News
Rutgers to set up ICCR chair of contemporary Indian studies
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On June 19, 2013, Rutgers University signed a memorandum of understanding establishing the Indian Council for Cultural Relations Chair of Contemporary Indian Studies at Rutgers University. This event followed Rutgers's receipt of a grant of approximately $250,000 from President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s 21st Century Knowledge Initiative. The program was announced in November 2009 as an affirmation of the leaders' commitment to enhancing India-U.S. partnerships in education. Rutgers, with the assistance of its partner institution, Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, will welcome a distinguished visiting professor from India to teach courses, deliver public lectures and engage directly with faculty, staff and students between 2014-2017. The initiative aims to increase study abroad opportunities for American students through international service learning, internships and dual degree opportunities.
Ambassador Dnyaneshwar M. Mulay, Consul General of India; Rochelle Hendricks, New Jersey Secretary of Higher Education; and Richard L. Edwards, executive vice president for academic affairs at Rutgers, were joined by members of Rutgers' India Initiative and South Asian Studies Program, as well as community members.
Annual South Asian Studies Reception
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New Course on South Asia in History Department: Imperialism
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Professor Chie Ikeya in the Department of History is offering a new course with content featuring South Asia. This course can be taken as one of the required courses in South Asian History for the South Asian Studies Minor. For questions, contact the SASP Director, Asher Ghertner, or Professor Ikeya.
The Rutgers University Chakra Endowed Fund
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Established in 2004, the Chakra Endowed Fund encourages the study of South Asia at Rutgers University by enhancing the Rutgers Library holdings in this area. The fund supports the acquisition of books, periodicals, films, microfilms, DVDs, and other media.
Additionally, the Chakra Fund supports the Chakra Student Paper Prize, an annual student paper competition that includes a cash award to encourage further study of South Asia. Undergraduate papers are expected to be approximately ten to twenty-five double-spaced pages in length, and graduate papers should be approximately twenty to forty pages in length. Submissions may include, but are not limited to, course term papers, chapters from honors theses, or papers produced during independent study or study abroad. The paper can be on any topic in any discipline (or combination of disciplines) related to one or more countries in South Asia or the South Asian diaspora.
Students interested in submitting a paper should download this application form and email the completed application with your paper to Prof. Johan Mathew (
We are deeply grateful to the generous anonymous donors who have established the Chakra Endowed Fund to support the Rutgers South Asian Studies Program and to fund this student paper prize. Individuals who would like to contribute to The Chakra Endowed Fund or to support SASP in some other way are encouraged to contact Prof. Johan Mathew, Director, South Asian Studies Program.
The 2024 Chakra Prize was awarded to:
Rudrani Sarma, SAS-English, for his paper entitled "Jeffrey Immanuel Jebastian, SAS-Geography, for his paper entitled “Caste is Space: Production of Caste and the Uneven Geographies of Brahminism."
Click here to view past award winners