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  Future activities:  
 
"Howzaat & Vivarta" by Sampradaya Dance Creations at Chowdaiah Memorial Hall in the evening on 27th December, 2008. - An Airtel-Manthan Arts & Culture Series Programme
Talk on "Foreign Aids - Blessing or Curse?" by Prof. K P Chandrashekar, TERI, on Friday, 9th January, 2009 at 6 pm
Screening of film "No Country for young girls" by Nupur Basu on Saturday, 31st January, 2009 at 6 pm
"Stree Katha" by Mythili Prakash at Chowdaiah hall on 14th March, 2009 - An Airtel-Manthan Arts & Culture Series programme
 
  Recent Completed Activities :  
 
Discussions on Union Budget
Discussions on “Disaster Management”
Lecture-cum-Demonstration on various dance forms of India – their differences and  similarities – by Mrs.Prathibha Prahlad, famous  dancer of India
Screening of “The Most Amazing Moments” by NGC
Screening of “The Gospel of Judas” by NGC
Screening of “Unlocking Da Vinci Code” by NGC
Interactive session on China's approach to Economic Reforms and its unfinished Economic Reforms Agenda
Interactive session on “Democracy and Pluralism in India” by Dr. Ramachandra Guha.
Discussion on “Oil Price Rise and its impact on the Poor”
Interaction with Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar, Union Minister for Panchayati Raj, Youth Affairs & Sports
Screening of film "Bin Laden's Spy in America" by NGC
Screening of a National Geographic film "INSIDE : ROLLING STONES IN RIO"
Lecture on "ENHANCING INDIA'S CONSTRUCTIVE INFLUENCE IN THE INTERNATIONAL ARENA" by Prof. James Manor (UK)
Discussions on the "Union Budget-2007 and Karnataka Budget-2007"
Screening of NGC Film "Munich Olympic Massacre" in May, 2007
Talk on "CLIMATE CHANGE AND GLOBAL WARMING" by Dr. R K Pachauri, in May, 2007
Screening of film "Fun@Sun : Making of a Global Workplace" in June, 2007
Screening of film "An Inconvenient Truth : A Global Warning" in June, 2007
Talk on "Indo-US Civil Nuclear Co-operation Agreement" in June, 2007
"German Classical Music Evening" in June, 2007
Celebration of "Kannada Journalism Day" in July, 2007
A Function to present a set of Gandhian books to BIC Library and screening of a film "Freedom in our Lifetime" in July, 2007
Screening of film "The Curse of Talakadu" in July, 2007
Screening of Japanese Film "The Sea is Watching" in July, 2007
Screening of Iranian Film "At Five in the Afternoon" in July, 2007
Screening of two films - "Road to America" (documentary) and "Chances Are" (Fiction) in August, 2007
A Programme - Meet the Author - Shrabani Basu - The Author of the book "Spy Princess" in August, 2007
Talk by Shri N Gopalaswami, Chief Election Commissioner on "Conducting Elections - Experiences in the UP and recent Elections " in August, 2007
Lecture Demonstration by Dr. T S Sathyavathi on "The niceties and nuances of Karnataka Classical Music" in September, 2007
Interactive Session by Prof. James Mayall and Prof. Philip Towle on "World Order: Problems and Prospects for the 21st Century" in September, 2007
Interactive Session by Mr. Champak Chatterjee, Secretary, Dept. of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India on "New Perspectives on Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan" in October, 2007
Talk by Mr. Arun Pai On "History and Heritage of Bangalore" in October, 2007
A presentation by Mr. Ravi Kumar Kashi on "Generation of Meaning in Visual Art - Various Approaches" in Octobr, 2007
A Dance Performance by Mrs. Prathibha Prahlad, the well-known dancer on "Classical Dance Performance" in October, 2007
A Nostalgic Musical Evening by Dr. Sohail Hasan, who was presented old Hindi Film Songs in October, 2007
Celebration of Kannada Rajyotsava with an interactive session on "KANNADA RAJYOTHSAVA - A FEW THOUGHTS" led by Dr. Vinod Vyasulu, in November, 2007
Presentation by Mr. Amitab Sengupta, Artist from Kolkata, in November, 2007.
Talk by Mr. K B Jinan, well-known Designer on "Initiating Collaboration between the Community and the Artisans"
Screening of film "Footsteps of Nikitin" by Mr. Phalguni Matilal
Screening of a documentary Film "Pane Amaro (Bitter Bread)"
Talk by Mr. Jon Halliday and Mrs. Jung Chang, Chinese Scholars.
Screening of film "Madame Butterfly"
Talk by Dr. Marti
G Subrahmanyam and
Prof. Marc Luychx Ghisi
Talk by Mr. Reinhard Hans Butikofer
A Solo performance by Mr. Parnab Mukherjee
Talk by Prof. P K Michael Tharakan, Shri Ramakrishna Hegde Chair in Decentralisation and Governance, ISEC
Discussions on Union Budget 2008-09
Talk by Prof. Madav Badami on "Urban Transport in India: Beyond the Nano and Metro... and back to the Basics"
Sabras by Smt. Sonal Mansingh on 22nd March, 2008
Talk by Mr. V Balu on "Land Encroachments in Bangalore UrbanDisrict"
Talk by Mrs. Achala Moulik on "Pushkin, the father of modern Russian Literature. by Smt. Sonal Mansingh on 22nd March, 2008
Talk by Mr. V Balu on "Land Encroachments in Bangalore UrbanDisrict"
Talk by Mrs. Achala Moulik on "Pushkin, the father of modern Russian Literature.
Launch of Prof. Kishore Mahbubani's new book viz., 'THE NEW ASIAN HEMISPHERE : THE IRRESISTABLE SHIFT OF GLOBAL POWER TO THE EAST"
Discussions on "Should the HAL Airport be kept Open?"
Book Launch by Ms. Jasleen Dhamija
Talk by Mr. TCA Srinivasa Raghavan, Columnist, Business Standard, held on "The Sixth Pay Commission : Incentivising the Civil Service"
Talk by Prof. M D Usha Devi, ISEC on "Marginalised Children in Primary Education - Current Challenges for Schools and Teachers"
Screening of film "The Advocate" directed by Ms. Deepa Dhanraj
Talk by Dr. Annapurna Garimella on "Urbanization in Tourism's Own Landscape"
An Airtel-Manthan Arts & Culture Series Programme
Talk by Ms. Urmila Devi on "Reminiscences of Mysore Palace". An Airtel-Manthan Arts & Culture Series Programme
Talk by Mr. Arvind Panagariya on his recent book "INDIA : THE EMERGING GIANT"
Talk by Dr. Lata Mani on "BANGALORE JOURNEY: LOCAL AND TRANSLOCAL REFLECTIONS ON
GLOBALISATION
Illustrated talk by Mr. Balan Nambiar, on 'BHUTA MASK - MYTH, SPIRIT, RITUAL" An Airtl-Manthan Arts and Culture Series Programme.
Talk by Dr. Griffin M Thompson, on "RELIABILITY AND AFFORDABILITY OF
ENERGY SERVICES REQUIRED FOR A DEVELOPING ECONOMY VIS-A-VIS THE RISKS ANDIMPACTS OF OVER-DEPENDENCE ON OIL, GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE AND OTHERENVIRONMENTAL LIABILITIES"
Illustrated Talk on "THE INTERREGNUM IN MYSORE'S HISTORY - HAIDAR ALI AND TIPU SULTAN" by Mr. Vikram Sampath on Saturday, the 13th September, 2008 at 6 P.M. An Airtel Manthan Arts and Culture Series Programme.
Screening of classic Shakespeare film "The Merchant of Venice" on Friday the 29th August, 2008 at 6 p.m.
Talk on "Nano Technology : Hype or Hope"? by Prof. Mohan Sundara Rajan, an Eminent Science Communicator and Author on Tuesday, 23rd Sept. 2008 at 6.30 pm.
Talk on "An Aesthetics of Erasures" by Sadanand Menon on 31st October, 2008
Progrmme by Mr. Sikkil Gurucharan (Intoxicated Eyes) at Chowdaiah Memorial Hall in the evening on 11th October, 2008.
An Airtel-Manthan Arts & Culture Series Programme
Appreciation of Hindustani Classical Music" by Mr. Ravindra Katoti on Friday, the 7th November, 6 PM. An Airtel Manthan Arts and Culture Series Programme.
Talk by Roger Martin on 12th November, 2008
Talk by Gen Sood on "Leadership in the Indian Army : The Legacy of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw" on 15th November, 2008
Anniversary functions of Bangalore International Centre on 22nd November, 2008
Launch of "Imagining India Discussion Series" on 12th December, 2008 - Lead Speaker Mr. Nandan Nilekani
Interactive Discussion on "Wikipedia and free culture by Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia on 13th December, 2008 at 6 pm
 
     
     
  Discussion on impact of rising oil prices on the poor, held on August 17, 2006
 
 
Mr P R Das Gupta initiated the discussion by welcoming the participants. Ms Rekha Krishnan, TERI made a presentation an ongoing policy study by TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) titled “Impact of Rising Oil Prices on the Poor and Implications for Achievement on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)”. This was followed by comments from the two panellists: Prof S L Rao and Prof Vinod Vyasulu and a lively discussion by others who attended the session.

Outline of the study on impact of rising oil prices on the poor

In her presentation, Ms. Rekha Krishnan highlighted the rise in world crude oil prices since late 2002, and attempted an assessment of impacts of this price rise on the poor in developing countries in the Asia Pacific region. The recent price rise is an outcome of a combination of factors rooted in the demand and supply side as well as in rising costs and perceived fears of supply disruptions. Overall, the macro level impacts of the price rise at the global and regional levels have not been significant thus far particularly in terms of impacts on GDP and inflation. Nevertheless, some recessionary and inflationary impacts are imminent based on the observations for recent quarters. At the national level – the study conducted by a group led by Ms. Rekha Krishnan covers four countries: China, India, Lao PDR and Indonesia. The macroeconomic impacts in these countries are similar to the regional impacts. The study also included field-based assessments covering small samples of about 100 rural and urban households in each country. These field studies point to important observed and potential impacts of rise in domestic prices of household and transportation fuels (kerosene, LPG, petrol and diesel) on poor households. These impacts have been observed in terms of households reverting from kerosene and LPG (more significantly kerosene than LPG) to traditional biomass fuels in both rural and urban areas and higher transportation costs which have implications for access to healthcare centres, schools, market and the workplace. Cases of reversal to non-motorised forms of transport are also seen (switch to walking for example in lieu of two wheelers and public transport). Prices of agricultural inputs such as fertilisers have not affected farm income to the extent that these inputs are subsidised. These findings are to be viewed in the context of limited pass through of rise in oil prices from the international to the domestic prices due to subsidised/ regulated pricing not only for petroleum products but also for services such as transport and products such as fertilisers that are oil-intensive. Governments in these countries are burdened not only with the fiscal implications of subsidies but also the pressure on foreign exchange reserves imposed by rising oil import bills.

Overall, impacts of rising international oil price on poor households and on the macroeconomies is a function of various factors, importantly the oil intensity and the dependence on imported oil / products. Factors such as subsidies (which prevent pass through of the price rise to consumers), monetary instruments (which help rein in potential inflationary effects) and overall macroeconomic growth and stability (reflected in GDP, GDP growth, foreign exchange inflows) help moderate the adverse impacts of international oil price rise on households and governments in the short term. Other factors to be noted when considering the somewhat “muted” impacts of the current oil price rise especially in comparison to the earlier prices rises include:

 
 
   
  • Persistent but relatively gradual compared to previous hikes (monthly average hike less than 20% vs 50% in 1990 and even higher in 1970s)
  • Lower level in real terms than prices observed in earlier episodes (early 1980s real price equivalent to over 90$/bl)
  • Competition preventing producers unable to pass on higher input and fuel costs to consumers
  • Price rise in some sense “expected” given the very low levels of average oil prices prevalent in the 1990s
  • Overall macroeconomic growth and stability in many countries in the region notably China and India
     
     
    Comments from the panellists and participants:

    Prof Rao commented that oil price shocks are not new and economies have adjustment mechanisms which enable them to move to new equilibria when oil prices rise. These mechanisms which are a function of holding capacity give the economies time to adjust to new higher oil prices. What we do with this time is important. India has been remiss in taking action in improving energy efficiency and in the development of alternative sources of energy. There are also large issues with pricing of alternative energy sources including electricity and gas. Protection for the poor is a requirement, but our political system does not permit proper targeting of subsidies, which if managed well need not be fiscally unsustainable. The problem of subsidised kerosene being used for adulteration of diesel is fairly complex to handle. It may also be noted that Asia has benefited from the “oil money” coming in from oil exporting countries which has been spent in the region spurring growth here.

    Prof Vyasulu pointed out that the we need to explore in more detail the relevance of oil prices to the economy and to households. He also pointed out very interestingly if the study was as much about the impacts of rising oil prices as about the domestic petroleum product prices not rising as fast as the international prices. Expressing concern over India’s focus on personalised transport, he pointed out examples such as Singapore of consciously moving towards mass transport systems. Pointing out that the relatively small price changes had not changed behaviour, he mentioned that perhaps a large increase through a large cess as imposed in Singapore may prompt some behavioural changes towards reducing oil consumption.

    Mr Gururaja opined that availability is more important than pricing in determining the energy consumption patterns of households indicating that if a fuel is preferred and is available, households are unlikely to revert to inferior or less preferred fuels merely on grounds of higher prices. He remarked that there is a need to sharpen further the policy recommendations to focus on the oil sector, emphasising the need for integration of the different components of the energy sector.

    Responding to a comment from one of the participants about poor households being faced with income insecurity on account of being dependent on daily wages, Prof Rao added another factor that may be making these households more vulnerable to prices rises. As shown in a study, poor households – on account of their spending in small amounts – often end up paying a higher price for various commodities that they consume. Prof Kirk Smith pointed out that if this study shows high price responsiveness among poor households, this finding must be reconciled with price elasticity estimates from other studies. A participant remarked that responses to inflationary effects are also influenced by whether the price increases are gradual or sudden.

    Winding up the discussion, Mr Dasgupta indicated that more such interactive discussion on though-provoking issues would be organised in future by the Centre.

     
         
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