The Informal Discussion Group invites you to an interactive session with:

Shabnam Hashmi

(Social Activist)

On the topic:
'Spaces for Citizen Initiatives in a Democracy'

Date: Monday, 31st August, 09

Time: 8 p.m.

Venue: A.V. Room

A social activist, a rebel, an organizer and a person who has generated ideas for thousands of creative campaigns (implemented them at the local as well as national level), Shabnam Hashmi has been working as a social activist for more than 25 years. Since 1981 she has spent most of her time combating communal and fundamentalist forces in India. After the Gujarat carnage of 2002, perpetrated against the Muslim minority, she changed her focus to grass root work and has since spent a considerable amount of time in Gujarat. In 2003, she, along with a few others formed Anhad-one of the most vocal platforms against the ideology of hate. She also works extensively in Kashmir.

Shabnam Hashmi has fearlessly fought for the democratic rights of citizens. She has also been instrumental in shaping the consciousness of the younger generations around secular issues by organizing hundreds of workshops during the past ten years. She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize as part of the 1000 women from across the world in 2005. She is a member of the National Integration Council and was awarded the National Minority Rights Award in 2008.

The Informal Discussion Group invites you to an interactive session with:

Urvashi Butalia
(Feminist, Historian, Author)


On the topic:
'Sexuality and Identity, through the life of a eunuch'

Date: 27th August, '09

Time: 8 p.m.

Venue: Staff Room

Writer, publisher, feminist, historian, Urvashi Butalia's writing focuses on the modern history of India, and on partition and oral histories in particular. She has also written on gender, communalism, fundamentalism and media. She co-edited In Other Words: New Writing by Indian Women (1994) and her books include Making a Difference: Feminist Publishing in the South (1995), Women and Right Wing Movements: Indian Experiences (1995), and Speaking Peace: Women’s Voices from Kashmir (2002). In 1998 she wrote the award-winning The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India which has been one of the most influential books in South Asian studies of the past decade. Currently, she is working on two new books: Mona: A Sort of Life/A Life of Sorts on the life of a eunuch, and The India Reader, an edited volume of essays on India to be published by Duke University Press.

The Informal Discussion Group invites you to an interactive session with:

Arvind Kejriwal
(Social Activist)


On the topic:
'Direct People's Participation in Governance'

Time: 8 p.m.

Date: 25th August, '09

Venue: Staff Room

Arvind Kejriwal is one of India's noted social activists and a crusader for greater transparency in government. He was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership in 2006, for activating India's Right to Information movement at the grassroots, and promoting social activities to empower the poorest citizens to fight corruption by holding the Government answerable to the people.

DISCUSSION FORUM

“For every cry of repressed anguish,
every yelp of infringement and pain,
comes the healer, redeemer, restorer,
without blaring trumpets and foghorns
once justice has been reclaimed
he walks through recondite streets
weeping blood till another dreaded morrow”
The IDG invites you to participate in its second meeting
of the all-new student discussion forum.
Our theme:

Superheroes: Rhetoric or Reality?

Do You Think Superheroes Are-
The projection of our desires to find the extraordinary within ourselves?
Tools to legitimize power?
Just a fabled construct made to exemplify certain virtues?
Or just simply overrated?

Date: 24th August, 2009
Time: 2.15 pm
Venue: Seminar Room

The Informal Discussion Group invites you to an interactive Q & A session with:

Karan Thapar

(Television Journalist and Interviewer)

Time: 1.45 PM

Date: 8 August, 2009

Venue: Seminar Room

Karan Thapar is one of India's noted television commentators and interviewers. Thapar is noted for his aggressive interviews with leading politicians and celebrities- his interviews with cricketer Kapil Dev, George Fernandes, Jayalalithaa, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, General Pervez Musharraf, Benazir Bhutto, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and The Dalai Lama are particularly well remembered.

The Informal Discussion Group invites you to an interactive session with:

Shyam Benegal

(Director and Filmmaker)

On the topic:

Cinema: A Kaleidoscope of Life

Time: 8 PM

Date: 3 August, 2009

Venue: Staff Room