The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : China Studies Centre inaugurated at IIT-M

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China Studies Centre inaugurated at IIT-M

Special Correspondent

Chinese language course soon

Reaching out:(From left) Former Indian Ambassador to China C.V. Ranganathan, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India

Chennai: A China Studies Centre was inaugurated at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) on Friday.

Inaugurating the centre, R. Chidambaram, chairman, Board of Governors, IIT-M, said that the focus of higher education has to be on fundamental basic research to sustain the present growth rate. Stating that the growth of science in China itself was a fascinating study, he said the confidence in youth of both countries would improve relations.

C.V. Ranganathan, former ambassador to China, said that the Chinese, especially the media, looked at India as a junior partner to the United States which was playing the old game of encircling China. The single party (in China) has inculcated a spirit of nationalism which has found great resonance with the younger generation, he said.

There was no example of two neighbouring countries having a mutual peaceful impact from ancient days.

The two countries would have to be quite clear of the intersections from West Asia to East Asia through Central, South and South East Asia, to the benefit of both the countries he said emphasising that this would need a far better understanding of China from India's part.

M.S. Ananth, director, IIT-M, said the humanities and social sciences were a very important aspect of higher education and that was the reason the institute started offering M.A. programmes a few years ago.

Sudhir Chella Rajan, Head, Humanities and Social Sciences, said the centre would carry out inter-disciplinary research on sociology, political science and technology.

Other departments in the institute could also show interest and play a role in the events of the centre.

A course in Chinese language would be introduced in the next semester, he said.

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