Inside JGU 2017 - Issue 3 (May)
The JGU delegation participating in one of the side events hosted by the Jindal Institute of Behavioural Sciences in collaboration with the World Society of Victimology and Centro Nationale de Prevenzione e Difesa Sociale at the 26th session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice System (CCPCJ), UNODC on 24 – 25 May 2017 in Vienna.
The Jindal Institute of Behavioural Sciences, in collaboration with the World Society of Victimology and Centro Nationale de Prevenzione e Difesa Sociale, successfully organised two side events titled ‘Victims of Online Communication’ and ‘Psychosocial and Cultural Factors leading to Digital Piracy’ at the 26th session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice System (CCPCJ), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on 24 – 25 May 2017 in Vienna. JGU is the only university which hosted two side events at the session.
The 26th session of CCPCJ included 98 side events and hosted government representatives from 32 countries. The panelists of the two side events included Dr. Sanjeev P. Sahni, Principal Director, JIBS, JGU; Mr. Michael O’Connell, Commissioner for Victims’ Rights, Government of South Australia; Dr. Indranath Gupta, JGU; Ms. Garima Jain, JIBS, JGU; Ms. Sarah Fletcher, Deputy Commissioner, World Society of Victimology; and Ms. Swarnim Swasti and Ms. Shilpita Sen from JIBS, JGU. The sessions discussed and deliberated on victims’ rights in online crimes, internet infidelity, sextortion, data privacy and processing of personal information and digital piracy.
Dr. Sahni threw light on various forms of online victims ranging from cyberstalking, cyberbullying, sextortion, pornography and online infidelity. He highlighted the complexities surrounding digital piracy and stressed the need for extensive research and training to understand its nuances. Mr. Michael O’Connell talked about adolescents being easy victims of online scams. He also discussed the legal and moral complexities of online communication. Ms. Sarah Fletcher spoke about the rights of victims of online communication and highlighted the importance of post-scam interventions for the victims, apart from assistance from financial institutions.
The JGU delegation participating in one of the side events hosted by the Jindal Institute of Behavioural Sciences in collaboration with the World Society of Victimology and Centro Nationale de Prevenzione e Difesa Sociale at the 26th session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice System (CCPCJ), UNODC, on 24 – 25 May 2017 in Vienna.
Dr. Gupta reflected upon the legal measures available to curb digital piracy and about their inadequacies. He suggested general awareness initiatives alongside strong law enforcement as ways to deal with the problem of digital piracy.
Ms. Garima Jain presented an empirical study on ‘Internet Infidelity: Victims of Digital Age’ and ‘Psychosocial and Cultural Aspects Affecting Digital Piracy in India, Serbia and China’. The study revealed that people indulge in online infidelity due to peer influence, social isolation or psychological distress in the primary relationships. She contended that lack of awareness is a key factor behind acts of digital piracy.
Ms. Swarnim Swasti elaborated on the necessity of building strong moral character in individuals to curb digital piracy. Ms. Shilpita Sen spoke about the future implications of internet infidelity and how younger people are affected through the use of technology.
The CCPCJ acts as the principal policymaking body of the United Nations in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice. CCPCJ’s mandates and priorities include improving international action to combat national and transnational crime and the efficiency and fairness of criminal justice administration systems. The CCPCJ also offers member-states a forum for exchanging expertise, experience and information to develop national and international strategies, and to identify priorities for combating crime.
Further details on the 26th session of the CCPCJ is available here: https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/commissions/CCPCJ/session/26_Session_2017/session-26-of-the-ccpcj.html
About the Jindal Institute of Behavioural Sciences (JIBS)
Jindal Institute of Behavioural Sciences (JIBS) is a value based research institute of O.P. Jindal Global University which is dedicated to understanding, developing and applying human process competencies through continuous experimentation, research and learning related to applied and experimental behavioural science focusing on broad areas like social sciences, mental health, competency mapping, neurosciences, neural decision sciences, cognitive sciences, psychobiology management sciences, forensic sciences, social psychology, criminal behaviors, etc.
With the aim of establishing an institute in Asia that conducts and applies best behavioural and social science practices in innovation, education, research, scholarship and clinical care, JIBS pursues to promote research that is multidisciplinary, quantitative and scientific in nature.
The Purveyors of Destiny: A Cultural Biography of the Indian Railways authored by Dr. Arup K. Chatterjee, Assistant Professor, Jindal Global Law School, was released at a Book Launch and Panel Discussion event hosted by JGU at the India International Centre in New Delhi on 22 May 2017. The invited Chief Guest at the event was Mr. Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Hon’ble Union Minister for Railways, Ministry of Railways, Government of India. Mr. Shakti Sinha, Director, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, was the Guest of Honour. The book is published by Bloomsbury.
Read the full story at: http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/indian-rail-has-not-just-connected-but-influenced-culture-117052401388_1.html
(L-R) Ms. Himanjali Sankar, Publisher/Editor, Bloomsbury & Author, “Talking of Muskaan”, Dr. Amit Ranjan, Assistant Professor, Zakir Husain Delhi College, University of Delhi, Dr. Arup K. Chatterjee, Assistant Professor, Jindal Global Law School and Mr. Manu S. Pillai, Author, “The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore” at the Panel Discussion of the book “The Purveyors of Destiny: A Cultural Biography of the Indian Railways” authored by Dr. Chatterjee.
The JGU-Peking University Joint Environmental Filming Project on Particulate Air Pollution is a flagship project initiated by the Center for India-China Studies at JGU. As part of the project, a delegation from the School of Economics, Peking University, China, composed of a faculty, one staff and eight students visited India from 29 April to 6 May 2017. Members of the delegation were from various disciplines including film, law, urban planning and Hindi studies. They conducted research on air pollution in Delhi, which was documented on camera. The documentary is an effort to highlight the causes and effects of particulate air pollution in India and China. It also looks at solutions and suggestive measures to reduce air pollution.
The Peking University delegation with JGU students and faculty members on the JGU campus during the delegation’s visit to India as part of the JGU-Peking University Joint Environmental Filming Project on Particulate Air Pollution.
The project is sponsored by Peking University under an MoU signed on 1 April 2016 between JGU and the Department of Environment, Resources and Development Economics, Peking University. The programme aims to promote research on environmental issues and highlight the humanitarian and climatic challenges experienced by local communities in both countries. The aim is to consciously contribute and produce tangible research which can further influence government policies and bring about substantial change.
During their 10-day visit, the PKU delegation worked along with JGU students and conducted a series of interviews and interactions focusing on ‘particulate pollution’, along with legislations and environment laws in India. The team interviewed JGU faculty members including Professor Vesselin Popovski, Professor Armin Rosencranz and Professor Annika Styczynski. The students also got an opportunity to interview and interact with Justice Swatanter Kumar, Chairperson, National Green Tribunal, New Delhi, along with judges and expert members. The team conducted interviews at the Centre for Science and Environment. An interaction with JGU Vice Chancellor, Professor C. Raj Kumar, explored the impact of governance on tackling environment issues.
The Peking University delegation and JGU students and faculty members interacting with Justice Swatanter Kumar, Chairperson, National Green Tribunal, and members of the Tribunal during the delegation’s visit to India as part of the JGU-Peking University Joint Environmental Filming Project on Particulate Air Pollution.
The visit was a first to India for the majority of the PKU team. The research experience also added to cultural immersion. All the members of the visiting team believed they would return to JGU and India to further their research.
The visit by the PKU team to JGU follows one by a JGU delegation to China in June 2016. Four students and one staff conducted their shooting in China with the support of PKU students. The team interviewed faculty members from Peking University including Professor Cao Heping and Professor Tong Zhu. Professor Cao Heping is an expert in development finance, macroeconomics and environmental economics. Professor Tong Zhu is Dean at the College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering and an expert on Atmospheric Chemistry and Environment and Health. The team also conducted interviews with government officials, NGOs and law firms.
The Peking University delegation interacting with Dr. Armin Rosencranz, Professor of Law and Public Policy, Jindal Global Law School, during the delegation’s visit to India as part of the JGU-Peking University Joint Environmental Filming Project on Particulate Air Pollution.
According to Ms. Wenjuan Zhang, Associate Professor and Executive Director of CICS, this might be the first cross-learning exchange programme on air pollution jointly conducted by students from China and India.
The result of this exchange will be a documentary drawing a comparative analysis of the grave problem of air pollution faced by the two nations, and further covering the various aspects of particulate pollution in India and China.
About the Centre for India-China Studies
The Centre for India-China Studies (CICS) was established on October 1, 2014 as a multidisciplinary intellectual platform and resource hub for academics, practitioners and students who are interested in India and greater China. The Centre is committed to playing an active intellectual role on issues related to the India-China relationship and South-South cooperation at the regional and international level. Through its work, CICS aims to integrate cultural sensitiveness and contextualised understanding into its core activities. A primary objective of CICS is to contribute to reimagining the India-China relationship. The Centre has pursued this through empowering and engaging with students and youth on key issues relating to bilateral relations, and expanding networks and relationships in the Chinese business community in India, the Chinese Embassy, the Chinese community of South Asia studies and the Indian scholar community of Chinese studies. The Centre is led by Founding Executive Director, Wenjuan Zhang, and has core members from other JGU schools. The CICS Research Fellow platform has enabled the Centre to be strengthen its multidisciplinary capacity and currently has more than 10 faculty members from JGU’s six schools.
Visit the CICS website here: http://www.jgu.edu.in/cics/
This May, Jindal Centre for Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship (JSiE) hosted the latest cohort of entrepreneurs participating in the Tibetan Entrepreneurship Development Initiative (TEDi), a residential pre-incubation programme sponsored by the Central Tibetan Administration. Six aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs stayed on the JGU campus for five weeks while participating in an intensive programme of workshops and receiving individual mentoring. JSiE team members Jeremy Wade, Founding Director, JSiE, and Isabel Salovaara, Senior Research Associate and Assistant Director, JSiE, along with JGU students and faculty, worked with the entrepreneurs to refine their business ideas and venture pitch.
TEDi is an initiative of the Social and Resource Development Fund under the Department of Finance, Central Tibetan Administration. It seeks to orient Tibetan entrepreneurs and businesses toward becoming competitive, sustainable and impact-oriented. TEDi aims to convert high-potential business ideas into successful ventures as well as to support existing businesses’ expansion and sustainability. In doing so, the initiative envisions transforming the Tibetan community in India through increased participation in global opportunities and improved economic well-being. JSiE is the incubation partner for the TEDi programme and has provided residential pre-incubation training for the past three years.
Entrepreneurs brainstorm how their businesses could contribute at a session on the Sustainable Development Goals during the Tibetan Entrepreneurship Development Initiative, a residential pre-incubation programme hosted by the Jindal Centre for Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship and sponsored by the Central Tibetan Administration.
This year, the entrepreneurs’ business ideas ranged from mushroom cultivation and graphic design to travel services, e-commerce and software development. In addition to building their business, many entrepreneurs sought to create tangible changes in their communities. For Mr. Tamding Kyab, the co-founder of an IT company seeking to develop a low-cost point of sale (PoS) system, helping Tibetan seasonal business owners is one major aim. “Income of 70% of Tibetans in exile is based on seasonal business. However, they are struggling with developing their business strategies. Thus we want to help seasonal business owners to overcome that issue…with our PoS system,” he said.
JGU faculty and students from across the schools, as well as guest speakers from the legal and finance fields, contributed to the programme by holding instructional sessions. Student volunteers led by Shine Varghese (JGLS 2015) coordinated orientation activities and organised a field visit to local dhabas to analyse and compare branding strategies. JGU’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Mr. Amit Lahiri; JGBS faculty members Dr. Renu Emile and Ms. Jasmine Hsu; Mr. Yash Aggarwal of the Jindal Initiative on Research in IP and Competition (JIRICO); and JGLS student Anish Krishnan held interactive sessions on topics such as pitching a venture, product development, marketing and digital tools for business. Members of JGU’s Legal Entrepreneurship Cell (LEC) guided the entrepreneurs through the legal pitfalls of setting up a company, while JSiE worked with participants throughout the programme to incorporate their learning into a business plan.
Mr. Tsering Lhachok, who is developing a marketplace for Tibetan products, said: “I really like the learning atmosphere here at Jindal. The instructors are very helpful and approachable.” Mr. Kalsang Dhondup, an entrepreneur from the Tibetan settlement of Bylakuppe outside of Bangalore, said of the experience: “I came here with a mere business idea. The JSiE team showered us with great experiences and exposures with the guidance from excellent mentors on various aspects to develop an absolute business plan!”
TEDi participants use the Business Model Canvas to develop their venture plans.
The Sarnath International Nyingma Institute (SINI) in Uttar Pradesh was founded by Tarthang Tulku in 2008 and began its operations in 2013. It is presently directed by his daughter, Ms. Tsering Palmo Gellek. The Institute builds on the organisational knowledge and momentum of decades of cultural preservation work carried out both in Tibet and the US by its sister organisations.
In 2016, the SINI signed an MoU with JGU with the fundamental aim of cultural/educational exchanges. Presently, the SINI hosts a school of about 20 Tibetan monks, of varied age groups and about seven international faculty hailing from the US, Canada, Brazil, etc., primarily engaged in teaching the English language.
The mapping workshop was organised as a joint initiative between SINI and the Jindal School of Liberal Arts & Humanities with the aim of demonstrating the capabilities of Geographic Information System (GIS) as a tool to understand spatial patterns of geographic entities that also change over time.
The two-day workshop resulted in the production of detailed maps of the SINI campus as well the ‘projected’ future layout in which monks and faculty designed their vision of the campus in 2025. Through interactive sessions the monks learned how maps and the process of map-making evolved over time into modern computer-based techniques including the global positioning system (GPS). Applications of GIS in urban and regional planning, environmental studies, migration and several other interdisciplinary topics that require thorough appraisal of spatial patterns and knowledge of interconnectedness of geographic space were among the key workshop topics.
The workshop demonstrated how concepts of mapping could be used to understand the effects of expanding human dimensions on natural ecosystems and how authorities could employ mapping in sound decision-making.
Dr. Aditya Mukherjee, Professor, Center for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, delivering a public lecture on “The Origins of the Indian Capitalist Class” at an event to launch the new research centre, the Center for Asia Pacific Business Research and Innovation, at the Jindal Global Business School on 3 May 2017.
Since its inception, the Jindal Global Business School has been committed to promoting rigour and quality in its research. Towards furthering this goal, JGBS launched its newest research center, the Center for Asia Pacific Business Research and Innovation (CAPBRI) at an event held on the JGU campus on 3 May 2017. CAPBRI seeks to promote a multidisciplinary research approach to integrate multiple areas of business research in the Asia Pacific. The new center will bring together scholars from various fields and disciplines working on diverse facets of Asia Pacific business. CAPBRI members are Centre Director, Dr. Anirban Ganguly, in addition to Dr. Saumya Dey, Ms. Jasmine Ching-Chi Hsu, Dr. Ayona Bhattacharjee and Dr. Neha Mehra.
On the occasion of its inauguration, CAPBRI invited the well-known economic historian Professor Aditya Mukherjee to deliver a public lecture on “The Origins of the Indian Capitalist Class”. Professor Mukherjee dwelt on how the early Indian capitalists, in the second and third decades of the 20th century, carved an autonomous economic space within the colonial economy. They did this, according to him, through two means – by consistently opposing the infiltration of foreign capital into the Indian economy and not subordinating themselves to it and by doing a thorough economic critique of colonialism which resonated with the Indian nationalist leadership. The early Indian capitalists were, according to Professor Mukherjee, integral to the Indian national movement. Thus, he suggested, the growth of Indian capitalism is closely linked to the rise of Indian nationalism.
Professor Mukherjee teaches modern Indian history at the Center for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. His research and teaching primarily focus on the various aspects of the colonial Indian economy. He has authored the much appreciated book Imperialism, Nationalism and the Making of the Indian Capitalist Class. 1920-1947.
School principals and teachers receive a commemorative photo booklet from JSLH during the community engagement initiative with government schools of Sevli and Manoli villages in Sonipat district.
The Jindal School of Liberal Arts and Humanities (JSLH) hosted a community outreach event for students of Sevli and Manoli villages in Sonipat district on 20 May 2017. Approximately 90 upper primary students from government schools of the two villages visited the JGU campus to participate in a movie screening and interactive session with JSLH students. They were joined by principals and teachers from each school.
This event was part of an ongoing community engagement initiative that JSLH conducts through the Interdisciplinary Seminar 3 course in the Fall Semester. During this course, JSLH students conduct field research based in and around the anganwadis (early childhood care and education centres) and schools of villages and urban neighbourhoods near the JGU campus. JSLH students engage with the children of the schools and anganwadis through craft activities and games, while also interacting with teachers, health workers, and village and municipal leaders to understand how local institutions function.
After meeting the JSLH students this semester, the school principals had requested that they participate in the newly instituted Saturday activity days, which promote “joyful learning” in Haryana schools. On Saturdays, students leave their books at home and instead participate in indoor and outdoor activities at school. In order to expand the scope of these activity days and give students the opportunity to visit the university, JSLH organised an on-campus movie day before the schools went on summer holiday.
During their visit to the campus, the students watched a movie that addressed themes of friendship, child labour, and activism. After the screening, JSLH students facilitated conversation about the themes and messages of the film and encouraged the children to share their opinions.
Ms. Divya Patpatia of JSLH opens the floor for discussions after the movie screening.
At the conclusion of the event, JSLH students presented the principals and teachers of the Sevli and Manoli schools with copies of a photo booklet that they had created to document their field research. Student photographers Arham Khan, Porus Jain, Dhruv Sinha, and Sushrut Vaidya of the JSLH 2015 batch created the photo booklet by compiling their photographs and reflections from their classmates, under the guidance and support of Ms. Divya Patpatia of JSLH.
Discussing the process of taking photographs and what he learned from the experience, Porus Jain reflected, “Photography for me has always been about reality and these children provided me that exact reality in its truest nature. This experience evolved my skill and I owe it all to these children.” The book, entitled Nirantar (meaning continuous, sustained), signifies the ongoing relationship that JSLH students seek to establish with these communities through their work.
The Interdisciplinary Seminar 3 course, which will be offered again next fall, will carry forward these community engagement activities.