Sutopa Dasgupta is part of Sakhi, the team that won SAI’s 2017 Seed For Change competition. She spoke to SAI to update us on the status of Sakhi’s project – the development of high-quality, affordable, and environmentally safe menstrual cups for people in India.
SAI will host dozens of seminars and co-sponsored events in Spring 2018, on topics including the arts and humanities, social sciences, and science. Information on additional events will be updated throughout the semester.
“When I first became a journalist, I did not want to write about celebrities, gossip, and fashion, which many editors would want you to. There is nothing wrong with these topics; however, because a majority of the country does not have access to these lifestyles, it was always on my conscience to bring out untold stories. Journalists are in a position to give voices to a large number of people who otherwise don’t get heard.”
“In January 2017, I received a grant from the South Asia Institute to begin my research in Rakhine and returned in June 2017 to conduct interviews in the Rohingya and Rakhine communities. I gained access to the military encampments and spoke with Rohingya individuals and families who had been displaced during the 2012 riots.”
The deadlines for the 2018-2019 Aman Fellowship, Arvind Raghunathan and Sribala Subramanian South Asia Visiting Fellowship and Babar Ali Fellowship are March 6, 2018.
The following article, originally published in News Karnataka, covers the Lakshmi Mittal South Asia Institute’s Boston Bangalore Biosciences Beginning Program (B4)’s most recent workshop. B4 aims to build a scientific research corridor and will engage scientists from India and Harvard through exchange programs: 1) Science and Technology Fellowships at Harvard and other peer institutions in the Boston area. 2) Two-week courses on Biosciences in Bangalore.
Harvard University will offer many courses with South Asia related content in the Spring 2018 semester.
“The 2014 floods in Pakistan were a haunting demonstration. Hundreds of villages in the northern and eastern parts of the country were flooded, affecting over a million people in all. Many people, including several I knew personally, were unable to send money to their relatives in these villages because they had no means to do so as they relied on informal services, which had broken down. The victims, who desperately needed money for food and shelter, faced great suffering as a result. This left a lasting impression on me and motivated me to study how financial services can help the poor in the face of such aggregate shocks.”
SAI Director, Tarun Khanna: “We’re never less than busy and relentlessly ambitious at SAI. Our indefatigable Executive Director, Meena Hewett, and her team work hard with faculty, students, researchers, fellows, alumni and regional partners from Harvard and beyond. Our approach is expansive and inclusive, and we try to exceed expectations, those of others and our own.”
To say that 2017 was a pivotal year for the Lakshmi Mittal South Asia Institute (SAI), Harvard University, would be an understatement, thanks to a generous $25m naming gift from Lakshmi Mittal and his family.
The Lakshmi Mittal South Asia Institute, Harvard University, wishes our friends and supporters a new year filled with peace and happiness! Our offices will be closed from December 22, 2017 to January 2, 2018, during which time there will be no newsletter.
“I am a product of two very substantial migrations: my grandparents, young and barely literate, moved to East Africa in the early 20th century. My parents went to the UK, years later. These are not simple transitions. It has always been important for me to know as much as I can about these histories.”
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