Dr Sambaiah Gundimeda, Associate Professor of Politics, SIAS, Krea University has been invited by the Centre for Development Studies (CDS), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, to deliver the 6th Dr B R Ambedkar Memorial Lecture titled Democracy and Social Justice: Reading Ambedkar in Our Times, on 3 May, 2024. 

Abstract: According to the Paris-based Reporters without Borders, India has fallen to 161st place out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index. Similarly, in the V-Dem Academic Freedom Index, India is ranked in the bottom 20-30% category, below countries such as Libya, Pakistan, Ethiopia, and others.

How would Ambedkar have responded to the shrinking space for dissent in contemporary India?

For the past three decades, there has been a serious divide between some Dalit castes that accessed reservations and others who could not. While the latter demand sub-classification of SC reservations in the name of social justice, the former counter such demands in the name of unity within the Dalit category.

If Ambedkar were to be alive, what kind of solution would he have offered?

In a move toward eradication of caste, Ambedkar in his “Annihilation of Caste” argued that only ‘fusion of blood’ can truly evoke the sense of kinship.

How can we advance Ambedkar’s project of the annihilation of caste?

Drawing from Ambedkar’s insights, the proposed lecture aims to reflect upon the questions of freedom of speech, social justice and annihilation of caste in our times.

For more details, click here

Dr Vivek Radhakrishnan, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, SIAS, Krea University has authored two recent publications:  

1. An article titled Immaṉuel Kāṇt: Maṉithaṉai Aṟiyum Vaḻi (Immanuel Kant: Knowing the Human), published in The Hindu – Tamil Thisai

Access the publication here and here. 

2. Crito (allathu, Naṉṉaṭatai Patṟi) (Translation of Plato’s Crito), published in Kanali – Online Cultural-Literary Magazine, 34

Read the article here. 

Dr Sayandeb Chowdhury, Senior Assistant Professor of Literature, SIAS, Krea University recently authored two articles. 

The article titled The Spectre Of Sergei Eisenstein In Cinema, published in the magazine Outlook India, can be read here. 

The article titled Mistimed Politics: Why The Left Is Partly Responsible For The BJP’s Rise In West Bengal, published in The Wire, can be read here. 

Dr Sambaiah Gundimeda, Associate Professor of Politics, SIAS, Krea University was invited to participate as a special guest at the two-day international conference on New Media and Its Publics in India, hosted by SRM University, AP on 18-19 April, 2024. During a roundtable discussion on New Media: Realities and Divergences, Dr Gundimeda delivered a presentation on Vicissitudes of Caste in Indian Cinema.

 Read more here. 

Dr Sushant Raut, Assistant Professor of Physics, SIAS, Krea University has been invited to deliver lectures at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences in Bangalore as a part of their Understanding the Universe through Neutrinos school (22 April to 3 May, 2024). This programme is aimed at PhD students who are starting their research in particle physics. Dr Raut will train the students in simulating long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments which help us to probe the masses of subatomic particles and the symmetries underlying their interactions.

Dr Rama Devi, Visiting Assistant Professor, SIAS, Krea University, along with Professor Sawmya Ray, IIT Guwahati, delivered an invited talk titled Not just work, but a respectable work: Caste, Gender, and Employment at the International Conference Celebrating 100 Years of Sociology in India, organised by the University of Hyderabad on 1-3 April, 2024. 

Find out more. 

Dr Suchika Chopra, Assistant Professor of Economics, SIAS, Krea University has been chosen for the Junior Scholar Intensive Training (JSIT) program scheduled for June 2024. This program, hosted by the UW-Madison Retirement and Disability Research Center (UW RDRC) and supported by the United States Social Security Administration Retirement and Disability Research Consortium (RDRC), is a weeklong research training initiative. Its purpose is to provide mentored training to 15 scholars who are researching social safety nets, social insurance, and retirement and disability issues. Specifically, Dr Chopra will be working on understanding how state policies such as Medicare and Medicaid protect near-retirement households from the financial risk of healthcare expenses.
Additionally, on 9 February, 2024, Dr Chopra presented her paper titled Understanding the Gender Wealth Gap in Germany: Asset Value vs. Asset Ownership at the Annual Conference on Economics and Finance hosted by BITS Pilani, Hyderabad. This paper documents and investigates the gender wealth disparity among married and cohabiting couples in Germany, highlighting that this disparity stems from both differences in asset ownership at the extensive margin and differences in wealth given asset ownership at the intensive margin. 

A book review by Dr Rama Devi, Visiting Assistant Professor, SIAS, Krea University, titled Book review: Sudha Pai, D. Shyam Babu and Rahul Verma (Ed), Dalits in the New Millenium has been published in the recent issue of the Indian Journal of Human Development. 

 Access the publication here.