Coordinated by Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Ashok K. Mehta

Whither Pakistan: Trapped in Perpetuating Crisis

Panelists: Amb. Sharat Sabharwal, former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan; Ms Nirupama Subramanian, Editor, International Affairs, The Indian Express; and Shri Sushant Sareen, Senior Fellow, Observer Research Founation

Chair: Maj. Gen. Ashok K. Mehta

Pakistan’s present polycrises is not its first: but for the first time, the Army has been challenged directly in a civil-military confrontation. The panel will discuss the internal and external fallout of the current crises

Indus Basin Interrupted: A History of Territory and Politics from Alexander to Nehru

By Uttam Kumar Sinha (Vintage Books: 2022)

Discussants: Shri Sharat Sabharwal, former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan; Dr. D.V. Thareja, former Member, Central Water Commission; Dr. Ashok Behuria, Senior Fellow, MP-Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses; Col. D.P.K. Pillay (Retd.), Fellow, MP-Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses; and Dr. Uttam Kumar Sinha, Senior Fellow, MP-Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses and author of the book

Moderator: Shri K.N. Shrivastava, Director, IIC

New Facets of Early Historical Archaeology and Buddhist Art and Architecture

Essays in Honour of Dr. R.C. Agrawal
Edited by C.B. Patil and Vinay Kumar (Sharada Publishing House: 2022)

Speakers:Dr Himanshu Prabha Ray, Sanskrit Scholar; Historian & Archaeologist; Dr. Alok Tripathi, Additional Director General (Archaeology), ASI; Sh. C. B. Patil, Former Deputy Superintending Archaeologist & Editor of the book; Prof. Vinay Kumar, Asst. Professor, Banaras Hindu University & Editor of the book

Chair : Sh. K. N. Shrivastava, Director, IIC

Curator: Prof. Himanshu Prabha Ray
 
Coins of the Realm: A Numismatic Overview of Eighteenth Century India

Illustrated lecture by Dr. Sanjay Garg, Deputy Director, National Archives of India and Officer on Special Duty, Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, Min. of Culture, Govt. of India. Dr. Garg is the author of many books on numismatics including Monetary Foundations of the Raj (Manohar & Routledge, 2019) and the edited volume The Raj and the Rajas: Money and Coinage in Colonial India (Routledge 2023)
 

Chair: Dr. Shashank Shekhar Sinha

The eighteenth century in India saw a unique blend of political, cultural, social, and economic transformations. The decline of the Mughal Empire from about the beginning of the eighteenth century and the political ascendency of the British East India Company, a number of revivalist powers (the Sikhs, the Marathas, the Rohillas etc.), and a horde of Indian princely states, was almost simultaneous. The talk will focus on the symbiotic relationships between various coins and currencies – which were in a constant state of flux, vis-à-vis multiple sovereign authorities during major political transitions during the eighteenth century India

Free Trade Agreements: India and the World

By V.S. Seshadri (Oxford University Press: 2023)

Discussants: Dr. Harsha Vardhana Singh, former Deputy Director General, World Trade Organisation (WTO); Dr. Mohan Kumar, Former Ambassador of India to France, Dean, Strategic and International Initiatives & Professor of Diplomatic Practice, O.P. Jindal Global University; Dr. Sanjaya Baru, former Media Advisor to PMO, commentator and policy analyst; and Dr. V.S. Seshadri, former Indian Ambassador to Slovenia and Myanmar, Senior Fellow, Delhi Policy Group and author of the book

Chair: Amb. Shyam Saran, President, IIC

Panelists: Shri Ram Boojh, former Senior Consultant, United Nations Environment Programme; Ms Parul Agarwala, Country Programme Manager, India at UN-Habitat; Shri Bhaskar Padigala, Head, Climate Hub, World Wide Fund for Nature India; and Shri Amit Jain, Senior Energy Specialist, The World Bank

Moderator: Dr. Anindita Sarkar, Professor, Dept. of Geography, Miranda House, University of Delhi

How can COP28 support technology transfer and capacity building in the Global South, including through financing and sharing of best practices and the promotion of south-south cooperation? While global policy frameworks like the Paris Agreement provide a broad framework for action on climate change, local communities and governments often have the most direct experience with the impacts of climate change. Effective adaptation and mitigation policies must therefore take into account local conditions, and be tailored to the specific needs and vulnerabilities of different communities

(Collaboration: The Geostrata; and Miranda House College)

POSTPONED

Speaker: Shri Niraj Kumar who has spent the last seven years translating and writing a new commentary on the Kalacakra Tantra over five volumes, the first of which was published in 2022. A proponent of Pan-Asianism, he has authored Arise, Asia! (2003) and its sequel, Asia in Post-Western Age (2014). He is also a commentator on Sakta Tantra, and the author of Sriyantra and Geophilosophy of India (2014). He was Chief Editor of an encyclopedic work on the Himalayas, Himalayan Bridge (2015)

 Chair: Shri Shyam Saran, President, IIC

 The Kalacakra Tantra is the capsule of Nalanda tradition. It was the last major Buddhist Tantric text written in India during the early 11th century. Though composed in Sanskrit, within a few decades, it influenced the most powerful Tibetan Buddhist clergy. This talk will cover the formative stages and the dynamics in transmission of this Tantra. This talk will cover the formative stages and the dynamics in transmission of this Tantra, and its reception by great political powers during the thousand years of its journey

(Organised by IIC-International Research Division)

NEIGHBOURHOOD FIRST

Coordinated by Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Ashok K. Mehta

Panelists: Amb. V.P. Haran, former Indian Ambassador to Bhutan; Lt. Gen. P.S. Pannu, former Military Operations Branch, Army Headquarters; and Prof. Madhuri Sukhija, Professor, Mata Sundari College, University of Delhi

 Chair: Maj. Gen. Ashok K. Mehta

 The discussion focuses on India-Bhutan relations in light of the recent visit of King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck to New Delhi. The visit follows the controversy that erupted after an interview granted by the Bhutanese Prime Minister Lotay Tshering to a Belgian newspaper over a possible resolution of Bhutan China border dispute. The panelists will discuss this and other issues

Navarasa: The Nine Flavours of Sanskrit Poetry

Translated from Sanskrit by A.N.D. Haksar (New Delhi: Penguin, 2022)

Discussants: Prof. Shashi Prabha Kumar, Chairperson, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla and former Vice Chancellor, Sanchi University of Buddhist-Indic Studies, Madhya Pradesh; Prof. (Dr.) Yash Gupta, FRCS, Trauma and Plastic Surgeon, UK and Amb. A.N. D. Haksar, Diplomat and translator, writer and author of the book

Chair: Shri Shyam Saran, President, IIC