India’s Finance Ministers: From Independence to Emergency (1947-1977)

By A.K. Bhattacharya (Penguin Business: 2023)

About the Book:

Independent India has so far witnessed twenty-eight finance ministers. But only a handful of them could leave their mark on the exchequer or North Block, the headquarters of the Indian finance ministry. From Independence to Emergency: India’s Finance Ministers 1947-1977 is the story of India’s unforgettable finance ministers who shaped India’s economy in the first thirty years after Independence. The book highlights the significant difference that these finance ministers made to the management of the Indian economy and to the policy evolution of the government, and who thus left an indelible mark on the psyche of Indian citizens. It attempts to measure the impact these decisions left, not only on India’s economic system but also on its political system, and looks at to what extent the decisions were influenced by the socio-economic backgrounds of the finance ministers. Full of interesting anecdotes, the book is the first in-depth account of the crucial role these finance ministers have played in the functioning of India’s economy.

Full of interesting anecdotes, the book is the first in-depth account of the crucial role these
Finance ministers have played in the functioning of India’s economy.

Speakers

Dr. Shankar N. Acharya, Former Chief Economic Adviser, GoI

Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Distinguished Fellow, Centre for Social &Economic Progress & Former Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission

Dr. Nitin Desai, Former Chief Economic Adviser, GoI

Dr. V. Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Adviser, GoI

Shri Mohit Gupta, Founder-Frob (Moderator)

Shri A. K. Bhattacharya, Editorial Director, Business Standard & Author
of the Book

Welcome: Shri Shyam Saran, President, IIC

About the Workshop: Dr. Shailesh Nayak, Director, National Institute of Advanced Studies, and Life Trustee, IIC

Inaugural Address by Dr. P.K. Mishra, Principal Secretary to the PM

Programme Details

By Vandana R. Singh (Niyogi Books: 2022)

Discussants: Shri Pavan K. Varma, Former Diplomat & Distinguished Author; Dr. Sukrita Paul Kumar,  poet, critic and academician; Shri Nirmal Kanti Bhattacharjee, Editorial Director, Niyogi Books, New Delhi; and Dr. Vandana R. Singh, Associate Professor of English, GCG, Panjab University, translator, editor and author of the book

           POSTPONE

Raza at the Centre de Pompidou

Reflections on Raza and the show

Talk by Roobina Karode, eminent art critic and curator

Moderator: Ashok Vajpeyi

(Collaboration: The Raza Foundation)

Why Should Countries Invest in Science?

Speaker: Dr. V. Ramakrishnan, structural biologist and co-recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry 

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

Churchill and India: Manipulation or Betrayal?

By Kishan S. Rana (Routledge Taylor & Francis: 2022)

Discussants: Amb. M.K. Rasgotra, former Foreign Secretary of India; Prof. Pallavi Raghavan, historian, International Affairs Scholar and Assistant Professor, Ashoka University; and Amb. Kishan Rana, former Ambassador of India, Emeritus Professor, DIPLO Foundation, Geneva and Malta, and author of the book

Chair: Amb. Shyam Saran, President, IIC

Those were the Days: Tales from the 15th Finance Commission

By Ashok K. Lahiri (Rupa Publications India; 2022)

Discussants: Dr. Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, Minister of Finance & Human Resource Management, Tamil Nadu; Shri Sushil Modi, former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar; Shri N.K. Singh, Economist and former Member of the Rajya Sabha; Shri Manpreet Singh Badal, former Finance Minister, Punjab; Shri Arvind Mehta, Secretary, Fifteen Finance Commission; and Shri Ashok K. Lahiri, former Chief Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India and author of the book

Chair: Shri Raghav Bahl, Founder Network 18 and Bloomberg Quint

Fit at Any Age: A Practitioner’s Guide
By Air Marshal (Retd.) P.V. Iyer, AVSM, VSM (Bloomsbury India: 2022)
 
The author will be in conversation with Shri Rajiv Mehrishi, former Comptroller and Auditor General of India; and Shri Shekhar Gupta, journalist and author
 
(Collaboration: Bloomsbury India)
 

The Logic of Dreams

By Madhu Tandon (Speaking Tiger: 2022)

The author, Madhu Tandon will be in conversation with Dr. Jyotsna Singh, filmmaker and artist

Madhu Tandon has over four decades of experience studying dreams. She is the author of Faith & Fire: A Way Within (1997), Dreams & Beyond: Finding Your Way in the Dark (2009) and Hemis: A Novel (2018). She has also conducted dream workshops, written articles on dreams and contributed short stories to anthologies.
 

Living in Truth: The Gandhian Paradigm

Discussion on the forthcoming book by Ramin Jahanbegloo

Speakers: Ramin Jahanbegloo and Pooja Sharma, co-authors of the book

(Collaboration: The Raza Foundation)