T
his has been an exciting year of transitions at the Mittal Institute. For over a decade, Meena Hewett and I worked tirelessly to build the Institute into the thriving, interdisciplinary hub of South Asia that it is today. Last December, we welcomed our new Executive Director, Hitesh Hathi, to lead the Institute into the next era as we expand activities in our India office and growth in-region. Hitesh joins us from Boston’s leading NPR station, where he spent decades building the station's most successful national and regional programs, “Here & Now” and “Radio Boston.” He is also no stranger to the Mittal Institute, having served on panels and speaking at conferences during his time as a Ph.D. student in South Asian Studies at Harvard. He has already brought tremendous energy and new ideas to the position while working with Harvard’s senior leaders and faculty members as well as staff, donors and our in-region network to collaboratively envision our next-decade goals. Working alongside Hitesh is a committed team both in Cambridge and New Delhi, including a new finance director with a strong background in budget, human re-
Letter from the Director: The Next Decade sources, and administrative operations to oversee both offices; new communications leads; and a new coordinator to work with the Institute’s growing fellowship programs. We’re excited about the team’s diversity of talents.
Back on campus Personnel transitions are not the only changes happening; for the first time since the pandemic began, Institute staff and visitors reunited on campus last fall. Students filled the hallways and classrooms again, and joined us for events, a South Asian student group leaders’ gathering and information sessions on student funding opportunities for travel in the region. Student Grant application numbers have returned to pre-pandemic levels, which is promising. It has also been thrilling to see our fellows back at the Mittal Institute’s Cambridge offices, including Visiting Artist Fellows from India, Nepal and Pakistan, as well as our visiting scholars, Vidya Subramanian, from India, and Fulbright Fellow, Yaqoob Bangash, from Pakistan. We also were able to host a handful of in-person events both at Harvard and in New Delhi this past year, despite the
ongoing challenges in gathering. We had a wonderful, closed-door session geared towards Harvard students with Indian diplomat S hivshankar Menon, and an important panel discussion at the India International Centre in Delhi focused on the country’s Assembly Elections. I was lucky to attend this session in person, and it was a delight to see so many engaged students from local colleges in the audience.
New Projects on the Horizon: Healthcare in India, Climate Change and Art Conservation We are also looking ahead to new projects and programs that will set the stage for the next decade at the Institute. The Lancet Citizens’ Commission started last year as an ambitious initiative to reimagine India’s health system and achieve universal healthcare for all. The project has seen tremendous growth and our goal now is to turn the platform into a permanent repository of expertise on healthcare for long-term and lasting impact. We have also continued to respond to critical issues in South Asia, including our work around COVID-19 and the withdrawal of the U.S. from Afghanistan last year.
The Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute, Harvard University
