Ecology at the Crossroads of Climate Change

Chair: Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, former Director General of the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG)

Moderator: Sujata Prasad, former civil servant, author, and curator

Panellists: Mahesh Rangarajan, Professor, Ashoka University; Patricia Mukhim, Editor, Shillong Times; Neha Sinha, author and wildlife conservationist and Dr Yogesh Jain, Founder, Jan Swasthya Sahyog, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh.

Seeds of Resilience: Women, Family Farms, and the Future of Nutritious Food Systems

Panellists: Heenaben Dave, Vice President, SEWA; Karthik Laxman, Researcher; Bhuvaneswari Balasubramanian, India Country Director, GAIN; Purnima Menon, Director, Strategy and Partnerships, IFPRI; Meenakshi Chodhary, SEWA

Guardians of the Grasslands: Pastoralism, Mobility and Ecology

Chair: Ravi Singh, Secretary General and CEO of WWF-India

Panellists: Sushma Iyengar, Lead curator, Living Lightly Exhibition of Centre for Pastoralism (CfP); Ajay Dandekar and Anita Sharma, Assistant Professors, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Shiv Nadar University and Sunil Harsana, environmental activist.

Architecture, Urban Landscapes and the Future of Cities

Chair: Ashok Lall, Eminent architect and educator
Moderator: Ratish Nanda, CEO, Aga Khan Trust for Culture, India

Panellists: A.G.K. Menon, urban planner and architect and Shruti Narayan, Managing Director of Regions and Mayoral Engagement at C40 cities

INDIAN ARCHAEOLOGY 
Megalithic Culture of South India with special reference to Recent Excavations at Adichanallur, Tamil Nadu
By Dr. Arun Raj. T, Regional Director (Central), ASI, Bhopal. He holds a PhD on Arikamedu, the early historic Indo-Roman port site, and former Director of the Institute of Archaeology.

Chair: K.N. Shrivastava, Director, IIC

Moderator: Pratap Bhanu Singh Sengar, former Director (Monuments) Archaeological Survey of India

Megalithic burials, built primarily from large stones, illuminate the material culture, rituals and beliefs of Iron Age communities in South India. Recent excavations at Adichanallur, Tamil Nadu, uncovered urn burials, skeletal remains, metal objects and other antiquities. The talk examines these findings and their significance for understanding South India’s Megalithic culture and burial traditions.
 

Book Discussion Group 
Main Ek Gurezaan Lamha Hun: Kathak Guru Shovana Narayan

By Maya ‘Parijat’ (Vitasta, 2025)

Chair:  Uday Kumar Varma, Former Secretary to Govt of India (MSMEs and Information & Broadcasting)

Moderator: Sahar Zaman, Journalist and Author

Discussants: Shovana Narayan, Indian Kathak dancer and Guru; Sachchidanand Joshi, Member Secretary, IGNCA; Rama Pandey, Theatre personality, writer and former BBC & Doordarshan broadcaster; Maya ‘Parijat’, Author of the book

  Cancelled-  Baithak
On the Occasion of World Mental Health Day 2026

Chair: Dr Swati Kashyap, Psychiatrist, Director Mind Clinic  
Chief Guest: Prof (Dr) Rajinder Dhamija, Director IHBAS
Host: Gp. Capt. Ashok Marwaha VSM (Retd) President, RFS Delhi

A gathering to celebrate the healing power of words and connections. Let us share stories, inspire hope, and champion mental well-being for all— because mental health is a fundamental human right.

(Collaboration: The Richmond Fellowship Society, Delhi)
 

Is France a More Reliable Strategic Partner than US.at the Centre

Moderator: Ambassador Surendra Kumar, Founder President, IAFA

Discussants: Discussants: Ambassador Rakesh Sood, former Ambassador to France, Nepal & Afghanistan & PM’s Special Envoy on Disarmament & Non-proliferation; Ambassador (Dr) Mohan Kumar, former Ambassador to France, currently Dean/ Professor OP Jindal University; Prof  Swaran Singh, former Prof , JNU; TK Arun, Editor, Political & Economic Weekly of India; Dr Manoj Joshi, Distinguished Fellow, ORF, journalist & columnist.

The discussion examines the evolving dynamics of India’s strategic partnerships with France and the United States. It will explore whether France, with its emphasis on strategic autonomy and a long-standing defence and diplomatic relationship with India, offers a more consistent and reliable partnership in an increasingly complex global order

Book Discussion Group

Signature on the Wind

By Kailash Vajpeyi; translated by Ananya Vajpeyi (Sahitya Akademi, 2026)

Discussants: Dr. Udayan Vajpeyi, Hindi poet, essayist, short fiction and script writer; Prof. Rita Kothari; Professor of English and Co-director, Ashoka Centre for Translation, Ashoka University: Prof. Prasanta Chakravarty, Dept. of English, Delhi University ; Dr Ananya Vajpeyi, Author and Professor, Centre for the study of Developing societies.
 

INDIAN ARCHAEOLOGY
Prehistoric Vindhyan Childhoods: Investigating Rock Art as a Knowledge System in Indian Prehistory

Speaker: Dr. Ajay Pratap is former Head and Professor, Department of History, Banaras Hindu University.

Chair: K. N. Shrivastava, Director, IIC

Moderator: Pratap Bhanu Singh Sengar, former Director (Monuments) Archaeological Survey of India

The emergence of an archaeology of childhood recognises the crucial roles of women and children in prehistoric cultures and communities. The presentation explores their role as active users of visual symbolic representation, as teachers and learners, through rock art depicting self-images, designs, narrative scenes, line drawings and practice figures. It examines rock art as a means of transmitting traditional knowledge, aesthetics and memory.