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SPS organises a seminar by Pradipta Chaudhury

SPS organises a seminar by Pradipta Chaudhury

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SPS organises a seminar by Pradipta Chaudhury
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School of Physical Sciences

 Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

 

Title: India in the Global Context over a very long period

 

 Speaker: Pradipta Chaudhury

School of Social Sciences, JNU

 

 Date:  24– April -2019

 Time:   4 pm, Wednesday

 Venue: Seminar Room, SPS

 

 Abstract : We try to understand some major trends in India in the context of evolution of human civilization over the last 5000-6000 years. Using the dictum of the Buddha to respect facts and logic, and the methods of interdisciplinary, comparative and long-period analyses, the received textbook wisdom is reexamined.

It is seen that at least six interrelated aspects of human civilization, namely, geography, political-economy, instincts of violence and wars, human capital, science and technology and trade and finance have played crucial roles in the evolution of human civilization. The success of and dominance by the western European countries and their offshoots, during the last 200-500 years are seen to be founded on greed, violence, cunning, deception and loot. On the other  hand, the much older Asian (Chinese and Indian) civilizations  and traditions are seen to be founded on high levels of human capital, science and technology, balanced political-economic structures, control of greed, harmony, and rule based centralized and de-centralized administration.India’s early rise to the position of the center of human civilization and her preeminence during the period from 2500 BC to 700 AD, the subsequent decline of northern India and the continued preeminence of southern India till about 1600 AD, and the rise and rise of China over the very very long period and her predominant position in the world since about 800 AD to 1800 AD and her remarkable rise in the past 70 years provide huge lessons for us

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.