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)
 

BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP 
The Dark Hours of the Night
By Salma; translated by G J V Prasad (Simon and Schuster, 2025)

Discussants: Professor B Mangalam, English professor at Aryabhatta College, University of Delhi; Prof. Swati Pal, Principal, Janki Devi Memorial College (JDMC), University of Delhi; Prof. Nishat Haider, Professor of English, Jamia Millia Islamia University; Prof. Salma, Autor of the Book; Prof G J V Prasad, Translator of the Book

Moderator:  Prof. Malashri Lal, Convenor, English Advisory Board, Sahitya Academy and poet
 

BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP 
India and Africa: Legacy of Exchanges and Cultural Affinities
edited by H.H.S. Viswanathan and K.N. Shrivastava (Konark Publishers Pvt Ltd)

Welcome remarks: K.N. Shrivastava, Director, IIC
Discussants: Prof. Ajay Dubey, Chair, Centre for African Studies, JNU & Secretary-General, African Studies Association of India; Prof. Nandini C. Sen, Bharti College, Delhi University; Ruchita Beri, Senior Fellow, Vivekananda International Foundation; Amb. H.H.S Viswanathan, Editor of the book

Chair: Shyam Saran, President and Life Trustee, IIC

Birds in flight
Translated by Rashmi Govind (Penguin, 2025)

Discussants: Prof. Sukrita Paul, Guest Editor, Indian Literature, Poet, Academic & Critic; Chandana Dutta, Author, Editor, and Translator; Prof. Anisur Rahman, Centre for West Asian Studies, JMI; Rashmi Govind, translator of the book

Moderator: Moutushi Mukherjee, Commissioning Editor, Penguin Random House

Combating War by Art and Poetry
By Mandira Ghosh (Authorspress, 2025)

Discussants: Sunit Tandon, Former Director, IHC; Prof. Radha Chakravarty, Writer, Critic & Translator; Prof. Swati Pal, Principal and Professor, Janki Devi Memorial College, University of Delhi; Dr. Rumki Basu, Former Professor, Jamia Millia Islamia & Poet,Mandira Ghosh, Poet, Author & Researcher & Author of the book

Chair: Dr. Amarendra Khatua, Former Secretary, MEA & DG, ICCR & Poet

The Thousand Years War: Russia and the West.
By Achala Moulik (Har-Anand Publications, 2025)

Discussants: H.E Mr. Denis Alipov, Russian Ambassador (Guest of Honour); Prof. Archana Upadhyay, Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies, JNU; Sh Dipanjan Roy -Chaudhuri, Diplomatic Editor of Economic Times; Dr. Achala Moulik, Author of the book

Chair:  K. N. Shrivastava, Director, IIC

Gossips of Our Surrogate Story: Prose poems 
By Rajorshi Narayan Patranabis (Hawakaal Publisher, 2025)

Discussants: Sudeep Sen, Poet and Literary Editor; Shubha Dwivedi, Associate Professor, ARSD College, University of Delhi; Rajorshi Patranabis, Poet, Reviewer, Essayist & Author of the Book

Moderator: Kiriti Sengupta, Poet and Publisher

Working for an Equal World
Panel Discussion by leading women from Northeast

Panelists: Ms Patricia Mukhim, social activist, writer, journalist and Editor of The Shillong Times; Prof Rakhee Kalita Moral, Professor and Head Department of English and Chair, Centre for Women’s Studies Cotton University; Dr Stuti Goswami, Associate Professor, Department of English, The Assam Royal Global University, Guwahati; and Dr Purnima Burman, Indian wildlife biologist
Moderator: Sanjoy Hazarika, writer, journalist and human rights activist

Chair: Rami Chhabra, veteran Media person, author and social activist
 

Panel Discussion
Role of Women in Politics in India- Then and Now
 

Panel Discussion with Aparajita Sarangi; Bansuri Swaraj, Atishi Marlena, Sudha Ramakrishnan, and Iqra Hasan

Chair: Sonia Singh, former Editorial Director, Anchor, NDTV Group