Lectures - Wednesday Talks 2010

Wednesday Talk Co-ordinator, Dr Sangeetha Menon smenon@nias.iisc.ernet.in
Time: 9.30 Venue: NIAS Lecture Hall
Literary, Arts and Heritage Forum Time: 4 pm

• 4 February 2010@9.30am
  Speaker: Dr. M. Amarjeet Singh
  Topic: “Conflict Transformation and Peace building in Manipur: Issues and concerns from the field”
  Chairperson: Prof. Narendar Pani
  
  Astract:
  For years now, Manipur in northeast India has been experiencing armed conflicts - close to about 40 separatist or secessionist groups - seeking to achieve a variety of objectives having ethnic and territorial focus. Though, the clustering of factors that gave rise to armed conflicts differs from case to case, the most familiar kind of violence unleashed by the separatists has been guerrilla warfare. Conflict in the state has also transformed since the 1980s; and hence it is not just merely between the state and the non-state armed groups, but among its ethnic groups on the issue of exclusivity, governance and integration.
  
  
• 24 February 2010@9.30am
  Speaker: Dr. Lalitha Sundaresan
  Topic: “Assessment of Science and Technology in China – A Case Study on Single Crystal Turbine Blades Development”
  Chairperson:Prof. Rajaram Nagappa
  
  Astract:
  The talk focuses on single crystal super-alloy turbine blade development for aircraft engines in the United States of America and using this as the template traces the development in China. This approach is used to assess the S & T capability of modern China.
  
• 17 February 2010@9.30am
  Speaker: Dr. Anant Maringanti, University of Amsterdam
  Topic: “Post-reform struggles over development: A geographic perspective on Telangana”
  Chairperson:Dr. Carol Upadhya
  
  Astract:
  Geography appears to have finally found its place in the sun. From the authors of the World Development Report (World Bank) to those of the Human Development Report (UNDP), from Nobel Prize winning economist Krugman to popular writer Friedman, there appears to be a widespread consensus that the political and economic maps of the world are changing dramatically. Yet, disciplinary geographers view this development with a mix of satisfaction and resentment. In this talk, I will first present a geographical critique of the World Development Report 2009 (which focuses on spatial disparities and development), drawing on the development experiences of India and China. Foregrounding the insights from this critique, I will offer a framework for understanding the agitation for a separate Telangana - one of the most persistent struggles over development in contemporary India.
  
  About the Speaker:
  Dr. Anant Maringanti is with the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research, University of Amsterdam. He is a post-doctoral researcher and coordinator for the new AISSR-NIAS collaborative research programme entitled 'Provinicial Globalisation: The Impact of Reverse Transnational Flows in India's Regional Towns'. He took a PhD in geography from the University of Minnesota and subsequently spent two years at the National University of Singapore as a Postdoctoral Fellow.
  
  
  
  
• 10 February 2010@9.30am
  Speaker: Prof. Girish Sant
  Topic: “Need for Prioritization of efforts to deal with Energy Security – a case of Energy Efficiency”
  Chairperson:Prof. D.P. Sen Gupta
  
  About the Speaker:
  Girish Sant has been working in power sector, with strong focus on policy analysis and advocacy from 1988. His other areas of work include promoting alternate power planning, governance and people centered analysis of projects. He has done dozens of regulatory and policy interventions, and training courses. He has also been part of several committees of the state and central government. He is member of PM's committee to draft National Mission for Enhancing Energy Efficiency and member of recently constituted Expert committee to suggest low carbon path for the 12th Five Year Plan. He has published several papers / reports and has spoken at several national and international events. Before founding Prayas with his friends in 1994, he worked on industrial and agricultural energy efficiency, and evaluation of renewable energy technologies.
  He has Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering and Master's degree in Energy Systems both from IIT- Bombay.
  
  
• 27January 2010
  Speaker: Prof. Narendar Pani
  Topic: “The Borders Within Women, Work and Family at the Far End of Globalization”
  Chairperson:Prof. Manav Guha
  Abstract:
  Conceptualisations of globalization have moved from seeing the process as leading to an all inclusive global village, to a view of globalization as a set of circuits connecting different parts of the world. The later conception implies there are fresh boundaries created between each circuit and those outside it. This talk, which is based on a study by the speaker and Ms Nikky Singh of the garment industry in Bengaluru, will explore how developments and institutions that are seen to be outside the borders created by a circuit have a deep influence on the process of globalization.
  
  
• 13January 2010
  Speaker: Mr. Tapas Datta
  Topic: “Vivekananda, Ancient Wisdom and Nineteenth Century Science”
  Chairperson:Prof. D.P. Sen Gupta
  Abstract:
  Swami Vivekananda, after his famous Chicago lecture, lived, travelled and taught in America and England extensively for the next three and half years. He later again went back and stayed for a year in America. In this time he had converted the gems of Indian philosophy and wisdom from their original Sanskrit - into verbal, clear modern English and taught them in concentrated CLass series as well as wider public lectures. As a pioneer he had to make Western audiences deeply understand, in their own idiom and cultural backgrounds, mainly the Ancient wisdoms of Vedanta, Sankhya and Yoga (besides Nyaya, Mimamsa, Puranas etc). For this Vivekananda deeply studied and delivered in his lectures not only the gamut of Western philosophy, but the essence of latest sciences - including fundamental physics, cosmology, general physics such as electromagnetism, gravity, matter and force theories, biology, physiology and medicine, etc). Sankhya, Vedanta and Yoga came out into his classes on Jnana Yoga, Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga and Bhakti Yoga - replete with introductions, examples, comparisons with all the sciences mentioned above. So one feels that he was the unwitting pioneer of "Science and Spiritulaity" or Consciousness Studiues discussions that are so prevalent today.
  
  The content was delivered in step by step logical fashion, with no attempt to ask audiendes to take "things by faith". He knew that for Western audiences intellectual accpetance would come only through logical,  rational and scientific approach, at the time they had started rejecting traditional religions due to the very absence of such. He knew that first intellectual accpetance was necessary for them to start the actual practice of the Indian systems, which would benefit them in pratical life and solve emotional and social problems.
  
  I feel that he had wrung out 19th century science to its core, but unfortunately could not use 20th century science such as Relativity,Quantum Physics, String Theory, Cyclical Models of Universe, latest discoveries of Neuroscience, genetics and so on, where science would have supported his explanations of ancient wisdoms even more. I will briefly touch upon how this could have been so. 
  
  About the Speaker:
  Tapas Datta graduated from I.I.T.Kharagpur in Electronics in 1982 and did his M.S. in Computer Engineering at University of Notre Dame, USA. He then pursued a 24 year career in VLSI Design (silicon chip design) in the areas of Microprocessor design, Networking, Digital Video systems and Storage Networking at Intel, Sharp and Sun Microsystems in the USA. He returned to Bangalore India and led projects in silicon design for Wipro, Intel India and founded a startup company. He has four U.S. patents and a Computer Architecture International Computer Design award.
  
  Side by side with his technical career, through the indirect mentoring of Swami Vivekananda, Tapas delved into Indian philosphy, spirituality, history as well as comparative studies of world religions and spiritual personalities. He translated Volume One of "Vivekananda and Contemporary India" by Prof S.P.Basu from Bengali to English. He held a large seminar on Vivekananda and Indian Nationalism" in California US. Currently Tapas has taken early retirement from his position as Vice President of Digital Semiconductor division at KPIT Infosystems, and has concentrated on research and studeis on Swami Vivekananda for the purpose of scripting a film on Vivekananda. He is also involved with an NGO "Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement" for the mass free supplementary education of poor government school children in Karnataka.
  
  

  .
• 06 January 2010
  Speaker: Dr. Malavika Kapur
  Topic: “Bridging the Gap Between Child Development and Education With Children as the Resource”
  Chairperson:Mr. Rahul Mukhopadhyay
  Abstract:
  Developmental psychology and educational theories as well as practices have remained disparate disciplines in the west.  In the west both the disciplines however have contributed to the benefit of children though independently.  In India and other developing nations, education has lagged behind due to the paucity of financial and manpower resources. In India, academic achievement remains the sole concern of teachers and parents alike, while child development has been completely overlooked.  In two empirical studies with 2000 school children the author has developed programmes to bridge the gap between child development and education.  In view of the severe paucity of man power and financial resources in the country, in these studies the focus is on children themselves as the resource.  The results indicated significant breakthrough in learning using child centered play approach. These studies have implications to policy, preferred practices and applied research, especially in the contexts of resource crunch and existence of large   the disadvantaged child population. The integrated approach adopted in the present study to education, psychosocial development and metal health needs to be examined in the developing nations as workable models.  The study suggests that one of the most important components of the bridge between Education and healthy   psychosocial development is free play. 
  
  About the Speaker:
  Prof. Malavika Kapur was an Honorary Professor at the NIAS, Bangalore.  Earlier she was the Professor and Head of the Dept. of Clinical Psychology at the NIMHANS, Bangalore. She has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Bangalore University and has eight books and over 100 publications to her credit. She is a Fellow of the Indian Association of Clinical Psychologists and the Indian Association of Child and Adolescent Mental Health and the British psychological Society. Recently she has been honoured by the National Academy of Psychology with the honorary fellowship and life time achievement award. She has been a consultant for organizations such as the WHO, UGC, NCERT, NIPCCD, ICMR and ICSSR. She has been twice awarded the scholar in residency at the Study and Conference centre, at Bellagio in Italy, by the Rockefeller Foundation.