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

SHARMILA TAGORE
(Actress)
On the topic:
‘My Time in Cinema’

Born on 8th December,1946, Sharmila Tagore (now known as Begum Ayesha Sultana) is the great-granddaughter of poet Rabindranath Tagore. She is also the wife of His Highness Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Nawab of Pataudi, with whom she has three children, actor Saif Ali Khan, Saba and Soha Ali Khan.

Her film career started in the year 1959. She got her first break by playing the lead role in Satyajit Ray film Apur Sansar (The World of Apu). She was just fourteen years old, when she worked in her maiden film. Thereafter, she appeared in numerous Bengali classics before making the shift to Hindi cinema. Her first hindi film 'Kashmir ki kali' (1964) opposite Shammi Kapoor, directed by the famous Shakti Samantha launched her into Bollywood. Ever since, many would vouch that she embodied the glamour of Indian Cinema itself. Her important works include- 'An Evening in Paris','Amar Prem' and 'Araadhana' (opposite Rajesh Khanna), and Gulzar's 'Mausam' amongst others. More recently she has starred in ‘Viruddh’ (2005), ‘Eklavya: The Royal Guard’ (2006) and ‘Fool & Final’ (2007). In 2009, she played a part in Nagesh Kukunoor’s ‘8x10 Tasveer’ and Amol Palekar’s ‘Samantar’.

She has won several awards such as the Filmfare Best Actress Award in 1969,the National Film Award for Best Actress in 1976, the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997 and the Star Screen Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.In April 2005 she was appointed as the head of the Indian Film Censor Board. The same year in the month of December, she served as the UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

Venue: Staff Room

Date: Thursday, 17th September,'09

Time: 8 p.m.

The IDG invites you to an interactive session with :

T. K. Oommen

(Professor Emeritus of Sociology.JNU)

On the topic - 'Citizenship and Nationality'

T.K. Oommen studied for his M.A. (Sociology) at the University of Pune during 1958-60 and obtained his Ph.D in 1966 from the same university. He taught in Delhi University from 1964-71 and joined Jawaharlal Nehru University as Associate Professor in 1971 and retired in 2002 after being a Professor for 26 years, where he is Professor Emeritus at present.

He has served as President of the International Sociological Association as well as the President of the Indian Sociological society. During his distinguished career, Professor Oommen has been a visiting Professor at the University of California, Berkeley; the Maison des Sciences de I’Homme, Paris; the Wissenshaftszentrum, Berlin; and Senior Fellow at the Australian National University, Canberra, the Institute of Advanced Studies in Budapest and the Institute of Advanced Studies, Uppsala. He is the recipient of the V.K.R.V Rao Prize in Sociology (1981), the G.S. Ghurye Prize in Sociology and Anthropology (1985), and the Swami Pranavananda Award in Sociology (1997) was conferred the Padma Bhushan award by the Government of India in 2008, for his contribution to the field of higher Education.

Professor Oommen is the author/co-author of 20 and editor/co-editor of six books. Books he authored include Citizenship, Nationality and Ethnicity: Reconciling Competing Identities, Polity Professor Oommen was/is editorially associated with 15 professional journals; seven Indian and eight foreign. He has delivered a large number of distinguished lectures including Tagore Chair Lectures (M.S. University Baroda), Annie Besant Lecture (Banaras Hindu University), Gandhi Peace Foundation Annual Lecture, Ambedkar Memorial Lecture, J.P. Narain Memorial Lecture, M.N. Srinivas Memorial Lecture to list a few. Professor Oommen was a member of the Prime Minister’s High Level Committee (2004-6) for the study of Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim Community in India.

Venue-Staff room

Date-Wednesday ,16th September

Time- 1.45 pm.

The Informal Discussion Group invites you to the screening of:

'Jari Mari: Of Cloth and Other Stories'

Jari Mari is a documentary film set in the narrow lanes of the Jari Mari slum in Bombay house hundreds of sweatshops where people have no right to organize. The film, by Surabhi Sharma, records the changes in the nature and organization of Bombay's workforce over the past two decades. It has received several accolades including the ‘Winner of Third Best Film Award’ at the Film South Asia event in 2001.

Venue: A.V. Room

Date: Friday, September 11th,'09

Time: 1:45 p.m.

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