India & Central Asia

Day One Monday, 3rd December, 2018
Venue: Seminar Rooms II and III, Kamaladevi Complex, IIC

Inaugural Session

Time : 10:30-11:30

Chair : Shri N. N. Vohra President, India International Centre

Welcome Remarks: Ambassador Ashok Sajjanhar President, Institute of Global Studies & Former Ambassador of India to Kazakhstan, Sweden and Latvia

Introduction to the Conference: Professor Syed Akhtar Husain President, Institute of Indo-Persian Studies & Professor, Centre for Persian and Central Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Chairman’s Remarks: Shri N. N. Vohra President, India International Centre

Vote of Thanks: Air Marshal Naresh Verma (Retd.) Director, India International Centre

Tea Time :

Session 1

Time : 11:30-13:00

Chair : Professor Kiran Chaudhry, Centre of French and Francophone Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Khatereh Sheibani, York University, Canada
Like “An Image on a Pen-Case” Sadeq Hedayat’s Men and Women in The Blind Owl

Pinky Isha, Rabindrabharati University, India
The Blind Owl : A Study through the lens of a fine Gothic Heritage blended with elements of Drakula Fiction.

Parminder Singh Bhogal, Punjab University, India
Sadegh Hedayat : A Look into his Socio-Political Times

Syed Akhtar Husain, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India
Bits and Pieces of the Blind Owl

Lunch: 13:00-14:30

Session-2

Time: 14:30-15:30

Chair : Dr Khatereh Sheibani, York University, Canada

Mahmood Alam, EFL University, India
The Inanimate Characters in The Blind Owl

Miad Rashedifar, Tehran Peace Museum, Iran
Silent Women in The Blind Owl

Nahid Morshedlou, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India
To Be or Not To Be? A Comparative Study on Intellectual Dialogue in Afsaneh of Nima and Buf-e-Kur of Hedayat

Session 1

Time : 12:00-13:15

Historical Perspectives on India-Central Asia Relations

Chair : Ambassador K. Raghunath, Former Ambassador to USSR & Foreign Secretary, Government of India

B.R. Mani, Director-General, National Museum and Vice-Chancellor, National Museum Institute, Indo-Uzbek Cultural Ties

Laura Yerekesheva, Deputy Director, Institute of Oriental Studies;
Discovering “the Other” in Serindia : The Narrative of Central and South Asian Culture in the Works of A. Stein

Phunchok Stobdan, Former Indian Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan
Rebooting Civilizational Connect The Rise and Fall of Buddhism in Central Asia

Shernaz Cama, Director, UNESCO Parzor Project, New Delhi
The Dawn of History : Zoroastrianism – Ideas and Impact

Sunita Dwivedi, Independent Scholar, New Delhi
Tracing the ‘Buddha Colossi’ Along Silk Road

Discussion

Lunch Time– 13:15-14:0

Session II (A)

14:00 – 15:00

Language and Literature of Central Asia and India

A Linguistic and Literary Dialogue

Chair: Ambassador Kanwal Sibal, Former Foreign Secretary. Govt. of India (Tentative)

Mansura Haidar, Professor and Former Dean, Aligarh Muslim University (Aligarh)
Travelogues : A Rear Window to Indo-Central Asian Common Man’s Milieu

Nahid Morshedlou, Faculty Member, Ministry of Education, Varamin, Iran
Journey of Persian Poetry through Central Asia to India

Md. Arshadul Quadri, Assistant Professor of Persian, University of Lucknow, Reception of Central Asia in Contemporary Urdu Literature

Suchandana Chatterjee, Senior Academic Fellow, ICHR, New Delhi
Central Asian Studies in India

Discussion

Session II (B)

15:00-16:00

Language and Literature of Central Asia and India

A Linguistic and Literary Dialogue

Chair: Ambassador Nalin Surie, Former Director-General, Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi

Shodimahmad Z. SUFIEV, Academy of Sciences, Dushanbe, Tajikistan
Features Of the Genre : Saqi-Nameh

Aleem Ashraf Khan, Professor and Head, Department of Persian, Delhi University (Delhi)
Accounts of Sufis of Central Asian Origin in the Treatise of Shaikh Abdul Haq Dehlavi

Mahmood Alam, Assistant Professor of Persian, EFLU, Hyderabad
Codicological Approach to Written Heritage of India and Central Asia

Syed Akhtar Husain, Professor, Centre for Persian and Central Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi), Bukhara in the Persian Literary Discourse

Discussion

Tea-16:15-16:30

Session III

16:00 – 17:30

Art and Architecture of Central Asia and their influence on Indian Subcontinent

Chair : Dr. Vikram Lall, Architect, Historian and Scholar

Kavita Singh, Professor of Art History, School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi , Bihzad to Basawan: Sultan Husayn Mirza’s Zafarnama and the illustrations of Akbar’s Life

Sirojiddin S. Nurmatov, Associate Professor, Department of South Asian Languages, Tashken State Institute of Oriental Studies, Uzbekistan
The Linguistic and Cultural Relations of Central and South Asian’s Countries

Dipanwita Donde, Manager, Department of Collection, Management and Research of Indian Modern Art, Delhi Art Gallery Humanism and Portraiture : The notion of Humanism in the works of medieval Persian poets in Central Asia and how these ideas travelled and impacted portrait-making of Mughal emperors in the 16th – 17th century in the Indian subcontinent

Nasir Raza Khan, Director, India-Arab Cultural Centre, JMI, New Delhi Legacy and contribution of Sher Shah Sur to Indian Architecture

Discussion

Reception by President, IIC at 19:00 in Multipurpose Hall, Kamladevi Complex

Day 2

Tuesday, 4rd December, 2018

Session IV

10:00-11:15

Central Asia
A Union of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan

Chair: Ambassador Ashok Sajjanhar, President, Institute of Global Studies & Former Ambassadorof India to Kazakhstan, Sweden and Latvia

Sheker Saparova, Research Scholar from Turkmenistan at School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Central Asia is heart of ‘New Great Silk Road’

Kuldip Singh, Professor, Department of Political Science, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar
Stable Despotism in the Veil of Democracy in Kazakhstan: Globalizing Polity Defies Standard Norms

Muzaffar Olimov, Professor, Tajik National University, Dushanbe
How to counteract religious extremism? (Tajikistan: A Case Study)

Nazar Mammedov, Lecturer, Department of International Relations, International University, Turkmenistan
The Great Silk Road and Turkmenistan’s Contribution to Global Sustainable Transport Agenda

Discussion

Tea Time: 11:15-11:30

Session V

11:30-12:30

Central Asia in Modern Times

Chair: Ambassador Yogendra Kumar (tentative)/ Ambassador Salman Haider

Mara Gubaidullina, Professor, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan
The Triangle Of Connections: Kazakhstan Between India And China In New Silk Road Projects

Abuzar Khairi, Associate Professor, Academy of International Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi
Impact of Jadidism on the Development of Central Asian Society

Preeti D. Das, Assistant Professor, Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Contribution of India in Society and Culture of Central Asian Countries

Abdelmejit Azymov, Research Scholar, Academy of Sciences, Turkmenistan
India and Turkmenistan: Key Contributors of Security through TAPI

Discussion

Lunch Time– 12:30-13:30

Session VI

13:30-14:30

Geo-politics and Geo-economics in Post-Soviet Central Asia

Chair: Ambassador Skand Tayal (Tentative)

Mirzokhid Rakhimov Professor and Head of Social-humanities Branch of Academy of Sciences;
Director of Uzbekistan Contemporary History Center, Uzbekistan
Multilateralism and Central Asian Initiatives

Nirmala Joshi, Professor, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Role of Multilateral Groupings in Central Asia : Prospects for Regional Cooperation

Sanjay Kumar Pandey, Professor, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
New Great Game in Central Asia and Implications for India

Session VII

14:30-15:30
India and Central Asia: Issues and Challenges

Chair: Ambassador I. P. Khosla, former Ambassador of India to Afghanistan

Sanjay Deshpande, Director, Centre for Central Eurasian Studies, University of Mumbai, Mumbai
India’s Connectivity with Central Asia: Trade Relations and Energy Security

Berdinyyazov Merdan, Lecturer, Institute of International Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Turkmenistan, Ashgabat
Turkmen-Indian bilateral relations, their development in political, economic, trade, historical and cultural spheres

Kulbhushan Warikoo, Professor, Central Asian Studies Programme, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
India and Central Asia: Opportunities and Challenges

Athar Zafar, Research Fellow. Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi
India and Central Asia: Issues and Challenges

Shivaji Bhaskar, Assistant Professor, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi
India-Central Asia Relations: Issues, Challenges and Opportunities in India’s Extended Neighborhood Policy

Tea Time– 15:30-16:30

Valedictory

Chair: Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan
Chairperson, IIC-International Research Division

Report on the Conference: Professor Syed Akhtar Husain
President, IIPS & Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University,
New Delhi

Comments by participants: Dr.Laura Yerekesheva
UNESCO Chair Coordinator, KazakhstanProfessor Sanjay Kumar Pandey
School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru
University

Valedictory Address: Hon’ble M. Hamid Ansari
Former Vice President of India

Vote of Thanks: Md. Arshadul Quadri
Assistant Professor, University of Lucknow, Lucknow
Tea Time-17:30