ISSN 0972-2866-PATTRIKA-NEWSLETTER INSTITUT FRANÇAIS ÉCOLE FRANÇAISE CENTRE DE C S H IfP UMIFRE 21 CNRS-MAEE UMIFRE 20 BULLETIN OF THE FRENCH RESEARCH INSTITUTES IN INDIA CNRS-MAEE September 2009, No. 31 DE PONDICHÉRY D’EXTRÊME ORIENT SCIENCES HUMAINES EDITORIAL FOCUS July and August, relatively quiet summer months in many “Urban dynamics” at the CSH parts of the world, are among the busiest in Pondicherry, for it is then that we receive most foreign visitors, and it Over the past decade, urban studies have been become a major is then that we organise most of our Workshops. This field of research at the CSH. year we have had three - each of two weeks - one on early tantric literature, one on Classical and medieval The “Urban dynamics” department was created in 1993 when Tamil, and the third on the corpus of Śaiva and Vaiṣṇava Véronique Dupont and Denis Vidal (IRD) joined the CSH to conduct devotional literature in Tamil. Why workshops instead of a collective project on social dynamics and spatial structuring in conferences? And what is the difference? Our workshops Delhi, which involved a close partnership with the Centre for the are not simply longer in duration than conferences, they Study of Developing Societies (Delhi). They had, during a previous are different in conception: whereas conferences are often assignment to India, played a decisive role in co-organising a concatenations of papers more or less loosely related by research seminar on the city of Delhi, whose proceedings were theme, our workshops bring together groups of scholars later published as a volume that remains a reference today. Since and doctoral students with different specialisations to then, the department has proved to be one of the most dynamic focus on exactly the same interpretational problems. This of the CSH, in terms of its attractiveness for students, its ability approach has shown itself to be invaluable for addressing to support collective research projects and to engage in new the interrelationships between early Buddhist, Śaiva and institutional collaborations. Vaiṣṇava tantric literature, for here we find religious practices and ideas shared between traditions that are Firstly, the department has initiated or participated in several usually studied quite separately. innovative and international comparative research projects: “Peri-urban dynamics: population, habitat and environment on But the same approach is also extremely fruitful for the the peripheries of large Indian metropolises” (2003-2005), the study of works composed more than a millennium ago results of which were published in the international journal Cities; in a language about which many details of morphology, “Urban actors, policies and governance”, whose final outcome, syntax, semantics and historical development are hotly a collective book, was launched by Routledge in August 2009; debated. Bringing together scholars with widely different “Social Exclusion, Territories and Urban Policies – a comparison specialisations (metrics, grammar, theology, poetics, between India and Brazil” (SETUP), which is currently entering its history, iconography, etc.) but a shared interest in classical third and final year; “Political participation and urban governance and medieval Tamil has enabled us to test out ideas, to in India and South Africa” (ISA), which was initiated in 2008. pool knowledge and to advance our understanding of the development of the corpus of Tamil devotional literature, Secondly, the department attracts an ever increasing number the earliest surviving body of devotional literature from the of students, whether Master students working as interns or PhD Indian subcontinent that was not composed in Sanskrit. candidates engaged in a larger endeavour. The department is also the site of a number of collective projects that cut across As well as being immensely stimulating for established disciplinary boundaries, and as such it plays an important role in researchers, such workshops are precious opportunities sustaining an interdisciplinary dynamics at the CSH. Indeed the for encouraging and training aspiring scholars, without projects mentioned above involve scholars from the “Politics and whom our institutions, and indeed the disciplines we society” and the “Economic reforms and sustainable development” study, would have no future. These disciplines, relatively departments. poorly represented in the universities of the world, are essential for an understanding of the history of Asia. The series of moves that mark summer 2009 augur well for the further development of urban studies at the CSH. Loraine Contact: Dr. Dominic Goodall Kennedy and Stéphanie Tawa Lama-Rewal are leaving the CSH Head, Pondicherry Centre of the EFEO to go back to the Centre for Indian and South Asian Studies in [email protected] Paris, where they will coordinate research around urban issues in close collaboration with ongoing projects at the CSH, especially the ISA project. Marie-Hélène Zérah, who recently became the 1 Bulletin of the French Research Institutes in India new coordinator of the “Urban dynamics” Challenges to Indian that comprise an ICT cluster in emerging department, will bring her expertise on Federalism: Politics of Identity economies, through an investigation of its Mumbai (continuously developed through initial configuration (outsourcing, public the many internships that she supervises), and Self-determination policies) and its capacity for resilience and will launch a new series of research on (private sector, climb-up of the value- small and medium towns (in collaboration The Charles Wallace Trust Visiting chain, research potential). Deploying the with IFP). Fellowship 2009 facilitated the completion frameworks of “systems of innovation”, of the research work started at the CSH. proximity and network theories, it aims Contact: Dr. Marie-Hélène Zérah This three month Fellowship awarded to put into perspective India’s position in [email protected] by the Centre of South Asian Studies, the global production system. In order University of Cambridge (21 April to 20 July to map the on-going processes in the RESEARCH 2009) allowed access to private papers technopolitan morphology of India, the and other primary material available at study relies on three examples that CSH the British Library and the Cambridge illustrate the diversity of the dynamics of University and the Centre of South Asian The emergence of hospital evolution in ICT clusters (space, time, Studies libraries. actors and governance) – situated in the chains in India cities of Pune (Maharashtra), Kochi and Based on extensive field survey and Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala). In the In many countries, the provision of hospital other primary and published material, the care is turning into an industry with the course of the last field study in India from project aims at a comparative analysis of March to May, interviews were conducted increasing presence of large corporate the Naga and Mizo movements in North- hospital chains. Since the 1980s, a new with many key actors in the IT field, from East India. It examines factors such as the national to the local levels (public pro-market regulatory environment and threat to culture and identity, neglect and state incentives have allowed new private actors, leaders of firms, entrepreneurs, discrimination, economic deprivation and convergence clubs and organisations, players to invest in the hospital sector. relative backwardness and the role of elites Through public subsidies (tax holidays, scholars and academics, actors in the real and leadership, as possible explanations estate sector). land for free) and new regulatory frames for the separatist movements in the two (liberalisation of insurance sector and regions. To better understand the role of The present project builds on earlier foreign investment, hospital accreditation), British administrators and missionaries in central and state governments have helped research work, done as part of a Master’s the emergence of ‘separatist’ demands, Thesis on Indian InfoTech (IT) parks as the the hospital chains to expand. But hospital the private papers and tour diaries of J H chains did not live up to the expectations most popular configuration of the high-tech Hutton, Charles Pawsey and others were cluster. Through a case-study of Pune, the of delivering free care to the poor. While consulted in England. Useful discussions the demand for hospital care is increasing thesis sought to offer a comprehensive with scholars at Cambridge on issues understanding of the policy process in in India, public and private hospital care like the implications of the British policy providers have failed to deliver, not only in the information technology sector, from of ‘non-interference’ in the tribal affairs inception to reception to consequences. terms of volume (i.e. number of beds), but helped to look at the issues at hand in a also in terms of quality of care. It demonstrated that land acquisition for different light. IT expansion in urban fringes had multi- This research explored the formation of layered ramifications: the creation of new hospital chains in India, their increasing The results of the research are due peripheral centralities; mutations of the prominence in the delivery of hospital care, for publication as a chapter ‘Politics of historical centre; development of a new their impact on access to hospital services Belonging: Identity and State Formation architecture and modern amenities that and spatial distribution,