The Council's Indian studies program seeks to
promote the informed interpretation of Indian society and politics
within Australia. The Council provided funding to enable Emeritus
Professor A R Kulkarni of Tilak Vidyapeeth University, Pune (left) and
Professor Meera Kosambi, Director of the Research Centre for Women's
Studies at the SNDT University for Women, Mumbai (right) to attend the
Eighth International Conference on Maharashtra, held in Sydney in
January 1999. Also pictured are conference convenors Dr Jim Massellos
(second left) and Dr Jayant Bapat.

The objective of the Council's Indian studies program is to promote
within Australia an informed interpretation of Indian society and politics.

To encourage the study of India in Australian universities, the Council has
supported a series of workshops conducted by the National Centre for South
Asian Studies (NCSAS) which have brought together honours and postgraduate
students from all parts of Australia to discuss research and future directions
in Indian studies with experts from Australia and overseas. The fifth such
workshop, for which AIC funding had been agreed in the previous financial
year, was held in Melbourne in July 1998. The workshops are now planned to be
two-yearly events.

In 1998-99, the Council also provided funding to the NCSAS to assist the
participation of young Australian economics students in the Annual
Undergraduate Economics Convention, to be held in Mumbai in December 1999.

The Council provided funding for the participation of Professor P Patnaik
of the Centre for Economic and Policy Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University
(JNU) New Delhi, Professor C D Wadhva of the Centre for Policy Research, New
Delhi, and Professor S K Sareen of the School of Languages, Literature and
Culture Studies, JNU, in the Midnight to Millennium conference on
recent and potential developments in Australia-India relations, to be held at
the University of Canberra during July 1999.

The Council also provided funding to assist participation by eminent Indian
speakers in other conferences of relevance to the Australia-India
relationship, including:

• a visit by Professor Ravinder Kumar, former Director of the Nehru
  Memorial Library and Museum, New Delhi, to give the keynote address at the
  biennial Asian Studies Association of Australia conference in Sydney in
  September-October 1998 and to present discussion papers, public seminars
  and briefings at universities in Armidale, Adelaide, Sydney, Canberra,
  Melbourne and Perth
• participation by Professor A R Kulkarni of the Tilak Vidyapeeth, Pune,
  and Professor Meera Kosambi, Director of the Research Centre for Women's
  Studies, SNDT Women's University, Mumbai, in the Eighth International
  Conference on Maharashtra, held in Sydney in January 1999
• participation of Professor Ashis Nandy, Director of the Centre for the
  Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi, as inaugural Visiting Fellow at
  the Institute of Postcolonial Studies, Melbourne, in March 1999.

To encourage broad Australian interest in and understanding of India
through India's vibrant literary culture, the Council provided funding to
enable participation by prominent Indian writers in leading Australian
writers' festivals, including:

• participation of Ms Ruchira Mukherjee in the Sydney Writers' Festival in
  May 1999
• participation of Ms Chitra Divakaruni and Mr Raj Kamal Jha in the
  Melbourne Writers' Festival in August 1999
• participation of Mr Amit Chaudhuri in the Adelaide Festival Writers'
  Week in March 2000.

Paul Grabowsky, artistic director of the Australian Art Orchestra (back to camera) leads the orchestra in their applause for Karaikudi R Mani (right with bouquet) and his Sruthi Laya Ensemble, following a performance of the musical collaboration Into the Fire at the Elder Auditorium as part of the 1998 Adelaide Festival. The Council provided funding for production of a CD recording of the two orchestras performing Into the Fire.

Mr David Demant of Museum Victoria demonstrates a clock made from simple, readily-available components at the Sirsa Science Centre, Haryana, during his visit to India, with AIC support, to participate in the Second Science Centre World Congress held in Calcutta in January 1999.