The objective of the India studies component of the Council's education program is to promote, through support for Indian studies in Australian universities and schools, an informed understanding of Indian society and politics.

As noted above, the major component of the Indian studies program during 2000–01 was the Australia–India teacher exchange managed by the Asia Education Foundation.

Other Indian studies projects which received AIC funding during 2000–01 included:

• participation by prominent Indian writer Ms Shashi Despande in the Melbourne Writers' Festival in August and September 2000
  
  
• participation by Professor Saraswati Raju and Dr Naresh Kumar of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and Professor Rana Singh of Banaras Hindu University in the first stage of the Australian component of the Internationalising South Asia Scholarly Data project, designed to integrate and facilitate the availability of academic writing on the region
  
  
• participation by Professor Sadhana Naithani of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, Professor Jawaharlal Handoo of the Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, and Dr Kishore Bhattacharjee of Gauhati University in the Traditions and Transitions: Folk Narrative in the Contemporary World congress in Melbourne during July 2001.

Australia–India Council Annual Report 2000–2001

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