Category : India

More Than a Meal: Sarthak Agarwal ’27 on School Meals, Equity, and Access in India

May 5, 2026 | Announcements, India, News, Students

Sarthak Agarwal ’28, a doctoral candidate in Population Health Sciences at Harvard University, received a Mittal Institute grant to study India’s school feeding program, the largest of its kind in the world. While its benefits are widely recognized, understanding the operational, financial, and governance systems that sustain it is critical to its continued success. His research, which he details in the below Q&A, examines these enablers and challenges to identify practical lessons for policymakers.

When Heat Doesn’t End: Robert Meade on New Insights from the Front Lines

Apr 8, 2026 | Climate, India, News, South Asia in the News

Robert Meade, a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard, is studying how prolonged heat exposure affects human health by bridging controlled lab experiments with real-world conditions. His work moves beyond short-term heat stress to examine cumulative impacts on the body. Through the Mittal Institute’s Community HATS project in India, Meade collaborates with local partners to track how extreme heat affects informal women workers’ health, sleep, and livelihoods. The research reflects a broader shift toward community-led, real-world approaches to understanding and addressing the growing health risks of climate-driven heat.

PSIL in Goa: From Program to Practice

Apr 5, 2026 | India, News, Students

Every January, Dominic Mao, Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies in Harvard’s Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, and Andrea Wright, Assistant Dean of Harvard College, train and accompany a group of Harvard undergraduates to India in what’s known as the Program for Scientifically-Inspired Leadership (PSIL). There, they collaborate with local college students to deliver a comprehensive liberal arts and sciences curriculum to high school students. This immersive camp provides intense, hands-on learning experiences, exposing high school participants to diverse academic disciplines, extracurricular activities, and meaningful cultural exchanges. By fostering interactions across these three groups, the program creates a vibrant environment for intellectual growth and cross-cultural understanding.

Reimagining Healthcare in India: Insights from the Jaipur Literature Festival

Mar 18, 2026 | Announcements, Faculty, In Region, India, News

A panel discussion at this year’s Jaipur Literature Festival discussed a Lancet Citizens’ Commission on Reimagining India’s Health System report on reimagining health care in India, bringing together experts in global health, civil society, business, and medicine including Vikram Patel, Mittal Institute Steering Committee Member, Lancet Commission Co-Chair, and The Pershing Square Professor of Global Health, Harvard Medical School; Tarun Khanna, former Mittal Institute Faculty Director and the Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor at Harvard Business School; Richard Horton, Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet; and Poonam Muttreja, Executive Director of the Population Foundation of India; with introductions by Hitesh Hathi, Executive Director of the Mittal Institute.

Martin Puchner: How a Literature Festival Became a Force in Cultural Diplomacy

Mar 18, 2026 | Announcements, Faculty, In Region, India, News

Martin Puchner, Byron and Anita Wien Professor of Drama and of English and Comparative Literature in the Department of English at Harvard University, explores the global impact of the Jaipur Literature Festival, often described as the “greatest literary show on Earth,” and its evolving role as a platform for cultural exchange and diplomacy.

Mapping Risk, Building Resilience: Aditya Kumar Anand on Climate Vulnerability in the Himalayas

Mar 10, 2026 | Announcements, Fellows, India, News

Aditya K. Anand is a postdoctoral scholar whose work examines how climate change is reshaping multi-hazard risks and livelihood vulnerability in the Bhilangana River Basin

Climate, Debt, and Reproductive Health in India’s Sugarcane Belt

Mar 4, 2026 | Announcements, Climate, Faculty, In Region, India, News

Prof. Eliana La Ferrara, Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School and Aditi Bhowmick, Center for International Development Ph.D Affiliate, Concentrations in Development Economics & Labor Economics are inaugural recipients of the Mittal Institute’s Faculty Climate Grant program. Their project examines how climate change, debt, and gender norms combine to harm female sugarcane cutters in drought-prone Maharashtra, India.

At the Edge of Empire: India Fellow Robert Lunkhopao Haokip on Stories that Shape History

Feb 16, 2026 | Announcements, Fellows, India, News

Robert Lunkhopao Haokip is a postdoctoral scholar whose work explores how global events such as the Second World War was experienced at the empire’s margin.

While the Taps Still Run: Rethinking Water Crisis Through Narrative and Practice

Feb 9, 2026 | Fellows, India, News

The Mittal Institute hosted a seminar titled “Rethinking Water Crisis, Narrative Designs, and Strategies of Resilience,” marking the end-of-fellowship seminar of Dr. Nobonita Rakshit, India Fellow at the Mittal Institute. The session was chaired by her mentor, Professor Doris Sommer, Ira and Jewel Williams Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University.

Ayurveda, Western Medicine, and the Mind: Josh Mysore ’26 Conducts Student Research in India

Feb 2, 2026 | Announcements, India, News, Students

Josh Mysore ’26, a Harvard College dual concentrator in Computer Science and Social Studies, spent his summer conducting thesis research in Kerala, Bangalore, and Auroville, India through a Mittal Institute student grant. His project examined the history and frameworks of Ayurvedic medicine, in contrast with Western medicine, to understand how culture and scientific method shape concepts of the mind and psyche. We spoke with Josh for more on his project.

The Lancet Citizens’ Commission: Report Launch

Jan 30, 2026 | Announcements, In Region, India, News

The Lancet Citizens’ Commission on Reimagining India’s Health System—supported by the Mittal Institute—is an ambitious, cross-sectoral initiative aimed at charting a pathway toward universal health coverage for the people of India. Launched in December 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Commission has since undertaken a series of in-depth research studies. The public launch of its final report on January 21, 2026 in New Delhi, India marked the culmination of a multi-year effort to synthesize evidence and articulate reform pathways for a health system that is equitable, forward-looking, and accountable to India’s citizens.

A Space Between Selves Exhibition Explores Identity and Cultural Hybridity

Dec 2, 2025 | Announcements, Arts Program, Fellows, India, News

Tresa Abraham, a cultural historian of colonial South Asia with a foundation in literary studies, is the Mittal Institute’s newest Raghunathan Family Fellow. Tresa’s research focus is on the use of wild animals in power negotiations in colonial India. Trained in English literary studies, she approaches the colonial past with a literary lens, weaving together histories of animals, humans, and the empire. We spoke with Tresa about her research, and what she hopes to focus on during her fellowship at Harvard.