SWEDISH SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES NETWORK

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Reports from meetings in Delhi, 6–13 March, 2002:

Summary of meeting at the Swedish Embassy, 6 March:

Meeting with Hans Nicklasson, Minister (Economic, Trade Policy and Cultural Affairs), Dr. Sunita Chakravarty, Senior Programme Officer, and Dharmesh Sharan, Information Officer, Embassy of Sweden, Signe Röpke, First Secretary, Royal Danish Embassy, Caj L. Söderlund, DCM Minister Counsellor, Embassy of Finland:

There was a very positive response to goals and ambitions of SASNET and to the effort to start a Nordic Centre in New Delhi. All agreed that small countries like the Nordic ones had to co-operate and that much of the networking and information dissemination could now take place via the Internet. Several themes of interest for research and higher education were suggested:

- Conflict and peace research, especially relating to border disputes and ethnic conflicts
- Human rights
- Environmental issues relating to energy and water supply as well as to air- and water pollution, where it was felt that the Nordic countries had a lot of technical know how to contribute
- Governance and institution building in the public sector, emphasising best delivery practices
- Vocational training

Sweden, Denmark and Finland are involved in development co-operation in this field, which also includes research and educational aspects (more information on this can be had from us on request).
We also came to know that the Indian president Mr. R K Naryanan is visiting Sweden 20–25 May this year. An IT seminar may be held in this connection.

Meeting with scholars at the Social Sciences faculty of Jawaharlal Nehru University, JNU:

Friday 8 March 2002. Meeting with about 20 persons including:
Ghyanshyam Shah, professor, Centre of Social Medicine & Community Health, School of Social Sciences
Alpana Sagar, Assistant Professor, Women and Health, Epidemiology, Nutrition, at Centre of Social Medicine and Community Healt
Ravi Srivastava, professor of economics, Centre for the Study of Regional Development
Aswini K. Ray, professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University's Centre for Political Studies
Bishnu N. Mohapatra, researcher Centre for Political Studie
Sudha Pai, researcher, Centre for Political Studies
T.K. Oommen, professor of Sociology, Centre for the Study of Social System
Sukhadeo Thorat, professor of economics, Centre for the Study of Regional Development
Deepak Kumar, Prof. History of Education

We presented the aims and objectives of SASNET and Lars explained the principles behind our Internet gateway. There were several questions about the goals and principles of SASNET, the planning grants, etc.
1. The political scientists (Bishnu and Sudha) can think of a new project with the Hans Blomqvist group at Uppsala.

2. Deepak Kumar has been involved with Jan af Geijerstam in a conference on the history of iron and steel making in India. He could be involved in the new effort to make a broader conference on the interface of society and technology in history which is being prepared by Eva Myrdal-Runebjer and Jan of Geijerstam.
Kumar also told us that he recently recruited Dr. Dhruv Raina (who studied for Aant Elzinga in Göteborg) to join his group at JNU. He also knows people at the National Institute of Science, Technology & Development Studies (where Dhruv Raina was earlier), like Irfan Habib. We think Deepak Kumar could mean a lot to co-operation between Sweden and India in this field.

3. T K Oommen was positive to the idea raised by Prof Hettige in Colombo, to form a South Asia Sociological Association (SASA) but thought it had to grow out of co-operation in research projects and programmes, since only then there would be money for travelling and meeting.

4. There was an interest in regional co-operation in research, in which Swedish researchers could play a role.

After the meeting we had separate meetings with T.K. Oommen and Ashwini Ray. Oommen is now in his last year before retirement but will stay on in New Delhi. He could possibly form another focal point for work on nationalism and ethnicity. The same goes for Ashwini, who is also writing in this field.

Meeting with Prof. Partha N. Mukherji and Dr. Rahul Mukherji, Gurgaon

Saturday 9 March, 2002.

Partha N. Mukherji is now fellow at Teen Murthi, while Rahul Mukherji works in an institute for political studies. We had a long informal chat about the ICSSR and ICCR and the recent changes to these and other institutions (including the nomination of Vice-Chancellors).
Rahul told us that Asutosh Varshney, now professor at Michigan University, has started a Network for South Asian Politics and Political Economy, which with funding from the Ford Foundation, will continue for four years gathering the South Asian and international scholars in the field. Atul Kohli is one of the members, and so is Susan Rudolph.
Rahul was of the opinion that JNU would be one of the best places to collaborate with in a Masters programme.

Meeting with Dr. Gail Omvedt, Sociologist, Fellow, Teen Murthi, New Delhi

Sunday, 10 March, 2002

Besides Dr Gail Omvedt, also the following persons were present at the meeting:
Dr. G Aloysius, Sociologist, Reader, Academy of Third World Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi, and Dr. Prakash Louis, Executive Director, Indian Social Institute, New Delhi.
We met at the Indian Social Institute, a Jesuit institution in New Delhi organising a lot of courses, etc. On recommendation one can stay there for a week at Rs. 250 per night. This is worth noticing for Nordic scholars on visit to Delhi. Prakash is writing a book on the Naxalite movement in Bihar.
Gail is currently fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library at Teen Murthi Bhawan. She has the position for three years, and is presently working on Dalit issues.

Aloysius has written a famous book: “Nationalism without a Nation” (OUP 1997, which is now in its fifth printed edition, available in paperback). He is now writing about Buddhism. He belongs to the OBC (Other Backward Castes). He thinks the Dalit emphasis on a seperate culture is damaging and will create more barriers. Globalisation is something good, the market is good. He quotes Vandana Shiva as saying the “Our first enemy is the market.”