2006-2007 THIS IS THE 46th Annual Report of the India International Centre for the year, 1st of February 2006 to the 31st of January 2007, which will be placed before the 51st Annual General Body meeting of the Centre, to be held on the 30th of March 2007. The tenures of the existing members elected to the Executive Committee and the Board of Trustees, from both the Individual and Corporate membership segments, will conclude on the 31st of March 2007. The Centre would like to place on record its gratitude to the two outgoing Trustees, Smt. Justice (Retd.) Leila Seth and Dr R.K. Pachauri for the very valuable contributions made by them towards the successful steering of the policy and critical affairs of the Centre; and to Shri Inder Malhotra, Shri Vipin Malik, Smt. Rajni Kumar, Cmde C. Uday Bhaskar, Dr S.M. Dewan and Dr Arvind Pandalai, members of the Executive Committee, for the time devoted, and the interest taken by them in important matters relating to the execution of policies. The Board of Trustees unanimously elected Prof. M.G.K Menon to serve as President for five years commencing the 1st of January 2007. The Trustees placed on record their gratitude to Shri Sorabjee. In the year’s national honours list 31 of the Centre’s distinguished members were vested with Padma awards. The Centre records the sad passing away of 52 of its members during the past year. Some of them had been closely associated with important activities of the Centre for many years, and their departure is a great loss. 1 Programmes From inception the Centre has been making its facilities available, free of charge or at subsidized rates, to support activities of various organizations which pursue objectives shared by the Centre. During the year under review subventions amounting to Rs 52.05 lakhs were provided as against Rs. 48.12 lakhs in the previous year. This year the Centre held 252 talks/discussions and seminars and 243 cultural programmes, documentary and feature films and exhibitions. Details are in Appendices I-VI. At the outset the Centre would like to express gratitude to the convenors, members of the Programme Planning Advisory Groups, as well as several members of the Centre who initiated programmes and our collaborators who helped us organize a very successful and lively set of programmes. Festivals and Special Events The IIC Experience THE IIC EXPERIENCE 2006 was held from 6th -12th October. The core of the Festival being the cultural events, this year the Festival opened with a Bharatanatyam recital, ‘Adhbhuta: The Vision of Wonder’, by the celebrated dancer, Malavika Sarukkai. The other events included a Hindustani vocal concert by Rajshekhar Mansur, son of the legendary Mallikarjun Mansur; ‘Vadya Sammelanam’, a concert of Carnatic Music by a 7-member women’s orchestra; ‘Uski Awaaz’ — readings by women poets; a concert, ‘Under the Stars’, by the Indian Ocean; ‘Rohi Rang: Colours of the Desert’, a concert of Sufiana Kalam by the Mir Singers of Bikaner; ‘Just Jazz!’ by the Babush Santana Quintet; and the finale, an impressive premiere of a Manipuri dance drama, ‘The Throw of Dice’, presented by Priti Patel and her troupe, Anjika. 2 This year’s film festival was called ’Stardust Memories: An Encounter with Old Friends’, which screened the films of Ingmar Bergmann (Sweden), Yasujiro Ozu (Japan); Federico Fellini (Italy); Zoltan Fabri (Hungary), Majid Majidi (Iran), Walter Salles (Brazil) and Shyam Benegal. Mr Benegal was also present for a discussion with Shohini Ghosh. The exhibitions held provided glimpses of India from three different epochs: ‘Mughal miniatures and mansucripts from the Raza Library, Rampur’ depicted the exquisite, jeweled world of miniature paintings from the Mughal period; ‘Photographing India: Journeys with Raja Deen Dayal and Henri Cartier-Bresson’ portraying the India of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the years following Independence. In the Gandhi-King Plaza, the well-know ceramicist, P.R. Daroz, exhibited ‘Warriors’, giant pots glazed in greens, blues, grays with metallic overlaps representing the helmets of samurai warriors. The exhibits measured over four feet in height. Each day of the festival presented a different cuisine ranging from the Nawabi food of Rampur to the humble street food of Parathewali Gali in Delhi, as well as French and Oriental cuisines. Madhya Pradesh Festival The Government of Madhya Pradesh and the IIC organized a festival, ‘FROM THE VERY HEART OF INDIA’, from the 24th to 27th of May to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the creation of the state. The festival included seminars on the artistic, musical and literary heritage of Madhya Pradesh; feature films with a Madhya Pradesh connection such as: Kumar Gandharva, Muhafiz, Ahilya Bai, Massey Sahib, Maqbool, Samar, documentary films such as Asgari Bai, Sanshodhan and Beyond the Wheel. The performances and music exemplified the incredible richness of the Madhya 3 Pradesh heritage–the Maihar Band founded by Ustad Alauddin Khan; Meeta Pandit of the Gwalior Gharana; Prahlad Singh Tipanya and his group of Kabirpanthis; Kalapini Komkali, daughter and disciple of Pt. Kumar Gandharva; the Gundecha Brothers; and a Kathak dance recital by Suchitra Harmalkar and her group of the Raigarh Gharana. The exhibitions included tribal and folk art, contemporary painting and sculpture from the collection of Bharat Bhawan in Bhopal, a selection of plaster casts from the State Museum; and a display of textiles and fabrics from Madhya Pradesh. Two dinners were organized: one was a selection of dishes from different parts of Madhya Pradesh and the other from the erstwhile princely state of Sailana, based on royal recipes from several Indian courts which the former Maharajas had collected. Meet Aparna Sen–A Retrospective of Three Three films by the acclaimed director, Aparna Sen, were screened at the end of August. They were 36 Chowringhee Lane, Mr and Mrs Iyer and her latest film, 15 Park Avenue. Since 15 Park Avenue deals with the issue of mental health, IIC organized an exhibition entitled ‘Beyond the Cuckoo’s Nest’ in collaboration with a Kolkata-based NGO, Anjali, which was inaugurated by Justice Leila Seth, followed by a discussion on ‘Changing Mental Health Care and Treatment in India’. The founder of Anjali, Ratnaboli Ray and Aparna Sen were present after the screening of 15 Park Avenue for a discussion which was chaired by Shohini Ghosh of Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi. Remembering Mahatma Gandhi To commemorate the centenary of Gandhiji’s first satyagraha in Johannesburg on 11th September 1906, the Centre, in collaboration with the NDMC, Gandhi Peace Foundation and Working Group on Alternate Strategies, organized a 4 special programme where the chief guest was Ms Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Deputy President of South Africa. The programme included speeches and songs by the choirs of Balwantrai Mehta Vidya Bhawan, Bluebells School, Leprosy Mission and Springdales School. Ms Mlambo-Ngcuka planted an olive tree sapling (Olea Africana) to mark the event. Shri S. Jaipal Reddy, Minister of Urban Development , presided over the programme. The India International Centre and the Sarvodaya International Trust organized a programme on inter-faith songs by children from Springdales School, Mothers’ International, New Era Public School and the Sanskriti School to mark the death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Nobel Laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu was present on the occasion and planted the Olive sapling, in the Gandhi King Plaza. New Initiatives The IIC received a generous grant from the former Cabinet Secretary, Shri B.G. Deshmukh, to organize a lecture series on the theme of GOVERNANCE. The inaugural lecture was delivered on 31st October by Shri Justice M.N. Venkatachaliah, former Chief Justice of India on ‘Governance in India: Collapse and Cure’. It is planned to hold at least one lecture a year. THE EMINENT PERSONS LECTURES organized jointly by the Centre and the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses commenced in October with lectures on ‘Globalisation and Security’ by Shri Arun Shourie; ‘Environmental Change and Security’ by Dr R.K. Pachauri; ‘Human Rights, Terrorism and Security’ by Shri Soli J. Sorabjee. The series is intended to bring distinguished experts to speak on various aspects of Security. Japan Year in India 2007 To mark the 50th anniversary of the Cultural Agreement between India and Japan a year long series of lectures is being planned in collaboration with the Embassy of Japan covering the interaction and exchange of knowledge between 5 the two countries over centuries, looking at religion, language, sea-routes, literature, philosophy, traditional dance and music, calico and Japanese dyeing techniques, socio-political linkages and IT. The first lecture was delivered by Mr. Kosei Morimoto, Chief Abbot of Todaiji Temple, Nara, who spoke on ‘Todaiji Temple and Bodhisena’. Seminars/Talks/Discussions THE INDEPENDENT INDIA lecture series was initiated last year in collaboration with the New India Foundation in Bangalore. Distinguished experts have delivered authoritative lectures on various facets of post-Independent India. This year there were 7 lectures: ‘Mapping an Elusive Terrain– Literature in a Fluid Society’ by Prof. Meenakshi Mukherjee; ‘The Northeast since Independence’ by Shri Udayon Misra, Dibrugarh University; ‘Urban Crisis in Contemporary Bombay Cinema’ by Dr. Rajani Majumdar, JNU; ‘Sports since Independence’ by Sharda Ugra, India Today; ‘India’s Environment 1947-89: Politics, Society and Nature’ by Mahesh Rangarajan; ‘India’s Foreign Policy since Independence’ by C. Raja Mohan; and ‘Science since Independence’ by Dr Dhruv Raina, JNU. A couple of lectures are left before the series is concluded and it is hoped to publish the lectures in various issues of the IIC Quarterly. A monthly series entitled PUTTING IDEAS FIRST, is being organized with the Craft Revival Trust. This initiative brings together experts and NGOs in the field of craft to exchange ideas and create an on-going dialogue.