393. Too Much Public Not Enough Interest
BIC TALKS
Public interest litigation (PIL) is a legal innovation of fairly recent vintage which was inspired by noble objectives. It has been seen as a useful tool in widening access to justice, especially in societies scarred by poverty, illiteracy, human exploitation, corruption and maladministration. The concept took deep roots in India some thirty years ago and has now become an ubiquitous feature of the legal landscape. Over the years, however, Indian PIL has, in Dr Venkat Iyer’s view, produced a plethora of serious negative consequences, most of them unintended (but not unforeseeable), which...
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392. Handlooms - Past Present Future
BIC TALKS
What does it take to keep a centuries-old craft alive in the 21st century? Handlooms: Past, Present and Future brings together some of the most influential voices in the craft world for a vital conversation on heritage, change, and continuity. From policy and preservation to design and storytelling, this panel explores how handwoven traditions have endured through countless centuries, and the new challenges the 21st century provides. The discussion features Laila Tyabji, founder of Dastkar and a pioneering force in India’s craft revival; Ratna Krishna Kumar, patron of traditional arts; actor...
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391. Code Red: Climate in the Dock
BIC TALKS
It’s here. The climate crisis is no longer a distant warning. Climate Change: The Policy, Law, and Practice is a vital intervention. A book that gathers decades of global negotiations, Indian legal battles, and emerging climate jurisprudence into one urgent and accessible narrative. From courtroom precedents to cutting-edge policy, from carbon markets to constitutional rights, it examines how law can both shape and respond to the climate emergency. Author and legal expert Jay Cheema draws from his experience as Amicus Curiae to the Supreme Court of India in a landmark carbon emissions case....
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390. Confessions of a Lobbyist
BIC TALKS
Insider accounts from political aides, bureaucrats, and diplomats have long illuminated the workings of power—but even more enigmatic were the lobbyists. Operating in the shadows, often invisible to public scrutiny, they were intimately privy to clandestine negotiations, back-channel discussions, and subtle bureaucratic skirmishes. In his new roman-à-clef For No Reason At All, Ramjee Chandran shines a light on this hidden world. Chandran—well‑known in Bangalore as a journalist, publisher, and podcaster—has, until now, remained silent about his time as a lobbyist in 1980s New...
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389. Aah Aha Ha-ha
BIC TALKS
Are we teaching children what to think, or how to think? When our children focus on rote learning and exam-based academic progress, how do we nurture the inventive Indian who can fuel the imagination of the world with creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving? What if classrooms became labs of imagination, not factories of repetition? These are the questions that the Agastya International Foundation set out to answer 25 years ago, by designing a curiosity-driven, experiential learning model that has transformed education across India. Today, their vision of sparking...
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388. The Indo-Pacific Outlook: An Australian Perspective
BIC TALKS
As global power dynamics continue to shift, the Indo-Pacific sits at the heart of a rapidly evolving strategic and economic landscape. In this timely and wide-ranging session, Peter Varghese, former Australian Foreign Secretary and High Commissioner to India, offers a perspective shaped by decades of diplomacy and deep engagement with the region. His address will explore the complex forces redefining the Indo-Pacific: from the sharpening rivalry between the US and China, to China’s expanding influence and the evolving policy direction in Washington. The session will also examine how key...
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387. Partition: Memory, Responsibility & Voice
BIC TALKS
How do we honour truths without exploitation or erasure? This panel discussion will explore how the chapter of Partition is remembered, who holds the responsibility of preserving its stories, and what it means to give them an honest voice. Through literature, oral testimony, archives, or immersive media, each speaker has engaged with histories marked by silence, trauma, and survival. In this session, they will reflect on the choices they have made: to amplify certain voices, to tell different stories with care, and to avoid reducing complex truths into simplified narratives. At the heart of...
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386. Nehru’s India in the World
BIC TALKS
Scholars of international relations, political thought, and India’s diplomatic history continue to debate the meaning and relevance of non-alignment in India’s foreign policy today. The origins of these debates lie in Jawaharlal Nehru’s articulation of non-alignment at the height of the Cold War, a concept both resolute and ambiguous. In this talk, Dr. Swapna Kona Nayudu will draw on her acclaimed book, The Nehru Years: An International History of Indian Non-Alignment (Cambridge University Press UK, Juggernaut Books India), to explore how India’s approach to international...
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385. The Gauri Files
BIC TALKS
Journalism. Politics. Justice. One fateful evening in 2017, journalist Gauri Lankesh was shot outside her Bangalore home. Her death sent shockwaves across the country. But the story didn’t end there. This evening with journalist and author Rollo Romig, as he explores in his powerful new book, I Am on the Hit List, offers new insights into the life and assassination of Gauri Lankesh. In conversation with artist Pushpamala N and writer-activist Shivsundar, Romig shares the years of reporting and investigating that led him deep into the world Gauri inhabited. Through hidden archives,...
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384. The Law Strikes Back
BIC TALKS
Mumbai in the seventies and eighties was a city of sharp contrasts: glamour and gang wars, chaos and control. At the heart of it all was Assistant Commissioner of Police (Retd) Madhukar B. Zende, a sharp-minded officer with a knack for catching the city’s most elusive criminals. Best known for arresting the infamous serial killer Charles Sobhraj, aka the Serpent, Zende’s career spanned decades of high-stakes policing. His new book, Mumbai’s Most Wanted, is a rich and gritty chronicle of life on the force. From the mysterious murder of Shanta Devi to the capture of criminal kingpins...
info_outlineInstitutions and Public Policy for India’s Sustainable Development – Perspectives on Governance, Technology, and Finance, is an edited volume in honour of Professor Vinod Vyasulu (Edited by – Sukhpal Singh, Jyotsna Jha, A. Indira and A. V. Arunkumar).
The book addresses one of the most urgent challenges of our time – sustainable development. Across the globe economies are grappling with the combined pressures of climate change, inequality, and unsustainable growth. Basic needs remain unmet for large sections of the population, prompting a growing recognition that we must rethink how we define and pursue development. Sustainability is no longer a peripheral concern—it is central, complex, and evolving, requiring new approaches and frameworks.
The book brings together diverse perspectives on the critical drivers of sustainable development, namely, governance through institutions, readiness through technology and accessibility to finance. While technology is often seen as a key enabler, its transformative potential depends deeply on the institutional and policy environment in which it is embedded. Institutions—formal and informal—shape development outcomes, and public policy plays a crucial role in aligning these efforts with sustainability goals.
Focusing on the Indian context, the book event will have eminent panel members exploring the three interconnected themes of (1) Institutions and Development; (2) Technology and Innovation; and (3) Policy and Governance.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Vinod Vyasulu, Ashwani Saith, Chiranjib Sen and Supriya Roy Chowdhury will be in conversation with Gurucharan Gollerkeri. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Jun 2025.
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