India Study Group Forms at Winthrop

Dismayed by the lack of "a formal or informal way to pursue an interest in India at Harvard," a group of under-graduates has organized the Winthrop House India Seminar to fill in the gap.

The new bi-weekly group is the second student-initiated effort of its kind this fall. Earlier this month the Eliot House Forum on the Developing Nations was organized because student interest had not been "satisfied in regular course work."

Succeeding last year's Dunster House India Seminar, which was conducted by Lloyd I. Rudolph, former assistant professor of Government, and Mrs. Susanne H. Rudolph, the Winthrop House series will follow basically the same pattern.

Richard P. Taub, tutor in Social Relations and Social Studies, who will lead the Winthrop seminar, explained yesterday that he was urged by students to undertake the effort because of the "tremendous dissatisfaction over the Rudolphs' departure." Taub returned last spring after a year and a half of study in India.

The only current offering on India is Soc Sci 116, which has only six lectures on the modern period.

Students in the group will study India on a very "broad and sophisticated level." While the Rudolphs' course, Gov 119, had concentrated only on the governmental structure of India, Taub explained that the scope of the Winthrop seminar may even include Indian art.

Taub pointed out that the seminar is "not intended as a rebuke to the University for not having more courses on India," but rather as a convenient focus for the interests of a large number of students. "Area Studies would be a bit silly on the undergraduate level," he added.

"Party Building in a New Nation" will be the topic at the first session this Thursday at 8:15 p.m. in the Winthrop House Tonkens Room. Myres Welzer, associate professor of Economies at M.I.T., will discuss the development of the Congress Party in India.