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SAI Event Topic : Cosponsored Event


Mon, October 22, 2018 from 02:30pm - 04:00pm  /  Harvard Kennedy School, Taubman Building

The Water-Energy-Food Nexus in India: Indirect Management of Groundwater Through Electricity Sector Reforms

Aditi Mukherji, PhD

International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Nepal; and

Coordinating Lead Author, Working Group II/Water Chapter, 6th Assessment Report, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

 

The agriculture, groundwater and electricity sectors in India are bound in an unsustainable nexus of mutual interdependence. Growth in the agriculture sector is often reliant on unsustainable practices in the groundwater and electricity sectors. Likewise, policies and practices in one sector affect outcomes in all three sectors. This mutual interdependence is referred to as the water-energy-food nexus (WEF). The institutions undergirding India’s WEF nexus were shaped by the imperative to make India food secure at a time when hunger and starvation seemed imminent. While the Green Revolution led to an expansion in India’s food production, the de-metering of the agricultural electricity supply in late 1970s–early 1980s led to a WEF nexus that has become untenable in India today.

While many accounts of India’s rapid groundwater decline do not differentiate across contexts, Dr. Mukherji’s work shows that there is wide variation across states in the functioning and outcomes of the WEF nexus, which has led to distinctly different outcomes in terms of their sustainability today. In this talk, through three state-level case studies, she demonstrates that variation in outcomes in the WEF nexus is caused not only by the physical characteristics of groundwater endowments and rainfall-recharge in each state, but also by variation in both institutional policies and in political exigencies between states. It follows that policies to improve the sustainability of the WEF nexus must take into account this inter-state variation.

Dr. Mukherji is the first ever recipient of the Borlaug Field Award (2012), which recognizes “exceptional, science-based achievement in international agriculture and food production by an individual under the age of 40 who has clearly emulated the same intellectual courage, stamina and determination in the fight to eliminate global hunger and poverty as was demonstrated by Dr. Norman Borlaug as a young scientist.” The award is endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation and given by the World Food Prize Foundation, USA.

Dr. Mukherji currently leads the Water and Air Theme at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Nepal. She has over 18 years of experience working on policies and institutions of water resources management with a special focus on water-energy-food nexus. She has published over 50 peer reviewed papers. Dr. Mukherji has served as a Permanent Consultative Committee member of GEF-FAO’s Groundwater Governance project hosted by FAO at Rome. She is currently a part of the 6th Assessment Report team of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and will contribute as Coordinating Lead Author (CLA) for the Water Chapter in the Working Group II. Aditi is a human geographer by training and has a PhD from Cambridge University, United Kingdom where she was a Gates Cambridge Scholar.

Co-sponsored by:

Sustainability Science Program (SSP), Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, HKS

Evidence for Policy Design (EPoD), Harvard Kennedy School

Harvard University Center for the Environment (HUCE)

The Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute (SAI), Harvard University

Weatherhead Center for International Affairs (WCfIA)

The MIT Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (JWAFS

START
Mon, Oct 22, 2018 at 02:30pm

END
Mon, Oct 22, 2018 at 04:00pm

VENUE
Harvard Kennedy School, Taubman Building

ADDRESS
79 John F. Kennedy St, Cambridge, MA 02138

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Tue, October 9, 2018 from 06:00pm - 08:00pm  /  Emerson Hall, Harvard Yard

Panel Discussion: Democracy in Distress in South Asia

Panelists

Sugata Bose
Gardiner Professor of Oceanic History and Affairs, Harvard University

Rohit De
Assistant Professor of History, Yale University

Sreenivasan Jain
Anchor and Managing Editor, New Delhi Television Limited (NDTV)

Ayesha Jalal
Mary Richardson Professor of History, Tufts University

Moderator

Homi Bhabha
Director, Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard

START
Tue, Oct 9, 2018 at 06:00pm

END
Tue, Oct 9, 2018 at 08:00pm

COST: Free

VENUE
Emerson Hall, Harvard Yard

ADDRESS
Room 305, 25 Quincy Street, Cambridge

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Tue, October 2, 2018 from 06:00pm - 07:30pm  /  Barker Center 110

Book Talk | Trust: Creating the Foundation for Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries

Tarun Khanna, Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor, Harvard Business School on his new book, Trust: Creating the Foundation for Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries in conversation with Caroline Elkins, Professor of History and African and African American Studies, Harvard University

Free and open to the public; seating is limited.

 

About Trust

Entrepreneurial ventures often fail in the developing world because of the lack of something taken for granted in the developed world: trust. Over centuries, the developed world has built customs and institutions such as enforceable contracts, an impartial legal system, and credible regulatory bodies—and even unofficial but respected sources of information such as Yelp and Consumer Reports—that have created a high level of what scholar and entrepreneur Tarun Khanna calls “ambient trust.”

This is not the case in the developing world. But Khanna shows that rather than become casualties of mistrust, smart entrepreneurs can adopt the mindset that, like it or not, it’s up to them to weave their own independent web of trust—with their employees, their partners, their clients, their customers, and society as a whole. This can be challenging, and it requires innovative approaches in places where the level of societal mistrust is so high that an official certification of quality simply arouses suspicion—and lowers sales! Using vivid examples from Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and elsewhere, Khanna’s stories show how entrepreneurs can build on existing customs and practices instead of trying to push against them. He highlights the role new technologies can play (but cautions that these are not panaceas) and explains how entrepreneurs can find dependable partners in national and local governments to create impact at scale.

As far back as the 18th century, Adam Smith recognized trust as what Khanna calls “the hidden engine of economic progress.” “Frankness and openness conciliate confidence,” Smith wrote. “We trust the man who seems willing to trust us.” That kind of confidence is critical to entrepreneurial success, but in the developing world, entrepreneurs have to establish it through their own efforts. As Khanna puts it, “The entrepreneur must not just create, she must create the conditions to create.”

START
Tue, Oct 2, 2018 at 06:00pm

END
Tue, Oct 2, 2018 at 07:30pm

COST: Free

VENUE
Barker Center 110

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Wed, September 26, 2018 from 06:00pm - 07:30pm  /  CGIS South, S020 Belfer

The Riyaaz Qawwali Ensemble: A Journey of Cultures and Faiths Through Qawwali

The Riyaaz Qawwali ensemble was established on a college campus in the US 12 years ago. Since then, it has toured the country, debuting in Europe in 2017. Artistic Director and founder of Riyaaz Qawwali, Sonny Mehta, will share his personal story from learning classical music to performing qawwali, the musical genre commonly associated with the Sufi tradition in South Asia. He will demonstrate the basics of qawwali, unfolding the relevant musical elements, poetry and important performance aspects. With the backdrop of the history of qawwali in the US, he will share Riyaaz Qawwali’s journey and how the ensemble has found its voice through performances – breaking, in the process, cultural and religious barriers.

Muslim Societies in South Asia Series, chair: Ali Asani, Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures, Harvard Univerity

Co-sponsored by The Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute, Prince Alwaleed Islamic Studies Program and the Office of the Dean for Undergraduate Education

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START
Wed, Sep 26, 2018 at 06:00pm

END
Wed, Sep 26, 2018 at 07:30pm

COST: Free

VENUE
CGIS South, S020 Belfer
Harvard University

ADDRESS
1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge MA 02138

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Wed, May 9, 2018 from 12:15pm - 01:45pm

The Price of Aid: The Economic Cold War in India

CGIS South Building, 1730 Cambridge Street, Room S354

Speaker(s): 

David Engerman, Ottilie Springer Professor of History, Brandeis University; Center Associate, Davis Center

Sponsored by the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies and the Lakshmi Mittal South Asia Institute, Harvard University

START
Wed, May 9, 2018 at 12:15pm

END
Wed, May 9, 2018 at 01:45pm

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Thu, April 19, 2018 at 12:15pm  /  CGIS South, S153

Seventy Years on: Pakistan’s Perils to Democracy

Ajmal Qureshi, Senior Fellow, Harvard University Asia Center; former Representative of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Uganda and China

Chair:  Professor Roderick MacFarquhar, Leroy B. Williams Professor of History and Political Science, Emeritus

S153, 1st Floor, CGIS South, 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge

Asia Center Fellows Seminar Series; co-sponsored by the Lakshmi Mittal South Asia Institute

START
Thu, Apr 19, 2018 at 12:15pm

END
Thu, Apr 19, 2018

VENUE
CGIS South, S153
Harvard University

ADDRESS
1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

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Tue, April 3, 2018 from 12:00pm - 02:00pm  /  202 Meeting Room  /  61 Kirkland Street

South Asia Without Borders Seminar: Citizenship of the Outcastes

The panel will discuss conceptions of “citizenship” in India as related to caste and indigeneity. The discussion will be an opportunity to explore the ways that citizenship and belonging have been constructed through exclusion and marginalization based on social, political, and ethnic lines.

Rajyashri Goody, Visiting Artist, The Lakshmi Mittal South Asia Institute, Harvard University

Suraj Yengde, W.E.B. Du Bois Nonresident fellow, Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, Harvard University; Research Associate, Department of African and African American Studies, Harvard University

Raile Rocky Ziipao, Arvind Raghunathan and Sribala Subramanian South Asia Visiting Fellow, The Lakshmi Mittal South Asia Institute, Harvard University

Moderator: Sai Balakrishnan, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning, Harvard Graduate School of Design

Lunch will be provided.

Co-sponsored by the Committee on Ethnicity Migration and Rights (EMR) and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

START
Tue, Apr 3, 2018 at 12:00pm

END
Tue, Apr 3, 2018 at 02:00pm

VENUE
202 Meeting Room

VENUE
61 Kirkland Street

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Mon, April 2, 2018 at 12:15pm  /  CGIS South, S020 Belfer

Reporting on Asia: A Discussion with Four Nieman Fellows

Glenda M. Gloria, Managing Editor and Co-Founder of Rappler, Philippines social news network

Shalini Singh, Features Reporter, New Delhi, India; former reporter for The Week and the Hindustan Times; founding trustee at the People’s Archive of Rural India

Bonny Symons-Brown, Australian Broadcasting Corporation; former TV news anchor, Jakarta, Indonesia

Edward Wong, The New York Times; former New York Times Beijing Bureau Chief and Iraq correspondent 

Chair: Professor Karen Thornber, Victor and William Fung Director, Harvard University Asia Center; Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and of Comparative Literature, Harvard University

S020, Belfer Case Study Room, Japan Friends of Harvard Concourse; CGIS South, 1730 Cambridge St.

Asia Center Seminar Series; co-sponsored with the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies and the Lakshmi Mittal South Asia Institute

START
Mon, Apr 2, 2018 at 12:15pm

END
Mon, Apr 2, 2018

VENUE
CGIS South, S020 Belfer
Harvard University

ADDRESS
1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge MA 02138

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Sat, January 27, 2018 at 09:00am

Human Rights: Adapting to the Challenges of Our Times

Human Rights: Adapting to the Challenges of Our Times is a student-led Symposium aiming to rethink the effective implementation of human rights in an age of increasing populism and nationalism.

 

The Symposium will create a space for discussion and partnership among activists, policy makers, Harvard students, and academics involved in the struggles of oppressed groups across the world. 

The objectives of the Symposium are to:

  • examine the implementation of human rights frameworks and identify common challenges and opportunities for human rights struggles around the world;

  • suggest effective tactics to protect rights;

  • examine ways in which academic communities can support those whose fundamental rights are at risk.

 

Symposium Agenda

9:00am – Welcome Address

Douglas Johnson, Lecturer in Public Policy,  Carr Center, Harvard Kennedy School

Mia Ozegovic, Chair, Human Rights Professional Interest Council (PIC)

 

9:15am – Keynote Panel: Human Rights and Global Challenges

Chair | Gessika Innocent, President of the Kennedy School Student Government

Keynote Speaker | Rajesh Sampath, Associate Professor of the Philosophy of Justice, Rights, and Social Change, Brandeis University

 

10:00am – Panel One: Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights: Narratives and Implementation

Chair | Gerald L. Neuman, Professor of Law, Harvard Law School and Director, Human Rights Program

Discussant | Kathryn Sikkink, Professor of Human Rights Policy, Harvard Kennedy School

Presenter | Leonardo Castilho, Fellow, Carr Center, Harvard Kennedy School

Presenter | Christine Mungai, Editor, Africapedia and Nieman Fellow 2018

Presenter | Damelya Aitkhozhina, Human Rights Advocate

Presenter | Mukul Saxena, Child Rights Advocate

 

11:30am – Panel Two: The Rights and Dignity of Refugees and Migrants and the Nationalist Backlash

Chair | Mayuri Anupindi, International Lawyer

Discussant | Deborah Anker, Clinical Professor of Law, Harvard Law School and Founder and Director, Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic

Presenter | Heyam Alasrar, Project Manager, Care International

Presenter | Eva A. Millona, Executive Director, Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition

Presenter | Yee Mon Htun, Clinical Instructor, International Human Rights Clinic

Presenter | Vaishali Sharma, Former Refugee Status Determination Officer, UNHCR

 

1:00pm – Lunch Break | Brown Bag Lunch

 

2:00pm – Panel Three: Shared Human Rights Challenges: The Treatment of Minorities Across the Globe

Chair | Salma Waheedi, Clinical Instructor, International Human Rights Clinic and Affiliated Scholar, Islamic Legal Studies Program-Law and Social Change

Presenter | Brenda Jones, Communications Director, Rep. John Lewis

Presenter | Brandon Stephens, Director, The United South and Eastern Tribes, Inc. (USET) Development

Presenter | Lillka Cuttaree, Director, KIP Leading  Women Programme, Mauritius

Presenter | Andras Kadar, Co-chair Hungarian Helsinki Committee

 

3:30pm – Coffee Break  

 

4:00pm – Panel Discussion: Shared Action across Human Rights Issues – Solidarities and Coalitions.

Chair & Discussant | Suraj Yende, Dalit Rights Advocate and  W.E.B DuBois Fellow, Department of African and African American Studies, Harvard

Presenter | Khadijah Tribble, Member of the Board of the Directors, United Medical Center, DC

Presenter | Karlene Griffiths Sekou, Founder and Principal of The Dignity Project International and a Core Leader for Black Lives Matter Boston

Presenter | Pedro Pontual, Secretariat for Human Rights of the Presidency of Brazil

Presenter | Charles Prouse, Chairman, The Indigenous Procurement Program , Lendlease

Presenter | Margareta Matache, Roma Rights Activist, Instructor, Harvard Chan School of Public Health

 

5:30pm – Conclusions

Dena Elkhatib, VP of Diversity and Inclusion, Harvard Kennedy School

​

5:45pm – Closing Remarks

Bethany Ellis, Human Rights PIC, Harvard Kennedy School

 

Symposium Website

 

The Symposium is organized with the support of the Carr Center for Human Rights, the Department for African and African American Studies, the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School, HKS Office for Student Diversity and Inclusion, the Human Rights Professional Interest Council and the Muslim Caucus (student organizations at Harvard Kennedy School), the Kennedy School Student Government, and the South Asia Institute.

START
Sat, Jan 27, 2018 at 09:00am

END
Sat, Jan 27, 2018

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