The worldwide publication of a new English translation of Fakir Mohan Senapati's classic novel about rural India in colonial times provides the occasion for this conference on the "view from below" in modern South Asian literature. The Oriya original was serialized in 1897-99 and published as a book in 1902; its plot is set in the 1830s. Senapati articulates an unusually rich critique of social power in all its forms, and this novel represents (in its formal, linguistic, and thematic explorations) a powerful social critique "from below," from the perspective of the powerless and marginal elements of society.

Clustering discussion around this novel -- which U.R. Anantha Murthy has called a "foundational text in Indian literary history" - and drawing on comparative analyses, the conference will contribute to the ongoing elaboration of an alternative tradition of radical social critique in modern South Asian literature.

This agenda-setting conference attempts to contribute to the development of a creative and progressive South Asian canon that is rooted in the people's traditions, a canon that can shape curricula and new scholarly work in literary criticism and related disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. Papers will focus on the perspectives of the marginalized social groups - including religious minorities, women, dalits, and the poor. Analyses will often employ a comparative (cross-regional and international) literary perspective and/or draw on interdisciplinary frameworks. Close readings of texts will complement historical or social-theoretical analyses.

The International Conference on Women and Migration in Asia organised by the Developing Countries Research Centre, was held between December 10 - 13, 2003.The Conference was inaugurated by the Vice-Chancellor of University of Delhi, Professor Deepak Nayyar and the keynote address was delivered by Professor Ruri Ito, Ochanomizo University, Tokyo, Japan on ‘Inter-Asian Migration and Gender Regimes: Questioning Feminization of Migration' .

Three Plenary sessions were held in which the following presentations were made:

The Conference sought to explore the gender implications of migration processes, both within different Asian societies as well as globally. Through the Conference, sessions were conducted over four days along five concurrently running panels.These were - ‘Women Workers and Migration:Conflict, War and Violence'; ‘Marriage and Migration' ; ‘Transnational Migration and the Politics of Identity and Poverty'; and ‘Gender and Migration'. The Conference ended with an afternoon devoted to a discussion of the policy implications that emerged through the Conference. A play titled ‘Jis Lahore nahin dekya woh janmaya hi nahin' (‘Those who have not seen Lahore have not yet been born'), directed by Habib Tanvir was staged by Naya Theatre on the first day of the conference. Two films: ‘My Mother India' directed by Safina Uberoi and ‘Autumn's Final Country' directed by Sonia Jabbar were screened on the third day of the Conference.

The Conference had three primary objectives. The first was to bring together scholars from across Asia and other regions who are working in the broad thematic area of women and migration. The second was to emphasize an inter-disciplinary approach in a comparative perspective, which while focusing on intra-Asia migration also examined migration outside Asia. The third was the dissemination of the proceedings of the Conference through a series of publications that would be built around the panel themes.

The Indo-South African Dialogue was held in the Arts Faculty, University of Delhi from 4-7 April 2003. The dialogue was jointly organized by dcrc , University of Delhi and Institute for Social and Health Sciences, University of South Africa. Four South African scholars and many eminent scholars and activists from different parts of India participated in the workshop. The 4-day workshop was divided into ten sessions. The dialogue was designed so as to exchange views and discern lessons for prevention of collective violence and ways of peace building by engaging the South African experience on truth and reconciliation and its implications for India.

The objective was to evolve a theory of political and socio-structural forgiveness. It focused on philosophical, political and psychological perspectives on religion, conflict, wounded psyche and social healing. This Seminar was jointly organized by dcrc and Vidyajyoti College of Theology, Delhi. The Seminar was held from 19- 20 March 2004 at Vidyajyoti College of Theology. Dr. Manindra Nath Thakur and Prof. John Chathanatt were the Convenors of the Seminar. This seminar placed itself in the context of violent conflicts that mark the contemporary world. It sought to contribute to the evolution of a theory of political and social structural forgiveness. The seminar attempted to initiate a process of a culture of forgiveness in the political order and bring about harmonious, peaceful coexistence and non-violent ways of breaking the structure of domination.

The seminar focused on the following themes:

	Philosophical, political and psychological perspectives on religion, conflict, wounded psyche and social healing
	Conflict and wounded psyche in the contemporary history with special reference to India
	Experiments in conflict resolution, e.g., Indo-Pak forum, Truth and Reconciliation, the Gandhian model, and Dalit and tribal models
	Religious and spiritual resources for conflict resolution in Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam,Christianity and Sikhism.

Conflict and Institutional Change in Kashmir, 12-13 February 2004

A two days National Seminar titled Conflict and Institutional Change in India was organized from 5 - 6 December 2003 by dcrc in the Arts Faculty Building, University of Delhi. The initiative was taken along the project with the same title that is being jointly directed by Professor Neera Chandhoke and Dr. Manindra Thakur. The main objective of the seminar was to examine the possibility of establishing a series of causal connections between conflict and institutions in India. The seminar concentrated on the two processes that have generated major conflicts in India, namely, conflict arising out of the federal principle and conflict arising out of social and economic injustice. In the first category of conflict, the states of Punjab [1984 to 1992] and Jammu and Kashmir [1989 to the present] were taken for extensive discussion , whereas, the second set was represented by Andhra Pradesh [1961 to the present] and West Bengal [the late 1960s and the early 1970s].

The first session of the seminar began with Professor Neera Chandhoke initiating the debate on Punjab through her paper, which was followed by a round table discussion. Having seen and studied the Punjab conflict closely, scholars like Professor Sucha Singh Gill, Professor Bhupinder Brar, Kumaresh Chakravarty and Dr. Ashutosh Kumar made significant interventions. In the post-lunch session, methodological issues involved in studying such conflicts were raised by Dr. Manindra Thakur, who stressed the need for a multifaceted research method in order to capture the multi-causality of such conflicts.

The Kashmir conflict came up for discussion in the first session on the second day as academics and activists like Balraj Puri, Prof. Rekha Choudhary, Prof. Noor Ahmad Baba, Dr. Gul Wani and Tapan Bose stressed the need for a fresh look at the identity based explanations of the conflict. The cases of West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh were taken up in the last session in which Professor Rama Melkote and N. Sukumar sought to explain the Naxal movement in the state of Andhra Pradesh in the context of challenges thrown up by neo- liberal globalization. Professor John Harriss and Professor James Putzel of London School of Economics were other notable participants of the seminar.

Human Rights Seminar on “Rethinking Human Rights”, 10-11 Dec. 2001

The dcrc, in collaboration with the Daulat Ram College, organized third ‘Rethinking Human Rights' seminar on 10-11 December 2001. Different dimensions of human rights were discussed in these two days. Activists, scholars and different human rights action group participated in the seminar.

The keynote address was delivered by Mr. Kailash satyarthi, Chairman, Bachpan Bachao Andolan. Dr. M.N.Thakur presented a brief introduction on dcrc's approach on human rights. Dr. Malathi Subramanian chaired the session. The second session was on different issues and debates on human rights. Dr. G.N.Trivedi and Ms. Savita Singh presented their papers. In the post lunch session, Mr. Manoj Jha and Mr. Hilal Ahmed presented papers on ‘state community and human rights. Rev. T.K.John chaired this session. The last session of the day was on ‘Right to Food'. Dr. G.N.Trivedi and Ms. Suranjeeta Ray presented their papers and Mr. N. Sukumar was the discussant

On 11 December 2001, Dr. Ashish Ghosh chaired the first session on ‘Rights: State/Women/Child. Mr. Abhay P. Singh, Ms. Vandana Tripathi and Ms. Shweta Mishra presented their papers.

In the post lunch session, Mr. N.Sukumar, Prof. Kumarsh Chakrabarty and Mr. Dharmendra Kumar presented papers on “Politics of Human Rights”. Two representatives from Common Wealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) also brefly discussed their report on ‘Poverty, Human Rights in the Common Wealth Countries'.

In the final session of the seminar, a film on Homeless jointly produced by the dcrc and Parichay Cine Search, was screened. Mr. Indu Prakash Singh from Ashray Adhikar Abhiyan spoke on homelessness in Delhi. Mr. Uday K. Verma, Director VVNLI, chaired the session.

With a view to exploring the emerging trends in the global system, the Developing Countries Research Centre (DCRC) and the V.V.Giri National Labour Institute organized a seminar on the recent intensifications of the processes of globalisation and their implications for the developing countries in general, and India in particular. The seminar examined the theoretical as well as empirical aspects of the phenomenon of globalisation in order to comprehend its impact on the Third World. The seminar addressed three analytically related aspects of the phenomenon: the theoretical aspects of globalisation; linguistic dimension of globalisation; and the impact of globalisation on the Indian Economy, Education, and Labour. Prof. Paresh Chattopardhyay, Mr. Achin Vanaik, Prof. Kumaresh Chakrovarty, Prof. S.K.Chaube, Mr. Aditya Nigam, Prof. Navin Chandra and Dr. Prabhu Mahapatra were the major participants along with faculty members of VVGNLI and core members of dcrc.