IIT-Gandhinagar to tell India story to American students

India's rich culture and tradition, its booming economic growth, advancement in science and technology and the strong democratic model will soon be part of the two-week course designed by IIT-Gandhinagar for their visiting foreign students.

Around 10 students from California Institute of Technology (Caltech) will take part in a special programme titled 'India-ki-Khoj' beginning on December 13. The students will be visiting the Gandhinagar campus as part of a student exchange programme.

"Our tradition-bound nation, diverse in terms of languages, castes, and religions was a democratic modern nation-state. India has defied many assumptions of nation-making projects as conceived by the West. The ten-day programme has been designed to help overseas students to relate with this idea and the many layers that form identity in India," explained Jaison Manjaly, assistant professor, philosophy and joint course coordinator, IIT-Gandhinagar.

Through a combination of academic lectures and field visits, the module will take the students through India of the past, present and future. "It will make them aware of India's ancient traditions of philosophy, science and technology to a present-day India. This will also help them in identifying continuities as well as shifts that India has made through centuries," added joint coordinator Rita Kothari, faculty  at the institute.

The module will also include discussion on India's economic trends, culture and history, poetry and films, caste and community structures and enable participants appreciate a country that eludes easy definitions.

As part of the course, the students will go for field trips to Lothal (the ancient site of Indus Valley Civilisation), heritage walk in the old city and Hutheesingh na Dera. There will also be lectures and seminars on topics like 'Shaping of Modern Gujarat' and 'Contextualizing Ahmedabad'.

While undergraduate students of science and technology from both institutes will participate in India-ki-Khoj, the coordinators informed that a limited number of students from other institute and universities will be permitted.