Leadership

The JII will be a University-level think tank-like entity rather than a School-level Research Centre because of its multidisciplinary vision and the broad canvas of its subject matter. The Institute will be led by a President, Dr. C. Raj Kumar, who is the founding Vice Chancellor of JGU, and a Director General, Dr. Sreeram Chaulia, who is the founding Dean of JGU’s Jindal School of International Affairs (JSIA). They are both distinguished scholars with proven track records of institution-building to enable India’s rise as a knowledge superpower. Both have significant international reputations and connections.

JII will also have several Assistant Directors, Associate Directors, and Deputy Directors drawn from JGU’s existing faculty members with expertise in different disciplines pertaining to India studies and the Indian Century. They will be individuals with a deep passion for producing and disseminating knowledge about India all over the world. The bulk of the JII’s intellectual output will come from JGU’s existing faculty members who have outstanding publication and research credentials. They will be simultaneously accredited to JII as Fellows and Senior Fellows, and will co-author and co-ideate alongside the foreign scholars-in-residence who will be selected to come to JGU under the aegis of the Global India Visiting Fellowship. Other non-JGU intellectuals and thinkers from India and abroad will be able to contribute to JII’s agenda from time to time on non-contractual and non-remunerative bases.

JII will also be guided by an International Board of Advisers who are friends of India abroad. They will include distinguished foreign and Indian-origin thinkers, diplomats, businesspersons, media personalities and scholars who have a favourable view of India and who see the rise of India as beneficial to the world at large. Notable Indian public figures and intellectuals will also be involved in JII’s outreach and dissemination activities so that the India Story and Indian Century connect with a wider set of voices in India and generate a broad intellectual impact to motivate people to support India’s rise as a responsible global power.

JII will not be associated with any political party or faction in India. It will be non-partisan in terms of its affiliations with corporate houses and foreign partners. Grants and funds that JII receives from partners in India and abroad will be transparent in nature and meant for specific deliverable projects or publicly visible activities. JII will never come under undue pressure or influence of any vested interest groups and compromise its independent vision and commitment to advance the Indian Century.