Rising Phenomenon of Urban Flooding: Causes, Consequences and Sustainable Solutions

Speakers: Manu Bhatnagar, Principal Director, INTACH; Shyamal Sarkar, IAS (retd.), Distinguished Fellow and Director, Water Resources Division, The Energy Resource Institute (TERI); and Shri Jaideep Chatterjee, Dean, Jindal School of Art and Architecture, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat

Flooding in urban areas is a growing concern worldwide as it is causing significant damage to human lives, the environment and economy. The damage is more evident in India because of the growing density of population in urban areas, including in the Tier – 1, 2, 3 and 4 cities. The discussion will discuss the possible solutions and strategies to mitigate and manage urban flooding with policy –level changes; green infrastructure; flood-resistant construction; planned well-maintained drainage system; and community involvement and alertness.  

(Collaboration: Toxics Link)
 

Illustrated lecture by Ahtushi Deshpande, photographer and author of the recently published book Speaking Stones: Rock Art of Ladakh

Chair: Dr. Arshiya Sethi, dance scholar and author

Ahtushi Deshpande will present a journey through Ladakh’s hidden petroglyph galleries. These ancient imprints, scattered across Ladakh’s sprawling and often remote open-air galleries, offer tangible evidence of a history that predates recorded accounts. She will also draw comparisons with rock carvings from other regions, such as Utah and Arizona, to highlight the similarities and share intriguing stories. 
 

Illustrated lecture by Prof. Philip Lutgendorf, scholar of South Asia, Emeritus Professor of Hindi and Modern Indian Studies, University of Iowa and author of the award winning book The Life of a Text: Performing the Ramcaritmanas of Tulsidas (University of California Press: 1991), Hanuman's Tale: The Messages of a Divine Monkey (Oxford University Press, New York: 2006) among others

Chair: Prof. Ananya Vajpeyi, Fellow, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies

The poet-saint Tulsidas’s immensely popular retelling of the Ramayana saga, Ramcaritmanas (ca.1574 AD), is structured as an allegorical Himalayan sacred lake symmetrically bounded by four seven-tiered ghats. The narrators (in order of appearance) are the human author Tulsidas, the Vedic sage Yajnavalkya, the god Shiva, and a crow named Bhushundi. Whereas the first three are either human or (in Shiva’s case) divine-anthropomorphic, the final one is an avian form. Why did the poet choose this unusual figure to conclude whose epic narrative and to deliver, in effect, the “last word”? 

(Collaboration: American Institute of Indian Studies)
 

Speaker: Prof. R. Mahalakshmi, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Chair: Prof. Amrit Srinivasan

Food is nourishment, necessary for life, and yet there is no single understanding of what nourishing or appropriate – across and within cultures. By bringing in some key concepts known in early Indian sources, the talk will focus on environments and cultures, histories and social dynamics, and the symbolic universe that food traditions reveal, which have left a mark on the food cultures as they have evolved in the Indian sub-continent

Curator: Prof. Himanshu Prabha Ray

Tiny Terracotta Tales from North India
Illustrated lecture by Dr. Deeksha Bhardwaj, Associate Professor, Gargi College, University of Delhi

Chair: Prof. Kishor Basa, Chairperson, National Monuments Authority

Terracotta or baked clay forms the most enduring medium for the representation of the human image. Though not ubiquitous, as may sometimes appear, anthropomorphic terracotta figurines, wherever found, constitute a significant part of an archaeological corpus. In terms of technique of manufacture, decoration details, context and usage, these tiny humanoid forms offer a multiplicity of meanings, and information about the past that can be teased out of them. How can we reimagine the past using the terracotta figurines as tools? With this objective, this presentation will examine the archaeological evidence from historical sites in North India
 

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: Amb. Shivshankar Menon, Professor of International Relations, Ashoka University, former Foreign Secretary and National Security Adviser

‘Doi Moi’ (economic renovation) was proclaimed by the Govt. of Vietnam in 1986 and implemented in earnest from 1989. The talk will focus on Vietnam’s economic and political transformation in one generation since ‘Doi Moi’ till the current conjuncture. It will focus on the political upheavals since Covid-19, including the sad passing of the Party General Secretary in July this year. The talk will also focus on Vietnam’s likely economic trajectory in the China plus context and its aspiration to be a developed country in its centennial, 2047.

Mapping the Future of Mehrauli Archaeological Park
By Swapna Liddle, author, historian and conservationist

Followed by a panel discussion with
 

Panelists: Debashree Mukherjee, Secretary, Department of Water Resources, Govt. of India; and Ms Niharika Rai, Secretary, Finance, Planning and Tourism, Delhi Govt.

Coordinator and Moderator: Anuj Srivastava, architect, writer and photographer

Mehrauli Archaeological Park is an archaeological site spread over 200 acres containing over 100 historical monuments and structure. The area has been under continuous occupation for over 1000 years and contains Lal Kot built by the Tomar Rajputs in 1060 CE, the oldest extant fort of Delhi and several structures built by the Khilji, Tughlaq and Lodhi dynasties as well as the British. The area faces several challenges, both man-made and natural. Swapna Liddle has an abiding interest in the Mehrauli Archaeological Park and apart from writing extensively about it, she has mapped it in several walks. While talking about the historical context and enumerating the issues of concern, she will also lay out a roadmap for the future

Firefly memories

By Jonaki Ray (Copper coin; 2023)

Discussants: Shri Saif Mahmood, International lawyer, writer, translator, poetry critic & cultural activist; Ms Smitha Sehgal, poet and lawyer; and Ms Jonaki Ray, poet, writer, Editor, scientist and author of the book

Chair: Prof. Radha Chakravarty, writer, critic, translator and former Professor at Ambedkar University
 

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, Senior Fellow, Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses; Prof. J.M. Moosa, Professor, Centre for African Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University; and Ms Ruchita Beri, Senior Fellow, Vivekananda International Foundation author of the book

Chair: Amb. Gurjit Singh
 

Speakers: Kavita Bundelkhandi, co-founder and Editor-in-Chief, Khabar Lahariya and the first Dalit member of the Editor’s Guild of India who is a non-conformist of many parts who stumbled into motherhood; Pooja Pande, writer, author and editor, TED speaker and co-CEO, Chambal Media who has deconstructed the institution of motherhood in India in her book Momspeak; and Vandana Sharma, practicing advocate who qualifies as a mother and advocate at about the same time 

Chair: Richa Jha, children’s author and the publisher of Pickle Yolk Books

In literature, films, performative spaces, popular media and in our everyday lives, we now have portrayals and real-life role models of mothers who do not shy away from putting themselves first, even at the cost of being labelled as ‘bad’ mothers. By living on their own terms, or by not making motherhood the focus of their existence, they challenge the conventional views that have long since reduced women to the all-loving, all-sacrificing and rule-bound gendered identity and role.

The conversation will explore how mothers today are breaking the classic mothering moulds