Please join us for the Mittal Institute Annual Symposium 2025, focused on Media, Climate, and Arts! This event is free and open to the public. Please note that there won’t be a live stream available.
Please RSVP below!
Kickoff: Thursday, April 17
Thursday, April 17, 2025, from 6:30–7:30 pm
Join us to kick off the symposium on Thursday evening with a Harish C. Mahindra evening featuring Tarun Khanna, Mittal Institute Faculty Director; William C. Kirby, former Fairbank Center Director; and Arthur Kleinman, former Asia Center director. They will discuss the Mittal Institute’s 15-year journey to increase Harvard’s presence in Asia.
Full day symposium: Friday, April 18
Friday, April 18, 2025, from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
- Hear from leading South Asian journalists and media experts
- Learn about climate resilience and adaptation in South Asia
- Watch a short film by Pakistani artist Naiza Khan
- Attend a fireside chat with Mittal Institute Faculty Director Tarun Khanna and Diana L. Eck
9:00–9:15 am: Introduction
- Tarun Khanna, Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor at the Harvard Business School, Faculty Director of the Mittal Institute
- Hitesh Hathi, Executive Director of the Mittal Institute
9:15 am–12:35 pm: The Changing Media Landscape in South Asia
9:15–9:55 am: On Reporting in Pakistan with Najam Sethi
Speaker: Najam Sethi, Pakistani journalist, businessman and cricket administrator, founder of The Friday Times and Vanguard Books
Moderator: Adil Najam, Dean, Emeritus; Professor of International Relations and Earth & Environment, Boston University
9:55–10:45 am: Covering Key Issues Across South Asia
Speakers:
- Barkha Dutt, Indian television journalist and author, formerly with NDTV and Tiranga TV, now running her own digital news channel called ‘MoJo Story’
- Reaz Ahmad, Editor of the Dhaka Tribune
- Jyoti Malhotra, Editor-in-Chief, The Tribune
- Raza Rumi, Pakistani policy analyst and journalist, editor of The Friday Times and chief editor of the online media platform Naya Daur Media
Moderator: Prerna Singh, Director of the Graduate Program in Development, Mahatma Gandhi Associate Professor of Political Science and International and Public Affairs, Brown University
10:45–10:55 am: 10 min break
10:55–11:45 am: Media and Democracy in South Asia
Speakers:
- Sumit Chauhan, Founding Editor at TheNewsBeak & TheShudra
- R. Jagannathan, editorial director of Swarajya
- Rajdeep Sardesai, Indian news anchor, reporter, journalist and author, formerly with Global Broadcast News, now consulting editor and anchor of India Today Television
Moderator: Ashutosh Varshney, Director of the Saxena Center for Contemporary South Asia, Sol Goldman Professor of International Studies and the Social Sciences, Brown University
11:45 am–12:35 pm: Politics, Economics, Security — South Asia in the World
Speakers:
- Sumit Chauhan, Founding Editor at TheNewsBeak & TheShudra
- Barkha Dutt, Indian television journalist and author, formerly with NDTV and Tiranga TV, now running her own digital news channel called ‘MoJo Story’
- Raza Rumi, Pakistani policy analyst and journalist, editor of The Friday Times and chief editor of the online media platform Naya Daur Media
- Rajdeep Sardesai, Indian news anchor, reporter, journalist and author, formerly with Global Broadcast News, now consulting editor and anchor of India Today Television
Moderator: Gautam Nair, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
2:00–3:00 pm: Climate Adaptation in South Asia: Insights from the India 2047 Conference
Speakers:
- Sharon Block, Professor of Practice and Executive Director of the Center for Labor and a Just Economy, Harvard Law School
- Peter Huybers, Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University
- Bhargav Krishna, Coordinator, Environmental Governance and Policy, and Convenor, Sustainable Futures Collaborative
Moderator:
- David Jones, A. Bernard Ackerman Professor of the Culture of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
3:15–4:00 pm: Mapping Water: A Film by Naiza Khan
- Speaker: Naiza Khan, Mittal Institute Distinguished Artist Fellow 2025
- Moderator: Jinah Kim, George P. Bickford Professor of Indian and South Asian Art and Professor of South Asian Studies, Harvard University
4:00–4:30 pm: Reflections on the Mittal Institute: A fireside chat with Tarun Khanna and Diana L. Eck
- Tarun Khanna, Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor at the Harvard Business School, Faculty Director of the Mittal Institute
- Diana L. Eck, Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies, Emerita, Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Harvard Divinity School
