Why an India Institute

Why an India Institute?

Until now, only foreign educational institutions such as King’s College London, the University of Birmingham, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Pennsylvania have been known to have set up reputed India Institutes or Centres that cover diverse aspects of the India story through their in-house scholars and transnational networks. It is ironic and lamentable that despite the existence of more than 1000 universities in India, not one of them has ventured into anything akin to a multidisciplinary, all-encompassing India Institute that can bolster the country’s rise through a convincing and independent narrative about the millions of transformations the country is undergoing. JII is a pioneer that intends to fill this big vacuum and ideationally propel the ‘Indian Century’.

The dynamism of a continent-sized country like India must be synthesised, analysed and projected far better, not only domestically but also globally, so that the India story gains greater acceptance and the obstruction to India’s rise to the pinnacle in world affairs is overcome. The JII is an endeavour toward meeting this critical need.

JII will be the first of its kind – telling the remarkable India story — while being housed in an Indian university, drawing upon Indian and international intellectual reserves, and generating a high-level output of knowledge that will broaden the understanding of admirable facets of a great country whose contributions are making the world a better place. JII will be a repository for accumulating knowledge about Indian changemakers, distilling it through rigorous peer review, and disseminating it to a global audience.

By ‘Indian Century’, JII intends to weave two interconnected concepts into a seamless whole. The first century is the centennial of India’s independence in 2047. The Indian government has announced goalposts for the centenary such as Viksit Bharat (developed India) and leading power and there is a whole panoply of social movements that are being formed to create national resolve and determination for attaining these objectives. JII will work to promote the Vision 2047 goals and generate concrete, actionable ideas, policy suggestions and human capacities to fulfill these goals.

Secondly, the ‘Indian Century’ also refers to the 21st century as a whole, i.e. the next 75 years, when India is predicted to be a leading power that not only equals China and the USA but surpasses them in power and influence. The concept of an ‘Asian century’, wherein the centre of gravity of the global economy and power politics shifts from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and in which China and India will be defining players, has been frequently mooted since the 1980s. But given the clear differentiation between India and China in terms of their political systems and approaches to world order, and also the shifts in demographic and economic momentum from China to India that is underway, we believe that the 21st century could well be an Indian Century which has the potential to remake the world in a fairer and more just way. JII will be the hub of ideas and creativity from which the Indian Century can be constructed and represented to the world.

The seeds of Vision 2047 which are being planted today will bear fruit beyond the centenary milestone and can set the path for India to lead the world across all issue-areas and fields for the foreseeable future. JII will have a Vision 2100 based on a long-term planning, strategising and predictive perspective to guide its research and advocacy work. India has often been criticised for ad-hoc and short-horizon approaches to policy conception and implementation owing to competitive democratic electoral cycles and lack of foresight to design national projects that outlast the present generation.

JII will infuse the double centennial ethos of 2047 and 2100 into its activities so that its work has long-lasting impact and will be truly historic in steering India’s ascent for the next 75 years. It will produce a strong, transnational, intellectually rigorous, evidence-based, multidisciplinary corpus of knowledge that promotes the positive aspects and achievements of India.

Apart from advancing the double centennial goals, JII is meant to intellectually decolonise the study and depiction of India. Today, while India is fiercely independent and protective of its strategic autonomy, there is still a tendency among many to look up to Western educational institutions for intellectual affirmation, approval and disapproval of what India is and where it is heading. JII aims to break the intellectual hegemony of India being other-defined and usher in a culture and practice of high-quality research, analysis, policy advocacy and trainings that enable a self-defined and self-confident India to emerge as a world leader.

If a country has to ensure its steady rise, it must be mindful of the ideational realm and the discursive space where it is being constantly analysed, presented and projected in certain ways. What are required are an India narrative and an Indian voice which will sensitise the world about the extraordinary transformations underway in the country in myriad domains. JII is an independent and non-partisan institution toward amplifying this narrative and voice.