agates and cotton piece-goods, occupied a strategic position in the maritime trade of western India as it lay mid-way between Arab-Persian and East African coasts to the west and South East Asian and Chinese coasts to the east. The Merchants of Cambay, during this turbulent and disruptive period tactically
negotiated their way through with the Mughals, the Nawab of Cambay, the Marathas and the English to protect their trading world and overcome their existential crisis.
 

Speaker: Prof. Akhil C. Banerjea, former Professor Emeritus, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi and former Director, Institute of Advanced Virology, Kerala

Chair: Dr. Kalpana Luthra, Professor of Biochemistry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi

Stem cells have the unique ability to renew themselves. There ae several categories – pluripotent, embryonic stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells (ipsc) and adult stem cells. Stem cells can potentially recreate functional tissues. Moreover, human adult cells may be reprogrammed to behave like embryonic stem cells. The talk will reveal how human hematopoietic stem cells are engineered to interfere with the replication of HIV-1 in two important immune cells (T-cells and Macrophages)

General Elections: 2024

Challenges and the World’s Largest Electoral Movement

Speaker: Ashok Lavasa, former Election Commissioner of India

Moderator: Suhas Borker, Trustee, IIC

Introduction: Vinay Kumar, former Associate Editor, The Hindu

Welcome Remarks: K.N. Shrivastava, Director, IIC

Opening Remarks: Gautam Lahiri. President, PCI

The series of Conversations with Media is jointly organised by IIC and Press Club of India; and is hosted by them alternately every month