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Category : India


Hemakshi Meghani: Nurturing Principled Political Leaders Through the Indian School of Democracy

Hemakshi Meghani: Nurturing Principled Political Leaders Through the Indian School of Democracy

Hemakshi Meghani, co-founder of the Indian School of Democracy (ISD), is a Harvard Kennedy School graduate, where she studied as a World Bank Graduate Scholar. She began her journey as a Teach for India Fellow before working with Boston Consulting Group and two startups in the education and sociopolitical consulting space. Hemakshi is passionate about politics, bottom-up social reform, and making democracy work for every citizen of the country, and she shared some insights into her experience building ISD.

Tradition and Transformation: A Conversation on South Asian Politics with Pratap Bhanu Mehta and Hansong Li

Tradition and Transformation: A Conversation on South Asian Politics with Pratap Bhanu Mehta and Hansong Li

Hansong Li (Mittal Institute, Harvard University), spoke with Pratap Bhanu Mehta (Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi; Laurance S. Rockefeller Distinguished Professor at the Center for Human Values, Princeton University) about the South Asian political sphere ahead of the 2022 Global Political Thought Conference on April 8. Both interlocutors are founding members of the Association for Global Political Thought, an international, interdisciplinary, and intercollegiate project founded in 2021, supported by humanists and social scientists from global institutions. What follows is an exerpt from their conversation – to read the full text, visit the article in Comparative Political Theory.

Spotlight on Ankur Tamuli Phukan, New Mittal Institute India Fellow

Spotlight on Ankur Tamuli Phukan, New Mittal Institute India Fellow

Last week we introduced one of our Mittal Institute India Fellowship recipients, Mayanka Ambade. Now, meet our second fellow, Ankur Tamuli Phukan. Ankur is a historian and has a broad research interest on issues such as festivals, populism, nationalism, migration, citizenship and ecology. His field of study is largely located in the archives of Northeast India. Ankur will be mentored by Professor Sugata Bose.

Decarbonizing India’s Energy Economy: A Conversation with Professor Michael B. McElroy

Decarbonizing India’s Energy Economy: A Conversation with Professor Michael B. McElroy

Professor Michael B. McElroy, Gilbert Butler Professor of Environmental Studies at Harvard University and Chair of the Harvard-China Project on Energy, Economy and Environment, leads a research group studying how India might forge a path towards a decarbonized energy system. He will present his thoughts at the upcoming March 30 event, “Decarbonizing India’s Energy Economy,” hosted by the Harvard-China Project and LMSAI. The Mittal Institute sat down with Professor McElroy to learn more about his research and the future energy and climate outlook of India.

Murty Classical Library of India: New Translations of World Classics

Murty Classical Library of India: New Translations of World Classics

The Mittal Institute sat down with Dr. Sharmila Sen, Editorial Director of Harvard University Press, to learn more about the Murty Classical Library of India collection and the new volumes published this winter. Harvard University Press, founded in 1913, has published many bestsellers and critically-acclaimed books for general readers and scholarly/professional audiences. Dr. Sen strategizes and oversees Harvard University Press’ overall book acquisition program.

Transforming the Art of Learning: The Work of Pre-Texts with Doris Sommer

Transforming the Art of Learning: The Work of Pre-Texts with Doris Sommer

Professor Doris Sommer, a Mittal Institute Steering Committee member, recently visited the Indian city of Pune to launch the Pre-Texts project, a pedagogy based on interpretation through the arts. She is partnering with Professor Yugank Goyal of FLAME University in Pune, where the project is being housed. Pre-Texts is an arts-based training program for teachers of literacy, critical thinking, and citizenship. While the number of readers has grown worldwide, reading comprehension stays alarmingly low because students need to use texts in order to understand them. With Pre-Texts, students master texts by using them to create visual and performative arts.

The Economics of Decision-Making: A Spotlight on the Work of Graduate Student Associate Ronak Jain

The Economics of Decision-Making: A Spotlight on the Work of Graduate Student Associate Ronak Jain

Ronak Jain, a Mittal Institute Graduate Student Associate, is a 4th year Ph.D. student in Economics at Harvard University. Her research interests lie in the intersection of economic development and behavioral economics. Her work seeks to understand how beliefs and preferences shape economic and psychological outcomes of individuals and communities, with a regional focus on South Asia. She is a former Harvard Kennedy Scholar. She also serves as a Resident Advisor for Graduate Students in the GSAS Residence Halls at Harvard.