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

The seminar focuses on the role of culture in the framing and working of the Constitution of India. Historically, the Indian subcontinent has been replete with a variety of rich and constantly-evolving cultures. These cultures contain essential learnings not only for artists, historians, and philosophers, but also for lawyers, judges, public functionaries, students of constitutional law as well as ordinary citizens. This seminar aims to probe the question – as we decolonise our legal system, can tenets of Indian cultures inform constitutional arrangements in our country?

There will be three sessions: Culture & Our Constitution; Fundamental Duties & Fundamental Rights; and The Individual & The Group 

SEMINAR DETAILS

(Collaboration: Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy)

Teardrop Diplomacy: China’s Sri Lanka Foray

By Asanga Abeyagoonasekera (Bloomsbury Publishing: 2023)

 Discussants: Mr. C. Raja Mohan, Senior Fellow, Asia Society Policy Institute; Dr. Smruti S. Pattanaik, Research Fellow , Manohar Parrikar-Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses; Dr. Rajeswari Rajagopalan, Director,  Centre for Security, Strategy and Technology (CSST), Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi; and Mr. Asanga Abeyagoonasekera, Senior Fellow, Millennium Project and author of the book

 Moderator: Amb. Ashok K. Kantha, former Ambassador to China, Hony. Fellow, Institute of Chinese Studies and Distinguished Fellow, Vivekananda Foundation

Four Chapters
Rabindranath Tagore’s Char Adhyay (1934) translated by Radha Chakravarty (New Delhi: Penguin, 2022)

Discussants: Dr. Debraj Mookerjee, Associate Professor, English department, Ramjas College, University of Delhi; Prof. Malashri Lal, critic and former Professor, Dept. of English, Delhi University; Ms Rumi Malik, writer and broadcaster and Prof. Radha Chakravarty, writer, critic and translator, former Professor of Comparative Literature & Translation Studies, Ambedkar University and translator of the book

Chair: Shri Shyam Saran, President, IIC

The Moonsmith Gulzar: Orbiting the Celebrated Words
By Shailja Chandra (Hawakal Publishers: 2021)

Discussants: Prof. Malashri Lal, academic and author who is a specialist on literature, women, and gender studies; 
Dr. Saba Mehmood Bashir, Assistant Professor, Dept. of English, Faculty of Humanities and Languages, Jamia Millia Islamia; Shri Atul Tiwari, Film Writer and Actor, and Smt Shailja Chandra, Educator & author of the book