The South Asia Institute cordially invites you to the screening of the film "Once Upon a Time in India" in the company of its author Henning Stegmüller and with the participation of Prof. Hans Harder, Head of the Department of Modern Languages. The film will be shown in the Institute of Ethnology, building 4110, room 110.02.05 (2nd floor) on Friday, 12 April at 18:00.

Photographer and filmmaker Henning Stegmüller had his first encounter with the Indian state of Maharashtra in 1984 as part of a documentary for German television. While making the film, he met the Indologist Günther Sontheimer, through whom he became involved in a network of relationships between shepherds, scientists, writers and industrialists. They made documentary films together. In the illustrated book "Once upon a time in India", Henning Stegmüller documented his collaboration with Günther Sontheimer, who has since passed away. The film "A Divine Play on Earth: Sontheimer´s Discovery of India", which will be shown as part of the event, also tells of his work in India.

Prof. Rahul Mukherji, Head of the Department for Political Science at SAI, is part of the Independent Panel for Monitoring Indian Elections (IPMIE) that has launched its activities on March 15 2024. Consisting of six independent scholars and practitioners, the panel has produced a report titled "Free and Fair Elections in India: Baseline Report Ahead of the 2024"  which serves as an assessment of whether Indian citizens are able to exercise their right to universal suffrage, are offered free choice and can make it in an informed manner. The report is based on experience from GE 2019 onward.

Find concluding remarks of Prof. Mukherji on the establishment of the Independent Panel for Monitoring Indian Elections (IPMIE) here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_EWdPncvdw

More information here: https://thewire.in/politics/panel-of-five-scholars-will-be-monitoring-indias-2024-elections

On March 14th, Prof. Ute Hüsken visited the National Mission for Manuscripts to have a MoU signed by its Director, Dr. Anirban Dash. The National Mission for Manuscripts seeks to unearth and preserve the vast manuscript wealth of India, and maintains a continuously gowing online catalogue of Manuscripts on their website (https://namami.gov.in/). The MoU will facilitate common teaching activities in the field of manuscriptology, researcher exchange, collaboration  in the education of future manuscriptologist, and common work with the manuscripts.