On 2 August 2021, 11.30 a public webinar on "Academic Freedom in South Asia - The current situation" moderated by Prof. William Sax and Prof. Rahul Mukherji will take place on Zoom (Meeting-ID: 932 9450 6671 Passcode: 892259). Please find here the poster.

About: The continuing erosion of academic freedom in South Asia is a cause for great concern in the global academic community. In order to understand the considerable variation in academic freedom across the region, the South Asia Institute has invited six renowned academics from five South Asian countries (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal) to participate in a group discussion of the issue. We will begin with brief opening statements from the six participants, summarizing the current state of academic freedom in their respective countries, followed by a general discussion. A joint statement on the current state of academic freedom in South Asia will later be collectively written and distributed.

Nicolas Belorgey and Christophe Jaffrelot have published an article on “Identifying 1.3 Billion Indians Biometrically” in the Heidelberg Papers in South Asian and Comparative Politics - HPSACP, (No. 80, 2021). The article can be read here.

The topic of the second (video) event of the new SAI lecture series "Bangladesh Studies - Culture, Politics, Migration" on Friday, July 23, 11.15pm - 1pm (CEST), is "Challenges of Bangladeshi Self-Organizations in Europe - Integration and Development". Mr. Bikash Chowdhury Barua (Chairman of BASUG, www.basug.eu) will be the speaker.

Date: Friday, July 23, 2021; Time: 11:15pm - 1:00pm (CEST).
Please register at diaspora@sai.uni-heidelberg.de to participate in the video event.
Welcome: Prof. Dr. Hans Harder (South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University)
Moderation: Azizur Rahman Khan (Consultant, Competence Centre Municipal Conflict Counselling/Verein zur Förderung der Bildung/VFB e.V.) and Dr. Wolfgang-Peter Zingel (South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University)

Several Bangladeshi self-organizations in Europe are working on integration and development. The European network ‘BASUG - Diaspora and Development’, which has its headquarters in the Netherlands and local chapters in Bangladesh, Germany, Finland and Italy, is one example of such an organization. The speaker Mr. Bikash ChowdhuryBarua, Chairman of BASUG, will be sharing his experiences and insights. The event takes place in cooperation with the Competence Center Municipal Conflict Counseling of the Association for the Promotion of Education - VFB Salzwedel e.V. and is supported by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) of the EU Commission.