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VIKAS

VIKAS

New Fellows Application

 

About Us

Vidyaranya Institute of Knowledge and Advanced Studies (VIKAS), previously known as JNU Institute of Advanced Studies and later renamed as Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Advanced Studies (JNIAS), has evolved since mid-1990s. Completing its existence as an Institute for more than two decades, VIKAS seeks to expand its outreach and visibility and emerge as a pioneering research institute of the country. It aims to provide leadership in making India a vibrant knowledge society in the emerging levels global village which is going through paradigmatic structural transformations at multiple.

Vision

VIKAS aims to become a nucleus of Indo-centric studies.

Mission

VIKAS would be an effective academic voice of non-western, Sanatani, Dharmic and alternative narratives such as Pali, Prakrit, Tamil and Sanskrit.

Focus

• Until very recently, Europe had studied Non-European societies, cultures and civilizations from the Imperialist Ideology, popularly known as Orientalism; and European study of India as a colony by canons of Indology developed by Christian missionaries, orientalists and civil servants of the East India Company as well as the British Raj. JNU institute of Advanced Study later (in May 11, 2004) renamed as JNIAS had tried to decolonize the study of India as a civilizational state and traditional Indic civilization by exchanging ideas with global scholars. During Covid-19 pandemic years however it was realized that mere decolonization was not sufficient in the rapidly changing global scenario. Ongoing Russia-Ukraine war has already complicated the volatile situation of pandemic scenario. Therefore, JNIAS working group started wider consultation regarding transforming JNIAS as an advanced study of non-western cosmologies, ontologies, epistemologies as well as of a new science of Westology, which would try to understand traditional, modern and postmodern nation states and liquid cultural mindspace from non-western, Asian and Sanatani perspectives. The process of consultation was started in the first week of October 2022 and after extensive consultations the executive council of the University decided to rename JNIAS as VIKAS on May 3, 2023.The focus of VIKAS would be to study and disseminate Indo-centric knowledge in the following subjects:

  • History, Culture and Philosophy in Indian civilizations from Indic perspective
  • Arts, Crafts, Cinema, Media and Performance Studies from the Indic perspective
  • Westology -  Study of western culture and civilization from the Indic and Asian Perspectives.
  • Inter-civilizational dialogue
  • State, Society, Culture and Languages of the Asian countries
  • Science, Technology and Innovation
  • Defense, Security, Diplomacy and Foreign Policy
  • Economy, Growth and Sustainable Development
  • Women led development
Role

Role of VIKAS within the University would be distinct and unique.

  • VIKAS would be a platform that would enable collaboration and research between the fellows and with the university community.
  • VIKAS would create and offer a vibrant intellectual environment that supports research, inquiry and collaboration and integrates the natural and social sciences in an ideally located residential facility within the JNU.
  • VIKAS would offer a stimulating environment that would lead to incubating frontier areas of research with an emphasis on inter/multi/trans-disciplinarity, cutting edge research and enquiry across all disciplines that are taught / researched in JNU.
  • VIKAS would encourage new research work to be undertaken that brings intellectual exercise with a spirit of curiosity.
  • VIKAS would enable and encourage a small group of scholars to collaboratively engage with an interdisciplinary thematic project.

Chairperson/Director
 

 

Prof. Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit
Vice Chancellor, JNU
Chairperson,
Vidyaranya Institute of Knowledge and Advanced Studies (VIKAS)
Jawaharlal Nehru University
New Delhi - 110067, India
Email: vc@mail.jnu.ac.in

 

 

 

Prof. Brajesh Kumar Pandey
Director
Vidyaranya Institute of Knowledge and Advanced Studies (VIKAS)
Jawaharlal Nehru University
New Delhi - 110067, India
Email: vidyaranya@jnu.ac.in

 

 

Dr. Sangmesh
Deputy Director
Vidyaranya Institute of Knowledge and Advanced Studies (VIKAS)
Jawaharlal Nehru University
New Delhi - 110067, India
Email: vidyaranya@jnu.ac.in

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.