The Center for Indic Studies at UMass Dartmouth hosted Ambassador Neelam Deo, the Consul General of India in New York, on March 27-28, 2008. The Consul General participated in a series of programs, including a classroom lecture and a community reception and fund raising.

The Center for Indic Studies, established in 2000, has been taking a leading role in offering courses, conferences, seminars, and workshops on various aspects of Indic culture and traditions. Mrs. Deo lectured in the Center’s course on Business Entrepreneurship in India (IST 444), which is being offered during this spring semester.

For students, she outlined a series steps taken by her government in India to promote investment and competitive entrepreneurship in India which is encouraging its business class to venture out throughout the world.

She mentioned several sectors, but pointed out Tata’s Nano car as an example of how Indian entrepreneurship is introducing efficiency in production to reduce the cost. She stated, “Nano could change the paradigm of production itself.”

Asked if Indians’ business competitiveness was the result of something beyond mere cheap labor, such as cultural diversity or democracy, she discounted any such advantage by arguing that Chinese also do well in business without such features.

Speaking at the community reception in Randolph, MA, she emphasized that a common thread between India and the United States was that a large chunk of Indian constitution was lifted directly from the US constitution. She said that such a large scale copying of the constitution would be considered plagiarism if it happened in academia.

The Consul General was very appreciative of the Center’s plans to academically present India’s culture and philosophy and subject it to objective and scientific discussion.   

The reception attracted over 50 prominent members of the Indian American community and other supporters of the Center, who enjoyed a sumptuous dinner from Taste of India served by the staff of Holiday Inn, in the backdrop of beautiful melodies on sitar by Koyel Ghosal with accompanying tabla by Christopher.

The Center’s External Advisory Board hosted the reception with the support of Holiday Inn owner, Mr. Nayan Patel. The Center raised over $25,000 at this event. The funds will add to over $100,000 endowment which the Center has established to promote teaching Indian culture and philosophy to college students.

The Consul General was also invited as a guest to the annual meeting of the Center’s Governing Board on March 28. She was so impressed with the Center’s plans of academic offerings that she proposed that the Consul General of India may be made a permanent ex-offico member of the Board.

Members of Governing Board, which include the University’s Provost, Anthony Garro, readily accepted the proposal, appreciating the gesture of the Consul General. The Consul General will work to promote a scholar exchange program with India under an existing Government of India program.

The Governing Board of the Center is considering plans to initiate a graduate program in Indic Studies at UMass, which will allow a substantial improvement in the scholarship of India. Indology has become contentious in the academic world due to the vestiges of colonial scholarship that continue on most university campuses.

Ambassador Neelam Deo capped her visit with a keynote speech on Democracy and Pluralism in India on March 28.

Among her points on India’s religious, linguistic and ethnic diversities, Mrs. Deo remarked, “I as a woman did not have to struggle in India to get voting rights.”

Responding to her speech, Professor Michael Baum of the Political Science Department took issue with the conditions of women and religious minorities in India. He cited that the patriarchal society uses the rule of men by proxy even when women are elected to Panchayat seats reserved for women, and thus the affirmative action has actually undercut the women movement in India.

Dr. Vanita Shastri of Meru Foundation, another responder, posited that the Indian feminist movement is vibrant, and rural women are asserting their views as she had witnessed during her visits.

On the issue of religious minority treatment, Professor Baum pointed out the worrisome emergence of Hindu nationalist parties. The Consul General responded by suggesting that India does not fit into Western paradigms, because the so-called Hindu nationalist party, Bhartiya Janata Party, has Muslim and as well Jewish members alongside Hindus.

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