HIGH COMMISSION OF INDIA, LONDON

PRESS RELEASE NOVEMBER 13, 2000

Shri Jaswant Singh, Minister of External Affairs, Government of India today formally launched the creation of a Professorship of Indian History and Culture at the University of Oxford. The formal announcement was made at India House in London in the presence of Dr. Colin Lucas, Vice Chancellor of the University of Oxford, Dr. Jeremy Black, Chairman of the University’s Faculty of Oriental Studies, Shri Nareshwar Dayal, High Commissioner of India to UK and prominent members of the academic and media circles. The Chair will be part of the University’s Faculty of Oriental Studies and would be funded through an endowment of £1.8 million being provided by the Government of India.

Speaking at the occasion, Shri Jaswant Singh said that the establishment of a Chair in Indian History and Culture was the realisation of a dream to strengthen linkages between India and UK by partnership in the fields of education and culture and through exchange of ideas. He said that ties between India and UK go back many centuries and although for some of this period the relationship was unequal, the meeting today reflected a transformation in the nature and content of the relationship. It showed, he said, that East and West have actually met.

Shri Jaswant Singh thanked Dr. Lucas and Dr. Black for the support extended by the University for his initiative and said that he wanted, in particular, to express his gratitude to Sir David Goodall, former British High Commissioner in UK for his guidance and assistance in the endeavour. He said that it was a conscious decision not to identify the Chair with any individual because India is larger than any individual . He added that he was confident that the Chair would contribute very greatly to the study of Indian history and culture and would fill a big gap in this area.

Dr. Lucas applauded the initiative of the Government of India to set up the Professorship and said that it was a magnificent gift for Oxford, which would make an enormous contribution to the understanding of the Indian identity. He endorsed the appreciation for the role Sir David Goodall had played in fructifying this initiative and added that he wanted, in particular, to recognise the fact that the credit for bringing forth this idea and then devoting the energy to ensure that this materialised belonged, however, to Shri Jaswant Singh.

Recalling the long association between Oxford and India, Dr Lucas said that the University had been studying India for almost four and a quarter centuries. He said that as someone belonging to Balliol College, he could claim with pride that the University had received eminent Indians every single year since 1871, including extremely distinguished persons like Prof. Radhakrishnan who was on the University’s teaching faculty.

Later, in response to a question, Shri Jaswant Singh clarified that the Chair would function autonomously within the framework of the norms set by the University. The selection of the Professor would be taken by the University in accordance with its own norms and standard. Dr. Lucas added that the person expected to be chosen for the position would have to be of very high academic distinction and fluent in at least one Indian language so that he/she could present an authentic Indian point of view instead of projecting Indian history and culture from a Western perspective. He also clarified that the £1.8 million endowment being provided by the Government of India remains financially self-sustaining in perpetuity and survives even as many ministers and vice-chancellors come and go. The University, he said was taking the responsibility for underlying costs, library resources and other areas of support for the Professorship.

Responding to another query on why it had taken so long for the Chair to be established, Shri Jaswant Singh said that there is perhaps an appropriate time for every idea, and the time for this particular idea had come now.

Press Release No. 73/2000 November 13, 2000

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