Speaker: Mr. Kedir Awol Omar, Head of Regional Delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in New Delhi, India (also covers Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan). He has also headed the ICRC operations in conflict affected areas like Sudan, Yemen, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Palestine, Nepal, Ethiopia and has worked with conflict related issues, humanitarian diplomacy and developing partnerships in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran and South Africa

Chair: Amb. K.P. Fabian, Professor, Symbiosis University and Indian Society of International Law, New Delhi

The work of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is based on the Geneva Conventions of 1949, their Additional Protocols, its Statutes – and those of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement – and the resolutions of the International Conferences of the Red Cross and Red Crescent.

The ICRC is an independent, neutral organisation ensuring humanitarian protection and assistance for victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence. It takes action in response to emergencies and at the same time promotes respect for international humanitarian law and its implementation in national law.

Obviously, it follows that humanity facing so many war and conflict situations, is deeply indebted to ICRC

Lead presentation by Dr. Rajnish Karki who specialises in strategy and organisation design. Dr. Karki has advised business groups, multinational corporations, professional firms and institutions, government and allied entities at the centre and in Uttarakhand

Discussants: Amb. Kanwal Sibal, former Indian Foreign Secretary; and Shri K.N. Shrivastava, Director, IIC 

Chair: Shri Gurcharan Das, author, Commentator, Public Intellectual

The government is the pivotal instrument for realising India’s potential and aspirations. Efficacy of its organisational construct or the design is thus critical. Rajnish Karki in a recent IIC Quarterly article, ‘Organising the Indian Government: Where We Stand, and Could’, traced the patterns in its evolution and the challenges going further. There is indeed a strong case for the organisational reforms and being innovative, ahead of the curve. The panel delves into the ‘whats’ of right design and structure-process-cultural elements and the ‘hows’ of making it ready for the future.

Architectural Adventurism in 19th Century India: Begum Samru’s Sardhana Church

Illustrated lecture by Prof. Jyoti Pandey Sharma, Professor of Architecture, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi. She engages with issues of architectural and urban history and heritage and is widely published.

Chair: Dr. A.G.K. Menon

Operating against the backdrop of the politically fluid and culturally hybrid environment of the Indian subcontinent during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, this talk examines the ecclesiastical architectural feats of Begum Samru, Bibi of a German mercenary; subsequent ruler of Sardhana, a Jagir, near Delhi, and a zealous advocator of Christianity. It is argued that the Begum resorted to what can be termed as an ‘Architectural Adventurism’, to mark her identity as a devout Catholic. 

Speaker: Prof. Michael Grubb, Professor of Energy and Climate Change, University College of London. Since leading the Energy and Environmental Programme at Chatham House in the 1990s, his career has combined a wide range of energy systems and climate change research with half-time implementation roles. He is Strategy Director for a major international research programme on the Economics of Energy Innovation and System Transition. Prof. Grubb is the author of eight books, over sixty journal research articles and numerous other publications

Introduction: Prof. Shreekant Gupta, Professor, Dept. of Economics, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi

Chair: Shri Shyam Saran, President, IIC

Michael Grubb will summarise some of the key insights from the IPCC Mitigation Report published earlier this year, drawing on his experiences as Convening Lead Author for the first chapter.  After briefly setting the scene on climate change, he will focus on new insights in the IPCC report, highlighting areas of progress, and continuing challenges in national and global responses to climate change - including relationships between climate mitigation and sustainable development in the context of continuing deep inequalities.  Drawing also on debates amongst the IPCC authors, he will argue that we are in the midst of a major transition in our understanding of the climate change problem, and potential solutions – including some implications for international cooperative approaches.

Speakers: Amb. Ajay Bisaria, former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan; Dr. Shalini Chawla, Distinguished Fellow, Centre for Air Power Studies, New Delhi; and Dr. Happymon Jacob, Professor, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Chair: Amb. T.C.A. Raghavan, former Director General, Indian Council of World Affairs and former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan

The discussion will assess Islamabad’s attempts to navigate the deepening conflict between Beijing and Washington. For many decades, Pakistan’s foreign policy benefitted from simultaneous good relations with both China and the US. As the Sino-US rivalry reshapes the regional landscape in Asia, Pakistan is finding ways to adapt. The discussion will examine the extent of Pakistan’s room for manoeuvre and the domestic consensus in favour of a diplomatic reset with two of its most important strategic partners

(Collaboration: Asia Society Policy Institute)

Ideology and Organization in Indian Politics: Polarisation and the Growing Crisis of the Congress Party (2009-19) 
By Zoya Hasan (OUP Oxford: 2022)
 
Discussants: Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar, politician, former career diplomat and author; Dr. Harish Khare, former Media Advisor to the Prime Minister of India and former Editor-in-Chief, Tribune; Dr. Rahul Verma, Fellow, Centre for Policy Research and Assistant Professor, Ashoka University; and Dr. Zoya Hasan, Professor Emerita, Jawaharlal Nehru University and author of the book
 
Moderator: Shri Bharat Bhushan, senior journalist
 

Frontiers of History

Cartoon Trouble: A History of Times We Did not Laugh

Illustrated lecture by Prof. Ritu Gairola Khanduri, Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology, University of Texas at Arlington, USA and author of Caricaturing Culture in India: Cartoons and History in the Modern World (Cambridge University Press, 2014)

Chair: Ms Sujata Prasad, Advisor, National Gallery of Modern Art

Globally cartoons continue to spark debates, complaints, petitions, arrests, censorship and violence. This puts the spotlight on a peripheral visual form that has historically flourished as journalism and as art. "Cartoon Trouble: A history of times we did not laugh" approaches cartoons as John Lewis famously said of social justice activism, "good trouble" and "necessary trouble." Cartoon trouble draws attention to the cartoon's generative form and its social life. Beginning with cartoon talk in colonial India, this lecture highlights cartoons that made its intended and unintended audiences squirm and furious. This is an invitation to ponder why cartoons matter and why we must make space for this unsparing art form.

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India’s Economy from Nehru to Modi: A Brief History

By Pulapre Balakrishnan (Permanent Black: 2022)

Discussants: Shri Nitin Desai, Chairman, TERI and former Under Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs, UN; Shri T.K. Arun, senior journalist and former Editor, The Economic Times; Prof. Amita Batra, Professor of Economics, Centre for South Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University; and Dr. Pulapre Balakrishnan, Professor of Economics, Ashoka University and author of the book

Chair: Prof. Sudipto Mundle, Senior Advisor, NCAER and former Professor Emeritus, NIPFP

Speaker: Amb. Ranjan Mathai, former Foreign Secretary and High Commissioner to U.K.

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

The United Kingdom has seen the fall of two Prime Ministers, Boris Johnson and Lizz Truss, in quick successions. Rishi Sunak, who lost to Truss earlier has now succeeded her. The economy is in trouble, especially after Brexit. The cost-of-living crisis remains to be attended to. The Conservative Part is deeply divided, and the Labor has increased its lead in opinion polls

Why is Calories Theory Unscientific and How Vedic Nutrition has the Solutions to Modern Day Health Problems

Speaker: Dr. Shikha Nehru Sharma, Founder - ONE Health

Chair: Dr Anu Jindal, Artist, Scholar, Arts Administrator

The calorie theory has played a great disservice to human nutrition and health. Dr Shikha Nehru Sharma, as a medical doctor will speak about the flaws in the Calorie Concept and its consequent adverse effect on people. She will elaborate on her search and discovery of solutions in ancient Vedic concepts of nutrition, thus helping people to actualize their highest potential of wellbeing

Dr. Shikha Nehru Sharma, MBBS from Maulana Azad Medical College Delhi is the founder of Nutriwel Health (India) delivering preventive healthcare advisory programs with Ayurvedic Doctors and Nutritionists integrating Modern Nutrition with Vedic Nutrition

(Collaboration: Urmila Foundation)