Ummid Assistant

Taj Group to train underprivileged rural youth in Maharashtra

Robotics competition for Andhra school students

Welcome Guest! You are here: Home » Education & Career

Jamia Millia prepares 'brains' to help India understand neighbours

Thursday May 09, 2013 02:15:50 PM, Meha Mathur, IANS

New Delhi: Jamia Millia Islamia, one of the country's oldest universities, has embarked upon a series of country-specific programmes to prepare a cadre of experts to fulfil the research needs of the government and think tanks, something which foreign service officials are perhaps not adept at doing, the university says.

"The neighbours are extremely critical for us to understand. So what we produce in terms of MPhils and PhDs will actually go and produce the brains for the country. When the government is looking for brains, these MPhils will fulfil that need, " Jamia Vice Chancellor Najeeb Jung told IANS.

Individuals drawn from both academia and the corridors of diplomacy run these programmes. T.C.A. Rangachari, the director of the Academy of International Studies (AIS), served as India's ambassador to France, Germany and Algeria and was the division head of China in the foreign ministry.

Zikrur Rahman spent 25 years as a diplomat in the Arab world and was the Indian ambassador to Palestine.

There are also academics who have spent their entire careers on research. Field work being critical to successful research, each centre is striving to solve this challenge in its own unique way.

For instance, the biggest challenge is before the Pakistan Studies Programme (PSP), where travel by PhD students to Pakistan is practically ruled out. But as programme coordinator Ajay Darshan Behera told IANS: "We subvert this problem by engaging as many scholars and experts as possible from Pakistan by inviting them to Jamia."

Through a series of seminars, the PSP has invited the Who's Who of Pakistan's intelligentsia, diplomacy and literary world to Jamia, including the former ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani.

The PSP, set up in 2004 and recognised by the UGC in 2005, aims to promote greater understanding among scholars about Pakistan through extensive research work on the country's history, sociology, culture, literature, contemporary politics, trade and economics, geopolitics, and security and foreign policy.

The Afghanistan Studies Programme encourages inter-disciplinary research focussing on the history, sociology, contemporary politics, economics, geopolitics, security, foreign policy and also languages.

The programme is designed to stimulate debate in India on the politics, society, and economics of Afghanistan. It hopes to produce a pool of scholars with expertise on Afghanistan in India.

The UGC-sanctioned China Studies Programme will focus on studying the country's internal dynamics and external relations.

"While India's approach to China is dominated by Sino-Indian relations, we need experts who understand the internal dynamics of China," programme coordinator Ravni Thakur said.

Now being developed, the programme will examine all facets of contemporary China and will incorporate the Chinese language as a mandatory course.

The programme titled Central Asia and its Neighbourhoods: Past Ties and Future Relations was started in 2007 following UGC approval.

It's of high relevance because the countries that emerged out of the Soviet Union are still evolving a new identity for themselves by de-Russifying and because the region is geo-politically important to the world and is also energy rich.

Programme coordinator Rashmi Doraiswamy says it will not focus just on polity and economy but also on culture and society.

Jamia's India-Arab Cultural Centre (IACC) has emerged as a centre of excellence for knowledge on Arab history, polity, economy, society and culture and on India-Arab relations.

The centre's Gulf Studies Programme is a dedicated research unit for knowledge generation and dissemination and runs PhD programmes to prepare a cadre of experts on the Arab region. The Centre also offers a PG Diploma in Iranology.



(Meha Mathur can be contacted at mehamathur@gmail.com)


 

 

 

 

 

 





 

Home | Top of the Page

Comments

Note: By posting your comments here you agree to the terms and conditions of www.ummid.com

Comments powered by DISQUS

i

More Headlines

Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah is dead

SBI California ordered to clean up US operations

SC terms CBI caged parrot speaking in master's voice

Maharashtra BJP leader accused of rape

Under renovation Mosque collapsed in Malegaon, one dead

Mixed bag for Muslim candidates as Cong regains Karnataka after 08 years

SP opens its account in Karnataka assembly

Shafiqur Rahman walks out of LS while Vande Mataram being played

US: No Entry for Mr. Narendra Modi

Protestors disrupt IMF chief's programme in Amsterdam

24 of 30 Rahmani 30 students qualify for JEE - Advanced 2013

 

Top Stories

Karnataka Polls

Congress set to form govt, BJP routed

The Congress Wednesday appeared set to emerge as the single largest party albeit with a slender  »

Mixed bag for Muslim candidates as Cong regains Karnataka after 08 years

SP opens its account in Karnataka assembly

 

  Most Read

Malegaon Mosque collapse

Death toll two, at least four still trapped

The death toll in the Sulaimani Masjid collapse has been raised to two while at least  »

Under renovation Mosque collapsed in Malegaon, one dead

Role Model

A dream come true, says Madrasa graduate selected for civil services

Throughout my Madrasa life, the one dream that I've cherished while sleeping on the straw mats, was to clear the Civil Services exams, Hammad Zafar  »

 

  News Pick

'786' proved lucky for Pervez Naikwadi in Civil Services exams

Pervez Naikwadi has always kept very close to his heart '786', the number considered auspicious by many in the Indian sub-continent. And when the results of the 2012 UPSC Mains  »

21-year old Saalim Nachan gets bail after eight months in jail

The Bombay High Court on Monday granted bail to Saalim Nachan - a 21-year-old engineering student who was arested for allegedly opening fire at a VHP member Manoj Raicha in 2012. Saalim's advocate Rebecca Gonsalves  »

DRDO scientist can be reinstated if cleared by court, says Antony

Aijaz Ahmed - a Junior Research scientist at Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) can be reinstated if he gets cleared from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Special Court, Defence Minister AK Antony said in the Lok Sabha on Monday. “National Investigation   »

07/11 Mumbai blast

Info sought under RTI contradicts witness statements

Information obtained under Right to Information (RTI) Act contradicted what had been claimed by the witnesses in the July 11, 2006 Mumbai train blast, an accused said in the Special Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) Court on Monday  »

 

Picture of the Day

Parvez Naikwadi (left) and Shakeel Ansari met Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Moday. The two are among the 30 Muslims who have  cleared the 2012 UPSC Mains Exams. Also seen in the picture is Minister of Minority Development Department Arif Naseem Khan.

 

Recommend the story to your friends

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

RSS  |  Contact us

 

| Quick links

News

 

Subscribe to

Ummid Assistant

 

National

Science & Technology

RSS

Scholarships

About us

International

Health

Twitter

Government Schemes

Feedback

Regional

History

Facebook

Education

Register

Politics

Opinion

Newsletter

Contact us

Business

The Funny Side

Education & Career

 

 

Ummid.com: Disclaimer | Terms of Use | Advertise with us | Link Exchange

Ummid.com is part of the Awaz Multimedia & Publications providing World News, News Analysis and Feature Articles on Education, Health. Politics, Technology, Sports, Entertainment, Industry etc. The articles or the views displayed on this website are for public information and in no way describe the editorial views. The users are entitled to use this site subject to the terms and conditions mentioned.

© 2012 Awaz Multimedia & Publications. All rights reserved.