Panelists: Amb. Amarendra Khatua, former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs and former Special Envoy to Sudan and South Sudan; and Dr. John Cherian, former Editor, Foreign Policy, the Frontline

Chair: Amb. K.P. Fabian, Professor, Indian Society of International Law

Since the middle of April 2023, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been fighting each other with civilians caught in the crossfire. Earlier, the two had collaborated in preventing Sudan from moving towards a democratic destination. It is painfully clear that both sides can do enormous harm to each other and in the process the 46 million Sudanese are the victims. More than a million have been displaced

Varanasi within Varanasi

A collection of poems by Sharmila Ray (Hawakal Publishers: 2022)

Discussants: Prof. Payal Nagpal, Professor, Janki Devi Memorial College, University of Delhi, poet and critic; Prof. Kalyanee Rajan, Assistant Professor, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, University of Delhi; and Prof. Sharmila Ray, poet, Associate Professor, City College, Kolkata and author of the book

Chair: Dr. Amarendra Khatua, former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, former Director General, Indian Council for Cultural Relations, and poet

(Collaboration: The Poetry Society, India)

Speaker: Dr. Vivek Venkatesh, filmmaker, musician, curator, and applied learning scientist whose research and research creation programmes focus on community co-creation. He is UNESCO co-chair in Prevention of Radicalisation and Violent Extremism and serves as co-director of the Center for the Study of Learning and Performance, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada

Partisan politics that thrive on highly divisive debates catalyse the abuse and erosion of public trust through various disinformation campaigns, resulting in the dismantling of the democratic functioning of our shared society. At the presentation, the speaker will advance the foundations of a theory of social pedagogy within a framework grounded in humanism and community co-creation. He will present examples of a range of arts and community initiatives that enable people to own and revolutionize their own understanding, as well as our collective understanding, of what it means to create pluralistic platforms for dialogue to combat the rhetoric of division and pave the way for restoring the principles of an inclusive society
 

Selfish Mind, Slavish Body: A Quest into Self-Identity

By Laljee Verma (Hay House Publishers: 2022)

Chair: Shri Gurcharan Das, Writer and Public Intellectual

Speakers : Maj. Gen. (Retd.) R. C. Suri, Specialist in Military Technology; Prof. Bindu Puri, Professor, Centre for Philosophy, School of Social Sciences, JNU ; Air Mshl (Dr) L. K. Verma, AVSM (Retd) & Author of the Book
    
   
   
   

Vegetation dynamics in high altitude Garhwal Himalayas and impact of climate variability in the downstream including Delhi NCR using multi temporal satellite images and spatial analytics
 

Presentation by Dr. Yogita Shukla, Founder and CEO, AddGEO Foundation

Presentation by Prof. Shreekant Gupta, Professor, Delhi School of Economics and IPCC Author

Chair: Suhas Borker, Founder Member, Green Circle of Delhi and Trustee, IIC

Vegetation dynamics in high altitude Garhwal Himalayas and impact of climate variability in the downstream including Delhi NCR using multi temporal satellite images and spatial analytics

The series is dedicated to the memory of Shri Mahesh N. Buch, civil servant and environmentalist, who passed away on 6 June 2015 and who had given the keynote address at the inaugural edition of the Dialogue in 2013

 (Collaboration: Green Circle of Delhi)

Recent Excavations at Purana Qila

Illustrated lecture by Dr. Vasant Kumar Swarnkar, Director, Archaeological Survey of India
 
Chair: Shri B.M. Pande
 
Purana Qila, prevalently identified as the ancient site of Indraprastha, has revealed a continuous habitational deposit of 2500 years. The site was initially excavated in the seasons 1954-55 and 1969-73 by Dr. B.B. Lal. The continuous chronological sequence begins with a pre-Mauryan period, excavated for the very first time in the Archaeological Survey of India’s excavations conducted under the supervision of Dr. Vasant Kumar Swarnkar, in excavation seasons 2013-14 and 2017-18; and presently in 2023. Important finds from the recent excavations include a ring well of Mauryan period, a house complex of the Kushana period, seals and sealings of the Gupta period, Vaikuntha Vishnu image of Rajput period, a miniature intricately carved image of Ganesha in soapstone, a circular terracotta plaque of Gaja Lakshmi, and, coins of different periods, etc.

“What on Earth is Happening to Pakistan”

Speaker: Amb. T.C.A. Raghavan, former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan

Moderator of the series: Suhas Borker

Introduction: Vinay Kumar, Secretary General, Press Club of India (PCI)

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

Panelists: Amb. Sharat Sabharwal, former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan; and Ms Suhasini Haidar, Diplomatic Editor, The Hindu

Chair: Amb. K.P. Fabian, Professor, Symbiosis University

Pakistan is in a crisis, a multidimensional crisis. There is an unstable quadrilateral of forces: the military, the civilian government, former Prime Minister Imran Khan, and the Supreme Court. How will the current ongoing turmoil impact India’s interest including national security? How might USA, China, and others including Saudi Arabia, seek to take care of their concerns?

Talk by Guru Vajradhara His Holiness the 12th Chamgon Kenting Tai Situpa

Moderator: Dr. Anu Jindal

The primordial essence of the mind is beyond limitation, it goes beyond being healthy and unhealthy. Both the body and the mind together define the health of an individual. Therefore it is important to have both a healthy mind as well as a healthy body

Work 3.0

By Avik Chanda and Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay (Penguin Business: 2023)

Discussant: Dr. Sajjan Singh Yadav, Additional Secretary, Dept. of Expenditure, Min. of Finance, Govt. of India; and Shri Avik Chanda, author, columnist and business Advisor, Founder-CEO, NUVAH & Director, International Literature Festival, CANTO and author of the book

Moderator: Shri Manish Khurana, Senior Commissioning Editor (Business), Penguin Random House India