2013-2014 2013 -2014 Annual Report IND I A INTERNAT I ONAL CENTRE 2013-2014 IND I A INTERNAT I ONAL CENTRE New Delhi Board of Trustees Mr. Soli J. Sorabjee, President Justice (Retd.) B.N. Srikrishna Professor M.G.K. Menon Mr. L.K. Joshi Dr. (Smt.) Kapila Vatsyayan Dr. Kavita A. Sharma, Director Mr. N. N. Vohra Executive Members Dr. Kavita A. Sharma, Director Professor Dinesh Singh Mr. K. Raghunath Dr. Biswajit Dhar Dr. (Ms) Sukrita Paul Kumar Cmde.(Retd.) Ravinder Datta, Secretary Cmde.(Retd.) C. Uday Bhaskar Mr. P.R. Sivasubramanian, Hony. Treasurer Mrs. Meera Bhatia Finance Committee Justice (Retd.) B.N. Srikrishna, Dr. Kavita A. Sharma, Director Chairman Mr. P.R. Sivasubramanian, Hony. Treasurer Mr. M. Damodaran Cmde. (Retd.) Ravinder Datta, Secretary Cmde.(Retd.) C. Uday Bhaskar Mr. Ashok K. Chopra, Chief Finance Officer Medical Consultants Dr. K.P. Mathur Dr. Rita Mohan Dr. K.A. Ramachandran Dr. Gita Prakash Dr. Mohammad Qasim IIC Senior Staff Ms Omita Goyal, Chief Editor Mr. A.L. Rawal, Dy. General Manager Dr. S. Majumdar, Chief Librarian Mr. Vijay Kumar, Executive Chef Ms Premola Ghose, Chief, Programme Division Mr. Inder Butalia, Sr. Finance and Accounts Officer Mr. Arun Potdar, Chief, Maintenance Division Ms Hema Gusain, Purchase Officer Mr. Amod K. Dalela, Administration Officer Ms Seema Kohli, Membership Officer Annual Report 2013-2014 It is a privilege to present the 53rd Annual Report of the India International Centre for the period 1 February 2013 to 31 January 2014. The Board of Trustees reconstituted the Finance Committee for the two-year period April 2013 to March 2015 with Justice B.N. Srikrishna as Chairman, and C. Uday Bhaskar and M. Damodaran as members. The Library and House Committees have been reconstituted for a further period of two years. It is a matter of pride for the Centre that many of its members have received honours and awards during the year. In this year’s national honours list, twenty of the Centre’s distinguished members were vested with Padma awards. One member was awarded the top-most distinction with a Padma Vibhushan, six received the Padma Bhushan, and thirteen received the Padma Shri. It is with pleasure that we take this opportunity to inform our members that the Centre’s cookbook, Secrets from the Kitchen: Fifty Years of Culinary Experience at the India International Centre, published in 2013 by Niyogi Press, has won the ‘Gourmand World Cookbook Award for India’. It was shortlisted for the top 250 food and wine books from 83 countries. The book is the winner in India in two categories: ‘Best Easy Recipes Book’ and ‘Best Professional Cookbook’. It will now compete for ‘The Best in the World Awards’ which will be held in Beijing in May 2014. In keeping with the conventions of the India International Centre, the President Mr. Soli J. Sorabjee invited Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, the Honourable President of India, to become its Honorary member. President Pranab Mukherjee accepted the invitation and graciously invited Mr. Sorabjee for a meeting at the Rashtrapati Bhawan where the membership card was 1 presented to President Mukherjee. It was evident during the conversation that President Pranab Mukherjee had warm affection for the Centre and had been following its activities with keen interest. Mr. Sorabjee, accompanied by the Director of the Centre, Dr. Kavita A. Sharma, presented to President Pranab Mukhejee a copy of the 2012-2013 thematic issue of the IIC Quarterly entitled Interrogating Women’s Leadership and Empowerment, and Secrets from the Kitchen: Fifty Years of Culinary Experience at the India International Centre. The Centre records the contribution of the members who passed away during the period of this report. Some of them had been closely associated with the activities of the Centre for many years, and their departure is a great loss. 2 Annual Events November 30, 1960 will remain a memorable day for the Centre as it was on that day that His Imperial Highness, the then Crown Prince of Japan, laid the foundation stone of the Centre. The occasion was re-lived when we had the privilege and honour of the visit of the Emperor and Empress of Japan to the Centre on 3 December 2013. The President IIC, Mr. Soli J. Sorabjee, received their Majesties. They were taken on a tour of the Centre, after which they proceeded to the Pergola where the President introduced them to Life Trustees Professor M.G.K Menon, Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan, Mr. N.N. Vohra, Justice B.N. Srikrishna, Elected Trustee Mr. L.K. Joshi, and Dr. Karan Singh, Patron of the IIC. In a short speech, Mr. Sorabjee said ‘human memory tends to fade and fail, but the memory of your visit to the India International Centre and your gracious presence here this year will be unforgettable. We will always cherish it.’ He went on to say, ‘I am sure your visit will help to develop more cordial and warmer ties between the peoples of India and Japan.’ Annual Day, 2013 The Member’s Tea on the Centre’s Annual Day was preceded by the launch of the book, Golden Jubilee Lectures 2012 by the President Mr. Soli J. Sorabjee. These lectures by scholars from India and abroad were the highlight of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Centre in 2012. These have now been published as a book to ensure wider dissemination. The evening’s programme was entitled, ‘Asia’s First Nobel: A Few “Song Offerings” from Gitanjali’. It was led by Sushanta Dattagupta, Vice- Chancellor Visva Bharati; Indrani Mukherjee, Sangit Bhavana; Madhabi Ruj (Ghosh), head of the Department of Rabindra Sangeet, Dance and Drama; and artistes of Visva Bharati, Santiniketan. The members of the Santiniketan Choir presented a series of Gurudev’s lyrics, touching upon the vast oeuvre of his heritage. The choral presentations, 3 comprising soloists and group presenters, were supported by a musical accompaniment, playing instruments such as the esraj, purported to be synonymous with Rabindra Sangeet, together with cymbals, khol, tabla and harmonium. Adding greater interest to the evening’s performance was a running commentary alongside, transcribing and categorising them into cohesive demonstrations of Tagore’s genius. C. D. Deshmukh Memorial Lecture This event is held on 14 January every year to commemorate the Centre’s Founder–member and Life Trustee C. D. Deshmukh. This year, the annual lecture was delivered by Professor P. K. Mukhopadhyay, formerly Professor of Philosophy, Jadavpur University and currently Professor at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Kolkata. In his talk on ‘The Fourth Great Movement of Indian Renaissance’, Professor P. K. Mukhopadhyay discussed education, or rather, higher education in India or, more particularly, the enigma of a nation without national education. The perceptiveness of some past leaders of education reform was discussed in the context of the most recent measure of the HDI, or Human Development Index. While discussing some other more familiar problems like ‘cultural’ division in the academic world, he also argued strongly for informed amateurism and cognitive holism as ways towards the solution of the problem. Similarly, while sharing one’s anxiety over the progressive marginalisation of university education, part of the cause of which is supersession of academicians by others, a first step towards the right answer is that there is greater need for open debate involving larger numbers of working teachers than committee decisions. The talk endeavoured to understand how some of the old deficiencies continue concurrently with some obvious improvements which free India has achieved in the field of education. We urgently need greater clarity in our notion of education as well as its goal. If we have to have svaraj in idea or national education, then the effort should start from here. The received notion of education needs radical rethinking, concluded Professor Mukhopadhyay. 4 Mid-Year Review of the Indian Economy, 2013-2014 ‘The best thing about the past six months is that it’s over. We are not particularly optimistic, but slightly less pessimistic about the second half,’ said Mythili Bhusnurmath in her presentation at the annual ‘Mid-Year Review of the Indian Economy 2013-2014’, held in collaboration with National Council for Applied Economic Research, and Malcolm and Elizabeth Adiseshiah Trust. Even after factoring in a better rate of economic growth in the latter half, the GDP growth estimate for the full year stood revised downwards to about 4.8 to 5.3 per cent—dismal for a country aiming at a double-digit rate. Manufacturing had been a let down and so had the services sector; the agricultural sector was better, but largely because of a favourable monsoon. The annual growth rate for the sector during 2013-14 was estimated at 3.9 per cent. The forecasts, based on an annual model, estimated India’s exports to grow 11.9 per cent in value terms over the previous year but the imports were seen as growing at an even higher rate of 13 per cent, indicating a wider trade deficit during 2013-14. Two special papers were presented by Lekha Chakraborty and Soma Banerjee on ‘Revival of the Mining Sector’ and ‘Natural Gas Pricing and Energy Security’, respectively. The IIC Experience 2013 From its early beginnings, the IIC Experience has grown to become an important event in the cultural life of the city with all activities open to the public. The IIC Experience is in its 10th year, and to mark this occasion, the event extended to eight rather than the usual seven days. This year saw wide international participation from South Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Kazakhstan and Brazil, all of whom brought to us their culture in exhibitions, performances and cuisine.