FDRI / Berkeley Seminar Series on Indian Democracy 

Local Governance and Empowerment

May 24-25, 2007
University of California, Berkeley
Bancroft Hotel, Great Hall
Thursday, May 24
9:00 - 9:30 AM Registration
9:30 - 9:40 AM

Introduction by Professor Raka Ray (UC Berkeley)
Welcome by Chancellor Robert Birgeneau (UC Berkeley)
9:40 - 9:50 AM Opening Remarks by Consul General of India, B.S. Prakash
9:50 - 10:00 AM

FDRI - The Road to Berkeley
Sridar Iyengar, President, FDRI; Venktesh Shukla, Board Member, FDRI
10:00 - 12:30 PM

Session One: Framing the Issues
Moderator: Raka Ray (UC Berkeley)
Panelists: Pranab Bardhan (UC Berkeley), Thomas Isaac (Minister of Finance, Kerala)
Principal Respondents: Suzanne Rudolph and Lloyd Rudolph (University of Chicago)
Discussion
12:30 - 2:00 PM Lunch Speaker: Jayaprakash Narayan (Loksatta)
2:15 - 5:15 PM Session Two: The State of Local Panchayats
Moderator: Pranab Bardhan (UC Berkeley)
2:15-3:00 PM Speaker: Mani Shankar Aiyar, Union Minister of Panchayati Raj
3:15 PM Panelists: Vijayendra Rao (World Bank), Aniruddh Krishna (Duke University), Nirvikar Singh (UC Santa Cruz)
Principal Respondents: Kevin O'Brien (UC Berkeley), Kent Eaton (UC Santa Cruz)
Discussion
Friday, May 25
10:00 - 1:00 PM Session Three: Urban Governance and Citizen Empowerment
Moderator: Ananya Roy (UC Berkeley)
10:00-10:45 AM Speaker: Jaipal Reddy (Union Minister of Urban Affairs)
11:00 AM Panelists: John Harriss (Simon Fraser University), Ramesh Ramanathan (Janaagraha), Arvind Kejriwal (Parivartan)
Principal Respondents: Irfan Nooruddin (Ohio State), Margaret Weir (UC Berkeley)
Discussion
1:00 - 2:15 PM Lunch Speaker: Kris Gopalakrishnan, incoming CEO of Infosys
2:15 - 4:15 PM Session Four: Empowerment Catalysts: Media and Social Activists
Moderator: Pradeep Chhibber (UC Berkeley)
Panelists: Kalpana Sharma (Senior Journalist, India), Chandan Mitra (Rajya Sabha MP and Editor, Pioneer), Rajeev Dhavan (Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India) Principal Respondents: Alberto Diaz and Beatriz Magaloni (Stanford)
Discussion
4:30 - 6:30 PM Session Five: Good Governance: Lessons Learned
Moderator: Isha Ray (UC Berkeley)
Panelists: Digvijay Singh (Former Chief Minister, Madhya Pradesh), Pradeep Chhibber (UC Berkeley)
Respondents: All Participants