Author: krea-wp

Professor Sumantra Bose discusses Kashmir’s evolving geopolitical landscape on Al Jazeera, BBC Sounds and The New York Times

krea-wp 0 Comment Faculty & Staff Spotlight, General Topics

Professor Sumantra Bose, Professor, International and Comparative Politics, SIAS, has recently drawn significant media attention for his insights into the shifting geopolitical dynamics between India and Pakistan.

On 25 April 2025, Professor Bose appeared on Inside Story on Al Jazeera, where he discussed the escalating tensions following the tragic Pahalgam attack in Jammu & Kashmir. He emphasised the deepening crisis and the potential for further destabilisation in the region. The episode explored the impact of the attack on bilateral relations and what it may signal for the future. Watch the full discussion here.

In a follow-up article published on 28 April 2025, titled ‘Burst balloon’: How Pahalgam attack shattered Modi’s Kashmir narrative, Professor Bose critically examined how the attack has disrupted the Indian government’s long-standing narrative of stability and normalcy in Kashmir, exposing key flaws in its approach. Read the full article here.

Most recently, on 1 May 2025, he featured on The Briefing Room on BBC Sounds in a BBC Radio 4 episode titled ‘Are India and Pakistan on the brink of war over Kashmir?’, offering expert commentary on the historical and current dimensions of the conflict. Listen to the episode here.

The same day, The New York Times featured a detailed report on the Pahalgam attack and its aftermath, titled India Blames Pakistan After Kashmir Attack Kills 25 Tourists. Professor Bose was among the key experts cited, offering a sobering assessment of the region’s volatility and the dangers of renewed escalation. He noted how such events reflect underlying tensions that have long remained unresolved and pointed to the urgent need for a more thoughtful, historically informed approach to regional peace. Read the full article here

A leading authority on South Asian politics, Professor Bose is the author of Kashmir at the Crossroads: Inside a 21st-Century Conflict (Yale, 2021; Picador India in the subcontinent, and updated Picador India paperback, 2024), which provides a compelling, deeply informed account of the Kashmir conflict from 1947 to the present.

His expertise continues to shape discourse on South Asian politics, providing nuanced perspectives on complex regional issues.

Before joining Krea University, Professor Bose held a Chair at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), where he taught and conducted research for nearly two decades.

His acclaimed publications include:

  • Secular States, Religious Politics: India, Turkey, and the Future of Secularism (Cambridge University Press, 2018)
  • Transforming India: Challenges to the World’s Largest Democracy (Harvard University Press, 2013)

Note From the Vice Chancellor (Thursday, 13th January 2022)

krea-wp 0 Comment General Topics
Note From the Vice Chancellor (Thursday, 13th January 2022)

After serious and careful consideration of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Krea University campus residents, it was decided on Wednesday 12th January 2022 to strongly advise students to make preparations to exit the campus. 

All classes were suspended from 12th to 17th January inclusive and the University will facilitate travel arrangements for students. 

Please note that students have been brought back in batches since late August 2021. All those on campus including students, faculty, staff and families were tested recently and any one found positive was placed in quarantine. The same applied to Faculty and families in Sri City who do not live on campus. All precautions as per standard norms have been followed. Please note all, repeat all, on campus are double vaccinated and also that Covid protocols prevail as per norms.

The decision to advise departure follows assessment of an emerging situation. We will continue to review developments and hope students and Faculty can all return to a fully active and functioning campus in safe, healthy and stable conditions. This difficult decision was taken in the interests of the health and safety of all.

Krea University embarks on an ambitious faculty hiring plan for 2021-22

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Krea University embarks on an ambitious faculty hiring plan for 2021-22

The School of Interwoven Arts and Sciences (SIAS) at Krea University has embarked on an ambitious program of faculty hiring for the academic year 2021-22. 

At Krea, we take pride in the fact that our world-class faculty uphold our vision of Interwoven learning, representing the very best their disciplines have to offer in teaching, research, and practice. With successive rounds of hiring in full swing, our increased faculty strength will substantially expand areas of expertise and widen the ambit of our curriculum, course offerings, choice of majors, and research agenda.

As a result of an extensive search, a diverse pool of over 40 new hires in full time and visiting positions are slated to join the SIAS faculty cohort in the sciences, social sciences, humanities, and the arts. They are outstanding teachers and scholars/practitioners hailing from world renowned institutions in Europe, United States, and Asia (including India) in the  disciplines of economics, psychology, environmental studies, computer science, biological sciences, physics, chemistry, mathematics, social studies, politics, literature, and the arts.

Here are some of the new faces we will encounter in the coming year:

Abhishek Shukla (literature, philosophy), Bharath Sethuraman (mathematics), Shibi Vasudevan (mathematics), Venkat Srinu Bhadram (physics), Vidya Bharati Rajkumar (economics),  Soumyajit Bhar (environmental studies, economics), Anusnigdha (psychology), Srikumar Subramanian (computer science), Lakshman Varanasi (biology), Sudip Roy (chemistry), Venkateswarlu Panchagnula (chemistry), Swarna Rajagopalan (politics). 

In the process of realising our aim of providing a world-class undergraduate education, we will continue to hire faculty and teaching fellows in all the above areas, more than doubling our current strength. 

Please watch this space for an updated list of new additions to our faculty roster. 

Krea University appoints Dr. Mahesh Rangarajan as Vice Chancellor

krea-wp 0 Comment Action Station, General Topics, In Focus, Spotlight
Krea University appoints Dr. Mahesh Rangarajan as Vice Chancellor

Eminent scholar of history and environmental studies to lead Krea University’s efforts to re-imagine education

31st March 2021, Sri City: Krea University announced the appointment of Dr. Mahesh Rangarajan as its next Vice Chancellor, effective July 2021. 

A scholar of global renown, Dr. Rangarajan has a BA (Hons.) in History from Hindu College University of Delhi, an MA and a DPhil, both from Oxford University where he was a Rhodes Scholar.  His wide experience in academia includes faculty positions as Professor of Modern Indian History at the University of Delhi and Professor of History and Environmental Studies at Ashoka University, where he previously served as the Dean of Academic Affairs.  He has also taught at Cornell University, Indian Institute of Science and National Centre for Biological Sciences. His first book ‘Fencing the Forest’ was published in 1996 and the most recent ‘Nature and Nation’, in 2018. His co-edited works include ‘India’s Environmental History’, and ‘At Nature’s Edge’. Having started his career as a journalist, he has also served in roles outside academia, including as the Director of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi.

Dr. Rangarajan’s appointment by the Chancellor of Krea University, Mr. N. Vaghul, comes after a rigorous global search launched by the University last year. The search was led by a committee co-chaired by Dr. Vishakha Desai, Senior Advisor for Global Affairs to the President of Columbia University and Mr. Kapil Viswanathan, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Governing Council. Commenting on the appointment, Mr. Kapil Viswanathan, said, “As a scholar and an administrator with a global outlook, Dr. Rangarajan is well placed to further Krea University’s mission to help humanity prepare for an unpredictable world.  We look forward to Dr. Rangarajan’s leadership, building on Krea University’s strong foundations of ethics, innovation, excellence, inclusivity and accountability.”

Dr. Vishakha Desai, co-chair of the search committee added, “As a renowned scholar of history and environmental studies, Dr. Rangarajan embodies the spirit of interwoven learning that Krea University stands for. His experience in the academy and in public institutions would serve to strengthen Krea University’s commitment to bridging the intellectual world with the one beyond.” 

On his appointment as Vice Chancellor, Dr. Mahesh Rangarajan said, “It is my honour and privilege to accept this position, and join the extraordinarily talented faculty, staff and students of Krea University in pursuit of our shared mission. I will strive to uphold the high standards of innovation and excellence that Krea University stands for.” Krea University’s current Vice Chancellor, Dr. Sunder Ramaswamy will complete his tenure in June 2021 and will continue to be associated with Krea as Distinguished Visiting Professor of Economics.  As the inaugural Vice Chancellor, Dr. Ramaswamy played a key role in shaping Krea University in its formative years.   

Marketing approach during the pandemic crisis

krea-wp 0 Comment Faculty insights
Marketing approach during the pandemic crisis

It is surprising to see the recent whir regarding the uncertainties in the industrial arena amid the pandemic crisis and many pondering over ideas to tackle it through innovative marketing techniques. There is a golden line in marketing, “Do not rest on your laurels” and this says it all. 

Whether there is a pandemic or global economic crisis the change is inevitable in marketing.  Adaptability is the rule number one to travel smoothly on the inclining line of market leadership. Having said that, the anxiety towards the changing market or the change in approach towards the customer, is trivial. 

Technology in marketing has changed the complete game plan. It would have appeared as a far fetched idea if somebody had mentioned it two decades ago.  Here, change in technology doesn’t pertain to the evolution of product. Evolution is something inexorable, irrespective of the market conditions. Black & White TV evolved as Colour TV twenty years ago, which in turn evolved as LEDs and LCDs, a decade ago. That is technology in product making. But in the past six to eight years the overall theme of marketing itself has changed and it is due to three salient developments namely connectivity, hands-on equipment and video streaming facility. 

Data suggests, 51% of the people above the age of 15, all over the world, are connected to the internet in the modern era. If the data is accurate, these numbers are huge. Reaching every single customer through their hands-on equipment gathers efficiency in marketing, with the support of video streaming platforms. 

Today, the companies have the luxury of understanding the search behaviour, decision making process and purchasing pattern of every single customer. By integrating all the platforms, the companies can strategize showcasing the right communication to the right customer on the right handle. If you are astute and effective on playing with ‘real time bidding’, you can put a relevant product or a service advert on the customer’s Instagram or Facebook timeline, something the consumer was searching for a few hours ago on Flipkart or Amazon. Thanks  to the technological evolution in marketing, the efficiency of reaching the target customer has gone up very high. Gone are those days where you put a hoarding on a busy road and wait for the busy riders to have a look at it. 

In line to the technological revamps, the life cycle of any product has come down drastically. It has become very small and nanoscopic. By the time the product developer, of a company, wakes up from a good night’s sleep, the product’s life cycle is dead. Globalization, regulatory policies across the globe and purchase facilitations like bank loan availabilities have added fuel to the fire in shrinking the life cycle of a product. Being a successful survivor in this intense global race has become very challenging. Competitor staying a click away or a microsecond away is an all-time threat for any company. The companies are expected to be the survival of the fittest at any point of time in the current era irrespective of their brand legacy or pedigree. 

Since these healthy challenges are inevitable in marketing, there is no reason to be anxious about the pandemic crisis and the cascading market changing effect. If it wasn’t the Covid effect it would’ve been something else. Ultimately, change is something the marketers should be expecting. If there is no change in their approach they are knocking the wrong door. 

Today, Ola doing a parcel service, Swiggy transporting groceries and boutiques doing door deliveries clearly signifies that the approach to handle the pandemic is rising to the occasion and sculpting the marketing efforts, slightly out of box. Looking at the situation as a boon for efficiency and making use of the new normal as a learning opportunity, is an ingenious new way to triumph. 

Krea University