Discussion based on the book The 2019 Parliamentary Elections in India: Democracy at the Crossroads (Taylor & Francis Ltd. : 2022)

co-edited by Rekha Saxena, Subrata Mitra and Pampa Mukherjee

Speakers: Prof. Ashutosh Kumar, Panjab University, Chandigarh and T.N. Seshan Chair, International Institute of Democracy and Election Management, New Delhi; Prof. Manisha Priyam, Professor of Education Policy, National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), New Delhi; and Dr. Rahul Verma, Fellow, Centre for Policy Research and Visiting Professor, Dept. of Political Science, Ashoka University

Introductory Remarks by the Editors: Prof. Rekha Saxena, Dept. of Political Science, University of Delhi; and Prof. Pampa Mukherjee, Head, Department of Political Science, Panjab University

Chair: Prof. E. Sridharan, Academic Director and Chief Executive, University of Pennsylvania Institute for the Advanced Study of India, New Delhi 
 

Speaker: Dr. Jaisom Chopra, Senior Consultant Vascular Surgeon, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi

Varicose veins is the most common disease worldwide involving roughly 50 percent of the world’s population. One in every two persons suffer from venous problems at some point in their lives. The talk will present the latest advances practised worldwide
 

Speaker: Anurag Seth, Principal AI/ML Advisor at Amazon AWS. He has more than 25 years of experience in technology and entrepreneurship across semiconductor chip design, Electronic Design Automation (EDA), building and deploying state of the art AI (artificial intelligence) /ML (Machine Learning) models and applications across various industries. He is also the India Design Centre Head for Kawasaki Microelectronics, Senior R & D Director at Cadence Design Systems and Motorola

Chair: Apar Gupta, Founder Director, Internet Freedom Foundation

ChatGPT and similar “Large Language Models (LLM)” have taken the world by storm and surprised even some of its inventors on its capability to generate human like text across multiple domains including generation of software code and pin pointing security vulnerabilities in the software which many industry standard tools missed detecting! This talk introduces the core concept of Generative AI (Artificial Intelligence) and walks through the potential impact it is going to create and challenges there-in - from re-skilling needs to “responsible” AI!
 

Mortuary Practices of the Harappans with special Reference to the North West region of India

Illustrated lecture by Dr. Satarupa Bal, Assistant Archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of India who is presently part of the excavation team at the site of Purana Qila archaeological mound

A comprehensive study of the funerary practices followed by the Harappans in the north western region of India emphasizing on specific markers, so as to determine a pattern or variation in these practices and an indication to the probable societal way of life in the different periods of Harappan habitation in the specific region under study 

Curator: Prof. Himanshu Prabha Ray

Tracing the Beginnings of the Harappans: New Excavations at Rakhigarhi

Speakers: Dr. Sanjay Manjul, Jt. Director General, Archaeological Survey of India; and Dr. Ajay Yadav, former Additional Director General, Archaeological Survey of India

Chair: Prof. Himanshu Prabha Ray

This talk will address the much-debated question of the beginnings of the Harappan civilization based on the ongoing archaeological excavations by ASI at Rakhigarhi, perhaps the largest Harappan site in India. Situated on the banks of the river Chautang, a palaeo-tributary of Drishadavati, the site is covered by two revenue villages by name Rakhi-khas and Rakhi-shahpur in Hisar, 150 km from New Delhi
 

Mughal Banaras: An Exploration

Speaker: Malavika Kasturi, Associate Professor (South Asian History), Departments of History and the Centre for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto and with author of Embattled Identities, Rajput Lineages and the Colonial State in Nineteenth Century North India (OUP, 2002). Prof. Kasturi is working on the urban history of Banaras from the eighteenth century from the perspective of Mughal pensioner families

The illustrated lecture will explore the lesser-known history of Banaras through the legacy of exiles and pensioners from the eighteenth century, especially Mughal princes like Jahandar Shah and his descendents.

Chair: Dr. Yaaminey Mubayi

Tale of a Gypsy in Kafka’s Land

A collection of poems by Mandira Ghosh (Authorspress: 2023)

Discussants: Prof. Radha Chakravarty, Former Prof. of Comparative Literature and Translation Studies, AUD, Critic; 
Dr. Gauri Shankar Raina, Broadcaster, Translator and Member, Advisory Board, Sahitya Akademi; Ms. Mandira Ghosh, Poet,Researcher, Writer and Author of the book

Chair: Shri K. Jayakumar, President, Poetry Society (India) and Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Kerala
 

(Collaboration: The Poetry Society, India)

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