Starting his career with India Today in 1992, Bahal moved to the science and environment magazine Down To Earth, followed by the Financial Express. He was part of the original team that launched Outlook magazine in 1995 and has reported on a range of subjects from environment to travel, sports and defence. He is best-known, though, for his groundbreaking investigation on match-fixing which rocked international cricket. Please RSVP to Rafael Ulate by June 6, 2001.

Bennett Freeman served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor under the Clinton Presidency. He has been involved in many official diplomatic dialogues and negotiations around the world, including settlements on Holocaust reparations, and recently, the U.S.-British initiative on the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, which aim to ensure that company security arrangements in the extractive sectors are consistent with international human rights standards. The Voluntary Principles were developed through a year-long dialogue and were welcomed by major American and British oil and mining companies as well as NGOs.

The Kingdom of Bhutan, an independent country in the Himalayas, has designed its own theory and practice of socioeconomic development, which it calls "Gross National Happiness." Bhutan entered into relations with the outside world only in the early 1960s; since then it has pursued development in a way that is consonant with its own Buddhist values. An intrinsically interesting experiment in itself, Bhutan's experience now assumes broader relevancy as its pursuit of development must take account of the problems small nations and cultures confront in the face of the powerful impact of globalization. The Ambassador will discuss these problems and answer questions. His Excellency Om Pradhan, the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Bhutan to the United Nations, was born in 1946 and was educated in India, England, and Hawaii. As Minister for Trade, Industry, Power, and Tourism in the Royal Government of Bhutan, he has been a central figure in Bhutan's economic and social development. He has also served as Bhutan's Ambassador to India, Nepal, and the Maldives, has led the Bhutanese delegation in several rounds of boundary talks with the People's Republic of China, has been a member of the National Assembly of Bhutan, and has participated in innumerable international and regional conferences.