Delhi Nalanda Dialogue2026

Padma Vibhushan Dr. Sonal Mansingh is an iconic cultural figure, internationally renowned as an artist, cultural educator, guru, scholar, author, motivational speaker, kathakar, and social activist. She is acclaimed for her ability to interlink cultural interpretations of philosophy, literature, sculpture, and mythological parable with their influence on India's socio-cultural fabric. As a celebrated classical dancer, she has used her art to address contemporary issues including ecological imbalance, environmental protection, women's empowerment, and social justice for marginalised communities. Her creative vision has produced several path-breaking choreographies, and she has performed, lectured, and conducted workshops in more than ninety countries. She revived the ancient art of Natya-Katha, blending song, narrative craft, and abhinaya into an immersive storytelling experience drawing on mythology, literature, and social themes. Her renowned choreographies, among them Devi Durga, Draupadi, Indradhanush, Manavata, Sabras, Aatmayan, Mera Bharat, and Mukti, reflect a deep engagement with Indian mythology and its continuing relevance. As Founder-President of the Centre for Indian Classical Dances, established in 1977, she has trained thousands of artists, and the institution remains one of the most respected hubs for classical dance education in India. In July 2018 she was nominated by the President of India to the Rajya Sabha, becoming the first classical dancer to receive this distinction. She was chosen as one of the Navaratnas for the Swachh Bharat Mission by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, and the Government of Assam conferred on her the Srimanta Sankardeva Award in 2023. Her commitment extends beyond performance. She has served as Chairperson of the Sangeet Natak Akademi and is currently serving her second term as a trustee of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. She is a visiting professor at IIT Kharagpur and a member of the Society of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla. Her journey has been widely documented: Prakash Jha's National Award-winning documentary Sonal (2002), her Hindi biography Devapriya by Yatindra Mishra (2010), and Sonal Mansingh: A Life Like No Other by Sujata Prasad (2017). She has authored Incredible India: Classical Dances of India, and her recent writings are collected in A Zigzag Mind. Her extensive knowledge of Indian classical music, vocal and instrumental, and her proficiency in multiple Indian languages enrich her artistic expression, while her global experience shapes an inclusive vision of the performing arts as catalysts for harmony, coexistence, and the ancient Indian ethos of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, the world as one family.

Shri Amitabh Kant is a retired IAS officer who served as CEO of NITI Aayog and as India's G20 Sherpa. He is widely recognised for driving transformative campaigns including Make in India, Startup India, Incredible India, and Ease of Doing Business. He is the author of several influential books, among them Branding India: An Incredible Story, Incredible India 2.0, Made in India: 75 Years of Business and Enterprise, and How India Scaled Mt G20: The Inside Story of the G20, and has written more than 500 articles for leading Indian and international publications. He is celebrated as one of India's foremost policy innovators, whose vision and reforms have significantly shaped the country's development and global image.

Shri K.N. Shrivastava, joined Indian Administrative Service in 1978 and was allotted Karnataka Cadre. He held several important positions in Karnataka State in Power, Irrigation, Urban Transportation and Mining sectors. His most notable achievement was implementation of an Irrigation and Power Project across Krishna River which has provided irrigation to about a million hectares of agriculture lands and is generating 1000 megawatt of power. In the Central Government, he worked in the ministries of Civil Aviation, External Affairs and Culture. He contributed immensely to the development of airport infrastructure all over the country. He retired from the post of Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs in 2014. Post retirement from Government Service, he worked as a member of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and as a Judge in Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT). He joined as Director of India International Centre, New Delhi in January 2019 and is continuing as such. He has vivid knowledge about art and culture of the country and works extensively on Bhojpuri language, art and culture.

Dr. Kumar Mahesh, IAS, is Secretary of the Department of Art, Culture and Languages, Government of NCT of Delhi, and Managing Director of the Delhi Khadi and Village Industries Board. He holds a PhD from the University of Delhi on dispute resolution mechanisms in fiscal federalism, comparing GST in India and Canada, an LL.M. in Corporate Law from the London School of Economics, an LL.B. from the University of Delhi, and an MBA in Public Service from the University of Birmingham. His honours include the First Chief Minister's Award for Excellence and Innovation in Governance and Public Service Delivery (2026), conferred by the Government of Delhi. In his current role he oversees programmes aimed at preserving Delhi's cultural legacy while fostering contemporary artistic expression, focusing on strengthening cultural institutions, encouraging public engagement with the arts, and creating platforms for artists, writers, and performers. Known for his strategic approach to governance, he continues to contribute to the growth of Delhi's cultural ecosystem through effective policy execution and institutional leadership.

Prof. Sachin Chaturvedi is Vice-Chancellor of Nalanda University. Before joining Nalanda he was associated with the Research and Information System for Developing Countries, a New Delhi-based think tank, where he worked extensively on development economics, including development finance, the SDGs, South–South cooperation, and global trade, investment and innovation linkages, with particular focus on the WTO. He has held visiting positions at several leading global institutions, including the MacMillan Centre for International Affairs at Yale University as Global Justice Fellow (2009–10), Jawaharlal Nehru University, the University of Amsterdam, the Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla, and the German Development Institute. He currently serves as an Independent Director on the Board of the Reserve Bank of India.

Prof. Siddharth Singh is Vice-Chancellor of Nava Nalanda Mahavihara (Deemed University), under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. In his substantive position he is Senior Professor in the Department of Pali & Buddhist Studies at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. He served as a diplomat and Director of the Indian Cultural Centre at the Embassy of India, Tokyo, from 2018 to 2022, where he worked extensively to promote Indian culture in Japan and strengthen India–Japan cultural diplomacy. He has received the Japan Foundation Fellowship (2003–04), the Fulbright Senior Research Fellowship (2011–12), and the Vajrayana Vyas President Award (2005). He has published four books: Saddhammasangaho: History of Buddhism till the 13th Century (Motilal Banarsidass), Jinacarita: Biography of the Buddha (Pilgrims Publishing House), Zen Bauddha Dharma-Sangeet (Sahitya Bhandar, Allahabad), and Remembering the Legend: Kosetsu Nosu (Mahabodhi Society of India). He has published more than eighty papers in Hindi, English, and Japanese on various aspects of Indian culture and Buddhism, and has lectured and presented papers in India and in countries including the United States, Japan, China, Sweden, Estonia, Thailand, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Nepal.