Book Discussion Group

Nehru’s Bandung: Non-Alignment and Regional Order in Indian Cold War Strategy

Andrea Benvenuti (Speaking Tiger, 2024)

Chair: Shyam Saran, President IIC

Discussants: Prof. Amitabh Mattoo, Dean, School of International Studies, Professor and Chair, Centre for International Politics, Organization and Disarmament (CIPOD), School of International Studies, JNU; Prof Ajay K Mehra, Political Scientist, and Former Atal Bihari Vajpayee Senior Fellow, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library; Prof Pallavi Raghavan, Assistant Professor, Ashoka University; and Dr. Andrea Benvenuti, Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations, University of New South Wales, Kensington & Author of the book
 

India-Brazil-South Africa: Strengthening Global South Agenda
It is not always cliched to say that “you cannot stop an idea whose time has come”. The time for IBSA (India-Brazil-South America) has arrived to strengthen the multipolar world order. The emerging economies including India, Brazil and South Africa are making their presence felt globally but without dictating the agenda and rather being consultative. The recently concluded IBSA Summit in South Africa could not have been timed. The discussion will lay out an agenda for IBSA in the coming years.

Chair: Prof. Sanjay Bhattacharyya, former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, and currently Professor of Diplomatic Practice at JSIA and Director, Jindal Global Centre for G20 Studies

Introductory Remarks: Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury, Senior Assistant Editor (Foreign Affairs), The Economic Times 
Discussants: Amb Kenneth H. da Nobrega, Ambassador of Brazil to India; and Amb Dr. Anil Sooklal, South African High Commissioner
 

BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP 
What Women Want: Understanding The Female Voter in Modern India
by Ruhi Tewari (Juggernaut, 2025)

Discussants Dr. Shamika Ravi, Member, Economic Advisory Council to Prime Minister, India; Gaurav Gogoi, Deputy Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha & Assam PCC President; Priyanka Chaturvedi, Rajya Sabha MP, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray); Ram Madhav, President, India Foundation & Senior RSS Leader; Ruhi Tewari, Author of the Book

Moderator:Nidhi Razdan, Senior Journalist
 

Looking Back: Writing Women’s History 
As the All India Women’s Conference (AIWC) branches approaches its centenary in 2027, this symposium highlights pioneering women writers and reformers from the 1920s to the 1970s. Focusing on multilingual narratives. The discussions will foreground contributions to health, education, social reform and women’s rights across India, celebrating voices that shaped and chronicled women’s lives and histories.

Moderator: Manju Kak, Secretary General, AIWC

Panellists: Prof. B. Mangalam. Aryabhatta College, published widely on Dalit literature, theatre studies; Prof. (Dr.) Meenakshi Malhotra, Department of English, Hansraj College, DU; Prof Rekha Sethi, Department of Hindi, Indraprastha College; Dr. Sanju Thomas. Associate Professor, School of Letters, Ambedkar University; Dr. Usha Mudiganti., Associate Professor, School of Letters, Ambedkar University; Dr. Saba Mahmood Bashir Assistant Professor, Department of English Assistant Professor In-charge, RCA, Jamia Millia Islamia. 
 

BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP 
 

The Age of Influence: Thoughts on Communication in Geopolitics, Soft Power and Branding
By Chaitanya K. Prasad, Zoya Ahmad and Vaishnavie Srinivasan (Notion Press, 2025)

Discussants: Prof. Amitabh Mattoo, Dean, School of International Studies, Professor and Chair, Centre for International Politics, Organization and Disarmament (CIPOD), School of International Studies, JNU; Nitin Gokhale, Author and Senior Journalist; Sidhant Sibal, Assistant Editor Foreign Affairs, WIO News; Capt. Alok Bansal, Executive Vice President, India Foundation and the Secretary General, Asian Eurasian Human Rights Forum; Chaitanya K. Prasad, Head Communication and Outreach, MOE, GOI & Author of the Book

Moderator: Manjari Chaturvedi, Author & Classical Dancer  

Chair: K.N. Shrivastava, Director, IIC

BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP 
Scheme for Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages (4 vols.)
By Prof. Anvita Abbi, Shri Rahul Pachori, Shri Vysakh R. 
 

Discussants:  Dr Ajay Saini, Assistant Professor, Centre for Rural Development & Technology, IIT Delhi; Shimray Rose, Additional District Magistrate, NW District, Delhi; Prof. Anvita Abbi, Adjunct Professor, Department of Linguistics, Simon Fraser University; Former Professor, JNU & Author of the Book; Rahul Pachori, Research Fellow (Linguistics), Kala Nidhi Division, IGNCA & Co-Author of the Book
Chair: Prof Uday Narayan Singh, Professor of Linguistics, Dean Faculty of Arts Amity University, Haryana 
 

BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP 
 

Assembling India’s Constitution: A New Democratic History
By Rohit De and Ornit Shani (Cambridge University Press, 2025)

Discussants: Prof Anupama Roy, Professor, Centre for Political Studies, JNU; Dr Usha Ramanathan, Independent law researcher and human rights activist; Shahrukh Alam, Advocate, Supreme Court of India; Suhas Borker, Editor Citizens First TV (CFTV)

BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP 
 

Aainakhana
Translated by Gauri Shankar Raina  

Discussants:  Dr. Roop Krishen Bhat, Eminent Short Story writer, Linguist, former Professor, CIL and former Director, ADULT Education, Ministry of HRD; Prof. Pankaj Bhan, Editor & Translator, Former Professor of English, DU, Shri Deepak Budki, Former Director General, Postal Services of India, Critic & Short Stories Writer; Dr. Gaurishankar Raina, Eminent writer and translator, former Advisory Board Member, Sahitya Akademi & Translator of the Group

Moderator: Prof. Payal Nagpal, Department of English, Janki Devi Memorial College, DU

BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP 
Bharata before the British and other essays: Towards a new Indology
By Shonaleeka Kaul (Vitasta, 2024)

Introductory Remarks: K.N. Shrivastava, Director, IIC

Discussants: Prof. Meenakshi Jain, Hon’ble. Member of Rajya Sabha, Author, Historian; Prof. M. Jagadesh Kumar, Former Chairman, University Grants Commission, Professor (formerly Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi), educationist and columnist; Prof. Shonaleeka Kaul, Professor of History, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Former Malathy Singh Distinguished Lecturer, Yale University; Jan Gonda Fellow, Leiden University; Visiting Professor, Heidelberg University. Sanskritist and author of the book.
 

Financing Climate Adaptation in States: Challenges and Opportunities
With climate change aggravating and leading to adverse impacts on social and economic sectors.  India urgently requires investment in climate adaptation. The discussion identifies the challenges faced in implementing adaptation actions by states, the current sources of climate finance, particularly adaptation finance, the instruments and methods of current financing, and suggests possible ways of scaling adaptation finance for states.

Paper presented by:  RR Rashmi, Distinguished Fellow, TERI; and Dhriti Pathak, Climate Change Researcher and Analyst.
Discussant: Ravi Shankar Prasad, Distinguished Fellow CEEW, Former Additional Secretary MOEF& CC

Moderator: C.K. Mishra, Former Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Government of India

(Organised by the IIC’s Sectoral Policy Planning Group on Environment under the Convenorship of C.K. Mishra)