Dr Dipanjali Deka, Visiting Assistant Professor, Centre for Writing and Pedagogy presented a lecture-demonstration in Jindal Global University on 8 April 2025 titled ‘The Art of Dying – Songs and Dohas of Kabir and other Nirguni Poets’. In the presentation, Dr Deka examined the questions of orality, memory, fluidity and relevance in the living tradition of Kabir, through the themes of social and religious criticism, death and impermanence, non-duality and love in Kabir’s philosophy.
An article co-authored by Dr Chirag Dhara, Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies and Dr Soumyajit Bhar, BML Munjal University, titled Why sustainable development ought to look more like Costa Rica, less like Norway has been recently published in 360info. The article deep dives into the question, “which countries have achieved decent living standards in a way that could be scaled worldwide without severely breaking planetary limits?”
Dr Sambaiah Gundimeda, Associate Professor, Politics, SIAS was invited to speak on the panel “Caste and Equality” at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, during its annual conference on “The Courts and the Constitution”, held from 29-30 March 2025. Dr Gundimeda discussed a recent Supreme Court verdict on the sub-classification of Scheduled Caste reservations in Davinder Singh v State of Punjab, 2024.
Dr Gundimeda, in his discussion, critiqued Justice Bela Trivedi’s dissenting opinion, which asserts that Scheduled Castes (SCs) should be treated as a homogeneous group without internal divisions in reservations. He countered this by emphasising the diversity within SCs, the dominance of certain Dalit sub-castes in availing reservation benefits, and the structural inequalities that necessitate sub-classification.
He argued that true justice is not merely about treating all SCs as equals but about ensuring that the most marginalised within the category receive the support they need. Additionally, he addressed broader themes of structural injustice, representation, and systemic barriers that hinder equitable access to opportunities for the most disadvantaged SC sub-groups.
Dr Suchika Chopra, Assistant Professor, Economics, SIAS presented her research paper, titled ‘Home and Community-Based Services: A Strategy to Decrease Nursing Home Use?’ at the 17th Annual Conference of the German Association of Health Economics at the University of Paderborn on 25 March 2025. The paper explores the impact of Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) on nursing home utilisation by looking at county-level changes in HCBS establishments and their employees.
Dr Sairam Moturi, Assistant Professor, Finance, Accounting, and Quantitative Finance, IFMR GSB, conducted a workshop on Financing Startups using LEGO blocks as part of a Faculty Development Program. Sponsored by the Ministry of Education Innovation Cell and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the program was held at IISER-Tirupati on 27 March 2025. Faculty members from universities and colleges across Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu attended the workshop.
Under the guidance of Nagarani M, Associate Professor, OB & HR and Head of Placements, IFMR GSB, Professor Srinivasan Kalyanasundaram, Professor of Practice, Finance, IFMR GSB and Suresh Kurukkath, Senior Manager, Placements, IFMR GSB represented Krea University at the UK-India Skills Mission Meeting. The event, coordinated by the IT-ITeS Sector Skills Council of NASSCOM, was hosted at the British High Commission on 21 March 2025 in Chennai.
The gathering brought together leading Chartered Institutes and Certificate Awarding Institutions from the UK, fostering discussions on collaboration opportunities to enhance industry-relevant skills among students. These engagements pave the way for international partnerships, internships, and certifications, further enriching students’ career trajectories.
Professor Srinivasan Kalyanasundaram, Professor of Practice, Finance, IFMR GSB, has successfully completed the Fundamentals of Case Teaching course by Harvard Business Publishing.
Dr Chirag Dhara, Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies, SIAS, delivered a talk at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning (CESP), Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, on 18 March 2025. The talk, titled “Inequality and Climate Destabilisation,” was part of the CESP Seminar Series 2025.
Abstract
How would the world have warmed if each country’s lifestyle had been globally adopted? Our analysis reveals that universalising the lifestyles of most industrialised countries would have warmed the planet by over 1.5°C by 2002. Thus, the current (relative) climate stability is owed to the modest lifestyles of the global majority. Many consequences follow.
Dr Joya John, Assistant Professor, Literature, SIAS, has been selected to attend the Balzan Colloquium at the Institute of World Literature, Harvard University, from 30 June to 24 July 2025. The three-week colloquium brings together participants from five regions of the world: Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and South/Southeast Asia. Each year, the colloquium focuses on a specific topic with implications for world literature. In 2025, the theme will be ‘Literature and Environmental Crisis’. Participants will meet weekly to share and discuss their work on the topic and will be invited to submit their essays for a special issue of the Journal of World Literature, scheduled for publication in the fall of the following year.
Dr Chirag Dhara, Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies, SIAS, along with Dr Soumyajit Bhar, has penned an op-ed in The Hindu titled The dangerous illusion cast by development rankings. The authors articulate a new vision of sustainable development, discussing how the United Nations Development Program has shaped countries’ perceptions of progress for decades. They argue that its conception of development is outdated and incompatible with advances in sustainability science. The piece proposes a new framework for development in the 21st century.