ACADEMIC CALENDAR:

IIAS Newsletter SEMINARS

• Representing Diversity: Ideas and Institutions (3-4 April 2008)
• Recognising Himalayan Diversity (18-19 April 2008)
• Philosophy as Samvad and Swaraj (28-30 April 2008)
• Diversities in the Indian Diaspora: Nature Implications and Responses (7-9 May 2008)

MEETINGS

• Tocqueville Project Meeting (1-2 May 2008)

WORKSHOPS

• Flattening Diversity: Educational Planning in India (28-29 May 2008)
• Artists at IIAS (16-21 June 2008)

SUMMER SCHOOL

• Research Methodology: Analyzing Quantitative data on Indian Politics (16-29 June 2008)

VISITING PROFESSORS

• Professor H.Y. Mohan Ram, former Professor of Botany, University of Delhi
• Professor A.R. Vasavi, Professor of Social Anthropology, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore

VISITING SCHOLARS

• Professor Bijoy H. Boruah, Professor of Philosophy, IIT, Kanpur
• Professor Shahid Amin, Professor of History, University of Delhi, Delhi

WEEKLY SEMINARS BY FELLOWS

SEMINARS BY ASSOCIATES OF INTER UNIVERSITY CENTRE

NEW FELLOWS

VISITORS

• Special Lecture by His Excellency Dr. David M. Malone, High Commissioner of Canada

NEWS IN BRIEF

FOURTH COMING EVENTS

National Seminar on
Representing Diversity: Ideas and Institutions

The Institute, in association with the Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, organized an International Seminar on Representing Diversity: Ideas and Institutions, on 3-4 April 2008 in Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi.

The Seminar began with the concern that democratic societies are today faced with new challenges. Groups that were previously in the margins of public and political life are increasingly seeking greater voice and presence within the system. Governments are responding to these demands and at times constructing groups and collective identities through public and political discourse. As a consequence, groups are beginning to occupy a central space in democratic polities, occasionally edging out and supplanting the individual.

Whether it is democracies in Europe or in developing societies such as India, group-specific policies are increasingly being put in place to address particular concerns of diversity and development. Even though multicultural theories are often invoked for raising and justifying such measures, there is little discussion within multicultural theory of the ways in which specific kinds of groups may be accommodated. Nor is there a sustained debate on the experience of different countries that have accommodated diversity through a set of special institutional arrangements.

It is to fill this gap that the Seminar brought together scholars from different countries to reflect on the ideas and practices associated with representing diversity. The Seminar was focused on the following broad themes:

• The necessity and desirability of representing groups rather than individuals, particularly in multi-ethnic and multi-religious societies.
• Political ideas and the rationale for accommodating particular forms of diversity in a given context.
• Formal and informal framework for accommodating specific kinds of diversity.
• Critical assessment of the design and functioning of institutions/special arrangements for representing diversity in different historical and social contexts
• Revisiting Multicultural theory: reflections from lived practices.

Seminar on

Recognising Himalayan Diversity

The Institute organized a seminar on Recognizing Himalayan Diversity at Shimla on 18-19 April 2008. The purpose of the seminar was to consciously recognize the rich diversity of the region and to explore it more systematically. It was hoped that by examining the nature of difference, rather than creating pigeon-holes for similarity, a new understanding of the multiple dynamics operating in the Himalayan region would emerge. The seminar aimed at revisiting and questioning traditional paradigms that have so far dominated Himalayan studies.

There were seven academic sessions under the following headings: (i) Perspectives, (ii) Ecology and its Significance, (iii) Gender Issues, (iv) Politics, Polities and Nation, (v) Community, Ethnicity and Society, (vi) Religion and its many Ways, (vii) Expressions of Culture and Language.

Eighteen participants from Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, other parts of the country and also Nepal, presented papers that covered the entire Himalayan region. The following presentations were made:

1. B. N. Goswamy, (former Professor of Art History, Panjab University, Chandigarh) 'Diverse Ways of Seeing: Pahari Painters and their Work'
2. Dhirendra Dangwal, (H.P. University) 'Ecology, Landscape and Livelihood Strategies: An Enquiry into the Changing Nature of the Economy in Colonial Uttarakhand'
3. Aniket Alam, (Delhi) 'The Nation in the Himalayas: Notes towards an Ecological History of a Political Union'
4. Bharati Puri, (IIT Delhi) 'Deep Ecology and Buddhism: Imperatives for the Himalayan Region'
5. Sanjeeva Pandey, (SOHAM, Mandi) 'Diversity of Nature Conservation Practices with emphasis on Wildlife Management in Himachal Pradesh'
6. Jarjum Ete, (CEDGE Itanagar) 'Women and Development in Arunachal Pradesh'
7. Yogesh Snehi, (DAV College, Amritsar) 'Diversity as Counter-hegemony: Reet and Social Organization of Conjugal Relations in Himachal Pradesh'
8. Mushtaq Kaw, (University of Kashmir) 'Pluralistic Traditions of Kashmir'
9. Laxman S. Thakur, (H.P. University) 'Archaeology of an Extinct Religion: Bonpos of The Western Himalaya'
10. Dinesh Saklani,(HNB University) 'Ramayana tradition and its diversity in Garhwal Himalaya'
11. Ram Bahadur Chhetri, (Tribhuvan University), 'Anthropology of Ethnic Diversity in Nepal'
12. Hari Prasad Bhattarai, (Tribhuvan University), 'Cultural Diversity, Social Exclusion and Identity Politics in Nepal'.
13. P. D. Rai, (Gangtok) 'Socio Political Nuances in Sikkim Post-Chogyal Regime'
14. Hari Sharma,(Tribhuvan University), 'State, Social Movement and Nationalism in Nepal'
15. Girija Pandey, (Kumaun University), 'The festival of expressions and the expression of festival: Diversity in Holi in the Himalayan culture'
16. Jaiwanti Dimri, (IIAS) 'The Subaltern Speak in the Bhutanese Lo-zey: The Ballads of Pemi Tshewang Tashi:a Wind-Borne Feather and Gaylong Sumder Tashi; Songs of Sorrow'
17. J. C. Sharma, (IIAS) 'Threat to Linguistic Diversity and State Policy (with special reference to Himachal Pradesh)'
18. Meenakshi F. Paul, (H.P. University) 'Relevance of the Irreverent: The Banthda of Himachal Pradesh.'

Seminar on:

Philosophy as Samvad and Swaraj

A three-day seminar on Philosophy as Samvad and Swaraj held at the Institute on 28-30 April 2008. Professor Peter Ronald deSouza, Director of the Institute, in his welcome address said that the IIAS is the natural home of philosophers and it is very significant that this seminar is being held at the Institute to celebrate the intellectual journey of two of India's most celebrated philosophers in modern times: Professor Daya Krishana and Professor Ramchandra Gandhi. He suggested that it may be interesting to look at the work of these philosophers within a three-fold frame of these two philosophers: the world of their ideas and how these offer fresh insights into the human condition, their personal biographies and how these corresponded to the social biography of the nation and finally their personal relationship to explore the complex relationship between creativity and amiability.

Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan gave a brief description of the philosophical word-view of both Professor Daya Krishna and Professor Ramchandra Gandhi. She offered personal accounts of their lives both of whom were close to her. Professor Shail Mayaram, convenor of the seminar, gave a comprehensive overview of the philosophical contributions of Daya Krishana and Ramchandra Gandhi setting the stage for the three days of discussion. The presentations made during the seminar focused on the philosophical notions of Swaraj and Samvad and their significance for philosophical thinking in our times.

International Seminar on

Diversities in the Indian Diaspora:

Nature Implications and Responses

An International Seminar on Diversities in the Indian Diaspora: Nature Implications and Responses was organized jointly by the Indian Institute of Advanced Study and Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore on 7-9 May 2008 at Bangalore.

The seminar problematised the study of Indian Diaspora by focusing on the diversity of the phenomenon covered under its rubric. To state with, the period of the initial immigration of the Indians abroad (that is, colonial or post-independence) and the nature of their immigration (that is, under the indentured labour system or voluntary) makes for diversity in the courses and consequences of the Indian Diaspora. The magnitude of the populations involved and the nature of their economic status and political predicament in different diasporic situations were seen to be very diverse. The economic, political, social and cultural experiences of the immigrant Indians in the country of their settlement have also been varied. Furthermore, the fact that socio-cultural diversity in India has been carried abroad by the diasporic Indians further complicates the situation. Not surprisingly, therefore, the orientation of the Indians in the diaspora towards India and Indian nationals, and that of India and the Indian nationals towards the Indian Diaspora is also varied.

Substantively, proceedings of the seminar revolved around the following themes:

• The nature and manifestation of institutional and socio-cultural diversities in the Indian Diaspora.
• Managing/leveling of the diversities and the assertion of Indian-ness (other than in citizenship terms) by the diaspora.
• Host country's response to the diversity of the Indian Diaspora: multiculturalism versus assimilation models (or what citizenship of the host country entails for Indians in the diaspora).
• Civilizational moorings of the diaspora and host country's socio-cultural and political reality.
• The religious, caste, regional, and linguistic associations of the Indian Diaspora.
• The role of the electronic media in reinforcing/neutralizing diversities
• 'India', 'Indians' and 'the Indian Diaspora' as analytical constructs.

Following presentations were made:

M.A Kalam, (University of Madras), 'From being Indian to Constructing South Asian Hetero Homogeneity: Overseas Indians in Comparative Perspective'
Sadananda Sahoo, (IPMR Delhi) 'Diasporic Involvement for "Inclusive and Faster Growth' in India'
Vijay Agnew, (York University, Toronto) 'Diasporic Identity Construction in the Diaspora'
T. Marimuthu, 'Intergration, Assimilation or Multiple Identities: The Case of the Malaysian Indian Diaspora'
Paramjit S. Sahai, (Delhi) 'Diversity in the Indian Diaspora: A Comparative Study of Canada and Malaysia'
Amit Kumar Mishra, (University of Hyderabad), 'Impediments of Assimilation: State Policies and Indian Diaspora in Malaysia'
Vinesh Y. Hookoom Singh, (University of Mauritius) 'India in Diaspora: A Mauritian Perspective'
Chandrashekhar Bhat, (University of Hyderabad) 'Locality and Identity among the Diaspora communities: Reinvention of Regional and Linguistic Diversities in Mauritius'
I.S. Chauhan,(former Fellow IIAS) 'India and the Fiji Indian Quest for power'
Ginu Zacharia Oommen, (ISS, New Delhi) Migration and Socio-Cultural Changes among the Cochin Jews in Israel'
Prakash C. Jain, (JNU, New Delhi, 'Jain Diaspora: An Exploratory Study'
Ravindra K. Jain, (New Delhi) 'From Product to Process: Sikhs in Southeast Asia'
J.C. Sharma, (IIAS), 'Indians in Overseas Territories of France: Problems of Identity and Culture'
Paramjit S. Judge, (GND University, Amritsar) 'Diversity within Diversity: Exploring the Possibility of Imagined Community of Indian Diaspora'
Mukesh Kumar, (IUC Associate, IIAS), Bihar, 'Indian Diaspora and Multiculturalism'
Aparna Rayaprol, (University of Hyderabad), 'Understanding Gender Diversities in the Indian Diaspora'
Kamala Ganesh, (University of Mumbai), 'Selective Amnesia: Indian Diaspora and their Impact 'Back Home'
Constantino Xavier, (JNU New Delhi) 'Reassessing the Diaspora Approach: A Perspective of Indians in Portugal'

Workshop on

Flattening Diversity: The Challenge of
Educational Planning in India

A two-day Workshop on Workshop on Flattening Diversity: The Challenge of Educational Planning in India was held at he Institute on 29 and 30 May 2009.

If we look back over the last 60 years it becomes quite apparent that diversity and equity emerge as two running issues in the education debate. It may be recalled that education was positioned as a central tool for the realisation of the constitutional obligation of equal opportunity and non-discrimination. It was hoped that education would enable communities that had faced the brunt of social discrimination based on caste to be able to break out of the vicious cycle of low social status, poverty, and illiteracy. Equally significant is that education was also viewed as a mechanism to enable people from under-developed, remote and difficult areas to turn the situation around for themselves as individuals and for the families. Similarly, adopting vernacular medium education was also seen as a huge leveller - enabling people to access the written word in their own language. It is also significant that in the first few decades after Independence the school was viewed as a space where people from different social groups / classes would get a opportunity to know about each other - thereby bridging the social distance that exists in society. Schools provided a shared experience to children from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds.

Yet, if we look back the situation as it prevails today is far from these expectations. Yes there is tremendous diversity among children from diverse socio-cultural and economic backgrounds; among people living in different locations, people speaking different languages and there are minorities in all situations - be it linguistic, cultural, religious or caste.

What do we have on the ground?

>> Different types of schools catering to different categories of people - both within the government system as well as in the private sector; each category / type differently endowed, offering varying quality of education, with different emphasis on medium of instruction. They have in fact reinforced / exacerbated inequalities - creating new inequalities - the English medium students and those who learn in their mother tongue.

>> Inbuilt systemic issues determine professional / educational pathways. The most glaring being the ratio of primary to upper primary schools (W Bengal being the worst), and high schools and colleges - only 50 to 60 per cent children who complete primary can hope to find a seat in a upper primary school.. The vocational stream is uneven / under developed across the country. Even within higher education the quality of education or the perceived quality of education varies drastically. There is a hierarchy of educational institutions - with IIT / IIS / IIM etc being at the top and therefore highly priced in society.

>> Language and access to English / Hindi or the dominant state language (especially for tribal groups / minorities within each locale) has exacerbated other forms of inequalities.

This workshop explored how structures and instruments that were conceived as ways to bridge hereditary / historical baggage / cultural diversity / social and gender inequalities have worked in India - especially in the education sector. Have we actually flattened diversity - by pushing the issue under the carpet in actual practice while keeping it alive in political rhetoric? The disconnect between the political rhetoric, policy statement and the administrative practice (planning / execution) is quite glaring.

There were four sessions - the first session explored how the school - as an institution - can address diversity. It was argued that schools have a very important role - this cannot be left to the intuition of people. This has to be a conscious, thoughtful and intervention is essential to cultivating respect for diversity. Diversity can become a valuable resource within the school. The second session explored the role of teachers in respecting diversity in the classroom and among children and also enabling children to explore and understand each other with respect. The group discussed the challenges faced in changing attitudes and pratices of teachers and the role of pre-service and in-service training in nurturing a sense of equality and respect for different languages, cultures and practices.

Eminent educationists and social scientists participated in this seminar. Among them are Dr Gopal Guru, Dr. Ganesh Devy, Dr. D.D. Nampoothri, Dr. Ramakant Agnihotri, Dr. Janaki Rajan, Dr Vimla Ramachandran, Mr. Harash Sethi, Mr. A.K. Dewan, Dr. Ashis Saxena, Dr. Miniti Panda and Professor Peter Ronald deSouza.

Third Meeting of the Tocqueville Project

The third meeting of the Tocqueville Project (initiated by the American Political Science Association - APSA) took place at the IIAS on the 1-2 May, 2008. The meeting was an occasion for scholars from India and the U.S. to discuss how some of the concerns of Tocqueville's Democracy in America resonated in the democratic practices and experience of the democracies of India and the U.S. The four themes along which the discussion was organized were: (i) Institutional change under conditions of Democracy, (ii) Citizens and Identity, (iii) Democratic participations and (iv) Beliefs and Democratic Practices. The tentative titles of presentations are as under: -

• Ira Ketznelson (Columbia University) 'Broken Chains of Memory: Jews, Cultural Diversity, and Liberal Democracy in the United States',
• Partha Chatterjee (CSSS, Calcuta and Columbia University) 'Democracy and Capitalism in India: Pursuing Two Tocquevillean Themes',
• Margaret Levi (University of Washington) 'After Eden: The Rise of Corporate Power and the Decline of Political Associations',
• Ashutosh Varshney (University of Michigan) 'Two Banks of the Same River? Social Order and Entrepreneurialism in India',
• Rogers M. Smith (University of Pennsylvania) 'Equality and Differentiated Citizenship: A Modern Democratic Dilemma in Tocquevillian Perspective',
• Niraja Gopal Jayal (JNU) 'Can Tocqueville Accommodate Differentiated Citizenship?',
• Daniel Carpenter (Harvard University) 'Representation at a Visual Interface: Institutions as Encounters between Government and her Citizens?',
• Peter Ronald deSouza (IIAS) 'Democracy, Despotism and Freedom of Expression',
• Sudipta Kaviraj (Columbia University) 'The Empire of Democracy: Reading Indian Democracy Through Tocqueville',
• Rajeev Bhargava (CSDS)
• Pratap Bhanu Mehta (CPR)

Summer School on

Research Methodology:

Analyzing Quantitative data on Indian Politics

Indian Institute of Advanced Study in collaboration with the University of Michigan and Lokniti programme of CSDS organized the second Summer School on Research Methodology: Analyzing Quantitative data on Indian Politics from June 16 to 29, 2008.

The participants for the Summer School selected through a competitive process from among 78 candidates. Wide publicity was given to the Summer School by inserting an advertisement in the Economic and Political Weekly and also sending notices to large number of university departments and research institutes across the country. The focus of the workshop was to train young political scientists from different parts of India to undertake rigorous quantitative analyses of data on Indian politics.

The Summer School was inaugurated by the Director of the IIAS, Professor Peter Ronald deSouza. He drew attention to critical issues regarding the choice of appropriate methods of analysis. Professor Suhas Palshikar took a review of the studies on Indian politics using quantitative techniques. Mr. Sanjay Kumar conducted one session on Sampling methods and one on drafting of the questionnaire. Professor Ashutosh Varshney conducted two sessions for the discussion of the conceptual, theoretical and methodological issues involving his work on ethnic conflicts and violence. Professor Pradeep Chhibber and Dr. Irfaan Nooruddin conducted the training of statistical methods and Professor Sandeep Shastri gave a presentation on the use of statistical methods on the basis of an illustration from his work in collaboration with Pradeep Chhibber. The Summer School concluded with presentations by all participants based on the training imparted during the workshop.

Computers were provided to each participant. This facilitated the smooth training and active practical work sessions. On a typical day, the training and practice occupied more than ten hours of the participants' daily. Another feature of the Summer School was that four participants from the last year's batch of trainees were present throughout the Summer School and helped in training and also in facilitating interactive practice sessions. These four senior participants themselves received further advance training and consultation on their research writings based on the training from the last year.

The Summer School can be described as an immersion course. Over nine days, the students went from barely knowing how to use SPSS to estimating multiple regression models designed to answer core questions in Indian politics. The basic topics covered included.

• Introduction to empirical research
• Measures of central tendency and variation
• Bar charts and stem-and-leaf plots
• Cross-tabulations and correlations
• Variable Re-coding and Index creation
• Regression analysis
  

In addition, each afternoon, the participants met with the four team leaders. The goal of this session was to further their statistical training by helping the students develop their papers into publishable pieces, and to teach advanced topics that arose 'organically' through discussions.

The topics covered in this manner were:

• Model specification
• Interaction terms
• Multicollinearity
• Logit models for dichotomous dependent variables
• Multinomial and Ordered logit models for categorical dependent variables
• Endogeneity and two-stage least squares models
• Self-Evaluation of Course with Suggestions for Future Iterations

While many of the students were quite familiar with the process of data collection through their association with Lokniti, the overwhelming majority had no experience with data analysis. Yet, at the end of nine days, 24 of 26 made presentations of original research projects conducted using the statistical techniques taught during the Summer School. Of the 24, we may classify 14 as having definite potential for being publishable, 5 as solid but with less certainty for future publication potential, and 5 as lacking publication potential.

This and the last year's Summer School mark a new beginning as far as research training for young political scientists in India is concerned. Statistical techniques do not normally form an important part of the graduated training of political science in Indian universities. At the same time, analyses of political phenomena in India are most decidedly shifting in the direction of the more quantitative. This leaves the researchers and the students at a position of disadvantage in scholarly interaction and in terms of sophisticated research tools. A Summer School of this kind attempts at partially filling this gap and encouraging younger scholars to take statistical methods seriously. The interactive training by Pradeep Chhibber and Irfaan Nooruddin may be s showcase example of rigorous training and the participants feel empowered at the close of the Summer School.

ARTISTS AT IIAS

The Institute is planning to have an Art Gallery for the benefit of scholars, visitors, residents of Shimla and tourists who visit the heritage complex from all over the world every year. In this direction an Art Workshop was organized at the Institute from 16 to 21 June 2008 in which ten top artists of the country participated. The initiative taken by the Institute offered the artists an opportunity to work on the theme of 'the human condition' and also to interact with the Fellows. The imposing Viceregal Lodge complex had a strong influence on the minds of the artists and it found expression in their works. In most of the paintings produced during the workshop, the splendor and history of the majestic edifice was cleverly interwoven into their art work by the artists. The paintings made during the programme will be the property of the Institute.


LECTURE BY HIS EXCELLENCY

DR. DAVID M. MALONE

Dr. David M. Malone, High Commissioner of Canada in India, expressed the hope that India will soon have a Permanent Seat in the United Nations Security Council. Dr Malone, who was speaking at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla on the 'Evolving Institutional Architecture for International Relations In The 21st Century with a focus on UN Security Council', on 20 May 2008, said the development of international diplomacy and the working of the United Nations and its Security Council have proven that the idea of absolute sovereignty of nation-states is on the wane.

"It certainly isn't as absolute as it once was. We rather see the individual increasingly emerging as the unit of exchange in international relations," Dr Malone said, underlining the fact that the world has seen even Heads of State being hauled up for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Earlier Professor Peter Ronald deSouza, Director of the Institute, in his welcome address, described Dr. Malone as "not just a career diplomat but a scholar in his own right" who has written six books largely focused on global issues, including the war in Iraq. Professor deSouza said the High Commissioner was certainly more than an "occasional academic", as some have often described him.

Dr. Malone said the last concerted bid to expand the UNSC by the four nations - India, Brazil, Germany and Japan - perhaps failed because there was not enough of a commensurate effort to court the UN General Assembly members. "Also, the larger argument that it was time to open up the UNSC to developing countries did not work because two of the countries were advanced industrial economies," he said.

Digging into the history of the United Nations and its role, Dr. Malone said there certainly have been phases in history when the good intentions expressed by the United Nations Security Council have proven to be mere "vacuities not backed by strong action" but nevertheless there were many success stories also. He counted Bosnia and Somalia as sad chapters but said the two important International Crime Tribunals in case of Yugoslavia and Rwanda, set up under the aegis of the UN, have shown that even Heads of State can be held accountable. "Kosovo is a different case...with its own peculiarities...and is now in a state of international limbo," he said.

"Governments remain pretty uncomfortable with the idea that people in government can be held accountable for their actions...States are often part of the problem. There was initially a perception of a conflict between the state and citizens and the authority of the governments was considered absolute. That situation has changed," he said. Dr. Malone, who despite being a diplomat was rather candid in his address to a scholarly audience, said what the United States and United Kingdom lacked in the action against Iraq was a larger degree of international support, and the Coalition they built up was "too narrow". "Notably, no Arab country was supporting it. Without regional support, such an action leaves much to be desired," he said.

The High Commissioner, who also responded to a number of questions from the audience, said while it was true that the action of the US-UK Coalition to proceed against Iraq, without legal go ahead from the UN, has diminished the stature of the UN, it was also to be noted that the US system has a "genius for self correction."

LECTURES BY VISITING PROFESSORS

An important feature of the academic life at the Institute is lectures by Visiting Professors who are generally eminent scholars. They are invited to the Institute for a few weeks to give series of lectures on themes of their choice. During the months of May and June this year two Visiting Professors, H.Y. Mohan Ram, former Professor of Botany, University of Delhi and A.R. Vasavi, Professor of Social Anthropology, National Institute for Advanced Studies, Bangalore came to the Institute as Visiting Professors.

Professor Mohan Ram delivered four lectures: (i) Plant Watching, (ii) Seeds of Change, (iii) Bamboo - A Precious Gift of Nature, and (iv) Culture of Flowers. The abstracts of the lectures are reproduced below:

(I) Plant Watching

There is no true estimate of the total number of different organisms in the world. Around 1.7 million are named and described. Of these only 2,70,000 are plants. There may be another 5 to 10 million life forms. As E.O Wilson has stated "Nature is all on planet earth that has no need for us and can stand alone". We have not yet understood the living world around us. Yet accelerated human activities are causing a severe loss of bio diversity. Darwin's theory of Organic Evolution has been strongly supported by the human genome analysis (and that of 60 or more organisms from bacteria to mammals), emphasizing that all life is connected. Humans share common genetic sequences with the lowly organisms.

The food we eat and the oxygen we breathe and hundreds of articles we use every day come from plants. We take plants for granted. When we observe how plants grow, live and adopt themselves to their surroundings that we begin to admire and serve them. Plants are built on a simple plan and lack a brain a nervous system, respiratory system, a digestive, or an immune system. They are glued to the soil and can not run away from stresses and strains like animals. Flowering plants come in all sizes and shapes. They grow at their tips; their growth and reproduction are regulated by environmental cues. Trees attain great sizes and ages. The Costal redwood of California may attain over 370 ft. How is water lifted to such a great height? The giant sequoia may weigh over 2000 tons and live for 2000 years. Climbing redwoods, a whole new aspect of biology has been unfolded. The dramatic defoliation in autumn and total cessation of growth through winter and reawakening and unfurling of buds and flowers in spring in the temperate regions have baffled humans. The lecture presented through a series of pictures the parasites, insectivorous plants, interactions of plants and animals, adaptation of plants to cold, heat, drought, salinity and some extraordinary plants like the double coconut which is on the verge of extinction. If we cannot protect these wonderful plants that nature has brought forth, do we deserve the name Homo Sapiens?

(II) Seeds of Change

The lecture presented an illustrated story of the possible origin of agriculture and the introduction of wheat, rice, pea, gram, soybean, sugarcane, apples, peaches, citrus fruits, banana, grapes, figs, black pepper, cardamom and coffee, along with the cow, horse, pig, sheep and goat from the old world to the new world especially after the Post-Columbian period. Like wise the Portuguese, Spaniards and later the Dutch and the British brought maize, potato, sweet potato, tapioca, groundnut, kidney beans, red pepper, tomato, rubber, cocoa and cashew to the old world. These introductions made it possible for spaghetti to meet tomato sauce and the samosas to be stuffed with potato. The introduced crops had a tremendous impact on the economy, culture, food habits, nutrition and health of the people around the world. Colonization, slavery, spread of venereal diseases and wars were the sad outcomes. The exploitation of the benefits of plants genetic resources, (PGR) of developing countries by the technology rich countries has led to international treatises on conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity.

(III) Bamboo - A Precious Gift of Nature

Bamboos are giant grasses of the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. They have an underground stem (rhizome) from which arise vertical shoots bearing woody, jointed, hollow aerial stems. Bamboos come in various sizes and are the fastest growing plants (46cm a day) attaining up to 35m. in height. Bamboos are indispensable for the tribal and the rural communities in East and South Asia for the diversity of products they yield. The assets of bamboos are: strength, straightness, lightness, resilience, renewability and the ease with which they can be worked with. Bamboos are useful in construction of houses, scaffoldings, conduits and piping material to transport water, for making bridges, ladders, bows, arrows, oars, baskets, storage bins, musical instruments and decorative articles. Bamboo flute is a hollow tube with seven holes. Legends say that in the hands of Lord Krishna it produced mesmerizing music. Bamboo is consumed as food and also as medicine.

MacLure (1966) the noted authority on bamboos stated that "bamboos are everything to some people and something for every person ". Even 50 years ago nearly 12.5% of the area of the forests in India was occupied by bamboos. The competing interests of the needs of the poor and industrial demands (paper- making, silk worm rearing and manufacture of incense sticks etc) have resulted in severe reduction in the availability of bamboos.

Flowering of bamboos is a biological enigma, ranging from constant flowering (Bambusa atra) to constant sterility (Bambusa vulgaris).Some bamboos flower sporadically or irregularly (Dendrocalamus hamiltoni) and others that flower gregariously at long intervals (Bambusa bambos, B.polymorpha, B.tulda, Dendrocalamus strictus and Melocanna baccifera). In China Phyllostachys bambusoides (the bamboo on which the Giant Panda regularly feeds) is known to flower at intervals of 120 years. A unique feature of gregariously flowering bamboos is the death of all plants after the production of an enormous quantity of seeds.

Mizoram has been experiencing mast seeding of bamboos and resultant famines. The tribal lore and the forest record indicate a regular cycle of 48 ± 2 years for Bambusa tulda and Melocanna baccifera. With the availability of a profuse quantity of nutritious food material, there is a concomitant rise in the population of squirrels, birds and rodents. After consuming the bonanza, the bamboo rats devastate the standing crops resulting in famine. The village elders can recognize the onset of flowering by noticing complete defoliation of bamboo clumps.

Bamboo seeds loose viability rapidly and storage at low temperature (4°C) can significantly prolong it. The demand for bamboos is increasing, especially after the production of Bamboo Mat Board, reinforcement in concrete, bamboo textiles and items of wood substitute, gassification for generation of thermal energy, pre-fabricated and fire retardant houses (hostels, schools, health centers, igloos) in disaster hit areas and perennially snow bound border areas in the Himalayas have been developed .The National Mission of Bamboo Applications (Department of Science & Technology, GOI )has suggested large-scale plantation of bamboos and processing units. Bamboos such as Dendrocalamus strictus (male bamboo as it is commonly called) are tolerant of semi drought conditions and unculturable lands. By cultivating bamboo it is not only possible to harvest immensely useful biomass but also sequester carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.

(IV) The Culture of Flowers

Life would have been dreary without flowers. In nearly all civilizations flowers have been symbolic of beauty, elegance and grace. Besides personal adornment and decoration, flowers have been used in worship, offered as a gesture of love, friendship, goodwill, respect and to bring peace and tranquility to the sick and to cherish the memory of the dead. Flowers have inspired poets, philosophers, artists, artisans and designers of textiles, jewelry and architects since ancient times in China, India, Greece, Italy, Egypt and Mexico. The lotus has been conceived as symbolic of purity, prosperity and compassion in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain religions.

Laying of gardens with flowering trees, shrubs, climbers and seasonal ornamentals were supported by the royalty and the affluent. The Science of horticulture must have originated in several countries. Explorers who traveled on land and later by sea were responsible for introducing crops, ornamentals, besides, gold, silk and gems. Faster travel spread flowers from one continent to the other. Flowers such as rose, tulips, chrysanthemum, lilies, and more recently gladioli, carnation and orchids are being grown under controlled environmental conditions, using diseases free propagules by florists to ensure quality blooms with good keeping quality. It is possible to supply bulk orders of flowers for special occasions and religious festivals and events. Holland, USA, UK, Germany, France, Belgium, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Columbia have become prominent in flower trade. Indian culture has always valued fragrance over colour in blooms. However, the trend is changing in the globalization era. In his highly researched book The Culture of Flowers dealing with an extensive historical survey, Jack Goody remarks that in a very large part of Africa (barring South Africa and Egypt) flowers had not featured in the daily life of the people.

Professor A.R. Vasavi was at the Institute as a Visiting Professor during the month of June and gave two lectures: (i) Pluralising the Sociology of India and (ii) 'School Differenciation': The Reproduction of Inequalities, Hierarchies, and Disadvantages

(I) Pluralising the Sociology of India

Although the 'Sociology of India' debates refer to the body of knowledge and discussions initiated by Louis Dumont in 1957, and to the periodic exchanges between scholars, I seek to reflect upon the larger body of literature pertaining to the sociology of/in India in its current predicament. While the foundational contributions of the discipline are acknowledged, the limitations of the discipline, in terms of its body of knowledge, its practice in varied institutions, and its impact on public debates and issues must also be reviewed. After identifying some of these limitations, I suggest some ways (including methodologies) by which the discipline can be pluralized. Some of these are (1) the combination of quantitative and qualitative, and micro and macro data (2) the integration of regional writings, and (3) the development of new and flexible methodologies and perspectives to study a range of new organizations and cultural economies. All of these new methodologies, pedagogies, and approaches are to be framed within the larger perspective of developing sociological practices that can engage with the emergent trends (globalization, rising fundamentalisms, erosion of livelihoods, rise of new classes and identities etc) in the nation, and develop as a discipline that can represent the specificities of the varied regions and yet also lend themselves to international comparison.

(II) 'School Differenciation': The Reproduction of

Inequalities, Hierarchies, and Disadvantages

Recent data indicate a significant improvement in India's record in providing basic education to the masses. However, the delivery of 'education for all' is not an assurance in establishing schools as key sites of democracy in the nation. Drawing on the concept/term 'school differenciation', I seek to highlight how the varied types of schools (nine in all and the most varied in the world) in the nation are reflective of a hierarchical and differenciating society which is then reproduced through the schooling system. The characteristics of these schools and their impact on students also have implications for the larger society and nation. The lecture draws attention to some of these problems and provided a sociological commentary on the state of schools and their roles in reproducing inequality, hierarchy, and disadvantage.

LECTURES BY VISITING SCHOLARS

Visiting Scholars also come to the Institute on invitation. Like Visiting Professors, they too are distinguished in their respective fields. During the period under reference two Visiting Scholars, Professor Bijoy H. Borouh, Professor of Philosophy, IIT, Kanpur and Professor Shahid Amin, Professor of History, University of Delhi came to the Institute as Visiting Scholars. Professor Bijoy H. Boruah gave two lectures: (i) Virtue Ethics as Virtue Metaphysics and (ii) Literature, Human Possibility & the Limits of Language while Professor Shahid Amin delivered lecture on 'Cooking for a Turkic Brother: Or, what the Balladeers still sing in UP about History, Muslims and the Gangetic Popular'

(I) Virtue Ethics as Virtue Metaphysics

Virtue-theoretic ethics is understandably agent-centred in that the illustration of a good life of virtuous conduct is predicated on depicting the image of a virtuous self. What, then, is the nature of the self that satisfies the conditions of adequacy for the possibility of a virtuous agent? Even though this question apparently belongs to the 'ethics of agency', any plausible answer to it would remain incomplete without a metaphysical identification of the 'conditions of adequacy' for virtuous moral agency. Engaging in virtue-ethical reflection on moral agency therefore conceptually leads to engagement in virtue-metaphysics.

The paper argues that the agential constitution of a virtuous self is that of 'thin' individuality. Thin agential individuality is acquired through an austere process of shedding off the ego-specific motivations that cling to the first-person perspective of the agent. This process of inner struggle for self-purification can profitably be construed as a kind of Gandhian 'experiment with truth'. By contrast, 'thick' agential individuality, agency thickened by a preponderant sense of being so-and-so with such-and-such de facto properties accumulated in the course of life, is the anti-thesis of virtue-centric moral agency. This 'virtue-metaphysics' of thin moral agency is invoked in the explanation classical Indian virtue-ethical concepts like Dharma, Moksa and Niskama Karma. The presentation concluded with a sketchy account of what a revised understanding of the classical Indian virtue-ethical theory of moral agency should look like.

Literature, Human Possibility & the Limits of Language

A linguistic text is invested with meaning in virtue of its reference to, and representation of, the way the world is. If we take the referential-representational relation between language and world to be fundamental as well as essential to the acquisition of meaning, how do we account for the presence of meaning in a literary-fictional text, given that fictionality entails absence of reference to, and representation of, what really is the case? This problem of privileged autonomy of literary-textual meaning from referential-representational correspondence with reality is the target of this discussion. The problem is tackled by the argument that, although the referential mode is fundamental to meaning, it need not be foundational to the 'meaning-generative' negotiation of language with the world.

The paper argues for the possibility and legitimacy of an alternative mode of linguistic negotiation with reality, namely the representative-criterial mode of using language to relate with the world. Literature makes use language in this manner and generates fictional texts that depict images of what life is like-images that are 'representatives' (and not 'representations') of what certain aspects of the human condition is really like. Such fictive depictions of images of life often involve creative play with various subterranean human possibilities as well as apparent human impossibilities. And literary-creative 'free play' with possibilities might lead to exploiting the resources of language that require 'running up' against the limits of language and meaning. The paper context-relevantly alludes to some literary-fictional instances drawn from Dostoevsky, Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde.

'Cooking for a Turkic Brother: Or, what the Balladeers still sing in UP about History, Muslims and the Gangetic Popular'

The presentation is a part of a longer story of an 11th-century Muslim Warrior Saint - died chronicled 10 June 1034-but who does not appear to have lived during the time of his legendary exploits in north India. The exclusive dependence of our Medievalists on events, I suggest, has kept us away from a nuanced understanding of how that period of conflict/conquest (c.1000-1300) has been remembered, rewritten, and reworked by hagiographers, balladeers and demotic historians over the last millennium. The presentation (and the book of which it is a part) seeks to pose afresh the articulation between memory and history, between the transmitted and the inscribed, between stereotypicality and lived history.

A caste of balladeers (dafalis), like the 17th century Farsi hagiography, also place the warrior saint in the time of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni! But these dafalis sing tales about the hero in terms of familial concerns, specially womanly concerns: about loneliness in the in-laws' house, patriarchal requirements to produce more than one male son, at the risk of being turned out as a banjh (an infertile woman) etc. War/conquest, i.e. public events are made to inhabit the domestic and the familial. The paper focuses on a housewife's relationship to a fictive, Turkic brother from her natal village, and the consequences that she willingly embraces.

I use the term 'Gangetic Popular' to refer to this mix which addresses the question of conflict as it goes about building communities of devotees in the present. The book, and this paper, eschews the question of 'Why', to explore and take pleasure in the ways of the 'How'. How are episodes from the life of the warrior hero narrated so as to elicit assent from multi-religious audiences is what today's reading is about.

WEEKLY SEMINARS BY FELLOWS

The Fellows of the Institute organize weekly Seminars, generally on Thursday, which are open to all other scholars at the Institute and the faculty members of Himachal Pradesh University. During the period under reference following seminars were given by the Fellows:

Dr. Uday Kumar: Multilingualism, Cultural Identity and National Development: Dynamics of the North Eastern Region of India
Dr. Archana Verma: Negotiations with the Divine: Visual and Verbal Iconography of Sacrifice in Early Historical and arly Mediaeval South India
Shri Sukhvinder Pal Singh: The Business of Bonhomie: Civilian Discourse Between People of India & Pakistan vis-à-vis Trade Potential.
Dr. Indrani Chattopadhyaya: Between the visible and the invisible: Decoding material culture.
Dr. Sheoraj Singh Bechain: Hindi Dalit Kavita: Guru Radas, Swami Achhuta Nand, Behari Lal Harit ki parampara mein.
Dr. Seshan Radha: The Khasas of Himachal Pradesh: An outline of their History.
Dr. L. Anand Singh: Opportunistic and non-opportunistic Parasitic agents associated with Diarrhoeal HIV/AIDS patients in North-East India - A molecular epidemiological approach.
Dr. Ajanta Sircar: The Category of Children's Cinema in India.

PRESENTATIONS BY ASSOCIATES

Following presentations were made by the Associates of Inter University Centre:

June 2008

Dr. Pranav Sharm: Vishwa astha ka apratim Granth: Shrimad Bhagwadgita
Dr. Balbir Singh: Morals of Women and Women of High Morale: A feminist perspective on Philip Roth's 'When she was Good'
Dr. Lakshmi Bhatia: The Middle class in India's North-East with special reference to Mizoram
Dr. Pooja Talikoti: Nutrition and HIV/AIDS: An urgent Challenge
Dr. Reena Sahay: Ragas and Raginis of Hindustani (Classical) music during Medieval period
Dr. R. Vijay: Peasant Migration and Agrarian Transformation
Dr. Savita Goel: Encounter with Tradition and Performance in the Theatre of Girish Karnad
Dr. Mary Parmar: Anders Chydenius: The father of Freedom of Information and the First Freedom of Information Statute

May 2008



April 2008
Dr. Asima Ranjan Parhi: Recovering, Reshaping and Recreating the Queen's Tongue: Emergent India, New English and the Print Media
Shri Piyas Chakrabarti: Early Modern English Theatre and Identity Construction
Dr. Sunand Kumar Sinha: The Fiction of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala: A Feminist Perspective
Dr. Ganesha U.H: Postmodernism and the Critique of Modernity: Anathamurthy's Short Stories Akkayya and Stallion of the Sun
Dr. Ishwar Chand: Bhartiya Sanskriti Mein Bhakti Ki Abdharna: Ek Darshanik Abhinav
Dr. P.N. Mishra: Pauranic Prayag: Jain Vangmaya Ke Visesh Sandarbh Mein
Dr. R.P. Chakraborty Fuzzy Set Theory and Social Science Research

NEWS IN BRIEF

New Fellows

During the period three national fellows and four Fellows have joined the Institute:

Professor D.L. Sheth, Professor Gurdial Singh, and Professor Bhalchandra Nemade have joined the Institute as national fellows while Dr. Gangeya Mukherji, Dr. Gail Omvdt, Professor Satish C. Aikant and Dr. Kanchana C.V. Natrajan have joined the Institute as Fellows.

FOURTH COMING EVENTS

Winter School on : Classroom Introduction to Philosophy : Understanding the nature of Reality,Knowledge & Value, December 30, 2008-January 10, 2009
Seminar on Violence and the Performing Arts, 13-14 December 2008
Cultures of Governance: A Euro-Indian Dialogue, 21-22 November 2008
Seventh Meeting on the Field Theoretic Aspects of Gravitation, 15-19 November 2008
Autumn School on Oral as Resource, 1-14 November 2008
Seminar on: Exploring Non Violence, 20-22 October 2008
'One-day Colloquium on Gandhi, Governance and the Corporation, 2nd October 2008, in association with The Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and India Habitat Center, New Delhi.
Seminar on: Dalit Sahitya ki Avdharna mein Rangmanch, 25-26 September 2008
Conference on: 'Special Economic Zones: Economic and Social Perspectives', 18-20 September 2008 organised by the Institute in collaboration with The Indian Academy of Social Sciences, Allahabad
Radhakrishnan Memorial Lecture, 5 September 2008
Preliminary meeting on Studying the Mahabharata 14 July 2008