Summers Talks On Rise of India

University President Lawrence H. Summers and Director of the South Asia Initiative (SAI) Sugata Bose spoke on the rise of India and U.S.-India relations at a South Asian Association event last night.

Summers discussed the ways India and the U.S. have developed closer ties in recent years, citing President George W. Bush’s work with the Indo-U.S. Treaty. The treaty, which will likely be ratified by Congress, will legitimize India’s nuclear possessions and allow India to increase its supply.

“India has first rate scholars, it has the English language, it has the democratic tradition and it has a set of experiences of things to see and things to understand that are really remarkable and immensely broadening,” said Summers, indicating that these ties made relations between the two countries even more important.

Summers, who identified India’s recent emergence into the “international club,” said he had seen considerable changes between his most recent visit to India in March *link* and his visit five years prior.

Summers and Bose also stressed the importance of South Asian awareness on campus. Bose said that, although SAI has had many positive results, “there has been inadequacy of response in some key areas.”

Bose, who is also Gardiner professor of oceanic history and affairs, pointed to the lack of funding for international study in the past year *link* and the fact that there has not been an addition to the South Asian faculty since 2002.

Bose warned that South Asian students should be wary of becoming a “minority within a minority.”

“It would be a great pity if we retreated into a smaller category and denied a larger sense of belonging...we also have identities as world citizens,” he said.

The topic of China also surfaced throughout the evening’s discussion.

“There are some in India who believe that the US is building up India as a counterweight to China,” said Bose, but he said India did not want to be cast into that role.

Summers said that although China is currently experiencing greater growth, India has higher prospects for education than any other country.

“It is both the glory and the vice of India that it has a deeply thoughtful, highly educated civil service,” said Summers.

Rohan Kekre ’08, academic and political chair of the South Asian Association (SAA), which co-sponsored the event with SAI and the Harvard Foundation, said he appreciated Summers’ interest in the rise of South Asia.

“President Summers obviously understood this in a way that few others at Harvard do. We’re concerned there will be a slowdown” under Harvard’s next president.

Arjun Vasan ’07, co-president of SAA, said he felt the discussion would motivate people to study abroad and take more classes in South Asian language and culture.

“Harvard does have these resources to do great things with South Asian studies,” he said.

—Staff writer Joyce Y. Zhang can be reached at jyzhang@fas.harvard.edu.