[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 74 (Tuesday, June 14, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 14, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
             THE INDIAN STUDIES CHAIR: AN ACADEMIC VENTURE

  Mr. PRESSLER. Madam President, I commend the establishment of an 
India Chair at Columbia University. In the endeavor to create the 
Indian Studies Chair at Columbia's Southern Asian Institute, supporters 
for this project have raised over $360,000. However, an estimated $1.5 
million is needed to endow the chair
  I applaud the efforts of those who are working hard to establish this 
Indian Studies program. Specifically, I commend Dr. Rajendra Bansal and 
Dr. Thomas Abraham, co-chairpersons of the endowment campaign for Chair 
in Indian Studies, as well as Dr. Manjula Bansal, secretary of the 
campaign. They have labored many hours to transform a dream into 
reality.
  The India Chair at Columbia University will offer students the 
opportunity to learn from and to study with great scholars of Indian 
culture, history, and contemporary issues. This will allow students to 
better understand and work with our Indian allies. I urge my colleagues 
to show support for this important academic endeavor.
  Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to place several related 
newspaper articles from India Abroad in the Record at the conclusion of 
my remarks.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                   [From India Abroad, Dec. 10, 1993]

                   Mrs. Onassis Supports India Chair

                       (By Shailaja Neelakantan)

       The campaign for endowing a chair for Indian Studies at 
     Columbia University got a boost with the presence of 
     Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis at the launching of Naveen 
     Patnaik's book, ``The Garden of Life.''
       The Dec. 2 reception was held at the Indian Consulate under 
     the auspices of Doubleday, publisher of the book, and the 
     Consulate General of India. With a virtual Who's Who of New 
     York present, the event was a stimulus for an India chair at 
     Columbia's South Asia Institute. Mrs. Onassis was present in 
     her capacity as senior editor at Doubleday.
       About $1,000 from sales of the book during the reception 
     was donated to the campaign for an India chair, according to 
     Pallavi Shah, who runs Our Personal Guest, a public relations 
     firm. She said $10 from every sale of the book (it costs $35) 
     would continue to go towards the endowment for the chair. 
     Air-India provided additional support for the reception.
       Endowed chairs are a prominent feature of America's private 
     universities. Interest from an endowment enables support for 
     salary and benefits of a senior member of the faculty. This 
     chair will promote a better appreciation of India.''
       She said Columbia University was a virtually automatic 
     choice because it is the most urban and international of 
     America's Ivy League universities. ``Dr. B.R. Ambedkar earned 
     his doctorate there before going on to head the committee 
     that wrote the Indian Constitution,'' she said.
       The government of Pakistan has already endowed a Quaid-e-
     Azam Distinguished Professorship at Columbia. Several other 
     communities in the United States, including the Japanese, 
     German and Armenian, have also endowed chairs of Columbia.
       The reception for Patnaik's book, which deals with the 
     healing plants of India, was attended by supporters of an 
     Indian chair and New York literary and social figures. 
     Patnaik is a founding member of INTACH--the Indian National 
     Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage.
       The guests included Stephen Rubin, president and publisher 
     of Doubleday; Bianca Jagger, Sonny and Gita Mehta, Carly 
     Simon, Mr. and Mrs. Sam Peabody, Kenneth Lane, Diandra 
     Douglas, Caroline Herrara, Francesco Clemente, Fernando 
     Sanchez, Aroon Shivdasani, Anjali Mathrani, Mr. and Mrs. 
     Feroze Talyarkhan, Mr. and Mrs. Purnendu Chatterjee, Zach 
     Zacharias and Thomas Abraham, among others.
       Mr. Onassis did not address the gather, but Doubleday's 
     publisher, Stephen Rubin, in a short speech voiced support 
     for the endowment of an India chair at Columbia.
       He said the Indian American community had made valuable 
     contributions to America and that a chair at a premier 
     institution like Columbia would go a long way in fostering a 
     better understanding of the country.
       As Dr. Manjula Bansal, secretary of the managing committee 
     for the India chair, said: ``The best way to make sure India 
     does not remain peripheral is to endow chairs and programs 
     representing India at America's great universities.''
       An endowment of $1.5 million would be required for an India 
     chair, of which the account currently has $200,000. Pledges 
     of $150,000 more have been made, according to Dr. Rajendra 
     Bansal, co-head of the managing committee for the India 
     Chair.
       Our Personal Guest arranged the food for the evening--a 
     combination of champagne and Indian hors d'ouvres. Dhoklas, 
     pieces of roti with baingan ka bharta and several other 
     dishes, made with herbs mentioned in Patnaik's book, were 
     served. Completing the picture, Indian women wearing 
     traditional ghaghra-cholis served paan, another culinary 
     plant described by Patnaik.
       A report in the April issue of Publisher's Weekly described 
     Patnaik's latest book as well his previous one--the lavishly 
     illustrated ``A Second Paradise: Indian Courtly Life 1590-
     1947--as particular favorites of Mrs. Onassis.
                                  ____


                   [From India Abroad, Feb. 4, 1994]

                   Boost for India Chair at Columbia

       New York.--The American Express Foundation recently 
     presented a check for $50,000 toward the endowment of an 
     India Chair at Columbia University. At a function held in the 
     Indian Consulate here, Sreedhar Menon, deputy president, 
     American Express Bank Ldt., handed over the check to Prof. 
     Jack Hawley, director of the Southern Asian Institute at 
     Columbia.
       Hawley said at the presentation, ``We are deeply grateful 
     to American Express for this tangible expression of support 
     for the study of India in the U.S.'' He praised Menon for his 
     efforts saying, ``Mr. Menon is a persuasive spokesperson for 
     this effort in corporate circles and I want also to 
     acknowledge his role in securing the gift.''
       The amount needed to endow an India Chair at Columbia is 
     $1.5 million. Menon commented: ``The cause is especially 
     worthy, in my view, since it stands to benefit the Indian 
     American community for years to come.''
                                  ____


                   [From India Abroad, Apr. 15, 1994]

                  $360,000 From Donations and Premiere

                           (By Nirmal Mitra)

       New York.--About $360,000 was raised last week in the first 
     major fund-raiser for the India chair at Columbia University, 
     with $250,000 coming from the premiere of Ismail Merchant's 
     film ``In Custody,'' corporate sponsors and individual 
     donors.
       A sum of $100,000 was also pledged by Kurian and Mary 
     Chacko, owners of Balogh Jewelers, Madison Ave., Manhattan, 
     and another $10,000 by another individual.
       The film, Merchant's directorial debut, was screened at the 
     Paris Theater April 7. Some 586 people turned up for the 
     premiere, including former U.S. ambassador to India, Senator 
     Daniel Patrick Moynihan, his wife and daughter, and about 600 
     for the reception at the Rose Room of the Trump Plaza Hotel 
     that preceded the screening.
       Speaking at the reception, Senator Moynihan lauded the 
     campaign for the India chair and praised the farsightedness 
     of the Indian-American community in establishing themselves 
     in their adopted homeland. He saluted Ismail Merchant for 
     pledging the proceeds of the premiere of the film to the 
     chair. He had never seen so many people gathered in the Plaza 
     Hotel, he said. Moynihan reaffirmed his love for India and 
     recalled the association of his family with India.
       The Columbia president Mr. George Rubb spoke very highly of 
     the Indian community and was very grateful that they had 
     selected Columbia for the establishment of the chair, further 
     enriching its academic traditions.
       ``It was very satisfying to see that the gala benefit 
     premiere had cut across all sections of the Indian 
     community,'' said Dr. Manjula Bansal, secretary of the India 
     Chair Campaign Committee.

                           *   *   *   *   *

       He recalled his past when he came to America from India. 
     ``I came to New York first and took a job in the consulate as 
     a messenger, shuttling between it and the United Nations,'' 
     he said. ``I have very fond memories.''
       On meeting the fund target for the chair, he said: ``It is 
     time to demand things from big businessmen and big houses. We 
     cannot just say we need it, to make the film. And I'm very 
     happy for that.''
       Shashi Kapoor played the lead role in the film, which is 
     about an Urdu poet whose works are discovered by a 
     journalist.
       ``When I read Anitaji's book quite a few years ago, I liked 
     it but did not think it could be made into a film. And when 
     Ismail said he was going to make it, I said he couldn't.
       ``But he persisted. He is a very persuasive man. Once he 
     decides to do something, he does it.

                           *   *   *   *   *

       ``Out of this interaction, there will be a greater and 
     closer understanding, and I think this chair is an attempt in 
     that direction.''
       Dr. Manjula Bansal, said, ``It was our great fortune that 
     Ismail Merchant deemed fit to associate with this cause. Last 
     year, when he completed the film, in which he made his 
     directorial debut, he offered it to us. Mr. Merchant is part 
     of the advisory committee of the chair.''

                           *   *   *   *   *



                          many indian students

       ``These days, our student life is full of Indian Americans. 
     The Spectator, our newspaper, features a number of Indian-
     American students, as do a number of other student 
     organizations.
       ``Just this last year, we saw the founding of the South 
     Asian Business Association, which has sponsored a trip to 
     India for their members and members of other university 
     business communities. Also set up recently was SALSA, the 
     South Asian Law Students Association.
       ``With all this interest in India, we were hoping to be 
     able to cap it with an Indian chair. Universities, 
     particularly private universities, run in strange ways. They 
     depend upon support by contact with other people of the 
     community.
       ``The way that support is most succinctly expressed is in 
     the form of a chair. It is an endowment, in this case one 
     whose target is $1.5 million, with which we will be able to 
     support the salary of a professor. It will mean that Indian 
     studies can be taught at Columbia in perpetuity.
       ``We thought of two possible areas for this chair--Indian 
     civilization on the humanities side, or Indian political 
     economy on the social studies side. We have a large faculty 
     of some 50 scholars interested in and active in South Asian 
     affairs. But of those, there is none who occupies a chair 
     specifically for the study of India. Yet the Japanese, the 
     Armenians, Jews and others have endowed chairs at Columbia 
     and other great institutions of this country.
       Holly said that Columbia's national resource center for 
     South Asian studies was among eight centers selected by the 
     federal government to serve a national

                           *   *   *   *   *

       Asked if he planned any more fundraisers to meet the target 
     of $1.5 million by the end of 1994, Dr. Rajendra Bansal, co-
     chairperson of the Indian Chair Campaign Committee, said: 
     ``We have no immediate plans. But the premiere has created a 
     lot of awareness in both the American and Indian communities. 
     And now we expect to collect a lot in donations from 
     individuals and corporate concerns. That is what we are going 
     to do. And it seems to be doing very well.''
       He went on: ``Moynihan put it very well when he said this 
     was the best way of bridging the gap between the two 
     countries is through such efforts in the field of education, 
     which would insure a better understanding of India.''
       Dr. Bansal added: ``One thing is for sure, there is no 
     dearth of money in the Indian community. And it is only a 
     matter of convincing them and making them aware of the need 
     for an India Chair. And that is what the premiere has done. 
     And I think now it will be an easier task for us to go an 
     appeal to them. And we hope to collect the funds by the end 
     of the year.''
       He said that efforts were on to hold more events. ``Deepak 
     Chopra, the prominent physician, has already said that he is 
     willing to give a talk show for the benefit of the chair some 
     time in October-November. Murari Bapu, known for his katha-
     recitals, is coming in July-August, and has said he is 
     willing to do a one-day program for the benefit of the chair. 
     Also, Dada Vaswani, has made an appeal, as a result of which 
     the Vaswani section of the Sindhi community has promised a 
     donation.''
       Earlier last week, at a press conference held by the cast 
     of ``In Custody'' at the Indian Consulate Merchant said it 
     was time to exhort businessmen and big business houses to 
     contribute to the cause of an India chair at Columbia 
     University.

                           *   *   *   *   *

       Desai, talking about the film, said: ``The book was written 
     so long ago that I thought it was quite forgotten. It had 
     faded, really, till Ismail took it up and decided to film it.
       ``It took us many years to get it started. I often thought 
     it wouldn't happen at all. It didn't seem likely because 
     Merchant Ivory got busier and busier and more and more 
     famous.''
       ``I was very surprised when it did happen. And it was 
     purely by coincidence, really, that it turned out to be the 
     perfect time to make the film. When I wrote it, nobody 
     thought of the Urdu language or Islamic culture being in any 
     way threatened in India. It wasn't seen as having any 
     political importance at all.

                           *   *   *   *   *

       Kapoor went on: ``Quite rightly, the film has been 
     associated with a marvelous cause like this. I am glad that 
     Ismail, on behalf of all of us, has promised to achieve this 
     target by the end of the year. And I hope this will not be 
     the end of it.''


                          azmi raises question

       Shabana Azmi, the actress, said the question ``is not why 
     there should be an India chair, but why so late.''
       ``India is a unique country, but unfortunately suffers from 
     a perception in the West of being a magical, mystical 
     country, despite famine and drought,'' she noted. ``There is 
     a mythology here about what India is all about. I think this 
     needs to be shed.''

                           *   *   *   *   *

       ``The existence of an India chair at Columbia would make 
     sure that over the course of time, not just next year or the 
     year after that, but in perpetuity, someone in Columbia would 
     be able to field questions like that,'' he said. ``We hope 
     that the chair will be worthy of the support we have received 
     from the Indian-American community as a whole.''

                          ____________________