NEWSLETTER
June 22, 2018
"Despite considerable odds, the tribal people from India’s most remote district resisted marginalization and surmounted structural obstacles by constructing 100 km of road. By doing so, they succeeded in carving their own path to mobility where the state failed miserably. The collective labor of the community achieved what the second most powerful man in the country could not," writes Raile Rocky Ziipao , Mittal Institute Fellow, in an op-ed about the construction of the People's Road.
The deadline for the Crossroads Emerging Leaders Program is approaching fast! Make sure you get your application in by June 30, 2018. Learn more about the application process with the following video.
The VAF is an eight-week program, based in Cambridge, that connects artists from South Asia to Harvard’s intellectual resources. The Fellowship provides a platform for conducting independent research that explores critical issues in South Asia through the lens of art and design. Apply now or share with friends!
Wednesday, June 27, 6:00-7:30 PM , Seminar Hall 3, Kamala Devi Complex, India International Centre, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi
As part of the Mittal Institute's monthly India Seminar Series hosted in New Delhi,  Raile Rocky Ziipao will be presenting his work, which investigates the social dynamics of infrastructure development in India’s frontier and border region from socio-anthropological and political perspectives using political economy as his theoretical framework.
"As an official from the United Nations noted, [Myanmar] is still  not safe  for the return of its estimated 700,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees, who fled to Bangladesh in 2017 to escape an ongoing state-sponsored military campaign and persecution from Buddhist neighbors," says Cresa Pugh , Harvard Doctoral Student, who spent two months between June and July 2017 talking to Rohingya individuals, who are still in the country living in an internally displaced person camp, about their  experiences of violence, displacement and loss. 
A new op-ed by Dr. Sanjay Kumar , Mittal Institute India Country Director, discusses the non-engagement of Indian women and girls in physical activities saying that "either they choose themselves not to play and not to remain physically active or their parents or society do not favour their activeness." He calls on Indian female athletes and sportswomen to lead a sustained ‘Women’s Fitness Movement’ for increasing female participation in sports, athletics or any physical activity with institutional support from the central and state governments.
Forbidden love occupies a special place in South Asian popular culture, but the grandeur and romance depicted in films and novels is typically unavailable to real couples. In this think piece published in the Harvard Political Review, Harvard College student Miriam Alphonsus assesses the societal and familial pressures arrayed against contemporary love marriages in South Asia.
A new op-ed co-authored by Mittal Institute Faculty Director Tarun Khanna and K VijayRaghavan , discusses the current state of India’s science and technology-focused startup movement, and how to further facilitate the growth of India's industry and economy in the coming decades .  
OPPORTUNITIES
Seeking TFs and a Head TF for Societies of the World 47: Contemporary Developing Countries: Entrepreneurial Solutions to Intractable Social and Economic Problems . This multi-disciplinary, university-wide course is jointly offered with FAS, GSAS, HBS, HGSE, HKS, HLS, and HSPH, and is coordinated by Prof Tarun Khanna (HBS), and Dr. Satchit Balsari (HMS), and co-taught by several other faculty from around the university. 
FLASHBACK FRIDAY
On March 4, 2015, Asma Jahangir,  noted Pakistani human rights lawyer and social activist delivered the Harvard Asia Center’s Tsai Lecture titled ‘Pakistan: From Crisis to Crisis.’ The Mittal Institute spoke with Ms. Jahangir after the lecture about women’s empowerment, the future of human rights, freedom of expression, and Pakistan’s complicated political relationships with India and the US. Ms. Jahangir died on February 11, 2018 at the age of 66.