Annual Panel Discussion was a curated analysis of topics that are relevant and poignant to the South Asian diaspora in Sydney. The project was strategically developed as part of the capacity development and augmenting to audience development. In the year 2017 Nautanki first organised this discussion at the Information & Cultural Exchange in Parramatta.
The topic was “South Asian diaspora – Perception and Reality”. Panelists were Dr. Aila Khan, Indu Balachandran, Dr. Manisha Jolie Amin, Dr. Roanna Gonsalves. Conductor was Kumud Merani. This was an all-women panel with a woman conductor.
In 2018, a group of young panelists consisting of Azal Khan, Ishani Das, Bali Padda, Osman Faruqi reflected on the topic – “How South Asians are shaping the next Great City” in the backdrop of Parramatta becoming the second CBD in NSW. The event was conducted by Roanna Gonsalves.
In 2019 the topic of discussion was “How south-Asian Media is serving the Desi community”. The panelists consisted of South Asian journalists working within the community space consisting of Rishi Acharya, Neil Jayasekera, Pawan Luthra, Shafiqul Alam, Rehan Alavi and Gary Paramanathan. The conductor was Dr. Sukhmani Khorana. The observer and notetaker was Dr. Pheroza Daruwalla. The pandemic in 2020 brought an unwanted halt to this annual event.
