NEWSLETTER
August 17, 2018
A RTS PROGRAM UPDATE
As part of our deep commitment to South Asian art, The Mittal Institute partnered with Mumbai’s most important museum, the Chhattrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangralaya (CSMVS), to host a two-day event around art and heritage conservation in India.
We are excited to welcome Shilpa Sanger to our Arts Advisory Board. Shilpa is an entrepreneur, angel investor and orthodontist. Since 2014, she has been a member of Golden Seeds, which seeks and funds high-potential, women-led businesses. Click here to learn more about Shilpa and the Arts Advisory Council.
Imran Channa is a contemporary artist from Pakistan and was one of The Mittal Institute's Spring 2018 Visiting Artists. His work explores the intersection of power and knowledge. In this interview, we discuss how he first became interested in installation artwork and the benefits of making art abroad. 
I N REGION NEWS
“On 28th April 2018, I Interviewed Mr. Milkha Singh (Flying Sikh), one of the finest athletes India has ever produced” beamed a very excited Akshay Veer , a Partition ambassador at The Mittal Institute. Akshay was part of a 55-student cohort that collected and documented oral stories from survivors of the Partition. 
Alongside the Harvard Club of India, The Mittal Institute co-hosted this important event for India-based Harvard affiliates on Aug 3, 2018. We welcomed current and incoming students at Harvard University at the Gymkhana Club in New Delhi.
As part of our ongoing India Seminar Series, Rohit Chandra , a PhD graduate from the Harvard Kennedy School, presented his work in New Delhi. Rohit’s talk focused on the workings of the coal sector in India. The seminar was moderated by Subhomoy Bhattacharjee , Consulting Editor, Business Standard.
Supported by The Mittal Institute and Tata Trusts, Project Prakash works for children from disadvantaged backgrounds who have curable blindness. Sanjay Kumar , India Director of The Mittal Institute, and Saba Kohli Dave , Program Coordinator at The Mittal Institute Delhi office, met with the founder of Project Prakash, Dr. Pawan Sinha .
EVENTS
Wednesday, September 5th, 4:30-6:00PM, CGIS South Concourse
Celebrate the start of the school year with the Mittal Institute! Meet our team and learn about funding opportunities and various Harvard South Asia-focused student groups. There will be food!
Saturday, August 25th, 4:30-6:30 PM, American Center, New Delhi, India
Co-sponsored by The Mittal Institute, Vikram Patel , Pershing Square Professor of Global Health, HSPH, will lead a discussion with Ishita Mehra, artist and youth mental health advocate, and Ishita Chaudhry , Ashoka Fellow, INK Fellow and Founder of The YP Foundation (TYPF). The event will conclude with the launch of “Unspoken Story”, by Ishita Mehra. 
Monday, August 27th, 5:30-7:30 PM, Microsoft Research, Bengaluru, India
Join our Faculty Director Tarun Khanna , Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor, HBS, and Manish Sabharwal , Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of TeamLease for a fireside chat about Prof. Khanna's recent book, Trust: Creating the Foundations for Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries
H ARVARD STUDENT COMMUNITY
Contemporary Developing Countries: Entrepreneurial Solutions to Intractable Social and Economic Problems (SW47) will provide a framework and multiple lenses through which to think about the salient economic and social problems of the five billion people of the developing world, and the opportunity to work in a team setting toward identifying entrepreneurial solutions to such problems.
Every year, The Mittal Institute supports Graduate Student Associates from across the different schools at Harvard whose research focuses on South Asia. GSAs participate in monthly workshops in which they present their thesis research to one another, and organize an end of year conference to showcase their research in the spring. Apply now!
Looking to fund your research, internship, or language study in South Asia this winter? Applications to our Harvard graduate and undergraduate grants are open! 
This course explores traditions of Islamic spirituality in South Asia through the lens of three genres: the qawwali, concerts of mystical poetry; sufiana kalam, Sufi romantic epics and folk poems; and the ginans, hymns of esoteric wisdom recited by the Satpanthi Ismailis.
COMMUNITY
We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of  Mr. Purandar Das , a long-time supporter and one of our founding members. Mr. Das was thoroughly committed to advancing South Asia-related research at Harvard, as well as several educational initiatives worldwide. We are eternally grateful for his guidance and support, and offer our sincere condolences to Mrs. Das and their family.
PUBLICATIONS
Legal and social institutions that support entrepreneurs often aren't well established in developing countries.  Tarun Khanna , Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor, HBS explains in his new book how businesses can make up for that by building trust.
Spring 2018 Visiting Artist and visual anthropologist Rajyashri Goody is attempting to change perceptions of the Dalit community. Her new photo exhibition explores the socio-political sides of food and consumption.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), in association with Harvard University, has proposed a smart health information exchange system for effectively implementing the National Health Protection Mission (NHPM), popularly known as Modicare. The proposal, authored by Dr. Satchit Balsari , Harvard University, is under consideration by the Indian government.
FLASHBACK FRIDAY
Sonali Dhingra , PhD candidate, History of Art and Architecture, received a Language Study Grant in 2016 to learn Odia, the main language of Odisha. She spent the summer in the beautiful city of Bhubaneshwar.This helped Sonali conduct research for her dissertation on “Buddhist art in Odisha between the seventh and eleventh century”.