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Area IV-research

Area IV-research

The effects of a variety of toxic elements on humans and on plant and animal species of direct importance to human existence have been the subject of study in the School at both the population and organism, as well as at the cellular and molecular levels. By studying cell matrix interaction during tumor formation and metasis, a new cell surface receptor hyaluronan binding protein has been cloned. Effort is being made to use this cloneDNA as prognostic tumor marker carcinoma. Heavy metal toxicity and chemically induced carcinogenesis have been studied at sub optimal level on animal and cell culture system in order to relate the bio conversion and biodegradation of pollutants with toxicity development. Work is also in proggess-on the sensitivity of plants to environmental pollutants, and UV radiation effect on biological systems. Many studies are also focused on host - parasite interaction using Entamoeba histolytica as a model.Cloned DNA fragments from Entamoeba histolytic has been developed as a probe to carry out epidemiological and diagnosis of amoebiasis. Ecosystem dynamics and function are evaluated at individual, population and community levels;interacting sets of ecosystems (landscape) are also being evaluated from the point of view of evolving sustainablelandscape management strategies. In this effort, strategies for rehabilitation of degraded rural landscape isemphasized. These studies relate to understanding ecosystem stability and resilience. Linking up ecological processes with social processes at ecosystem and landscape levels is of particular interest. Studies on above and below-ground biodiversity management, maintenance of soil fertility through an understaining of soil biological processes at ecosystem and landscape levels and sustainable livelihood/development of traditional societies areare as where considerable work has been done and is in progress. Many of these studies relate to a variety of issues in the context of global change and terrestrial ecosystem function. Much of the work on these studies is being done through networking - involving young scientists, governmental agencies and non-governmental voluntary agencies spread over the country. These studies, being implemented to meet the specific national needs, form part of many international research programmes of non-governmental and inte-rgovernmental organisations.

Area IV Faculty

Prof. K.G.  Saxena

Prof. Indu Shekhar  Thakur

Prof. Kasturi  Mukhopadhyay

Prof. Satish Chandra  Garkoti

Prof. Pawan Kumar  Joshi

Dr. Ilora  Ghosh

Dr. Usha Mina

Dr. Paulraj  Rajamani

Dr. Meenakshi  Dua

Dr. Ramovatar Meena

 

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.